Tag: History
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Agra: Up Close with the Taj Mahal
Early the next morning I board a train to Agra, the former capital of the Mughal Empire but is more well known as the site of the Taj Mahal, one of the world’s most popular mausoleum. I arrive in the city just after noon. An autorickshaw takes me to my hostel just south of the…
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A Day in Delhi
7:00 a.m. It’s a new day in Delhi. I’ve been here in the Indian capital for about 18 hours now and so far, so good. It’s my first trip abroad after a lengthy battle with a liver infection, and while some might say it isn’t a good idea to be traveling while I might still…
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A Tour of Malabon’s Heritage
Malabon is a neighboring city of Valenzuela, though surprisingly, aside from passing through McArthur Highway in Barangay Potrero, I have never explored much of the city. The city even launched a tricycle tour that takes guests around its old houses and a number of dining areas some four years ago, but I never got around…
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A Very Brief Stopover in Beijing
Considering the current geopolitical situation in maritime Southeast Asia, just even the thought of going to China feels awkward to say the least. Yet here we are, my family and I, in the Chinese capital of Beijing, maximizing our 11-hour layover. Theoretically an 11-hour layover is a lot of time, but considering the time we…
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Saint Petersburg: Russia’s Cultural Capital
Following a couple of days in Moscow, our family boards a plane to Saint Petersburg while the rest of the group journey by train. It’s about an hour’s flight, and we arrive in our hotel in the town center just in time for breakfast. Our hotel is just beside the Saint Isaac Cathedral near the…
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Moscow: The Russian Federation Capital
We arrive in Russia after a 3-hour flight from Yerevan, and after a surprisingly quick process at the immigration counter and a lengthy walk from the arrival area to the express train, we’re in the city center just after lunch. We reach our hotel about a 15-minute walk from the Belorusskaya station, and have lunch…
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Caucasian Vacation 15 (Armenia): Yerevan
With our abbreviated time in Armenia and the loaded daily itineraries — not to mention the rain the last few days — there’s not much time left for a proper tour of Yerevan. So on our last morning in the country, I wake up really early just before sunrise and take a stroll in the…
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Caucasian Vacation 14 (Armenia): Sevanavank
A further hour’s drive east of the Geghard Monastery is Lake Sevan. With the elevation rising, the temperature drops to 10 degrees below 0. Snow covers the foliage along the highway, and the lakeside breeze exacerbates the already frigid air. Lake Sevan is the largest body of freshwater in the Caucasus, and its significant fish…
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Caucasian Vacation 13 (Armenia): Geghard
Near Garni (11 kilometers up the Azat River) is the UNESCO-listed Geghard Monastery, another medieval structure in a country that’s surely not wanting for any, though this one has more direct ties to the religious conversion of Armenia. Tradition holds that Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who Christianized the Armenian king in 301, built a small…
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Caucasian Vacation 12 (Armenia): Garni
In the evening we reach Yerevan where we will be spending the next couple of days. We also use the capital as base to a couple of day-trip destinations, the first of which is the Temple of Garni. The temple, located in the village of Garni (about a 45-minute drive east of Yerevan), is the…
The Tourist Gaze 