As we wander, we wonder
By now, Kayra in Bangsar Village is a recommended staple in most KL foodie’s guidebook. Listed as a KL recommendation in the Michelin Guide’s Restaurants and awarded as a Top 20 restaurant in Tatler Asia’s Dining Guide for multiple years, the reviews for Kayra has been consistently glowing. Whether it’s the sophisticated critique of food […]
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In principle, I judge myself for judging. To judge was to be holier than though, to stay in righteous rage, to think we are somehow protected from flaw in the ivory tower of unicorn goodness. But since the genocide began in the last quarter of the past year, I could not help but judge those […]
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There are a lot of fabulous visuals in Dubai. The most dramatic restaurants, opulent hotels, extravagant spas, over the top shopping malls, glitzy souks ad nauseam. In my first visit since its initial renaissance I coined it Last Vegas Arab style and as the years passed this aesthetic only amplified. For first timers, to get […]
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Going online to search for best things to do in Dubai can be quite overwhelming – there are multiple options, websites, blogs, advertised travelogues etc. and the best things to do differs from one type of traveller to another. I usually recommend first timers in Dubai to book themselves a hotel or apartment at JBR […]
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The human affliction which is to always desire for something more and for something other varies in degrees for each person. I used to both battle against it as a symptom of ingratitude but also recognise it as a fire for exceptionalism. In this month of peace and submission, I wonder if perhaps it is […]
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Paphos, Cyprus is a 45 minute Ryanair flight from Amman, which makes it a convenient holiday destination if you are based here and want an extended weekend. We discovered about the Blue Lagoon when we arrived in Paphos last September, mainly through online googling for the finest beach in this part of the island. First, […]
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We completed our 2023 adventure safe and sound and left the city of Amman feeling enriched, humbled and as always with any stint in any place in the world, more inspired by life. It certainly was not long enough a time to truly understand the deeper face of the city and country, but it was […]
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I’ve had to take a pause from writing because the intensity of the genocide taking place in the middle east is leaving many of us speechless. For all observers around the world, for those in the humanitarian world, for human rights lawyers and activists, and for those living within a few 100 kilometers from the […]
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Ugly days swirl all around us and there is nothing left to say that could undo the wretched and the savage. Every human life is sacred, and I don’t engage with anyone who believes that there is a more morally righteous side to the current conflict of which self defence legitimises the extermination of refugee […]
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Sicilia was everything we hoped it would be, and even in that week we knew in our bones that it’s a place we would love to come back to multiple times. We don’t necessarily feel this way about many places, even spectacular ones, but something about this rich, diverse, sultry, salt of the earth island […]
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It’s been two and a half months away from home and I recently noticed that I am intentionally protecting these emotional waves of nostalgia and not suppressing such futile feelings as I would usually do. Turning over thoughts of my favourite people and places, re-enacting visuals of my parents home, the kitchen, abundant meals at […]
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Our main sentiment upon leaving Sicily is that we wanted to return. It is too big an island and too regionally diverse to rest our laurels of discovery within one trip. Everything we saw had its own unique beauty and we only went to two towns- Taormina which is where everyone goes to in the […]
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Italy is one of, if not my very favourite country in Europe and earmarking her as our summer spot this year was an excitement like no other. We started out in the Naples region. The choice to stay at Vico Equense, a sweet clifftop town about 4 train stops away from Sorrento was based entirely […]
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Every time a discussion of taking an indefinite work sabbatical comes up in different social settings I am reminded that society values the doing and the having more than merely just the being . Some look absolutely flabbergasted ‘but what are you going to do with all your time’, or cynical disbelief ‘sure, sure, see […]
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Al Manara is a Marriott Bonvoy property from its ‘luxury collection’ range. It’s probably the best Marriott Bonvoy hotel we have stayed at in the Hashemite Kingdom so far. As is always with these places it is the usual five star offerings though probably a little less characterful than the Autograph collections (e.g. the one […]
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We’ve dined twice in this extremely popular restaurant in Amman and a visit is a must at least for its rustic ambiance. It was also featured in MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants so it’s always recommended for Amman newbies. We had a meal together last winter and were seated inside, and another time with friends during […]
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The beginning or the end of a love story is perhaps the two phases where our adrenalin is the most fully charged – where we are sensitive to being either most alive or most in decline, and inspiration for art is at its most prolific. What happens to that phase where nothing really happens? When […]
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This Nabatean city has featured in so many Hollywood movies (Indiana Jones- The Last Crusade, The Mummy, Aladdin, Lawrence of Arabia to name a few) and was deservingly included in the New Seven Wonders of the World by UNESCO. Utterly unique and magnificent, the carving of The Treasury was a visual feast, and the fascinating […]
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During my two month stay in Dubai last summer, I realised that so much more had happened to the city’s dining scene then when I last enjoyed it almost a decade ago. I also realised how the quality of dining out in this glitzy Gulf megalopolis was a cut above the rest- so many restaurants […]
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Off late, I’ve come to realise how important blogging has been to my own internal evolution. Ultimately, I’ve used the blog partially to live a more examined life – to inspect deeper into a current state of mind, meditate on the blockages and choose more mindful patterns of behaviour. There were recurring themes of sentiments […]
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So this is yet another ancient-ruin-aesthetic post but I feel it’s almost obligatory to record memories of visiting ruins given how it’s so few and far between in the world. I am also always touched with wonderment when studying ruins from this part of the world – it really expands my curiosity for previous grandeurs […]
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Portugal feels like it’s currently having its ‘It’ moment for the past five years or so and will continue to be the defining place for new generations to come and for good reason to. Good weather, progressive government, multilingual and educated population, gorgeous architecture, interesting sea-faring history.. the list goes on. As for us, the […]
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Perhaps it is the struggle to fully embody gratitude that always leaves me with mixed feelings about most of my life choices. That and just eternal indecision. After a year or two of returning back home, I developed the indefatigable itch to relocate. I yearned to go back to the Middle East – a region […]
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We dropped by here on our way back from Saadiyat Island to Dubai in the summer of 2022. It was one of the main ‘must-see’ in Abu Dhabi obviously, and am glad we did. It’s hard to find something in the UAE that belongs to the region’s heritage. So much of it is borrowed and […]
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La Villa Bleu was captivating in a way that a St. Regis could never understand. Drenched in originality, covered with the most charismatic patina and perched over Mediterranean mysteries. My only regret was staying here for only two nights. It was dreamy, romantic, unique, melancholic. Here, I had cigarettes over coffee, washed my gaze with […]
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It took me quite late in life to understand that the psychology behind the perfectionist was often motivated by low self-esteem. The idea that without having accomplished something admirable, then one didn’t have much value. The shame and self-hate that accompanies not being perfect was crippling and unnatural. This was a recent epiphany I’ve been […]
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The perks of living in an internet age today, with millions of travel bloggers and websites populating the net is that we can land up in a seaside town quite spontaneously and still be able to organise a trip to a nearby village based on a quick google search on the very same day! That’s […]
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Looking for The Higher Self 