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Ta Prohm is one of more than 1,000 temples in the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia. Built around 1186AD, it was a Mahayana Buddhist monastery. Above is one of the 4 gates to the temple with four heads of my Lord Buddha. The locals call it “Tomb Raider” since some of the most spectacular scenes of the movie with Angelina Jolie were shot here. For centuries and centuries (remember in saecula…

Frida Kahlo’s Blue House* in Coyoacán, Mexico City. You need to book in advance. That picture was taken after the worst of COVID, as you can see by the masks. Not too much crowd then. Frida in the garden with one of her favourite dogs, called a Xoloitzcuintle, a hairless dog. She and Diego had several. Part of their constant ‘rehab’ of Mexican culture. Frida almost always dressed in traditional…

Previously: My ancestors on my father’s side come a small town in Flanders: Kortrijk. My parents traced the family roots all the way back to Carel Onraet, born in Kortrijk or Courtrai in 1531. After many trips to Belgium over the years, I finally made a detour to Kortrijk: One historic landmark of Kortrijk is the Béguinage, founded in 1238. The 41 remaining houses were built in the 1600’s. My…

Kortrijk, land of my fathers My family, on my father’s side, comes from a small town in West Flanders: Kortrijk in Flemish, Courtrai in French. Going back to the small Roman town of Cortoriacum in 43AD, it once was one of the richest cities of the region, a major centre of linen and wool. Cotton was not common in Europe until the 18th or 19th century. Wool was the main cloth. The belfry of…

At the market. Why is the guy on the right not working? Little India. Singapore. Clarke quay. The old warehouses have been transformed. There’s great ice-cream around the corner to the right. “Letter writer. 12 January 1969.” In the old days, professional writers helped illiterate people write love letters or official documents. See how the letter writer holds his brush? They also helped as…

“It’s been a hard day’s night, and I’ve been working like a dog.” Artist: Dean Stockton aka D*Face. Open your eyes. “Not just a pen.” (I’ve used Lamy for many years.) ‘Blue moon.’ Plenty of art by Mike Raz in NY. Great idea. Fantastic. Just tell me where the light is? Last ship to leave Middle Earth. What can I say? New York is New York. “Women of the world” by Kobra. World Trade…

Fall 2011. 15 years ago. The Occupy Wall Street movement started in September. Lasted until November. One of our daughters was working in New York. Coincidence that we should be visiting her right at the moment of ‘Occupy’. Her office was smack on Bryant Park, next to the New York Public Library. (Where some might remember I’d set up my ‘office’ in a telephone booth downstairs back in ’79,…

Graduation ceremony. San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, Mexico. San Juan is the sacred church of the tzotzil people. Men and women still use the traditional wool costume most of the time. No video or photos are allowed inside the church. Coca-Cola is considered a sacred beverage and is largely consumed inside. And outside. Probably one of the very few places in the world where Coke is sacred… My client…

“Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” (Emma Lazarus.) New York, 2021. The jewel is in the Lotus. Or is it the sunflower? Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 2025. Ommmm Mane… “You can keep your hat on.” (Joe Cocker.) Bogotá, Colombia. “Big…

A Time Patrol Movie We lived in Kenya from 1967 to 1971. Years of absolute magic. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Kenya flag, but to me, it still carries the magic of Africa. Mount Kenya in the distance. Altitute: 5,200ms. For the Kikuyu and other tribes it is the home of Ngai, God. A mother Cheetah in Serengeti, Tanzania, with her litter of three cubs. The cubs are almost all…

Tlalpan, Mexico city. (Windows do qualify, right, Dan?) Baggaersthof, Kortrijk, Belgium. Probably one the first social housing projects in Europe. In the mid-1600s, Lady Josijne Baggaert built 13 small cottages for needy women. My ancestors were born and lived in Kortrijk since 1531. It felt strange -and good- to imagine them passing by that door. Hotel door, Huichapan, Mexico. Mid 1950’s I…

Do you want to improve the world? I don’t think it can be done. The world is sacred, It can’t be improved. If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it. … Angkor Thom, Fournereau expedition, 1888. BNF Tao Te Ching, by Stephen Mitchell

China House, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. The “gentleman” with a beard is probably Hanuman, the King of monkeys, who helps Prince Rama rescue his beloved Sita in the Ramayana. “Acuérdate de Acapulco, de aquellas noches, María bonita, María del alma”. (Song by Agustín Lara) “Remember Acapulco, remember those nights, pretty María, María of the soul. “To the beat of the drum.” Montreal. “The…

Gala Éluard, by Max Ernst, 1924. Gala was married to Paul Éluard (“Liberté, j’écris ton nom”) first, then ran off with Salvador Dali. Max Ernst (1891-1976) was a German member of the Surrealist school. When WWII broke out, he was arrested by the French, then released, then arrested by the Gestapo, at a time he was living with Leonora Carrington… Peggy Guggenheim helped Ernst escape to America in…

Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men doesn’t try to force issues or defeat enemies by force of arms. For every force there is a counterforce. Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. The Master does his job and then stops. He understands that the universe is forever out of control, and that trying to dominate events goes against the current of the Tao. Because he…