Category Archives: Asia

How Orwellian

Some perplexing news out of India this week reporting that George Orwell’s birthplace in Motari, Bihar is being developed into a memorial site—but to Mahatma Gandhi not Eric Blair. The little bungalow, where Orwell was born and lived until he … Continue reading

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All the Beer in China

The always entertaining and informative website Buzzfeed created this clever video that demonstrates how much food one can purchase with the equivalent of $5 US in various countries around the globe. “How Much Food Can You Buy For $5 Around … Continue reading

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Looking at a gift horse

One of the perks of running this little travel/book/art blog is that I receive lots of free books. Some are advance reader copies, some are uncorrected proofs and others are just pre-release copies. I’ve been sent novels, memoirs, reference books, and … Continue reading

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Geography Is Always In Fashion

We have featured diverse and miscellaneous maps and cartographic forms, but this is probably the most fashionable use of maps to date. London-based artist and designer Elisabeth Lecourt painstakingly created her marvelous series titled “Les robes géographiques” from prints of historical … Continue reading

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Start Saving Your Pennies

VeryFirstTo is a British upscale product and experience website whose motto is “Be the very first to know about and have newly launching luxury products and experiences”. Now they are offering the world’s most expensive vacation package: a £990,000, two-year … Continue reading

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Watch Where You Walk

When we travel, it’s easy to overlook the quotidian elements of local infrastructure, such as the lowly manhole cover. But visitors to Japan who watch where they walk are treated to a veritable art show. Japanese manhole covers once looked … Continue reading

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On The Road

If you are a fan of street art, you may enjoy this story of Chinese street art collective IDT ‘s 1,200 mile journey through Southern China and Tibet leaving samples of their work along the way. The project, called “On … Continue reading

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The True Way Is Along A Rope

Are you a Kafka fan? Do you love animation like a kid craves Saturday morning cartoons? If you do, set aside twenty minutes to absorb this fantastic Japanese animated film version of Franz Kafka‘s cryptic story A Country Doctor directed by Koji … Continue reading

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Literary Snacks

Taipei-based web and graphic designer Alice Wang has created the “Quote Vendor” —a novel vending machine that dispenses bottled literary extracts just like snack food. Each plastic bottle contains an individual text quote along with the book’s title and author’s … Continue reading

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Vintage Murakami

Vintage books has reissued its Haruki Murakami 15-book backlist with redesigned covers based on a unified color palette of red, black and white, and the use of the circle as a central motif. The original illustrations were screenprinted by Israeli-born … Continue reading

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