Architectural, Cultural sights in Asia
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Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram
Just south of Swarg Ashram, slowly being consumed by the forest undergrowth, is what's left of the original Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram. It was abandoned in 1997 and is now back under the control of the forest department, but the shells of many buildings, meditation cells and lecture halls can still be seen, including Maharishi's own house and the guesthouse where the Beatles stayed.
Indeed, in February 1968 Rishikesh hit world headlines when the four Beatles and their partners stayed, following an interest and earlier visit by George Harrison. Ringo and his wife didn't like the vegetarian food, missed their children and left after a couple of weeks, but the others…
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Clover Garden
At the southern end of Nagasaki, some former homes of the city's pioneering Meiji period European residents have been reassembled in this hillside garden. The series of moving stairways up the hill, along with the koi ponds and fountains, gives it the air of a cultural theme park (ever popular in Japan). The stylish houses are the main draw here, along with the interesting history and superb views across Nagasaki.
The garden takes its name from Thomas Glover (1838-1911), whose arms-importing operations played an important part in the Meiji Restoration; he built the first train line in Japan and he helped establish the country's first modern shipyard.
The best way to…
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Pinang Peranakan Mansion
The wealthy Baba-Nonyas of the Straits colonial period had some of the most eclectic tastes of their time; their wealth and their home’s position on so many trade routes afforded access to English tilework, Scottish iron embellishments, continental European art and furniture and, of course, the heights of Chinese opulence in interior design. All of the above crash together rather beautifully in the restored Pinang Peranakan Mansion, former home of Chung Keng Quee, 19th-century merchant, secret-society leader and all-round community pillar. His ornate home is full of antiques and furniture of the period he lived in. There’s also an exhibition on Nonya customs, and guided…
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Vivekananda House
The Vivekananda House is interesting not only for the displays on the famous ‘wandering monk’, but also for the semicircular structure in which it’s housed. Swami Vivekananda stayed here briefly in 1897 and preached his ascetic philosophy to adoring crowds. The museum houses a collection of photographs and memorabilia from the swami’s life, a gallery of religious historical paintings and the ‘meditation room’ where Vivekananda stayed. Free one-hour meditation classes are held on Wednesday nights at 7pm.
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87 Ma May
The traditional houses of the Old Quarter are a huge part of the neighbourhood's appeal, but you'll rarely have an opportunity to see beyond their shopfronts. Here, you can - this house is a beauty, lovingly restored and frozen in its late-19th-century condition. The woodwork upstairs is particularly impressive, and it's surprising to see how effectively the courtyard creates an open, livable space.
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Sumiya Pleasure House
Shimabara, a district northwest of Kyoto Station, was Kyoto’s original pleasure quarters. At its peak during the Edo period (1600–1867) the area flourished, with more than 20 enormous ageya – magnificent banquet halls where artists, writers and statesmen gathered in a ‘floating world’ ambience of conversation, art and fornication. Geisha were often sent from their okiya (living quarters) to entertain patrons at these restaurant-cum-brothels. By the start of the Meiji period, however, such activities had drifted north to the Gion district and Shimabara had lost its prominence. Though the traditional air of the district has dissipated, a few old structures remain.…
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Kumari Bahal
At the junction of Durbar and Basantapur Sqs is a red brick, three-storey building with some incredible intricately carved windows. This is the Kumari Bahal, home to the Kumari, the young girl who is selected to be the town's living goddess until she reaches puberty and reverts to being a normal mortal. The building, in the style of the courtyarded Buddhist vihara (monastic abodes) of the valley, was built in 1757 by Jaya Prakash Malla.
Inside the building the three-storey courtyard, or Kumari Chowk, is enclosed by magnificently carved wooden balconies and windows, making it quite possibly the most beautiful courtyard in Nepal. Photographing the goddess is forbidden, but…
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Ta Mok's House
Ta Mok's house, on a peaceful lakeside site, is a Spartan structure with a bunker in the basement, five childish wall murals downstairs and three more murals upstairs, including a map and an idyllic wildlife scene. About the only furnishings that weren't looted are the floor tiles - on these very bits of ceramic, the men who killed 1.7 million Cambodians planned offensives, passed death sentences and joked with friends.
To his former supporters, many of whom still reside around Anlong Veng, Ta Mok (Uncle Mok, AKA Brother Number Five) was harsh but fair, a benevolent builder of orphanages and schools, and a leader who kept order in stark contrast to the anarchic atmosphere…
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Hú Guǎng Huì Guǎn guild
The Hú Guǎng Huì Guǎn guild served as the seat of immigrant life 300 years ago in the Qin dynasty. Eager to increase the paltry population in Sìchuān, the government encouraged widespread immigration beginning in AD 316. By the time of the guild, the population was 800,000 and rapidly growing as settlers arrived mostly from the Hú (Húnán and Húběi) and Guǎng (Guǎngdōng and Guǎngxī) provinces, as well as ten others.
People came to the guild for legal processing and to worship and celebrate with other new arrivals. English guides are available, though you could easily spend a day wandering on your own through the beautifully restored guild houses and their…
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Malabar Hill
Mumbai's most exclusive neighbourhood of sky-scratchers and private palaces, Malabar Hill is at the northern promontory of Back Bay and signifies the top rung for the city's social and economic climbers. Surprisingly, one of Mumbai's most sacred and tranquil oases lies concealed among apartment blocks at its southern tip.
Banganga Tank is a precinct of serene temples, bathing pilgrims, meandering, traffic-free streets and picturesque old dharamsalas (pilgrims rest houses). The wooden pole in the centre of the tank is the centre of the earth - according to legend Lord Ram created the tank by piercing the earth with his arrow. The classical music Banganga Festival is held…
reviewed
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Chinese Clan Houses
There are five great Hokkein clans that formed the backbone of early Penang: Cheah , Khoo, Yeoh, Lim, Tan. Between the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s Penang welcomed a huge influx of Chinese immigrants primarily from the Fujian province of China. In order to help introduce uncles, aunties, cousins, 10th cousins, old neighborhood buddies and so on to their new home, the Chinese formed clan associations and built clan houses to create a sense of community, provide lodging, help find employment, and more, for newcomers. In the associated temples the clan would worship patron deities.
As time went on, many clan associations became extremely prosperous and their buildings grew to…
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Casa Gorordo Museum
Downtown, in a quiet residential area, the newly renovated Casa Gorordo Museum is one of the hidden gems of Cebu City. Originally a private home, it was built in the 1850s and purchased by the Gorordos, one of Cebu’s leading families. The lower part of the house has walls of Mactan coral stone, which makes it deliciously cool in the middle of the day. The stunning upper-storey living quarters are pure Philippine hardwood, held together not with nails but with wooden pegs. As well as having Spanish and native influences, the house incorporates principles of feng shui, owing to the Chinese ancestry of Gorordo matriarch Donna Telerafora (whose death portrait graces the…
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Sabarmati Ashram
About 5km from the centre, peacefully set on the river Sabarmati's west bank, this ashram was Gandhi’s headquarters during the long struggle for Indian independence. He founded the ashram in 1915 and it moved to its current site a few years later. It was from here on 12 March 1930 that Gandhi set out on his famous Salt March to the Gulf of Cambay in a symbolic protest. Handicrafts, handmade paper and spinning wheels are still produced on the site. There’s a paper factory over the road that’s worth a look (ask at the ashram for permission). Gandhi’s poignant, spartan living quarters are preserved and there’s a pictorial record of his life. The library contains the…
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Lin Antai Old Homestead
This is Taipei's oldest residential building. The southern Fujian style 30-room house was built during the years 1783-87, near what is now Dunhua S Rd. It was gradually expanded as this wealthy merchant family grew. The home reached its present size in 1823.
However, the city also expanded and in the 1970s this historic home was slated to be destroyed as the road was being widened. Thankfully, public outcry saved it; the building was painstakingly dismantled and, in 1983, rebuilt on this field across from Xinsheng Park. Today the house is notable for its central courtyard, swallowtail roof and period furniture. We're not sure the Lin family would have wanted their house…
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Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
This national monument, built in the 1880s, was the headquarters of Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Southeast Asia, which led to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the creation of the first Chinese republic. Dr Sun Yat Sen briefly stayed in the house, which was donated to the Alliance by a wealthy Chinese businessman, while touring Asia to whip up support for the cause. It’s a fine example of a colonial Victorian villa and houses a museum with items pertaining to Dr Sun’s life and work. A magnificent 60m-long bronze relief depicting the defining moments in Singapore’s history runs the length of one wall in the garden. Bus 145 from the Toa Payoh bus…
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Ta Mok's House
Takeo Province's most notorious native son, Ta Mok - AKA 'The Butcher' - served as the Khmer Rouge's chief-of-staff in the 1960s and was later commander of the Southwestern Zone, where he presided over horrific atrocities. Paranoid about his personal security, he had an elaborate house built in the middle of the lake and, it is said, had the architects and builders executed upon completion of each floor, which included hidden rooms and escape passages.
Today, Ta Mok's House - about 1km north of town at the end of a causeway - is occupied by a police training facility but can be viewed from the outside. Ta Mok, who had two more residences near Anlong Veng, died in prison…
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Faizullah Khojaev House
Faizullah Khojaev House was once home to one of Bukhara's many infamous personalities, the man who plotted with the Bolsheviks to dump Emir Alim Khan. Faizullah Khojaev was rewarded with the presidency of the Bukhara People's Republic, chairmanship of the Council of People's Commissars of the Uzbek SSR, and finally liquidation by Stalin.
The house was built in 1891 by his father, Ubaidullah, a wealthy merchant. Faizullah Khojaev lived here until 1925, when the Soviets converted it into a school. Slow restoration of the elegant frescoes, ghanch, latticework and Bukhara-style ceiling beams (carved, unpainted elm) has been going on for years. Call ahead to book an English…
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mid-20th-century villas
From Kep's northern roundabout, NH33A heads north past the mildewed shells of handsome mid-20th-century villas that speak of happier, carefree times - and of the truly terribly Khmer Rouge years. Built according to the precepts of the modernist style, with clean lines, lots of horizontals and little adornment, they once played host to glittering jet-set parties and may do so again someday, though for the time being many shelter squatters (and, some say, ghosts).
Don't even think of buying one - they were all snapped up for a song in the mid-1990s by speculators well-connected in Cambodia's murky corridors of military and civilian power.
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Moller House
One of Shànghǎi’s most whimsical buildings, the Scandinavian-influenced gothic peaks of the Moller House could double as the Munsters’ holiday home. The Swedish owner and horse-racing fan, Eric Moller, owned the Moller Line. Previously home to the Communist Youth League, the building now houses a hotel, the Hengshan Moller Villa. Fancifully perhaps, legend attests that a fortune teller warned Moller that tragedy would befall him on the house’s completion, so the tycoon dragged out its construction (until 1949). Moller clung on for a few years before dying in a plane crash in 1954.
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Agnes Keith House
On the hill above town, overlooking Teluk Sandakan and the scruffy port itself, is Agnes Keith House, an old two-storey wooden villa now renovated as a museum. Keith was an American author who came to Sandakan in the 1930s with her husband, the Conservator of Forests, and ended up writing several books about her experiences, including the famous Land Below the Wind. The Keiths’ villa was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt identically upon their return in 1946. The house fell into disrepair during the 1990s, but Sabah Museum restored it as a faithful recreation of Keith’s original abode.
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Zhou Enlai’s Former Residence
In 1946 Zhou Enlai, the urbane and much-loved (although some swear he was even more sly than Mao) first premier of the People’s Republic of China, lived in this former French Concession Spanish villa at 107 (now 73) Sinan Rd. Zhou was then head of the Communist Party’s Shànghǎi office, and spent much of his time giving press conferences and dodging Kuomintang agents who spied on him from across the road. There’s not much to see these days except spartan beds and stern-looking desks, but the charming neighbourhood, with its lovely old houses, is a great place to wander around.
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Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
This small enclave of offices and residences served as the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea during WWII. In response to brutal colonial rule by the Japanese, the Korean heads of state fled to China in 1909 and formed an alliance. They set up camp in Shànghǎi and eventually moved to Chóngqìng in 1940. The provisional government's plea to President Roosevelt, written in imperfect but plaintive English, hangs in a gallery accompanied by haunting footage of the air raids.
This is within 10 minutes' walking distance of Liberation Monument.
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Istana Mangkunegaran
Dating back to 1757, the Istana Mangkunegaran is in good condition and is rewarding to visit. Technically a puri (palace) rather than a kraton (a kraton is occupied by the first ruling house), this is the home of the second house of Solo. It was founded after a bitter struggle against Pakubuwono II launched by his nephew Raden Mas Said (an ancestor of Madam Tien Suharto, the late wife of the former president). Also offers decent guided tours (in English). Members of the aristocratic family still live at the back of the palace.
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P Ramlee House
Who would have guessed that this humble, and now thoroughly restored kampung house was the birthplace of Malaysia's biggest megastar, P Ramlee. Ramlee was particularly known for his singing voice and acted in and directed 66 films in his lifetime. No other Malaysian celebrity has ever reached the same iconic status. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44 in 1973.
Artefacts and photos are displayed in the main room, while the other areas of the house are furnished as they would have been when Ramlee grew up and are scattered with his personal items.
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Yang's Ancestral Hall
Yang's Ancestral Hall at Beishan Village (Běishāncūn; 北山村), Nánpíng (南屏), is a shrine built in 1868 and the largest Lingnan architecture representative of its kind in Zhuhai.
To get there, take bus 34 near the landmark Vanguard Department Store on Yingbin Dadao. Alight at Beǐshān (the 2nd stop after crossing Qianshan Bridge). Cross the road (be careful!) to Sinopec gas station. Take the path beside it to Beishan village. Go straight down and turn left till you see a basketball court.
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