Armenia Armenia is a small country in south-west Asia with a population of only 3 million people. Also, it has a sizable place in spiritual history. Besides, most historians believe that in 301 AD. Moreover, it became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity. Furthermore, this Asian country made Christianity its official religion […]

The last surviving sea silk seamstress : 62-year-old Chiara Vigo slips on a white tunic, recites a prayer and plunges headfirst into the crystalline sea off the tiny Sardinian island of Sant’Antioco. Using the moonlight to guide her, Vigo descends up to 15m below the surface to reach a series of secluded underwater coves and […]

Where you can swing over the edge of the earth? Every morning before the sun rises, 75-year-old Carlos Sánchez says a prayer in his one-room hut, grabs a pair of binoculars and slowly climbs up into a lonely treehouse that leans precariously over the edge of a mountain. From his perch high above the misty […]

Does Santa Claus come-from Finland ? The Dutch call him Sinterklaas, and in Germany, he goes by the name of Weihnachtsmann. You might know him simply as Santa. He is a man of many names, and many nations claim him as their own. But one country may be one step closer to declaring itself Santa […]

Lonely columns that once supported three open-air theatres, a basilica and a temple dotted the hilltop. From Alomari’s home, I took in the dramatic view of the Sea of Galilee and Israel. A little further east, Syria’s south-western corner spread out before me. Forty-five years ago, Alomari was born in this very place – a […]

How the South Korean language was designed to unify ‘Uri’ isn’t a mere grammar point, it’s a cultural canon that captures the very essence of a nation. “Our husband is also a teacher,” my co-worker told me as she noisily slurped her soup. She was seated beside another colleague, who was slurping hers, too. I […]

A strange life I arrived at a pea-green footbridge to nowhere. From my vantage point on the towpath, the bridge’s brushed-steel curves rose and dipped over the river before disappearing into a thick cluster of privet. I watched passersby stroll over. Most peeped and retreated. The more brazen continued, swallowed by the hedges into one […]

Europeans strange border anomaly : In a quiet corner of northern Europe there exists a geopolitical anomaly, where many buildings have an international border running right through them. It’s a place where a person might be in the same bed as his or her spouse, but sleep in different countries. A place where people move […]

Thailand’s National Day (December 5) was marked in a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday. The function was attended by a number Iranian officials as well as foreign ambassadors, including Thailand officials, to Tehran. Addressing the ceremony, the Thai Ambassador to Tehran Kallayana Vipattipumiprates said, “Today I am honored to host a Thai National Day Reception […]

No-one knows why Kuching was named after a cat, but residents of this Malaysian city can’t seem to get enough of fluffy felines   The Asian City obsessed with cats: Sitting in the taxi on my way into town from the Kuching airport, I could already see that I was going to get along fine […]