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328 Katong Laksa, Asam Laksa, Asia, Batu Ferringhi, Buddhism, Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Georgetown, India, Jalan Penang Road, Jooi Hooi Cafe, Joseph Conrad, Kedai Kopi Sin Hwa Restaurant, Malaysia, Penang Island, Seven Terraces, Singapore, Somerset Maugham, True Blue Cuisine, Vasco da Gama
A sunset over the Andaman Sea on Penang Island in Malaysia.
Perhaps all of our lives changed 518 long and almost forgotten years ago.
On May 20, 1498, in the waning months of the 15th century, Vasco da Gama became the first European to set foot in India. The world would never be the same again. Food would irrevocably never be the same again. And as if ordered by fate, da Gama would die in Portuguese India’s Cochin on Christmas Eve, 1524. His death, 26 years after his first landing in India, still resonates in the 21st century. The geography of the Portuguese explorer’s passing reminds us that, like us, he would not be able to physically extricate himself from having made contact with the East.
In a global world that’s here to stay, we are all still trying to understand each other.
Sound Travels with Jeff von der Schmidt 