This blog could be a diary, except diaries don’t usually come with a ranked list of ten things I ate in Kinosaki.
Hi, I’m Kal
I’m a Melbourne-based brown woman who hasn’t quit her job to travel the world. I work full-time, so I can travel sometimes and go on side quests at other times.
What I’m after isn’t another country ticked off a map. It’s the smaller stuff. Why the chai at a truck stop beats the chai anywhere else. What a festival is actually for. Which market aunty will tell you her entire life story if you buy a bag of mangoes. I go looking for that, I eat a lot along the way, and I write it up here in bite-sized semi-memoir.
If markets, culture, festivals, unfamiliar food and a dash of woo-woo sound like your thing, you have reached my home, and I warmly welcome you in.
A Bit More About Me
I’m Tamilan (South Indian) by race and Indonesian by birth. It makes me a polyglot who loves spicy food and is terrible at dancing. It can’t all be good, can it?
I’m into street photography, keep too many indoor plants, carry tarot cards in my work bag, and believe I was a fruit fly in a past life. I practice JOMO, Hygge and yoga. I read (and collect books I vow to read one day), write, and go on adventures. I can lose hours in a bookstore; I’m fascinated by fish markets, and I’ll eat anything with chopsticks.
My first solo trip was Bali, then years later Beijing. I’d move to Japan in a heartbeat. When I win the lottery, I’m buying a house in a small town somewhere between Tokyo and Takayama.
If…
If I were an essay, I’d want to be one of Nina Mingya Powles’.
If I were a stanza, I’d want to be found inside Lang Leav’s work.
If I were a tarot card, I’d be the Queen of Wands version of the Fool.
A Bit More About The Blog
The year was 2007. I was an early adopter of two things everyone and their cousins do: having a blog, and letting my phone ring so I could text back “what’s up?” and avoid an actual voice conversation.
Since then the blog has changed topics, names and platforms more times than I can count. The only constant is the writing. I get curious about something, I go on side quests to find out, and I put some of it here.
These days it’s market visits, culture chats, food, travel, and whatever I was reminiscing about on the plane. I post most Mondays.
Lastly, I echo Martial:
He lives two lives who relives his past with pleasure
This blog is my attempt to relive some of the good ones.
Blog Disclaimer
I guess this is as good a time as any for a disclaimer: Everything here is based on my own experiences and understanding, which means I’ll occasionally get something wrong. If I do, I’m sorry, and I’d really appreciate you telling me so I can fix it.
A Bit About You
Thank you for stopping by, reading, leaving comments, sharing posts and saying hello.
I’d love to know who’s out there. Say hi in the comments, email me at kulturekween [at] gmail [dot] com, or slide into my DMs @kulturekween.
Ps. I’m still trying to figure out the newsletter-in-your-inbox thing. At this rate, maybe by 2028.
Meanwhile, get Cultured and stay Kultured!
🧡 ━ KK
