I’ve never got kicked out of a country before, but let me tell you, it’s a bit more dramatic than getting kicked out of high school chemistry, which happened on a weekly basis.
Goodbye Zàijiàn
Luang PraBang: From Monks to Monkey Wrenches
You’ll see pricy menus with silk scoops of gelato across the street from temples swarming with novices in their saffron robes, peeping cell phones concealed in their folds of fabric, their faces glued to the glowing screens.
Same Same Vang Vieng
The last time I was in Laos, I was locked out of China due to covid, floating around SE Asia with only the clothes that I had in my backpack, trying to teach online for two months. Bathing suits, mind you, do violate the dress code.. After a short stint in Kuala Lumpur to join a few other misplaced teachers, I returned to Laos until I had to evacuate the country, one of the more traumatic moments of my life, grown folks begging with ticket agents to board planes.
Mushroom hunting
The landscape was sprinkled with things you’d only see in China: old temples from the Qing dynasty and an occasional sofa.
Is it Hot Pot Yet?
There are no chopsticks at the table; the servers give you a timer instead, just to make sure that you don’t die from eating a slightly poisonous, undercooked mushroom.
Only In China
nly in China will a brand of cat food be so horrible, that even stray a stray kitten puts it nose up to it.
Catch up 追上 zhuīshàng
This year, I ventured to Chicago 芝加哥, where I got to catch up on all kinds of things. Drug deals, non-binary teen groping on CTA platforms, drunken cub fans on trains, and a crash course of what colors not to wear in various gang-infested neighborhoods. Fashion tip: Red and black not is not to be worn in Uptown.
Hanoi
The only thing hotter than the weather is the food in Hanoi.
Viet-Yumm!
You got to like a country that offers beer to their Deities. Vietnam is a country of fiery kitchens, each with its own flair from the tip of the north to the fresh sea food and mi six bull frogs of the south.
Fat Kitty, Meth Kitty
The cat curse followed me to China. Are all single females of a certain age destined to become crazy cat ladies?