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.
Same Same Vang Vieng
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.
Xishuangbanna: The Other Side
I–like everyone else–thought the world would be spinning by now, but no. We are right back where we started, well sort of.
Things I didn’t Post Because I was Binge-watching Netflix during a Pandemic
Last week, I returned from Asia to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I began an self imposed Corona-tine. I binged watched Tiger King and episodes of Narcos with my nephew, a Fulbright scholar who was studying in Brazil when all hell broke loose. His govt funded program got hit with the virus, too. Since I was doing that, I didn’t […]
Never go to an airport on the day they are closing international borders.
Never go to an airport on the day they are closing international borders.
Fractured Folk Tale
For all of you hoarding toilet paper during the Corona Virus, this Laos Folktale is for you.
Parent Meeting, Malaysian Style
The party was an experience in Muslim tradition crashing with classic Americana. Rooty the Bear with burkas, curly fries with sardine puffs, Lego birthday cake and gift bags of jack fruit.
Sinhs
There’s only one thing more disgusting than having nothing to sell at the market than rodents. That’s being the tourist who wants to take a picture. Me.
Reclining Buddha, Falling Tourist
This is the picture you see on tourist websites for the golden Buddha in the Tham Phu Kham Cave in Vang Vieng, Laos. What they don’t show you is the black hole behind it, the one that I fell into, in spite of the flash light strapped around my head.
The Tao of Lao
I think of their experience while I am in exile in Laos during the Corona frenzy where my only regret is not packing my yoga mat.