Travel | Travel
Aug.23.2012
Getting off the train in Prague in 1988 was stepping into a Kafka story – or a film noir of dark streets, decaying buildings, aggressive shadows, and a constant suspicion that hidden eyes watched. The old train station near the top of Wenceslas Square spilled us onto a flight of grimy steps...
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Aug.23.2012
“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.” –Henry David Thoreau
Tired of the air conditioning and needing fresh air, I recently opened one of my kitchen windows and I heard them. I sighed. The sweetness of the familiar summer sound mingled with the...
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Aug.21.2012
I hate the grocery store.
I like having food, but the process of shopping for it is annoying and don't even get me started on the unpacking and putting away business.
Michael cooks and...he likes to buy the food. Perfect right?
It would be, except lately he invites me to go with him, cruise...
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Aug.19.2012
Why, people ask, do I wander the world? Why do my wife and I spend time in other countries, seek out places that are different from those we’re used to and are comfortable in?
To start with, traveling gives us perspective. As we engage with the world, we come to realize that our...
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Aug.19.2012
Day broke over the city I was working in. I expected scenes of a city scarred by the brute force of Mother Nature. The city next to us had received the brunt of the typhoon and there was tragically one or two people killed . However as I opened my window shades I saw, well, nothing. The sun shone...
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Aug.18.2012
Note: The following essay was adapted from my book, "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" in the section called Viet Kieu (Vietnamese living overseas). A version of it was also adapted for acommentary on NPR's All Things Considered. Also embedded between the...
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Aug.18.2012
I'm pleased to announce the release of my photo book, Shorescapes of Southern British Columbia.
Hardcover available from Blurb:
US dollarsCanadian dollars
iPad compatible eBook available from iTunes:
iTunes USiTunes CanadaiTunes UKiTunes Australia
Happy reading!
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Aug.17.2012
Typhoons, natural or manmade, have an exquisite sense of timing. They usually find me when I am relaxed and happy and thus unprepared. Of course when I was leaving the hotel last Wednesday I did not know that there was a typhoon when I left, but it explains a lot. I left the hotel I was...
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Aug.15.2012
I spent a week in Hong Kong recently and just moved my daughter down to college.
Those events are both pretty big.
I'd never been to Hong Kong before. My daughter is now living in a very cute dorm room and starting to add color to her own life canvas.
Again, huge cultural experience and...
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Aug.13.2012
The acrylic Coke bottles brazenly alternating with inverted Havana Club bottles couldn’t help but snag the attention of passersby. It was just one of the paintings, drawings, handicrafts, and other works of art being hawked by their creators at the weekly...
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