-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
With the finale of Parks and Recreation last week, TV has entered a sad, sad era. It’ll be the first time in nearly 10 years that neither Tina Fey nor Amy Poehler will be on the small screen. In honor of their comedic genius, I’ve decided to give this edition of Secret Saigon a Mean … Continue reading
Vietnam is recovering this week from another Lunar New Year – nine blissful days where the country practically comes to a standstill to ring in the Year of the Goat. The city slowly empties as work-obsessed urbanites head back to their countryside hometowns, shops are shuttered and you can practically feel the country taking a … Continue reading
I love meeting artists. I love seeing the world through a different set of eyes. Eyes that see in a palette of colors. The sky isn’t just blue. It’s cerulean. The bark of a tree isn’t brown. It’s burnt sienna with a touch of yellow ochre where the sunlight finds its way through the leaves. … Continue reading
I am what is known as a late adopter. (Fine. It’s not strictly one of the technology cycles but much preferable to being called a “laggard“.) I didn’t climb aboard the iPhone bandwagon as much as I was chloroformed-into-a-moving-van onto it by a friend who had an after-contract 3GS ripe for the taking. By the … Continue reading
I’m trying to think of the exact moment I became the beach equivalent of a vapid, disconnected supermodel. Having traveled to some of the world’s best beaches in Zanzibar, Curacao, Hawaii and countless Thai beaches, I can relate to supermodel Linda Evangelista who famously said: “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.” … Continue reading
When exactly is that moment where you realize that you’ve been traveling or living abroad for so long that what you’ve always called home is no longer home? Is it when you’re more excited to get back on the plane than you were to get off it? Or when you realize the lives of family … Continue reading
Three times a week I make the five minute drive over a singular, newly constructed bridge on the way to my tennis club. The wide four-laned road lined with restaurants (including duck rice porridge for which Thanh Da is known), apartment buildings and one lonely KFC quickly narrows. Small one-story houses line the road. Shops … Continue reading
I’ve never been a big fan of ballet. Surprising, I know, considering I’m such a huge snob supporter of the arts. But when I got a chance to sit in on the final rehearsal of Cinderella at the Saigon Opera House, I didn’t refuse (mostly because I love the old world glamor of the Opera … Continue reading
I’ve always wanted to live on an island. It seems my whole adult life has been a series of trips trying to find that most perfect of beaches accompanied by a carefree existence perennially lived in flip flops and a faded t-shirt. And coconuts. In my dreams, there are always coconuts. So it was a … Continue reading
“Mung bean”, I whisper to the boy in square hipster glasses dressed all in black and hugging an iPad. “This way”, he says as he checks me off the guest list and leads me to the elevator and an upstairs apartment in a non-descript corporate-looking building in Saigon. The door opens to a minimalist space, … Continue reading
fly, Icarus, fly 