Chinese culture plays a predominant part of our modern homogenous society. After all, it is hard to find a major city these days that doesn’t have a Chinatown. The smells and sounds of a Western Chinatown bring nostalgia to people from all regions of Asia, but don’t always indentify with core Chinese principles found back …
Category: Travel
Seeing Saigon from the Backseat
It’s dusk in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it is still locally known, and the haze of the last ounce of light from the crimson setting sun is smothered in smog. The thousands of motorcycles and scooters that clog the streets of Saigon turn on their headlights lighting up the entire city in …
Getting Tribal in Chiang Mai
The reflection of me in her metallic bonnet seemed to project my weary state of mind. The red hue of my sunburn could be seen contrasting with undamaged parts of my pale skin. The mirror image projected from the overlaying pieces of metal upon her head made my lanky body appear to double in size …
A Fly on the Wall, South Korea
Darting, diverting eyes are my only immediate companion this weekend. As a foreigner in Seoul, I stick out like a walking eclipse, but the Koreans try their best to be polite and not stare. Standing over a group of four women chanting at Samsung Park doesn't draw any noticeable glares my direction, so I continue to look on. The four …
Decadence and Leisure in Laos
The sun slowly begins to make slow silhouettes out of two children playing beneath the red sky on the Mekong River. To the Laos (pronounced Lao by the locals) side of the river there is a large sand bar which swells the shallow stream of water. On the side which divides Laos from Thailand, a small mountain …
Justin Calderón 