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| July 11th, 2011
Of the places we visited, Singapore struck me as having perhaps both the least and the most sense of historical memory. On the one hand, the tiny city-state pays the past no mind, forging ahead as a free agent economically and politically. On the... -
| July 5th, 2011
And so it arrived: our last full day in Asia. Faced with the prospect of a 5:50 a.m. flight the next morning, we had planned to stay out all night and then head to the airport, so we allowed ourselves to sleep in on Wednesday to enable late-night... -
| July 5th, 2011
Since our arrival in Singapore — actually, since even before that — Vernie had been promoting this mythical Singaporean food item: chicken rice. Is it chicken? Is it rice? Neither? Both? What is it? On our last evening in Singapore, we went with... -
| July 5th, 2011
We began Tuesday, our third day in Singapore, with one of my favorite foods we had on our trip: mee siam, a spicy noodle dish. Vernie explained that, unlike in the United States, any food can be eaten at any meal. Back home, I might have cereal for... -
| July 4th, 2011
After our wonderful day at the beach, we alighted from the cable car at the Harbourfront station of the MRT and took the train to Vernie and Dhiviya’s favorite place to get roti prata. Though Vernie had hyped quite a few of the foods she planned for... -
| July 4th, 2011
A few months ago, when Emmy and I visited Vernie at Wesleyan, she suggested that we celebrate the Chinese New Year by having a traditional Singaporean steamboat, or hot pot, dinner. Always eager to try new food, we hastily agreed. So, with Vernie... -
| July 4th, 2011
Much more so than Thailand, Vietnam seemed to wear its past on its sleeve. When you think about it, the country has had a series of particularly unfortunate circumstances, between the French and American interventions. It's pretty easy to see how... -
| July 2nd, 2011
In Thailand, we had plenty of great meals on the street for next to free. But the best food we had was inthe city's finest restaurants. The food that came out of the best kitchens was more refined, more complex and just more delicious —... -
| June 28th, 2011
After our amazing lunch at KOTO on Wednesday, we headed across the street to the Temple of Literature, a very old Chinese temple compound in the heart of Hanoi. We took a few minutes to explore the temple grounds, the last of many, many... -
| June 26th, 2011
We left Chiang Mai early on Tuesday after encountering a bit of a runaround at the airport. We arrived at the domestic terminal, since our first flight was a Thai Airways jet back to Bangkok to connect to a Qatar Airways flight to Hanoi. But we were... -
| June 26th, 2011
Chiang Mai was very different from Bangkok, and not just in its northern food. The differences became apparent the moment we landed and our hotel picked us up. The ride from the airport to the hotel did not feature any traffic, and took about... -
| June 23rd, 2011
During our time in Chiang Mai, we explored all of the city's major tourist sights. This meant we saw quite a few temples, known as wats. After our time in Bangkok, Thai temples started to get a little bit repetitive. I can sum up what we saw with a... -
| June 21st, 2011
One of my mantras lately has been that all life is an expectations game. That is, we're only really able to judge things in relation to our previously-held expectations. We can be delighted by something about which we had low expectations but... -
| June 19th, 2011
After our delicious meal at Eat Me, we had the pleasure of talking to Adit Vansoh, our host for the evening, about the vision behind Eat Me, the story of its menu and ingredients, and the future of the Bangkok restaurant scene. Check... -
| June 19th, 2011
On Sunday, after visiting Wat Arun and having our street picnic, we set out on the Skytrain to downtown Bangkok to visit the house of Jim Thompson. Thompson had been stationed in Thailand in 1945 by the Office of Strategic Services,... -
| June 15th, 2011
Thanks to an incredibly favorable exchange rate, Emmy and I have had the luxurious privilege of dining in most of Bangkok's best restaurants. It's been a real treat, and I've had some of the best meals of my life. We've also been able to get some... -
| June 10th, 2011
As we explored Hong Kong, several things kept striking me about the contrasts we observed throughout the city. Hong Kong felt very much like it could have been any major Western city: it was cosmopolitan, busy, modern and vibrant.Of course, this is... -
| June 9th, 2011
Armed with a recommendation from the New York Times travel section's incredibly trusty 36 Hours feature, we set off for lunch on Monday at Butao Ramen, supposedly one of the finest ramen places in Hong Kong. Accompanied by my aunt, we...
Chaz Kelsh
Profile
Chaz just graduated from Brown, where he studied public policy and sociology and worked at The Brown Daily Herald. This fall, he will move to Boston and begin working at Bain and Company.
In the meantime, follow him as he travels through Southeast Asia this summer!
