WATCHING PARISIAN WAITERS is watching an angry, anxious modern dance where things break and crash and no one ends up happy. Two young men will determinedly stare ahead and chug towards each other quickly, like rushing into a mirror, and at the last possible moment stomp down hard on the black-and-white tile floors and leap to one side as if staging a choreographed fight for … Continue reading Notes From a Paris Cafe
THE FIRST TIME I SHAT in Singapore’s airport, I was awe-struck. It was clean. It was spacious. It smelled pleasantly floral. The experience was so wholly enrapturing that I literally did not want to leave, so I didn’t–not for at least 10 excessive minutes, leaving V. to wait outside, possibly confused and worried, while I jotted down the following notes: I have pooed in Ben … Continue reading Notes From a Singaporean Toilet: The Greatest Airport Bathroom in the World
RIDING THE SLEEPER TRAIN is a meditative experience. You’re stuck in one place for perhaps a very long time, and come to realize that to simply sleep or read it all away is a waste of good travel. So you look out the window. What’s there? Green leaves, rice paddies, farmers in straw hats, decrepit brick homes, brown rivers, other trains, pink and yellow. It’s … Continue reading Notes From a Vietnam Train: Is Authentic Travel Possible When Gazing Out a Train Window for 16 Straight Hours?
THE MAN SITTING NEXT TO ME is trying to swindle a bracelet for free. The woman in front of him holds out a few colours, and he chooses black. He is muscular and hasn’t shaved in a few days, with green cargo shorts and a loose, sweaty v-neck. She looks like a rainbow of Thai kitsch, from goofy hat to floor-length skirt. He changes his … Continue reading Notes From a Thai Cafe: Watching the Man Who Won’t Have Sex with this Waitress
A Long Way Back 