Want to visit an Internet cafe in downtown Phnom Penh? If the government has its way, that might not be an option for too much longer. New circular 1815 has been put out by the Cambodian government that states that Internet cafes shouldn’t be allowed to operate within 500 meters of schools or educational institutions. […]
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Jail, Young Insane Males, and the Connecticut Shootings: Thought or Two
The Connecticut shootings are horrifying. But they’ve also got me thinking about demographics and jail-time. Could it be that one reason we see mostly (but by no means exclusively) privileged white male shooters is because they’re better-shielded from prison at a young age, unlike their poorer/and or minority counterparts? We’re well aware that young white […]
Not-Actually-Meat in Vietnam: Vegetarian cuisine of Indochina
For such a pork-obsessed country, the Vietnamese do a remarkably good job with vegetarian food. Especially vegetarian food that cleverly simulates meat. I’ve heard that vegetarian restaurants used to be fairly uncommon in Vietnam, and were often run by nuns as a side-business. However, as the Vietnamese become more health (and obesity) conscious, vegetarian restaurants […]
Vy Da Quan: Vietnamese Food, Best Consumed Out of Little Blue Chairs
VY DA QUAN, 62 LY TU TRONG, HO CHI MINH CITY The best Vietnamese food is consumed on the street or near it, off tiny tables that appear designed to accommodate intractable five-year-olds not yet allowed to eat with the grownups. There will be little blue plastic chairs to sit in—sometimes red, on rare […]
Enormously delicious porkchops in Saigon
Saigon is a food city—among the best in the world. A place of endless configurations and reconfigurations, it’d be almost impossible to sample an iota of the good stuff on offer here. However, I can at least try (over the next few decades of my anticipated Asia travel—assuming the world fails to end, Saigon does […]
Chinese dam collapse in Cambodia
Workers missing as Chinese-built dam collapses in Cambodia – AP Dam collapse in Cambodia leaves four workers missing – GlobalPost An extremely worrisome incident that has got me thinking about the rights of dam workers in Southeast Asia. We know in the West that working on dams is not the safest of endeavors—but that’s not […]
Back in Vietnam: Second Time’s the Charm
Vietnam: my first trip here was perfunctory and cut short due to personal reasons I won’t air in public. This was disappointing: I spent barely a week in Vietnam and got to try almost none of the food, which I’d been dreaming about sampling since I picked up a copy of Anthony Bourdain’s “Cooks Tour” […]
The Portugese Settlement in Malacca: Still Here
The Portuguese Settlement is about 15 minutes outside of downtown Malacca give or take. It is perhaps a 20 ringgit cab ride, probably less if you are better at negotiating than myself. The cab driver takes you through a gate and down a quiet, sun-washed lane, and deposits you at a cemented over square. This […]
Crackdown on monks – with fire – in Burma
One step forward, two steps back. That’s how it goes in Burma. Brutal Protest Crackdown Injures at Least 27 Monks – Irrawaddy Magazine Sad news after the vaunted Obama visit of less than a week ago: a peaceful protest by monks and civilians at a Chinese copper mine was broken up by police armed with […]
Golden Star Restaurant: Yangon’s Finest!
Burma is a tea culture, and it is also a snacking culture. Coffee may be king in Vietnam, but Burma is the middle-ground between South Asia and Southeast Asia: in Yangon, it’s always tea-and-nosh time somewhere. People drink sweet milky tea reminiscent of India’s iconic masala chai,but they also are partial to clear Chinese […]