The Persimmon Tree and the Orange Door
The taxi was parked under a persimmon tree, surrounded by a low stone wall and the kind of quiet that…
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Three Days in the Seoraksan Mist
The ride from Sokcho to the trailhead takes forty minutes by local bus, and the woman in the ticket booth…
The Coast Keeps Changing Before You Do
The trail comes right up to the water in places where the volcanic rock has been worn smooth by generations…
The Unmanned Stations and the Snacks In Between
The train slowed to a stop at a platform with no sign, no ticket window, and no other passengers. Just…
Stall 47’s Eel Ajumma Was Not Impressed by My Empty Plate
The woman at the eel stall didn’t smile when I sat down. She was in her sixties, maybe older, with…
One Bowl, One Table, One Street in Seoul
Late October, a Tuesday afternoon. I’d taken the wrong exit from Jongno 3-ga station and ended up in a tangle…
The chicken coop and the napkin
The trailhead wasn’t where the guesthouse owner said it would be. I stood at the end of a dirt track…
The Night the Elephants Walked Through Us
The first thing you notice at the Khao Yai salt lick after dark is not the elephants. It’s the quiet….
Battling leeches and bamboo roots on the Doi Inthanon jungle trail to the hidden pagoda of Kew Mae Pan
The rain started about forty-five minutes in, which was almost exactly when I realized my boots were a size too…
The Wrong Island, and the Right One
The diesel fumes hit first, before any view of the water. That’s the smell of a real ferry terminal, not…