Tag: Armchair travel

Time Travelling Postcards From: Christmas in New York, 2002
March 6, 2015

Time Travelling Postcards From: Christmas in New York, 2002

It’s damp season here in Hanoi. The moldy months are in full swing and I’m feeling super protective of my electronics and my reams of ephemeral life data. Hanoi, like Shanghai before it,  kills electronics. I’m quietly doing multiple back ups, fully aware of the …

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Big Dumplings in Little China
October 20, 2013

Big Dumplings in Little China

It’s hard to write about your homeland.   I’ve spent decades honing my skills at describing places from the perspective of an outsider looking in. It helps to not fully understand what’s going on, or if I actually do know what’s going on, to be …

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I’ll See Myself Out: Notes on Being a Tired Hermit With Possibly Unrealistic Expectations
April 15, 2013

I’ll See Myself Out: Notes on Being a Tired Hermit With Possibly Unrealistic Expectations

I’ve got approximately two months left in Shanghai.     After over four years in this city, most of which were spent trying to feel like it was home and trying to convince myself that I was in the right place, doing the right thing, …

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A Totally Impractical Guide to 6 Underachieving Nights in Hong Kong and Macau
October 9, 2012

A Totally Impractical Guide to 6 Underachieving Nights in Hong Kong and Macau

This is one of those times when I have, in theory, at least 4 blog posts worth of things to write about but haven’t the wherewithal to even try to shove it all into one, much less 4. Bear with me then, as I attempt …

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A Totally Impractical Guide to Morocco: Casablanca!
July 21, 2012

A Totally Impractical Guide to Morocco: Casablanca!

I’m not just here to give you completely useless information about China, no. Every so often, I do get out and go to other countries. Today, I’m in Morocco. Yes, just like that. I’m sneaky that way. Ladies and gents, I give you the most …

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Making You Jealous in Meknès, Morocco
July 18, 2012

Making You Jealous in Meknès, Morocco

So, we are now in Meknès, about 3.5 hours by train from Casablanca and ever so much more likeable. This is the Meknès medina where we are staying.     And after we arrived yesterday noonish, with the sun blazing down with peculiar ferocity, we retreated into …

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Making you jealous in Casablanca
July 17, 2012

Making you jealous in Casablanca

I was going to write a long, thoughtful post about arriving in Morocco and getting terribly, terribly lost in Casablanca today. I was going to make joyful noises about the realization that my French is still very much there, somewhere under the surface of the …

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And You May Ask Yourself, ‘How Did I Get Here?’ (Let’s Talk About Privilege, Shall We?)
August 31, 2011

And You May Ask Yourself, ‘How Did I Get Here?’ (Let’s Talk About Privilege, Shall We?)

About five years ago, a friend of mine in Istanbul sent me a questionnaire about privilege, which I dutifully filled out and posted on my Livejournal. I was, I discovered, fantastically privileged. This was something I had suspected for a long time but had never …

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Kandy Esala Perahera: What the World Needs Now is More Dancing Elephants Lit Up Like Christmas Trees. Really.
August 6, 2011

Kandy Esala Perahera: What the World Needs Now is More Dancing Elephants Lit Up Like Christmas Trees. Really.

  So we are back in rainy Kandy, smack dab in the middle of the Esala Perahera festival. I don’t have my guide book with me to remind me what exactly it’s about.  You can Google it then lambaste me for being a lazy traveler.  …

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Not a Top 10 List: My 7 Favourite Posts
July 14, 2011

Not a Top 10 List: My 7 Favourite Posts

  It’s a funny thing about going home again after a relatively long absence (a year and a half this time), even if it’s only for three weeks: Everything is just so normal and calm and sane and utterly non-extraordinary that I really don’t have …

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A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #10: Marie Szamborski of Shantiwallah
April 24, 2011

A Totally Impractical Expat Interview #10: Marie Szamborski of Shantiwallah

Welcome to the esteemed tenth expat interview in my series of a bazillion.  After a brief hiatus from interviews with human expats last week (hello Hector Lakemonster!) I’d like to introduce you to someone who has been with me (and this blog) since it was …

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Notes on the First Anniversary of my 7th Blog
April 18, 2011

Notes on the First Anniversary of my 7th Blog

Origins I started this blog near the end of last April, impulsively, after I read the words ‘ephemera and detritus’ in a comment on a blog I’ve long since lost track of.  Possibly from Salon’s now defunct Broadsheet. Rather than just noting it down and …

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