My first night in Hanoi, we sat at a sidewalk bia ho’i, a local hangout favored for drinking lots of home-brewed beers while perched on minuscule plastic stools a mere 6 inches off the ground. We were a bit puzzled by bia ho’i protocol, but decided to roll with it […]
I took out a broom and swept the floors of my beach bungalow in Vietnam yesterday. It was the first time I’d done any real manner of cleaning in 2+ months – the gift, I suppose, of living out of hotels and guesthouses. And yes, I’m still staying at a […]
On the third night of Diwali, the most celebratory eve of the 4-day Hindu holiday, I sat cross-legged on cushions high above the Rajasthani city of Udaipur at the Soul Meet Cafe, taking in the silky black waters of Lake Pichola, and watching as festivities unfolded below and above my […]
Call me “Old One-Shoe, Brokeback Val.” Really, you can. And I dig it. Because that’s the short of my story in Fethiye. And because of the short, I’ve come to understand a good, long lesson. Arriving in the seaside town of Fethiye, I exhaled a sigh of relief on a […]