Rice Bowl Diaries 2003

Mumbai, India March 24, 2003 My local sound guy Ajay is picking me up at the airport. He had worked…

Mumbai, India March 25, 2003 The first person we meet at Ling’s is Johnny Chi, a charismatic and flaming queen…

Mumbai, India March 26, 2003 We are waiting to meet Nini Ling at the Crawford Market. It’s an ungodly hour…

Kolkata, India March 28, 2003 We arrive on my 47th birthday in Calcutta. This is the Yeh family empire, our…

Darjeeling, India March 30, 2003 By the time we reach Darjeeling, my ideals of a dreamy Shangri-la is totally shattered.…

Sikkim to Delhi, India April 3, 2003 Cheuk is determined to find the missing Shangri-la since we’ve come this far…

Hong Kong – Toronto April 5, 2003 Hong Kong Airport Things got a bit nutty with Maria in Buenos Aires…

Buenos Aires, Argentina July 26, 2003 I met this French diplomat, Valerie Tehio on my last research trip. Valerie is…

Buenos Aires, Argentina July 28, 2003 La Boca is the underbelly of Buenos Aires and the roots of that melancholic…

Buenos Aires, Argentina July 31, 2003 Chiang’s San Telmo curio shop is sandwiched between a traditional parrilla restaurant and a…

Lima, Peru August 1, 2003 Cheuk was a little concern about my military fatigues because of the Shinning Path history…

Lima, Peru August 5, 2003 We are driving in the rain to an out of the way dive that serves…

Lunar New Year Eve Toronto, Canada February 8, 2005 Great Grand Dad was “right on” when he told me, “Once…