ESSAYS/NEWS
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Want to Stop a Trump Statue in Adams? It’ll Cost You Ten Dollars.
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The boiler in the basement of Turn Hall in Adams, Massachusetts, was cast in Westfield and installed in 1902. The members call it the Beast.…
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The Taxi Hit Her. Hong Kong Put Her on Trial for 91 Days.
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On the afternoon of April 25, 2016, a Nepali woman named Thapa Kamala was crossing Tai Tam Road in Stanley when a taxi hit her.…
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Hong Kong Gave the Blind a Remote for the Traffic Lights. I Bought AirPods.
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The ticking starts before I can see the crossing at the traffic lights. Tock. Tock. Tock. It’s a slow, patient knock, like someone at the…
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A Hong Kong Expat’s Guide to Finding Freedom in Singapore
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I bought a pack of chewing gum at the 7-Eleven in Mei Foo on Saturday night, and nobody asked to see a doctor’s note. This…
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Waffle House vs Cha Chaan Teng: Why Hong Kong’s Greasy Diners and America’s 24-Hour Grill Are the Same Restaurant
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I took Ruth to a Waffle House once, on a trip to Florida, at roughly two in the morning, because I wanted her to understand…
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The Night We All Agree to Look at the Same Thing
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Ruth handed me a mooncake tonight the way other people hand you a grenade with the pin already pulled, carefully, with both hands, and a…
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I’m American, But Hong Kong Is the Real Melting Pot
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Order a yuenyeung at Lan Fong Yuen on Gage Street, the dai pai dong that’s been running the same eight-step brewing technique since 1952, and you’ll get a cup…
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“This Is Just Hong Kong”: How I Stopped Fearing Chungking Mansions and Fell in Love With It
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I have to confess something that took me years to admit, even to myself. For most of my life, I thought I knew what happened…
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The Squeeze: How Hong Kong’s Taxis Are Losing a War Nobody Asked Them to Fight
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I have written before about the theater of hailing a Hong Kong taxi, the U-shaped hand gesture under an imaginary harbor, the window rolling down just…