By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly “That was what I was most worried about when we got here,” Bicycle (yes, that is his name) confessed tonight, up on the terrace. “Every time you go to an insectarium, you know, there are those huge ones, those really, really giant bugs—and then you look to see where […]
The Travel Report — Navigating through weather and nostalgia in Cambodia
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly The rainy season in Cambodia is definitely moody, but to the point. It’s punctual, at times, but always loud. Irreverent. It doesn’t give two smacks about how busy you are, and it always puts its own priorities ahead of yours. You would think it was a narcissist. But it’s […]
Not boxed in — Ki Chong Tran can take a punch
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly “DON’T BOX,” said Ki Chong Tran’s grandmother, worried what would happen when he moved to his mother’s native Phnom Penh. “Boxing is for peasants.” She needn’t worry. After winning a professional mixed martial arts, or MMA, fight in Phuket in August 2013 against Thailand’s Kritsada “Dream Man” Konsrichai, the […]
A tisket, a tasket — Letters and loss
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly Midday. Overcast. Reading Man and His Symbols, Carl Jung. That and looking over a few photographs of rural Ireland, plus notes I made in those days, more than a dozen years ago now, poke out of folders here on the park bench. Making headway. On the story. One I’ve […]
The Village Report — Eloping…
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly “Did you change your hair?” I said, thinking out loud. “Yeah. There’s a place called the Chop Shop in Skibbereen.” “It’s interesting how the front of your hair flips up a little bit like that.” I was used to Yoshi Kayukawa’s wilder cuts, like the shaved look in his […]
The Village Report — Vietnam: Coming to rest and search
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly “Where are you from?” he wants to know. The tour guide. It’s 7:45AM and I’m rubbing my eyes in the morning in Dalat. “Asia,” I say, mindlessly. It’s a lifelong question, this sense of fromness. Identity, the search for “who am I?” all that existential angst that only recently […]
The Village Report — Observations and sketches from Kampot
By Dipika Kohli Northwest Asian Weekly Three guys who talked like Eastenders asked me what I wanted. Pasta. Did they have that? Kind of. In a set. “Ok. I’ll have that. The special. But can I substitute the beer, please? Do you have milk? Yes. Yes, thanks.” I was not in the mood for beer […]
WISE WORDS – Washington state treasures Seattle and Northwest gems: What are Washington’s top treasures?
“Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park — Home to the only temperate<!–more–> rain forests in the continental U.S., old growth forest, rugged un-spoiled beaches, mountains, abundant wildlife and our state’s rich Native American heritage, the Olympic Peninsula and Olympic National Park. Pike Place Market — Seattle’s Pike Place Market: It will always be known as […]
BLOG: What you didn’t know about Taiwan — Bubble tea, canines, rocks, colleges, and cookies
For those who don’t know anything about Taiwan, here is one of many interesting facts: It is the birthplace of bubble tea. The bubble tea is not what fascinated me most about Taiwan, but it is more the many other things you would not normally expect from a tiny island in the Pacific. I was […]
Discovering Seattle’s hidden treasures — Gems to discover without leaving the city
By Jean Godden Special to Northwest Asian Weekly There is no need to take a plane to discover something new. Here’s what you can explore, without a suitcase or a high price tag. First, there is the Seattle Room, that wonderful depository of history at Seattle’s Central Library. Among the finds in the Seattle Room […]