Human Connections
Real moments between people living abroad: a stranger who helped, a friend you lost touch with, someone you wish you had spoken to.
Found: a green canvas tote with a paperback and a thermos near Piedmont Park
Found on a bench at the edge of Piedmont Park on a Tuesday morning in October: a green canvas tote with a thermos, a paperback with a bus transfer as the bookmark, and a pair of reading glasses in a soft case. The book is about two thirds read, so someone is in the middle of it. I have taken it home to keep dry, becaus...
Local tipCarry some pesos before you walk off Quinta Avenida
On Quinta Avenida, dollars work and nobody will stop you from using them. So why bother with pesos? Because a few streets away, pesos are what people actually use, and you get a puzzled look when you hold out dollars for a coffee. I always change some money before I leave the pedestrian street. Coins and small notes ar...
Local tipAfter heavy rain, give the bayou trails a day before you walk them
After a heavy rain I stay off the bayou trails for a day. Flooding here is real and the water does not leave when the sky clears. Low parts of a trail can stay wet or closed while the rest of the city looks fine. I check the sky, then I check the ground, then I go the next day. It costs me one walk, and nothing else.
Lost and foundLost: an all-terrain vehicle key on a red foam float, main beach road
Did anyone find a key on a red foam float on the main beach road, Friday afternoon, near where the shuttles stop? It is the key to an all-terrain vehicle, or ATV. A rental company cannot give the vehicle back to its owner without it, and a replacement is a slow, annoying business for a small operator. The float has a c...
OverheardIs the town closed or are we just late?
Walking back along the Mekong riverfront after dinner, I passed a pair of travellers standing in front of a shuttered noodle shop, looking at the door like it owed them money. The woman said to her friend, "Is the town closed or are we just late?" It was a little after eleven. I kept walking, because the practical answ...
Question for localsIs the Sanur beach path nice on a weekend evening or better on weekdays?
Quick one for people who live here. We are new and want a regular evening walk along the Sanur beach path. Weekdays look calm when we pass but I have no idea about weekends. Also not sure if we should bring cash for anything on the way. So, is the Sanur beach path pleasant on a weekend evening, or should we save it for...
First time hereNobody told me about bajareque
ok so the sky was blue when I left the house, so I left my jacket. Soon after, I was crossing Parque Central soaked and confused. It wasn't rain. It was bajareque, that misty drizzle that floats sideways and gets into everything. No sound, no drops, just wet. Locals walked through it like nothing was happening. I stood...
OverheardIt is only the afternoon rain, it will be gone before your coffee is
I was on a bench in a Casco Viejo plaza when the sky turned grey. A man sweeping nearby said to a visitor who had just opened a map, "It is only the afternoon rain, it will be gone before your coffee is." It was around three. The visitor looked at the sky and then at the man, and took his coffee inside anyway. The rain...
Question for localsDo locals plan their errands around the afternoon storms?
I do a lot of running around Brickell for work, and I have started to notice a pattern. From what I can tell, the afternoon thunderstorms in summer show up more often than not, and my late runs are the ones that go badly. I do not have real data, only my own delivery times. Do long-time residents move their errands to...
Question for localsWhat do you actually do when the power and internet cut out in the afternoon?
The fridge went quiet while I was holding the milk, and the fan above the table slowed until I could see each blade. Then the router light went out too. It was only mid afternoon, so there was no dark to blame it on. Everyone I know here shrugs and says it comes back, which it did, after a while. I would like to know w...
Overheard'This is the town. The beach is a different place.'
Where: Avenida Tulum, beside a colectivo van. Line: 'This is the town. The beach is a different place.' The driver said it patiently to a man in a swim shirt holding a towel. Next: the driver added that everything costs more the closer you get to the water, and the man nodded as if he had been told a secret. He got in...
Lost and foundLost: a grey cable pouch, left on a noodle stall stool near Lamai Beach
Did anyone find a grey zip pouch with a laptop charger and a small drive inside? I left it on a plastic stool at a noodle stall about a five minute walk from Lamai Beach, last Wednesday around lunchtime. I was thinking about the boat noodles, which is how it happened, and the broth was worth it. The charger is an odd s...
Lost and foundLost: a set of keys on a loop of red wool
Lost on Thursday evening somewhere between Plaza de Espana and the nearest bus stop: a few keys on a loop of red wool with a small brass bell, about the size of a thumbnail. The biggest is the only copy for a garage that I cannot get into without it. Years ago I would have asked at the nearest bar and someone would hav...
Local tipStep around the offerings on the ground, never over them
In the morning, watch where you put your feet. Small offerings sit outside every doorway and on the pavement, and a lot of newcomers walk straight through them while looking at a phone. I step around, even if it makes my path longer. And when a ceremony procession is blocking Jalan Raya Ubud, do not honk. It is loud,...
First time hereMy first week commuting in Ari was a trade between sweat and money
I grew up in Bangkok, but my first week living on my own in Ari was the first time I learned the city as a commuter. A motorcycle taxi gets me to the Skytrain in a couple of minutes, costs more than walking, and I arrive hot either way. Walking is cheaper and slower, and in the rainy season the pavement is a gamble. I...
Overheard'Not far. Just slow.'
A couple outside a cafe in Canggu asked their private driver if the temple was far. 'Not far,' he said. 'Just slow.' They laughed, then stopped laughing when he said it again, more kindly. I have lived on this island long enough to know he was giving them the most accurate answer available. I am still confused about ho...
Lost and foundLost: green notebook with a yellow elastic band near the bridge
Did anyone find a green hardcover notebook with a yellow elastic band, left on a bench near the Japanese Covered Bridge on Friday around sunset? The cover has a coffee ring and the first pages are shopping lists in Dutch. It matters because the last pages hold school forms I filled in by hand, and I would rather not co...
Local tipValidate your ticket as soon as you board, before you find a seat
Validate your ticket the moment you board, not after you sit down. On a tram ride home from Lazienki Park I spent the first stops deciding where to sit and noticed a woman near the door watching me with the quiet patience of someone who had seen this before. Nothing happened, but I felt it. The machine is by the door....
Missed connectionThis one is the problem, said the man feeding the pigeons
One Sunday you sat on a bench on the Rambla giving each pigeon a different piece of bread and speaking to each one in a low voice, with some warmth and some disapproval. I was passing with an ice cream. You looked up and said, this one is the problem, and pointed at a very large pigeon. I said I could tell. You nodded....
Missed connectionI wave at every scooter on Haad Rin hill in case it is you
You came down the Haad Rin hill on a Wednesday afternoon on a scooter with three chickens in a bag on your lap, all three looking extremely calm. You gave me a polite two finger wave, like a bus driver. I waved back with a mango. We both carried on with dignity. That is the whole story. I have since been told this is a...
A chance meeting"After you," said the man in the suit, to a delivery robot
A small delivery robot rolled slowly along Dubai Marina Walk at dusk, and a man in a suit stepped aside and said, after you, in full seriousness. It rolled on. He nodded as if he had been thanked. A woman behind him said, I do that too. The three of us walked together for about two hundred meters, two people and a robo...
A chance meetingI say sorry to a rooster near Psar Chas Old Market
A rooster stood on a red plastic table in the lane beside Psar Chas Old Market at 6.04 on a Tuesday morning and screamed at me for ten minutes. I was holding a coffee and a plan to walk quietly. A woman sweeping the road looked up and said, he is the manager. I said sorry to the rooster. She laughed so hard she had to...
Missed connectionYou said early mornings, as if that explained why you were not melting
It was forty four degrees on the Corniche and you jogged past in perfect white sneakers, entirely dry, like a person from another climate. I was walking slowly and melting. I said, how, and you said, early mornings, and laughed. You ran on. I went back the next morning at six. You were there. I was still very sweaty, b...
Missed connectionWhat exactly was the supper at the mushroom table in Chatuchak?
You stood behind a folding table at Chatuchak Weekend Market around noon on Sunday, in the third alley from the plant section, with exactly one product, a mushroom the size of a pillow, and no sign. I walked past three times. Each time you looked at me like we were in on something. On the fourth pass I asked what it wa...
