Easter – Now the green blade rises
We found a strangler fig growing in a corner of the bathroom, in a tiny space between the wall tiles and the frosted glass sun-roof. From down in the shower stall it looked like one tiny leaf. When we got the ladder and climbed up to check we found a full grown plant with 6 … Continue reading
Originally posted on A Leaf in Springtime:
“O Children of dust! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor…” ~ Baha’u’llah I once saw a child barely two years old sitting on a heap of wet filth sifting through its contents in Kabul, Afghanistan. That image, framed by my car window lasted for…
Guest-posting at my friend Kathleen Caron today – Coconut palm sugar
Have you ever wondered how they make gula melaka or toddy palm sugar. To find out, do go over to my friend Kathleen Caron at “Full of Life: Soul Food” where I’m guest posting. http://kathleencaron.com/how-coconut-sugar-is-made-guest-post-by-audrey-chin/
Earth Hour – What we can learn from Myanmar about switching off
In Myanmar, they’ve been switched off for 50 years. It makes for a slower pace of life and a more crafty approach to manufacturing. Don’t let’s talk about productivity though…
I’m back… And yes, Myanmar is amazing!
A picture is worth a 1000 words. I have so much to say, I’m just going to surrender and go with the snapshots. For the more in-depth stuff … wait for the short stories. A river runs through it. The Ayeryawaddy is the lifeline of Myanmar. Starting 1,300 miles up in the Himalayan Range, it runs through Myanmar’s … Continue reading
Off to Myanmar – Read these 5 books and come with me
I’ll be in Burma for the next 8 days. Apparently, internet and mobile phone connectivity is quite bad si I guess I’ll be out of range. If you’re interested in coming along with me in your imagination, here are 5 books you can read. (1) The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh – A huge book about Burma, India … Continue reading
Singapore budget 2013 – Be careful what you wish for, you have to live with it
Singapore’s 2013 budget certainly tries to give Singaporeans what they’ve been clamoring for: Stricter limits on foreign labour, carrots and sticks to increase local productivity, a more progressive tax structure, more measures to cool house and car prices. But when we get what we ask for, we also get the consequences: The devil’s in the … Continue reading
A place in my heart – The Mekong southland
You can love a place before you see it. A place you continue to hold in your heart even after you know it, faults and all. That’s the Mekong Southland for me. My husband is a man of the Mekong southland. He was born in the deep south, in a town on brackish salt marshes a hundred … Continue reading
The Pope is gone, my mother-in-law is dead, but life goes on…
This week Pope Benedict 16th steps down, the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years. At the University of Tubingen in Germany, the theologian Hans Kung, author of the forthcoming “Can the Church Still Be Saved?” hopes for a new spring for a fading church. But in the Mekong Delta, in my husband’s family, life flows on uninterrupted like … Continue reading
Reader and Writer - Praying Woman - Gardener - Foodie 