Vancouver's festival of lights: fireworks over False Creek

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Spain rocks purple spirals,
smiley faces,
hearts pierced with arrows
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my first batik! (nirvana studio, ubud, bali)

my teacher's Ubud studio: www.nirvananaku.com

embroidery: young urban indonesian male art form (denpasar, bali)

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dude with killer skillz
embroiders "young weezy" on
a black baseball cap
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daily offering ingredients (payangan market, bali)

balinese cooking class (payangan village, near ubud)

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this is the way tempeh
is meant to be eaten!
so so delicious
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(tempeh chunks grilled over a coconut husk barbecue with peanut sate,
tempeh deep fried in coconut oil and braised with lemongrass, kefir
lime, chili, veg bouillon and coconut milk, tofu kare -curry- and a
vegetable salad with fern tips and sprouts)
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pura taman ayun (garden temple, mengwi, bali)

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rice terraces (near jatiluwih, bali)

early morning swim? (villa sabandari, ubud, bali)

daily offerings (sanur, bali, indonesia)

heaven on earth (villa sabandari, ubud, bali)

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a rainy june day
enjoying afternoon tea
over the rice fields
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indonesian oolong
with fresh apple crumble
white herons glide by
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freshness of washed earth
mingles with plumeria
this perfect moment
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ass-skin gelatin (hu qing yu chinese pharmacy, hangzhou, china)

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take two of these
and call me in the morning
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highly decorated high-rises (chongqing, china)

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sichuan art students
paint several city blocks
incredible designs
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chinese propaganda-graffiti: then and now (chongqing, china)

haba snow mountain from tiger leaping gorge, china

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hike, eat mountain farm food
play angry birds at night
what more would i want?
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french kids trek in chucks
we come in technical gear
naxi wear sandals
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this motley crew
converges on the mountain
to enjoy fresh mint tea
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po po hanging out on a cliff at tiger leaping gorge, china

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naxi grandma chills
mid-day on a cliff over
the world's steepest gorge
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jade dragon mountain at the black reflection lake in lijiang, china

grass is napping in lijiang (yunnan province, china)

lijiang old town (yunnan province, china)

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a beautiful dog
languidly watches the crowds
of tourists pass by
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chinese noods!

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who knew you could buy
chinese noods for 4 bucks
at the siem reap airport
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khmer cooking class at le tigre de papier, siem reap, cambodia

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the wonderful smells
of lemongrass, kefir lime
mix with coconut
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khmer cooking class- banana flower salad

man vs. nature: nature wins, ta prohm temple (cambodia)

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a strangler fig takes
hold of a
rooted in a door
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bayon temple (cambodia)

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sending compassion
equanimity, joy, love
in four directions
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banteay srei, citadel of women (cambodia) - naga (dragon) detail

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fierce and intricate
carvings tell a bloody tale
so beautifully
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banteay srei, apsaras at the citadel of women (cambodia)

wat's up? (angkor wat, cambodia)

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Angkor, that's wat
sunrise over the temple
that began the end
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(wat means "temple" in the khmer language)

aki ra, cambodia landmine museum (siem reap, cambodia)

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former child soldier
now deactivates some of
the 3 million mines
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the road to siem reap, cambodia

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motos carrying
bamboo cages filled with pigs,
kids walking to school
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our bus, white cows, trucks,
men carting plastic jugs on foot
all share the highway
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the best $1 i ever spent on a meal

...was in phnom penh's toul tom poung (russian) market
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cut fried taro rolls
fresh wide rice noodles
in coconut milk
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chewy
fragrant
filling
$1
nuff said
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rice paddies, en route from phnom penh to siem reap, cambodia

choeung ek killing fields near phnom penh

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this stupa contains
the skulls and bones of thousands
of Cambodians.
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1975
in a former longan field
the khmer rouge killed
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people they feared were
a threat to their power-
teachers, doctors, monks,
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farmers who resisted
and their entire families,
tortured and bludgeoned to death.
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khmer rouge leaders
were just like the people they killed-
teachers and monks...
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3 million dead
20% of the
Cambodian population
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genocide shows how
power and fear turns brothers
and sisters like me
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against each other
while other nations armed and
fueled the destruction.
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tuol sleng S21 prison and torture center, phnom penh

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(above: mug shots of prisoners at tuol sleng, some taken just before torture and murder)
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21,000 people imprisoned and tortured at this high-school-turned-prison, electrocuted and water boarded, mothers, fathers, grandparents, children, politicians, farmers, doctors, teachers, laborers, lawyers, people who talked back or at the wrong place at the wrong time.
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i easily could have been there too.
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gate at royal palace, phnom penh

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mix the khmer empire
with buddhism and french rule
get killer design
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royal palace, phnom penh

guan yin, the bodhisattva of compassion

at the top of Kadoorie Gardens, a training center in Hong Kong for sustainable organic farming and enviromental stewardship in Asia.

honoring my late father

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my dad's high school friends
hike with me to a hilltop
oasis garden
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guan yin provides rest
in sweltering hong kong heat
a lotus blooms
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we form a circle
our loss brings us together
and builds new friendships
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finding refuge in hong kong

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a giant buddha
visible from our airplane
hidden in city

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blast off!

慢慢来 (little by little...)

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pole pole
we said in Kiswahili
mantra for social change
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patience is vital
for sustainability
clear and sure-footed
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small shifts in practice
can save thousands of lives
making it all worthwhile
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(above: community health workers Xiao Fei, Zhan Fei and Zhang Aiyi, me, Director Shi of the HIV/derm department at Hangzhou Number 6 People's Hospital, Dr. Yu, head of the inpatient unit, and Dr. Yu's 9-year-old son in front)
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delusion

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a man with a knife
squats outside the hospital
"give me medicines!"
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he yells at doctors
and anyone who'll listen
"i have HIV!"
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problem is, his tests
are all negative but he
doesn't believe it
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when being yourself and grasping chinese tradition don't mix well

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a young man dying
of end-stage AIDS infection
tells us he is gay
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as his wife sticks by
his bedside, fiercely loyal.
she's known all along.
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(and she still hasn't been tested for HIV)
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chongqing hot pot

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boiling red pork fat
passed on for generations
of feasting diners
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so spicy my mouth
is first on fire then loses
all its sensation
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i can't refuse food
from head of hospital
next day: diarrhea!
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a spent bloom

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it is spring outside
magnolia, plum blossoms
pink white firecrackers
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yet i spend all day
with sick, dying, angry folks
absorbing their pain
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i know things are bad
when i don't have energy
to write my haikus
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mini red bean mochi buns! (my new fave snack)

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thin delicate shell
airy, moist, chewy inside
ate 12 all at once

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Get 'em fresh out of the oven at a bakery in downtown Kunming called 'Just Hot' which most people here including the workers pronounce as "Jess Hao." Check out their philosophy in the photo. I got hooked the first time trying them after a 2 hour massage nearby (for less than $20 in a clean, private room!), and then went back 5 times only to find them sold out each time. Finally, i waited an hour on my last night in Kunming for a fresh batch. It was worth it. I want to figure out the recipe for these (rice flour, sugar, red bean, and squirt onto parchment paper with a pastry tube and bake?), so if you have any ideas, let me know!
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ancient modern (kunming)

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the mosque silhouette
sunset over jinbi square
reflected in glass
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xi shan (west hill)

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climbing red clay soil
highways, high-rises below
not a soul in sight
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organism

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just in case you have
small animals or microbes
to get off your hands
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haiku from the 30 cent glitter makeup case

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gather noble grace
enthusiasm seduce
the integral whole
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"It's vegetarian!" the saleslady said.

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Ingredients:
Beef Foam,
Cow liver germ powder,
Edibility.

i am not convinced.
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the bright side of jet lag: early morning dim sum, the breakfast of Champions.

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getting in at 3
wide wide awake at 7
dim sum feast at 8
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(The photo shows a bowl of wild fungus with bamboo pith and a plate of xia chang fen, steamed rice flour roll with shrimp, the handmade specialty at Federal Palace, the dim sum house next to my hotel in Hong Kong. Not bad for US$2.50. The two big floors of Federal Palace are packed with chatty women and dudes reading their morning papers by 8 am on weekdays.)
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is there a doctor on the plane?

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O, those dreaded words
at 35,000 feet
makes my pulse quicken
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a middle-aged man
completely unresponsive
for 2 intense hours
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we tried everything
naloxone, D50...
then, a miracle
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slowly he came to
squeezed my hand, said "OK"
everything's OK.
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ramen at the end of the tunnel

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diverting the plane
for emergency landing
a hard choice to make
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adding 8 hours and
2 stops to refuel, exhausted
good Samaritan
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Cathay Pacific
staff grateful, treats me to a
bowl of hot ramen
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