The promise of a leather jacket
Who doesn’t want to look as handsome as James Dean, decked out in a dangerous looking leather jacket with a fur collar? The salesmen were not ethnically Chinese,…
Street Stories
Making his way home
I was running for the ferry when I came up alongside an old man. He was blind so a kind dockhand helped him on board. As we bobbed…
The makings of a humble pancake
For poor construction workers, each meal is about loading up enough carbohydrates to carry them through the day of heavy lifting, shoveling or jack hammering. The foundation ingredients…
And then they were gone
I’ve lost them. I was away for 3 weeks and returned to a shell that left nary a sign of its past existence. Only 3 weeks ago, I…
Office space
They all called me 小姑娘 or “Young miss”. This group of workers is by far the most cheerful lot since I started visiting construction sites and photographing workers…
All they need is each other
The room could only be described as unremarkable. Enclosed by bare and washed-out walls, there was a simple bed, a table and a chest of drawers with the…
They always look so innocent
“Look at my flying dragon!” PING!! Plastic connected loudly with glass. My knees buckled and my heart literally fell to the floor. My camera lens was just attacked…
The Last Squawk
When I was growing up in Singapore, chickens were also sold live and you would get to pick them out right from their cages. A vivid memory I had…
Path of personal ambition
All through school, the smartest kid in class who scored top marks was never the most well-off or had multiple private tutors on hand. It was the quiet…
Collateral damage of the feline kind
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to…