Journal
Reflections
The wrong turn in Suzhou
I got lost trying to find a garden that was already closed. Ended up in a neighborhood where an old man was playing erhu by the canal. Sat on a stone bench and listened for an hour. I think about that evening more than any museum I’ve been to.
2026Tea and patience
A proper gongfu cha session takes thirty minutes to produce four small cups. The leaves unfurl slowly. Each steep reveals something the last one hid. There’s no shortcut. There never is for the things worth doing.
2026On being a beginner
I love the feeling of being terrible at something new. The first time I tried to brew pu’erh I burned the leaves and made something that tasted like a campfire. Three months later I could taste the difference between a 2015 and a 2018 cake. That’s the whole point.
2025Traveling slow
I don’t understand the kind of travel where you see a city in two days. What’s the point? You haven’t found the breakfast place the locals go to. You haven’t gotten lost enough to find something real.
2025Why I wake up early
Every city has a version of itself that only exists at 6am. The light is different. The streets belong to a different cast of characters. If you want to know what a place is actually like, see it before it puts on its face for the day.
2025