Eat, Swim, Read, Repeat
Jessica and I take any opportunity we can to pop into a bookstore. This one in Singapore happened to have an entire section dedicated to Chinese propaganda. Jon Hull
Two months of summer vacation now blur together as one long, steady rhythm. The scenery changed, but the pattern held: eat, swim, read, repeat.
Connecticut
Jessica had returned from Singapore in early June, and we spent these weeks along the New England coast pulling paperbacks from our beach bag under a wide umbrella. I commuted my last few days from Old Saybrook to Southbury until, at last, summer vacation arrived.
I started with my favorite book of the year so far: The River of Doubt by Candice Millard. Theodore Roosevelt, embarrassed by his defeat in the 1912 presidential election, took off for the Amazon Rainforest to embark on an insane journey down an unmapped river. Millard is a great writer. It’s worth a read.
Other books I read in June:
The Fall by Albert Camus: a disorienting plunge into one man’s guilt and confession. ★★★⭐︎⭐︎
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami: A dreamy, surreal mystery set in a sleepy seaside town on a Japanese island. ★★★★⭐︎
Jessica returned to Singapore at the end of June, and I spent a lazy week swimming and reading to start July. My summertime leisure was interrupted when I sprang into action to buy a great little place in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven. But more on that in a future blog!
London
In mid-July, I boarded a morning flight to London for my cousin Seth’s wedding. Somewhere high above the Atlantic Ocean I finished In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. The book is a true account of the story that inspired Moby Dick. A massive whale rammed into the side of a Nantucket whaling ship in the middle of a desolate stretch of the Pacific Ocean. The men survive the initial attack, but their trip back to South America in glorified rowboats gave me added appreciation for the miracle of air travel.
Seth and Berti’s wedding felt like a midsummer dream: a small countryside town in Essex and my cousins I hadn’t seen in too long. It was particularly nice to see Catherine, Hannah, Dom, and Owen. Music rolled out of the white tent into the warm night.
Jessica and I spent the following morning and afternoon in London, and we made the most of it: eating pastries in London Fields, climbing up to a rooftop sauna/ice bath with a view over the city, walking through the Columbia Road Flower Market, and ending at Dishoom for our favorite Indian meal in the world. Then, we hopped on a train and boarded our flight to Singapore.
In Singapore, Jessica showed me a side of Singapore she knew I'd love: cheap local food and beer at hawker markets, long walks on the trail across from her apartment, and visits to her favorite cafes.
Asian food we tried at hawker markets and home cafes:
Chicken satay
Gobi manchurian
Curry puffs
Egg tarts
Kaya toast and soft-boiled eggs
Kopi-O Kosong
Tiger beer
We visited The Ice Bath Club, where the ice plunge was a welcome reprieve from the tropical sun. Evenings were for walks or quiet time in the apartment, watching Hacks and reading.
Thailand
Halfway through the trip, we swapped Singapore’s pristine order for Koh Samui’s chaotic charm. The island smelled like salt and motorbike exhaust. Roads were rough and narrow; storefronts sold faux luxury handbags, cannabis, and massages.
We weren’t brave enough to rent a motorbike, so we took taxis and walked (sometimes for forty hot minutes under the tropical sun) toward new stretches of sand. Days fell into a perfect loop: swim and read, swim and read. Jessica drank coconuts, and I drank Singha beer.
In the quiet mornings, I worked through The Doomsday Machine, Daniel Ellsberg’s account of nuclear brinkmanship: reading about how close we’ve come to the end of the world while waves lapped quietly just feet away. By our third day, I’d finished Ellsberg and started Murakami’s 1Q84.
We woke early one morning to set out on my favorite adventure of the trip: a visit to Wat Plai Laem and the Big Buddha Temple. I borrowed a pair of linen pants from Jessica to make sure my knees were covered and swooshed around taking photos. The golden statues dazzled in the rising sun; behind them, the sea stretched brilliantly blue. We set off for Fisherman’s Village and lingered into the afternoon long enough to find showers across the street. We returned there on our final night and stayed for a fire show on the beach.
Singapore
Back in Singapore, Jessica returned to work. My mornings were quieter: paperwork for the place we just bought, coffee, the occasional long solo walk. The afternoons and evenings were ours.
Somewhere in there, I closed the last page of 1Q84 and started Adrift by Steven Callahan. I expect to finish Callahan’s survival story somewhere above the Pacific Ocean during my 18.5-hour flight tomorrow, so I’ve got Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic ready to go.
