2024 Asia Trip: Day 10 - Busan

Day 10: Busan From Every Direction

Busan is a better city than I'm giving it credit for. It's also a more expansive city than what I'll be seeing on this visit. I'm already trying to understand how I can contort a stop here. The main problem is there's a whole host of cities in Asia that I don't mind a two-day stop in. Busan is at least quite well connected to other places in Asia at least. Probably the main thing I didn't really do in my time here is do some of the hiking that exists at its far extents and parks and rocky islands. There's a lot of it, but it takes (a) a lot of time to get to and (b) some time to traverse. If this was a place where hiking was the only thing, I would've. On my planned 2022 trip, I had three days in Busan, so probably would've done a bit more as well. Anyway, that's for next time - this is about this time.

The first stop of the day that took the whole morning (granted, it's because I left the hotel at 10:30) was the Beomeosa Temple complex, located 30 minutes (45 with traffic, which I had) to the North of the city. It is still technically in Busan, but up a winding road when you reach the Temple, you feel like you are in another world. The Beomeosa is hard to describe in a way that will be compellingly different to what I said about the Samgwangsa Temple, but it was different. First, it was larger, and more building into a clearing atop a hill rather than halfway up one. The size is a big jarring, as is the ludicrous (in a good way) amount of steps and gates, all with colorful lanterns adoring the span between the gates, until you reach the actual start of the temple complex. 

Once at the top, it again is pristine, with a series of royal green and red buildings, really beautiful artwork on each when you get closer, and some lovely sightlines. Yes, it is a bit far to travel for a temple, but it is worth it. If there is any clear complaint of Busan vs say Seoul it is the temples are afield rather than in the city, but they use the scenery, the hills and all of it so well.

Back in the city, I headed to Jagalchi Fish Market, Seoul's glistening version of say the Tsujuki Fish Market in Tokyo. The whole first floor is a series of vendors selling live fish and seafood, which you can by for take away or take upstairs and get it lived cooked. If there's any issue here it was that it was a bit too expensive, but I had to try it anyway. The cooks upstairs basically ask you how you want the fish prepared and then cook it for you in about 10 minutes. It's so fresh, so good - a must do in Korea. 

After lunch, I headed to a new area, a glistening part of Busan that borders the riverbank that extends off of Gwangali. The area is Centrum, and has a series of beautifully diverse, new buildings - from a twisting, metal of a building hosting the Busan International Film Festival, to giant office buildings, and then the Centrum Mall - a connected set of three buildings, each 10 floors up or so, and filled with all types of shops, from teh standard kitschy stuff to high end. The whole area is modern, lovely and a great walk.

So was Heaundae Beach, a more idyllic, serene beach compared to Gwangali. There is lovely sculptures, seating and sightlines - the place is beautiful, and a lovely way to end my tourism part of Busan. As mentioend up top, I've definitely left some stuff on the table for a future day or two in Busan - always better to do so that way I guess. The last stop before dinner was to Galmegi Brewing, which had some great IPAs, and a view of the beach - hard to top this.

Dinner did, though - a refined Korean-based tasting menu at Songgongan - highlighted with three or four courses spotlighting Korean Hangwoo grade Beef (basically their version of wagyu). The food was amazing, so well crafted by chef Park, who was there at the pass at basically coupled as the main waiter. Places like this in Busan are just amazing to come to - to see everyone's slightly different take at how good their cuisine can be.

After dinner, I checked back at a few of my favorite spots from the first few days - going first to Beer Shop, which was way more crowded today on a Friday, so much so I didn't really get mcuh time to chat with the Australian owner, but did with a couple other foreigners (Canadian, Brit) who were there as well. From there, I went back to Alt.comma, which so far is the best cocktail spot I've been to on the trip. It's the one spot I went to in Busan that serves its own unique cocktails rather than being an upscale spot serving high end whiskeys and standard cocktails (e.g. Wood Side Bar and Pavox). Alt.Comma is a great place.

The final stop of the night was at Melt, an EDM club conventiently located about ten minute walk from my hotel. It is a really nice set-up - a bit similar to Vent in Tokyo with exposed concrete, high ceilings and a lovely vibe. The one sad part was it wasn't all that crowded - maybe between 20-30 people when it could ahve held 50-75 without anyone feeling overcrowded. I asked one of the bartenders who put it up to the weather - I think I'm jsut underestimating the impact of a city being 15 degrees colder than normal. It was a great temperature for me, though, and I will say the 20-30 of us were having a great time. Busan isn't Seoul - it isn't overcrowded, it isn't massive - it is unique and lovely all by itself.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 9 - Busan

Day 9 - The Hills to the Sea

It's just the way my mind works when I go to a new place that around the halfway mark of my time there (which is more or less right now as I write this sitting at Skoll Taproom) that I start mentally place where this city will rank on my favorite cities list. I say "where it will" vs. "will it rank" because as someone who had a Top-25 the first time I wrote that list and now am up to Top-64, I'll just keep extending it. Gyeongju will probavly find a home in the mid to high 40s or so. Busan will be higher, but at this point I do think I prefer Seoul. The differences are interesting however.

Busan is a beautiful place, and their key sights - at least the ones that I went to today - are stunning. They're also just far. The way the city is built as I noted yesterday, has the city careening in and out of hills. The stuff closer to the water and central port and around its main beaches are modern, beautiful, impressive, but wholly modern. The main sites are either temples built into the cliffs and hills far away from the city center, or hikes and natural beauty - of which Busan has a bunch. It's an endlessly impressive city in that sense - and luckily Uber works well giving some level of comfort for the series of 10-25 minute drives to get from place to place.

The sites today ranged from two of the famous temples in Busan (or around Busan), and two of the key natural beauty aspects. I'll start with teh latter - as mentioned Busan's coast alternates between rocky cliffs and beautiful beaches, and i experienced both. The first was the Daritdol Observatory, which is a U-shaped walkway built out over the coast, with a glass-bottom floor that makes it look quite terrifyingly close to you are hovering over water. You get a sense of Busan's cragginess at this point - though because this is a bit out of the central city to the East combined with teh contours of the city, you don't get to see 

The other bit of natural beauty is Busan's beaches. It is very much near winter - if anything as I later learned it is unseasonably cold right now - but the beaches exist year round. At night, Gwangali Beach is alit with all colors of neon signage from teh rows of bars, restaurants, shops on its edge. During the day, the metallic blue of skyscrapers take hold, with teh bridge out in teh bay, and hard, white sand running underneath. Walking from one end to the other is about 30 minutes, a perfect enough amount of time to soak everything in.

The other part of Busan's tourism offering is its temples that take full advantage of the uniquely rocky and hilly ttopography. The first temple I went to was the Haedong Yunggusa Temple, which is built basically into a cliff-face at teh far Eastern end of the city. It is almost too beautiful how the various buildings, pagodas, statues, buddhas, etc are placed on, over and in the rock. My favorite part, of it was a series of buddha and animal statues placed alongside a (probably man-made) waterfall with the water ending up falling into the Ocean below. Haedon Yonggusa is a great spot.

As is the Samgwangsa Temple, this one built up in the hills, about a 20-minute winding drive north of Central Busan. This is more of a classic Temple design, what with the 4-5 buildings, bell tower, large pagoda with statues, etc., but taken to 10. It might have been the most beautiful in terms of the clarity of the colors and statue-work, and the setting didn't hurt as well. To give some of the other temples some credit, the Samgwangsa Temple is quite a bit newer, including featuring one Temple - the highest up - that broke ground in 2019 and was finished in 2022. It is gorgeous, with a sharpness of color that was striking (but of course explained by it being so new).

In between all this I had lunch at Uenhae Galchi, a cuttlefish spot of some repute but perfectly homely in its style. Before getting the main dish, you get about 15 edifferent banchan bowls (finally learned the name of these little things). Again, I'm overwhelemed always by this and generally a good 75% are quite good, but I do have to wonder how much is wasted. Admittedly, from what I can tell I got the same amount of everything as tables of two next to me. After munching down some of these, it came to the main - first three pieces of perfectly, lightly grilled cuttlefish which just broke apart on touch in the best way. As a surprsie second, was a bowl of seafood miso soup, and when I say seafood I mean small shrimps, scallops and tofu. The place isn;t cheap, at least relative to what you would expect given the minimalist decor, but you get a whole hell of a lot to eat.

The other tourist part of the day was strolling around in Seomyeon, primarily in the blocks around the Jeompo Cafe Street - a 2x2 block area with umpteen cafes, eateries and shops. Sadly, the shops are mainly kitschy stuff (think more adult versions of Hello Kitty), and a unbelievable amount of photo booth stores - like an ungodly amount, including many that have the interior decor of a super upscale shop. My souvenir hunt continues on, but was able to score some more incredible cappuccinos.

After a quick stop at the hotel to freshen up, I headed for "Thanksgiving Dinner" at Mori,, a Kaiseki-style restaurant run by a Korean who trained in Japan. It showed in how perfect everythign was. The cleanliness, the sharpness, the little details. It was all so incredible. It was eleven of us seated on a table aroudn the kitchen, with the main chef and one assistant just humming through the nine courses in a perfectly timed 1:58. It was true Kaiseki style, with the main being a unagi fried rice that was to die for and other traditional kaiseki dishes of sliced sashimi of various types as one course, a fried course of fried fish, roe and pumpkin, one meat dish, etc. It was an amazing meal - had zero connection to anything of Thanksgiving other than of course having a perfectly little piece of fried pumpkin.

Post dinner was a run traversing through various places in Busan, including uncovering a new neighborhood. First was a place just named Beer Store - run by an Australian, it has about ten taps, and dozen of bottle options from around Korea. It was quite busy with people having a great time. Same was true of Dengue Fever, which is a tropical themed bar/lounge in an unknown to me neighborhood near one of Busan's Universities. If I ever make another trip to Busan (knowing me, will be an "when" and not "if") I'll spend more time in this buzzing area. Dengue Fever was excellent, though a bit empty (to be fair, I got there at 12:45 and they close at 2am on Thursdays). It was cool enough, with great bartenders/owners, that i'm probably coming back. 

The final stop was more impromptu. I meant to go to Fuzzy Navel, of which there is a Haeundae location about five minutes from my hotel. That indeed was there but pretty empty - I'm thinking this cold is more of a deterrent than I expected, as it was the Aussie owner at Beer Shop that told me this is very much colder than what Busan normally is in late November. However, next door is a place called Overdo, which seems to mostly cater to tourists, but was fantastic. It's small, but in their main floor they have a bar and a guy who mixes together various youtube videos along with some other youtuve backing track, on the fly. "Mixing" is probably too complimentary, as its more just moving the volume slider up and down, but it created a great vibe and a great way to end the night. I'm planning to end tomorrow at Melt, one of Busan's main EDM clubs, which is also conveniently fairly close to my hotel, but if that is a bust or too fancy, I'll head back to Overdo easily.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 8 - Gyeongju to Busan

Day 8: The Hills and the Beach

I'm going to make a big proclamation based on pretty limited experience, but a throughline of my travels in Asia is there is a laugahble size, scale, scope, sprawl difference between primary cities and secondary tourist locations. This is maybe never as true of Japan - where Tokyo is almost easily too much sprawl, and places like a Takayama are so snug and cozy. Korea is like this too - Gyeongju is a tourist destination. I saw a lot of them - including way more "westerners" than I was expecting (unsurprisingly, few from USA given we are fast approaching Thanksgiving back home). But Gyeongju is walkable fully. It is adorable in its smallness. There are, from my time here, no real "mid-size" cities - in fact, I'm wondering if this is mostly a US phenomenon. Basically, there's no Cincinnati's in Korea.

Anyway, with that random aside over, let's talk about the last day in Gyeongju. The day started with some unexpected news that there would be rain mid-day. The forecast looked a bit better for the one stop that was somewhat outside town - the Belguksa Temple, so I decided to head there first. After about a 15 minute uber taxi ride into the hills, i reached and while it wasn't raining, halfway through my walk around the temple grounds something cooler happened: it started snowing. At one point it was quite heavy (though not really cool enough to stick). It was magical. It seems I've avoided a snowstorm that Seoul had, but to get some snow on this trip was a delight and made for some awesome pictures and videos.

The t4emple complex itself is beautiful and built well into the hills. The architecture itself is fairly common - that same shade of Royal Korean Green being the primary pallatte What the Belguksa had in a bit more scale is beautiful temple interiors, with shining gold buddhas in each one. There were no picture signs that everyone, me included, just decided didn't exist. There were also some really nice decorative lanterns and balloons and what-not - again all of this color and the falling white snow was lovely.

The next stop was halfway back at the Gyeongju Expo Park, of which I didn't know existed. I went there because the Gyeongju Tower is in its ground. The Gyeongju Tower is one of the more unique buildings - it's basically a fairly standard rectangular shaped office building, but with the relief of a pagoda cut out in the middle. It's stunning. the rest of the Expo grounds were interesting, including a nice, if small, art museum located at the North End of the grounds. It took about 30 minutes to walk through all of it, with the beautiful tower visible in its regality from every angle.

From there I ubered back to the main town to go for lunch to a truly special little dumpling shop. It isn't a true hole in teh wall, since it is quite well reputed and centrally located, but there's a picture menu with like 8 variations of dumpling. I ordered a set of the pork dumplings and veggie dumplings (with little pork - as the picture prompt notes). The guy basically takes a steel steamign dish and pops it on a steamer outside, flips a switch and steam pours on, enough so that some of the steam comes back in teh small restaurant,. It was honestly amazing. Good enough I ordered a set of the fried pork dumplings to go - already picking what my late night meal will be hours later (though expect me tomororw or Friday to check out a place I can add to my late nigth eating spots ranking).

The final tourism spot in Gyeongju was their National Museum, set in a park at hte South end of one of the main parks that I detailed yesterday. The Museum is actually a park in itself without about 6 Museum Halls strewn about. Three of them were closed, which is sad - though the person at the ticket counter said one of them is generally closed except for special exhibits about 25% of the time. That said, the two main buildings that were open were quite enjoyable. The first was the Silla Museum, which is the main building in the complex, outlining the story of the Silla people from rise to eventual fall (though they are super quick on the fall part) told alongside a whole host of artifacts. Some are from the super old days so they're basically spears and arrows and stuff that look the same from other artifacts of that time everywhere. As we went more into Modern era, it became a lot of gold, jade, bronze and jewelry. The gold crowns were amazing.

The best part was a room that detailed what was in the tombs (the mounds around the city center), with every item uncovered from one tomb. It's a lot. And it's overwhelming in reality - so many pots, iron arrows, jewels and of course gold regalia. And they said the specific person whose tomb they were laying out wasn't even the King or Prince, but more a high noble consiglierie type. 

The other main building taht was open is the Silla Art Museum, which was overtaken by various exhibits detailing buddha sculpture, painting, bronze and gold statue work, from that time. From what I understand, the museum basically picks some subject from the Silla times to focus on twice a year, and right now it was how buddhism started as a subculture, than fully took over. The Gyeongju Museum to be honest might be the best site within the city, and a great way to end my time there before I caught my uber back to Busan, with a quick stop at Coffee Place one last time to gulp down what is now without a doubt in my mind the best cappuccino I've ever had.

The drive to Busan was at first unmemorable, but then became so once you started hitting the Busan exurbs - a good 30 minutes out of the city. The sprawl is real, even in Busan which is far smaller than Seoul but still feels like a massive city. My hotel - the Fairfield Marriott - is about two blocks in from Haeudau Beach, one of the more popular upmarket areas of Busan. I came to learn pretty quickly that Busan is basically like four or five different small cities cut into and built onto various parts of the winding hills, valleys and beaches. They're impressively connected through tunnels built into the hills between the various parts, but because of this you never really feel the full extent of Busan's size.

I remained around the general Haeundae area for my pre-dinner craft beer trip, this time to Gorilla Brewing, a Busan institution. They had a really nice stout adn sour (their specialty) and was a convenient ten minute walk from the hotel. Ten minutes in teh other direction gets you to Anga, a pork only korean bbq spot that was humming when I got there around 8:45 - though surprisingly I was the last one there when  I left around 9:45. The place is open till midnight on Wednesday's, so maybe its just a slow night?

Following I took an uber over to Seomyeon, the main commercial & late night hub of Busan. There were two cocktail spots I wanted to check out, to do a bit of scouting for my tomorrow adn Friday night as well. I went to Alt.Comma (stylized as "Alt,") first which was classic Korean exacting perfection, much like Bar Prep the night before in Gyeongju. There was a long bar behind which the mixologist cooked up mostly bourban based cocktails with chemist like precision. They also had home-made chocolate to much on. The place was perfect. 

The other was Wood Side Bar, which was about 90% as perfect - the main difference being it was more of a whiskey bar in the sense most of their extensive menu was whiskeys from around the world. They had cocktails, but primarily just the "standard" ones - which of cousre they made really well, but I was going for / expecting a bit more inventiveness. My final stop was as I was walking around the buzzing, humming Seomyeon inner roads (already thinking about how wild it will be on the weekend...), I stopped at Fuzzy Navel, another cocktail spot, for one last cocktail before i headed back to the Fairfield. Busan was surprisingly quiet in all these spots (save for Fuzzy Navel and those surrounding blocks) for a major city - say when I compared it to my time in Seoul midweek - but still has a lot of promise.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 7 - Gyeongju

Day 7: The Cold, the Mounds, the Beauty

I mentioned at the end of my last post that I arrived in rain but it was the tail end of a storm. That remained true, with the weather clearing up from dreary low crowds on my drive, and through a mini-nap at the AirBNB (to finish off a night where I slept a good 7-8 hours, just broke up in four parts). It was still cloudy when I left, and there were some moments of drizzle and mist from about 11am - 1pm, but by and large, the rain was gone. It will stay gone, barring some unforseen circumstance with teh forecasts in Gyeongju, Busan or Seoul.

Before I talk about Gyeongju a bit, and the general sense of happiness being back in Korea, I want to just quickly mention that I have been exceedingly lucky about weather across all these trips as a whole. I can't think of a trip that has been seriously negatively impacted by rain or weather (other than say the Typhoon that delayed my prior Korea trip). I guess Istanbul earlier this year was grayer and mistier than one wouild like, but never rained enough to impact anything. Same with all my Asia trips over the years - maybe a day or two of rain here or there, but given how many times I've went to Southeast Asia over the past five years, to never get even one day of wall-to-wall rain is super lucky. Anyway, back to the main show.

There is something just so whimsically special about South Korea, and also about these smaller towns. Gyeongju so far being an even smaller, even more picturesque version of Jeonju, where I went to in 2022. Busan is something of a metropolis, and Seoul is one of the great Megacities in the world - but Gyeongju is walkable, and more than that the loveliness of its Hanok-village style areas, shop facades, architecture and what-not makes it a place you want to walk around in. There are sights that require a bit of travel (teh two main temples of the area), but I reserved that for tomorrow. Today will be about just getting to learn, experience and live Gyeongju.

The first place I went to is very representative of Gyeongju, and Korea as a whole, which si their love affair with coffee shops. This extends to the coffee as well - my cappuccino at Coffee Place (the first shop I went to) was truly one of the best cappuccino's I've ever had. But what's more is how much care the people making the coffee put into it, and even more is the decor - these places are like straight out of an interior design / architecture magazine. They're all stunning; they all generally have great coffee. I have no idea how they all stay in business, but I'm so tahnkful they all do.

The sites within the city generally fall into three buckets - first are a stupefying amount of mounds/mini-hills strewn aroudn the city, primarily in two parks in the city center. We'll come ot the reasons shortly. Next is a larger park area that features lakes, botanical gardens, some rebuilt temples. And third is the lanes, alleys and walkways that make up the hanok-village-style shopping and food district. In a day you can see all of these (I mean, that was the plan!). I started with the mounds.

For a bit of background, Gyeongju was the old seat of the Silla dynasty, one of the ruling families of Korea that predated the Joseon dynasty unifying the country in the 700s. One of the notable things about the Silla Kingdom is they buried their kings and other dignitaries in tombs that were created under carved out above ground mounds that today resemble small hills. They're everywhere, to the point I have to imagine many are just fake, in that they aren't tombs but just created to contineu the theme.

The most notable of them are within the Daereungwon Park, which is one of two parks in the center of the city. Within the grounds og the Daereungwon are various of tehse tombs, one of which you can go inside as they've converted it into a mini-museum. They've also done quite well manicuring the rest of the grounds as well. One of the striking parts of the grounds are the trees which are a perfect red and orange - a very much unexpected opportunity to see more fall colors! Apparently in cherry blossom season a lot of them are a perfect pink hue, but I'll take the reds, oranges and ambers. All in all, the Daereungwon is a really love complex.

Not as good, but still worth seeing if you find yourself in Gyeongju, is the city's other main park complex, of which I don't know if it has a specific name. It houses two main sites - one of which, the Wolseong Fortress, was under complete restoration, and the other is the Cheomseongdae Observatory Tower, which is a short citadel-like tower at the North end of the park. In between are some nice man-made moats, and sculptures. On the whole, again this is perfectly pleasant, though probably a bit too big and less notable compared to the Daereungwon.

The final non-shopping/eating outdoor place I visited within the grounds of central Gyeongju was the Donggung Palace & Wolji Pond, a small park abutting the main one I talked about last, but in its own area. It is a rebuild old Silla palace, with three temple buildings rebuilt, painted the infamous Korean royal green hue, and overlooking a lake affixed with lotuses, beautiful greenery and rock formations. It's small, in a good way - a quick little walk around and you get a bunch of great angles of the three regal temple buildings and the lake below. There were some picture placards throughout showing the temples lit up at night that looked quite fabulous as well. 

Before I get to the shopping lanes, I'll quickly touch on lunch, which was at Olyukdon - a small eatery, though well reviewed. It serves basically one thing - a set lunch of one main pork soup with the clearest, quite refined broth, and then a choice of two pork sides - one being a pork meatball with wasabi and mushroom, and the other slices of pork with a local sauce. There's also unlimited kimchi (hard radish), and a soybean paste to dip the pork in. I got the side of the meatball along with teh soup, and it was excellent. The pork in the soup intentionally bland as the idea is to dip it into the soybean paste which worked magically (think a soybean version of the peanut sauce for satay). The meatball was honestly my favorite part of the meal, so well cooked and distributed in its construction across pork, green onion, chinese spinach and mint. This is the type of spot I had in mind when coming back to Korea.

As was the entirety of the 6x2 block shopping area (which probably extends a bit into a 8x4, but the outer blocsk are more residential). The main street in the middle is so similar to the best types of streets of this nature I saw more in Japan, than Korea to be honest. There is definitely a preference towards food here than shopping, which isn't bad. So many great looking coffee shops, bakeries, fried dough spots (seems to be a thing in Korea), and so much more. On the shopping side you had a few handicraft spots that I perused, but more of it was geared towards the kitschiness that Korea is known far: comic-related stuff, cutesy art and clothing stores, similarly cute and adorable stationary stores. Very little was normal tourist trap nonsense. Granted, there really weren't any places that were offering my favorited stone and ceramic handicrafts, but that's not really what Korea is about.

My last stop pre dinner was at HeuHeuHeu, a craft beer bar that was right out of my dreams - definitely a place that will find itself fairly comfortably in my list of favorite beer bars. The only unfortunate part was the barman telling me that they were out of about a third of their taps awaiting a refill order that got dealyed. Still, the three I tried were all excellent, including one of the better Hazy's I've ever had in Asia. They also had really well curated food options - where I ordered a "ham platter" which is basically their version of a Spanish tapas-style pork board. The decor was great, the vibe was great, the beer was brilliant. From my research, this is the only place in town to get craft beer, which was all right by me because it was awesome.

Dinner was at JusteUne, a small french style with all Korean ingredients set-menu spot a few blocks from my AirBNB. The place was perfect, with a super eager chef that served just beautiful plates. My favorite was probably a dish of "snail shape pasta" with a scallop and soybean sauce and dehydrated korean cabbage strings. That or the scallop dish which followed. It was all so perfect - very similar to the Izakaya type place I went to in Takayama a year back. These places in these towns are what make Korea (and Japan as well) so endlessly special.

That exacting pride in your work also extends to the two cocktail spots I went to after dinner. They are easily the two most notable in the city, and after tasting them, it is for good reason they have taht reputation. The first was Bar Prep, tucked into a corner of a residential building, past a sliding back door, you enter Korean cocktail heaven. They focused on stronger cocktails with Korean twists - such as using Korean chili spice in a negroni, or bitters of various Korean fruits, or interesting uses of Maekgolli and what not. The drinks took a while to make because they were all so creative and exacting. 

The other spot was a bit wilder, called Bar Boon, open till 2am nightly (very late for Gyeongju - Bar Prep for comparison closes at 12), and more about fun. The drinks were fruitier, more playfully presented, but no less serious and exacting. It'/s just a graet combination of spots - the purity and science of Bar Prep to get you started, and the music, chillness and fun of Bar Boon to finish of the night.

Being back in Korea, being back in a place where I don't have to sweat, and experience more the glory of East Asia - it all is so welcome. Gyeongju is a perfect little town, and I say this knowing there's more to come tomorrow.

My 10 Favorite Late Night Food Spots

This post is going to go off the rails. As it should, given it is talking about my favorite late night food spots. For almost all of the below, the only time I eat or have eaten there is after some drinks. Many are after some drinks and some dancing and some balloons and what-not. 

10.) Wawa (New Jersey)

The OG first - Wawa is a national treasure as it should be. Honestly, some of the hoagies are fine any time of day, but for the amoutn of times their meatball shorti, or just bread, or just anything, has comforted me and my friends between the hours of 1am-5am, it needs to have a spot on this list. Wawa is to me by far the best 24-hour chain, so far exceeding 7-11 (at least the US version), or QuickCheck, or anything like it. What I also love about Wawa is despite its success branching out to gas stations and what-not, they've not lost what made them special - just fucking great hoagies.

9.) NYC Halal Carts (pick one of the million)

Many of these will be some variation of gyro/doner/kebab/etc. - basically a spit-roasted meat on a pita with sauce and veggies. New York City has turned this into a commodity with its carts, and realistically they're all equally good and effective when you need a snack at 3am. Over time I've turned from pita into getting lamb over rice, with no real regard for which place I get it from. This leads to some misses, primarily a place whose hot sauce is too hot, but it beats trying to remember each purveyor. All I'll say is never go to the Halal Guys - I didn't like it back in 2011 when I was living two blocks away and it wasn't all that famous yet. Don't go to whatever new one has come up in that spot. Just go a few blocks in any direction, find one that has the neon sign scrolling on its top and side and go to town. 

8.) Banh Mi Stand (Hanoi, Vietnam)

I'm sure it had a name, but what it had more was location, The club Savage is randomly placed right off East Lake - not a late night hub of activity in Hanoi (other than of course Savage itself). The purveyor had a genius idea to set-up shop there every weekend and attract drunk, high, balloon-ified patrons leaving Savage with just great banh mi. It wasn't the best banh mi, and on the whole I find banh mi a bit too messy and crumbly (the bread, mostly), but damn did it hit the spot. 

7.) Street Basil Beef Spot (Bangkok, Thailand)

I will say, either I've become worse at finding these type of spots, or they've just been swallowed up by the normal doner-related fare, but back in the day, these stands that flash-grilled basil beef and what-not were just amazing. The spice so raw and real, with lemongrass and basil, and really well cooked beef - all in like 10 seconds right in front of you. It tasted great, of course, but also the smell, the aroma, was so inviting. Again, I do fear these places are becomign less common in Bangkok as slowly the gyro invasion is happening there like it is everywhere else (as you'll see in a second...), but for a moment in time, these were golden spots to hit up at 2:15 on the way back to the hotel.

6.) Belgicus (Lima, Peru)

Call this and the next one my celebratory "doner is taking over the world" picks - as a couple blocks away from the party hub of Lima, near the buzzing Bizzaro club sits Belgicus. No idea where the name comes from - it isn't Belgian in any way. It serves basically gyros - with a sweeter hot sauce that has a bit of Latin punch to it (the guy serving it described it this way). The one criticism I'd say is they are slow. Now, they make everything to order, but still it takes a while. Of course, that usually leaves you with a window to chat with some other party-goers and Peruvians and others, so it isn't all that bad. I'm really curious to know what the name is about, but the place was golden.

5.) Fancy Itaewon Doner Spot (Seoul, South Korea)

I may come back and update this after my one day in Seoul this upcoming Saturday. I say that because I don';t even know this places name, because in that little stretch of Itaewon lay about five kebab places, all competing for crazed customers. One had a giant stone fire inside which did it for me - that and the great kebabs. Having gone there in 2022, that is when it hit me that these stupid little gyro/kebab wraps were basically, undoubtedly the world's late night food. What was funnier was the employees at this place were all from the Middle East as well - they just know that this type of food is purely a "if you build it, they will come" type of cuisine at this point.

4.) Taco Boys (Phoenix, USA)

So, on weekends Taco Boys closes at 2am. Sadly so too do the bars. To me it still counts because I generally have decided to get a burrito before hitting the bars and then still enjoying it hours later because they wrap those things brilliantly. You know what else they do brilliantly? Make tacos and burritos. The meat is brilliant - char grilled over a giant open fire in the kitchen. The fixings are brilliant. The place is amazing - just a hub of activity at all hours, at all times. This might be the only one on the list, other than the one next up, that I would absolutely recommend going to even at non-late-night times. That's how good Taco Boys is, and how much of a mainstay it is in Phoenix.

3.) Hoagie Haven (Princeton, USA)

The OG in Prnceton. The late nights, the fighting for attention, the hoping that their half-brained systems of taking orders and warming bread would actually end up with you getting what you want. Hoagie Haven was a perfect drunk food heaven. Sad to say, post Covid they've taken the hours of a normal deli, instaed of a late night spot catering to drunk college and post-college students. The food was super unhealthy. Granted, almost all of this food is unhealthy, but the Dirty Sanchez, or the El Mexicano were worse than normal. Anyway, long live Hoagie Haven.

2.) The Adana Kebab Spot in Istanbul (Istanbul, Turkey)

Honestly, about ten places could fit here in Istanbul - you're in the home of kebabs dammit, and the late night options are aplenty. But there was one spot that made just Adana Kebabs - they were made to order, with teh guy holding court in front of the charcaol fire filling the rods of metal with the meat and flipping them in front of you. On the pita, he spread the usual sauces but also there was a pan catching drippings off the meat that he would throw a few drips on as well. It was truly incredible. It honestly is a place you should go to during the day. Thsi type of food works as late nigth food basically everywhere on earth, but rarely so as well as it does here.

1.) Pho Quynh (Saigon, Vietnam)

I wrote about it when I talked about my 2024 trip to HCMC, but Pho Quynh is just perfect. The pho is good - with plentiful meat, noodles and a broth that is worthy of a pho spot. Are there better pho spots in Vietnam? Assuredly so - but then again there are probably better doner spots in each of the cities that I've ranked here. Anyway, going to Pho Quynh after a night at The Observatory is one of the great joys in life. I honestly doubt there will ever be a better spot - a great late night food spot that I go to after going to my favorite late night club.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 5-6 - Bangkok

Day 5-6: The Audible

This was going to be a two-parter either way, as the first day would always be in Bangkok, but the second was supposed to be effectively a full travel day, from an 8am flight out of Bangkok, to then multiple trains from Seoul Incheon to Seoul Station to Gyeongju. It all seemed a bit pointless of a day - best case making it to Gyeongju at 8pm or sio - but more likely closer to 9pm, which is late for a sleepy town on a Monday.

The big issue was having to fly into Seoul, in which Incheon is just forever and a day away from Seoul. The other problem was I really haven't slept well, combining jet lag getting me up each day around 8-9am (though still forcing myself to get 1-2 hours further of shitty sleep), with going to bed at 3-4am post Observatory. On the first day of this two parter, the early rise was forced, with an 11:35 flight out of Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok. I really was struggling.

It then hit me halfway through the day that I could probably shift flights, try to get something straight into Busan, which down dramatically the travel on the Korea side, and sleep in Sunday Night / Monday Morning in Bangkok. Granted, the new routing requires me to take a really bad red-eye, but I should get into Gyeongju early enough to get some sleep. I wes going to have one day of 4-5 hours of sleep, and one day of normal sleep across these two days. The earlier version was a short night / early rise in Bangkok and a normal night in Gyeongju. Now, it is the reverse, and as I swilled down a cocktail at #FindTheLockerRoom, I started quickly thinking I picked right.

Bangkok was nomonally a trip to go to Gaggan again - but with this witch I ended up getting about 30 hours in teh city, and was able to try quote a few things. It remains a traffic-intense, metal jiungle - mostly in teh Sukhumvit area where I often stay (to be fair, most of the stereotypical Bangkok stuff is there, with the exception of the main tourist sites). It is what Bangalore somehow espouses to be. I quickly learned the one hack of trying to get around in Bangkok though - which is to book grab bikes (motorcycles), which are able to weave through the traffic with ease. The problem with Bangkok traffic still remains that their key intersections have four way lights that each side gets a green for about 90 seconds - I geuss in theory they get a good flow when you do get green, but it is an interminable wait.

My first stop after reaching the Hyatt Regency - right off of Sukhumvit Soi 11 - was to head to Soi 33 and to Sri Tat for lunch. I'd been here in 2022, but in the period since it got a Michelin Bib Gourmand, so now it is quite popular. Granted, not so much when you show up at 3pm. The place serves Eastern Thai cuisine, and was excellent as usual. I got a grilled pork neck starter, and a stir fried cardamom root (an exceedingly interestign vegetable) chicken thighs, which was maybe a pinch too spicy, in a good way.

From there I headed to the shopping hall heaven that is further West on Sukhumvit main road - starting with Central Embassy/World (where Eatthai is), through to the picturesque Siam Paragon, to a new place at the very end - the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. This building shaped a bit like the Guggenheim is basically on the other side of the road from the Siam complex, but I guess I always just turned aroudn at Siam Paragon in the past. 

This time I went in - the place is beautiful (though looks a bit glim from the outside), with an open center and winding steps aroudn the side. The top three floors are reserved for roving exhibits as a nice little art museum. Nothing too fancy or crazy, but this little bit of culture in the depths of Sukhumvit was just cool in a way.

From there, I took another traipsing bike ride down back to Sukhumvit Soi 33 (where lunch was) to go to Hair of the Dog - a great beer bar. The spot is run by a Canadian guy who was there both days regaling customers of just interesting shit. The only real downside is that they serve beer from all over rather than local to Thailand - it is generally really carefully curated, but still a bit sad to not have local craft. 

That led to Gaggan, which of course I'll cover in a separate post. Let's just say though the food remains great, if maybe slightly worse than 2022/23, but Gaggan was there this time (like he was in 2022, but not in 2023) and there was more energy adn life this time around. It's expensive, certainly, but is still super dependable. 

Also super dependable is #FindTheLockerRoom, still behind its two sets of lockers down an alley (a more dingy alley than I remember, in truth) and still super creative with its drinks. They ahve a strict 1:45 last call policy, but not so strict that at 1:40 when they call it they let every person order up to three cocktails - as long as the order gets in before 1:45. Most of us there took advantage of this gambit (I limited it to two drinks), which helped us stay in this indoor, dark, mysterious bit of culture till about 2:30. If I hadn't changed plans, I would have had to get up in basically three hours (of course, had I not, I probably don't even go to #FindTheLockerRoom). But knowing I had a night of good sleep in a Hyatt bed made it all the more reassuring that the decision I made was the right one.

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Today was basically a few hours of sightseeing and then travel - but still less annoying than had I kept my original plan. In the end, I traded away a night in Gyeongju (a rushed dinner, and maybe a drink) and a full night's rest Monday Night, and got in return a night in Bangkok, a full sleep in a Hyatt Regency King Bed, and a few hours of signtseeing in Bangkok. In the end, this was a positive trade. I may not feel that way tomorrow at 2pm trying to stave off a red-eye night, but for now, this is my stance. I will be taking no questions.

The tourism on this day was limited to the Grand Palace. Limited is a wrong word because the palce is stunning, expecially when there is ample sunlight to make the gold and jewels and mirrors glow and shine. Of course, that ample sunlight also baked down on evreryone there, which when coupled with the humidity kept it again as an open-air sweatbox. 

The place is gorgeous though, and such a noted difference to the rest of Bangkok, which is just cavernous. Instead, this area is open air, with manicured gardens, and throngs of tourists. To be fair, all of Bangkok is full of tourists in every area. From there, I went to Eatthai for lunch, getting small bites from a couple different stands, before hitting back to Hair of the Dog for a quick minute and then heading to the airport. If this sounds like a pretty minimal day... well, it is. I don't feel bad about that, however. Again, my alternative was getting up around 5:30am to reach the airport, and then reach my distentation at earliest 8:30pm. Not ideal. Here, I got a good nights sleep, a bit more of Bangkok, and an overall easier transit (two flights, albeit one red-eye vs. one flight, two trains).

The flights were seamless and uninteresting - Vietnam Airlines is perfectly fine. They have a bunch of flights leaving Hanoi in the 12am - 2am period, so the restaurants were all open well into the night which helped me get a Pho for a last Southeast Asian meal, before this whole thing turns cold and Korean. I slept really well on teh red-eye, getting a clutch window seat. Before I knew it, I was landing in rainy Busan, taking a 1-hr uber to rainy Gyeongju. Not to fear however, as just like my Korea trip in 2022, I arrived to the last vestiges of rain, right as it would clear up for seemingly the full extent of the trip.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 4 - HCMC

Day 4 - Familiarity

Yesterday was a day with a good mix of new and old. Today was a day of mostly old, with a small smattering of new. I'll mix up the order a bit to talk about the new first, and then get to the olds. The first new was the Museum of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine, which yes is a bit of a fake conceit built on mysticism and pseudo-science adn what-not, but if you get past all of that, you get a super interesting museum with a lot of history, architecture, art and artifacts. The museum is in a small brownstone like structure five stories high, each story telling one part of the history of ancient medicine. Each floor had a theme, like a floor with old style mortars and pestles, to another floor with medical drawings of plants, to a floor with old vases. There was also really nice architecture, like inlaid pearl all over one floor. Its a quick jaunt, and not too cheap (about $8), but well worth it.

The other bit of new was going to 7 Bridges Brewing - which has a location in little japan. It's small, cozy, perfectly Vietnamese brewing style, and they had some great beer, including a truly fantastic nitro stout. The place reminded me a lot of the beer bars I went to in Hanoi, where seemingly places were a bit more stretched for space. 

Okay, now that we got the new out of the way, let's get to the old, the familiar - including a little retrospective at the end on HCMC in general. As a quick hit, here were all of the things I went to "again" today: the War Remnants Museum, Cuc Gach Quan for Lunch, Anan for dinner, three different pagoda's that I had all been to previously, and of course Summer Experiment and the Observatory. You would think this would be a bit boring, In truth, defienitely some of the pagodas were a bit "yeah, I get it" after going to the same one a third time. That said, they are all beautiful.

The Vinh Ngiem might be the most accessible, right on the side of a main throughway heading out of the city. The setting is gorgeous - as is the wide open halls of the main building, a really nice koi pond tucked to the side, and generally just the space the Vinh Ngiem gives itself. The second pagoda, the Phap Hoa Pagoda, right on the bank of the smaller of the two winding rivers in HCMC, is the opposite. It's tucked in the side of a small street, it's lush and green, with lanterns hanging from the foliage. It was beautiful - more so this time than I remember. Also, I for some reason have a memory of there being a "no pictures' policy last time, which very much was not a thing this time. The final pagoda was the Xa Loi which is right in the middle of the city, cramped but still so floral. There are dozens more pagoda's - including a godo half dozen others I've been to over the years, but these three are my favorite.

The other one that was a bit of a downer this time was the War Remnants Museum. Granted, the subject matter is a downer. They don't hold any punches in both (a) showing how harrowing the war was and (b) how much to blame the US is. Fair on both counts. I see this as my penance being an American visiting Vietnam - it is a way to pay my respects. The issue this time was two-fold - (1) it was super crowded (great to see tourism in Vietnam really buzzing!), and more importantly (2) their AC units were either not working or simply not on. They have been in past. Without them, the place was a sauna - so given I've seen it three prior times I just ran through quickly.

 The meals were excellent - not a surprise as it is hard to go wrong. Cuc Gach Quan is my favorite lunch spot in the city. The sprawling restaurant built into an old house, the place remains special with a lengthy menu of home-style Vietnamese classics. I got my traditional main of stewed, braised beef with lemongrass, and paired it with a new starter of "banana flower salad with grilled chicken" which was amazing. It will take me many trips to try most of their menu - and I'll definitely take on that challenge.

Anan is no longer the only Michelin starred restaurant in HCMC, but it remains the first, and the only one serving pure Vietnamese cuisine. The meal turned over a good 7-8 of their dishes since my visit last year, with the ones remaining being among their best - their wagyu banh mi, their bunh cha bourdain bite, adn the salmon mousse tart. The new ones were all incredible as well - from a ridiculous pigeon dish, to the best preparation of the classic Vietnamese dish Ca Cha Van Long, to a coconut and caviar based dessert. On the whole, Anan remains a truly great restaurant, and the first salvo in a series of five tastine menu restaurants on my trip.

Finally, Summer Experiment and The Observatory are justt great - both holding firm to their respective spots on my list of cocktail spots (honestly, Summer Experiment may rise), and Clubs. For Summer Experiment, my only real critique is their flavors aim more sweet than tart - but when I challenged them for a bitter drink they gave me something great. For the Observatory - it was the most crowded I've ever seen it - in a great way. It was also an inversion of their pre remodel, where they were hosting a special night with "live acts" (basically meaning a DJ with an accompanying live instrumentalist), but hosted those in the inside club. It led to a packed place - a great vibe but honestly maybe too much - I preferred the semi-crowded-ness and the authenticity of the place on Friday. I think this actually may be a wider preference than just The Observatory - say in Cape Town, I also prefer Modular on Friday's than Saturday's. Anyway, something to monitor.

As I wrap up my time in Saigon, I want to do a bit of retrospective thinking for a minute. To put my love for HCMC succinctly in one sentence: I'm so sad I'm leaving I almost feel like the trip is over, even though it is just beginning. Granted, this might be some pavlovian thing, whereby in 2022 and 2023 I ended my trip with HCMC, but really - I feel like somethign is over here. The rest of the trip to some degree is an unkniown. HCMC isn't.

It is true every time I come I find something new to enjoy, but also see the country rise a bit further and further - one more skyscraper, one degree cleaner of street, one more fancy restaurant or bar. Ho Chi Minh City will never get the recognition or importance, touristically, of a Bangkok, but i prefer it wholeheartedly. It isn't going to rise in my city rankings - currently I have HCMC 10th - and quickly scrolling the list, I can;'t make a case it is better than any above it. But remember, part of that ranking is for someone visiting cities for the frist time, not the fifth.

I wrote a piece about familiarity years ago - it was in 2022 after I went to Cape Town for then a 5th time. Since I've gone twice more, but have mentally decided not to go in President's Day 2025. That feeling of familiarity - of just being at peace, of being "at home" in a place, defintieyl extends to HCMC at this point. I've done my ranking of cities many times. What I really need to do is a ranking of places that I just feel home / safe / in control in. That's a different list. Part of it is time spent there - for instance I have Athens #8 (two spots ahead of HCMC), but I've only been there once. Part of it is size - I have Madrid #1, but it wouldn't be on that familiarity rankings. Speaking of which - let me just start writing that. It's a goal of mine on my upcomign two days of travel (with Bangkok thrown in the middle).

2024 Asia Trip: Day 3 - HCMC

Day 3: The New in the Old

This is my fifth time in Ho Chi Minh City. Effectively, it is the fourth time, given that my first time in 2013 I was basically bed-ridden with a stomach illness I picked up on the flight over. The one thing I did touristically that first time was go to Hoa Tuc for dinner my last night. Anyway, in the three prior real trips, it was basically doing the standard touristy stuff outside the city the first time (e.g. the Mekong Delta, the Cu Chi Tunnels) and then progressively finding more and more interesting things to do within city limits on the 2022 and 2023 trips. Coming here again, I wanted to challenge myself to find some new stuff. If I couldn't succeed, I probably needed to be asking myself is it worth coming back. Of course, I come back largely for the food and nightlife, but I gave myself a challenge, and today proved I can still succeed at such challenges.

If anything is weird about this trip, it is that I am starting with Ho Chi Minh City, instead of ending with it like I did in 2022 and 2023. It was a calculated decision, because if I was going to have jetlag ruin a few days, better it be in a place I've been to. But even there, it seems like my 24 hours of sleeping eight hours, two-to-three hours at a time worked, as I got a good nights sleep and woke up on time, leaving my really nice AirBNB at 10:30 - basically "early" as far as my vacations go.

Basically most of what I did on day one, at least pre-lunch (a late lunch, at 2pm) was new. The raging humidity was not new of course. It may be "just" 85 degrees, but the humidity is still overwhelming. Not just to me - I will say I've never seen so many sweaty tourists as I do here. Usually it is just me. Anyway... to the sights!

The first sight was one that I probably shoudl be embarrassed that I haven't seen so far, and that was the Independence Palace (formerly known as the Reunification Palace), which adorns a beautiful green stretch of land right in the heart of the city. I've been close to it before, of course. I tried to remember why I hadn't been here previously. I think in 2022 there were still Covid-era reservations required, and in 2023 I arrived too late in teh day. Not so today. And it was well worth it.

The palace is a modern era building that housed South Vietnam's president from 1965 through the end of the war. It is beautiful, with large staterooms, neatly adorned as it was in that time. Some great artwork, chandeliers, colors, rugs. Everything, really. The grounds were also nicely laid out, including having three beautiful coffee shops strewn around. The interesting part of this place is that the palace housed the President of South Vietnam - i.e. the part of Vietnam that lost, that is now seen as rebellious. The place was largely devoid of any propaganda, even to the point of allowing people to go to the bunker, where effectively the "enemy" hid. It's nice that Vietnam is not opposed to at least recognizing this half of the former country.

The next "new" spot was the Book Street - hidden right behind a still scaffolded-to-shit Notre Dame Cathedral, which has basically been under these same thick scaffolds since at least 2019. Book Street is a lovely little pedestrian only street with book stands and coffee shops on either side. Those words don't really do it justice, to be honest. I could have spent an hour just traipsing up and down this street - granted, the shade from some really nice trees on either side helped.

Lunch was also at a new spot, nicely located two blocks away from my AirBNB. It's called Bep Me In, which serves "home style" Vietnamese food - the place is designed to resemble a street-side stand. It was really excellent, to be honest. I got a dish of stewed Morning Glory (a Chinese spinach variation) with ginger and sesame, which was excellent, and then a fried pork knuckle with sauce. Describing that second dish as "fried pork knuckle with sauce" is doing it qutie a disservice however. The sauce was unbelievably good - basically a thicker version of tom yum soup. The pork knuckle was incredible crunchy and well cooked. It was one of the better dishes I've had at a place like this, to be honest. I'm not planning on going there for lunch tomorrow, but given the quality and its proximity, I'm at least giving it consideration.

The afternoon was supposed to continue my trend of "new" things, but I called an audible since the final new thing was closer to some of the pagoda's (and lunch) I plan to visit tomorrow. Instead, I stayed within walking distance of my AirBNB, which I've come to realize is super centrally located and absolutely the place I will stay on my inevitable sixth visit here. 

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum of Fine Art is about five minutes away, so it was my first post-lunch stop. I will say, the main building of the museum is largely unchanged from my visit... **check's notes**... fourteen months ago. It still has some beautiful artwork, all by Vietnamese artists. The throughline that this limited art lover can tell is how the pain of the war is seeping from the place. The "Building 2" which hosts rotating exhibits was fully new though, featuring some really great, large artwork by a young Vietnamese woman artist. All in all, a nice way to spend an hour avoiding the humidity.

From there, is a 15-minute walk to the Bitexco Tower, where i went to the observatory floor. It is quick, cheap and quite a great view. It will never not amaze me how sparse Ho Chi Minh City is south of the river. I don't know if there's a specific reason for this. But the city to the North side does extend beautifully in every direction. 

Nearby is a bunch of great eateries, coffee shops, and handicraft shops, of which I perused many and purchased from a few. All in the direction of Pasteur Street Brewery, one of my favorite craft breweries outside the US period. Southeast Asian beer sucks in large - the Tigers of the world... - but Vietnam's craft scene is a wholesale exception to that. Pasteur was one of the O.G.'s on the scene, and still remains excellent, as I tried half-pours of its Pomelo IPA, Jasmine IPA and Cyclo Stout, among graet air conditioning and crowd. 

Dinner was at Hoa Toc (surprise, reliving my 2013 trip for a second), which was as tasty and lively as ever. The place if anything is more crowded now, probably a result of them being a Michelin Bib Giourmand place for a few years. I got my normal starter of beef in betel leaf wraps. The only disappointment, if you will, is the dish now comes with pre-made wraps, taking a little bit of the fun of making your own away. It was still phenomenally tasty, of course. For a main, I got a really perfectly, flakily grilled swordfish in a lemongrass and sambal char with shallots. It wasn't too big but so immaculately cooked. 

From there I headed to Summer Experiment, which was surprisingly not too crowded but just a great vibe. As like every place in HCMC, it is down an alley and up two flights of stairs, but once you enter it is just a mystical place of concoctions, my favorite being a methi and coconut gin cocktail that they liquid nitrogenify into ice cream. That or an Enoki Mushroom Miso cocktail with actual mushroom in it. It is maybe one step away from Cause Effect in terms of whimsy, but does what it does so well.

Speaking of doing what it does well - I give you The Observatory, which was as great, as magical as always. The outer part which is fully done up now was emptier than usual for a Friday, but the inside, back club, was busier, darker, deeper and just perfect - as were the balloons, the drinks and the crowd. It's just a really friendly, inviting and convivial place - meeting my fair share of Europeans, locals, Japanese, everything. No better way to end a night - that and of course Pho Quynh. Ho Chi Minh City was pure comfort food as a way to start the trip, and one day in it is fully living up to that - with a sprinkling of newness thrown in.

2024 Asia Trip: Day 1-2

Day 1-2: Asia, I Can't Leave You

My parents are on a 3-week cruise from Lisbon to Cape Town, stopping at various islands and African nations. Currently they are in Lanzarote. Why do I bring this up? Because it is this fact, and the more exact fact that the cruise started on November 15^th and will last through December 7^th. So they are on a boat for Thanksgiving. Because of that my sister and I took that as an opening to spread our wings as well. She’s off to have Thanksgiving with her in-laws, and I took a few extra days off and decided to head back to East Asia. After doing a trip to Korea in 2022, and Japan in 2023 (and both trips including quick jaunts to Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok as well), I didn’t do one this year in September… and I miss it – what can I say.

The impetus of this trip actually is directly attached to that first Korea trip. Due to a typhoon that hit basically the day I was supposed to land, I had to delay my trip a couple days, and change itineraries – having to cancel trips to Busan (the days of the typhoon) and Jeju Island (likely still unwalkable). It always left me feeling I saw Korea a bit half-baked. Well – two years later I’m making up for lost time. Half-way, I guess, as I still won’t be seeing Jeju Island (a nature-heavy destination isn’t ideal in late November), but will be seeing Busan, and also Gyeongju – a more traditional old town in the South of Korea. Add in a day in Seoul at the end, and my customary two days in Ho Chi Minh City and day in Bangkok at the start, and you have a tightly packed 11-day trip.

It all starts with a flight from Newark to Haneda (Tokyo) – finally being able to use my plus-points (United’s upgrade scheme) for the first time on a longhaul flight since February (when I got my upgrade to Frankfurt cleared to start my Turkey & Cape Town trip). I guess mid-week to Tokyo is a pretty low demand route for people to just buy business class, as my upgrade cleared a week before the flight, and the day before everyone on the 10-person upgrade list got cleared.

The day started with a quick trip to the Polaris Lounge, which was fairly empty given there aren’t that many international flights leaving in the morning. I went to the a-la-carte dining area and ate half of a huge omelet (really well made), chugged down a couple cappuccinos and was off to go. I had the better of the United Polaris seat formations, where the seat is closer to the window, and the side table & cabinet area are closer to the aisle. The flight was great, even if I slept less on it than I was hoping to (and less than I did on the same flight a year ago).

United has for a while talked about slowly upping their catering game, and while it still isn’t close to any Asian airline, it was quite good on this flight. The appetizer of duck with parsnip puree and apple was well thought out, as was the crunchy Asian salad. The main of sirloin with mushroom sauce, and roasted carrots & potatoes was actually one of the better steak dishes I’ve had on a plane. The sundae is good as always. Their Chilean red wine was excellent. All in all, a good main meal – paired at the end with a good Japanese “breakfast” fo curry cod, rice and miso soup. Two good meals, some good drinks, some good movies, about 4-5 hours of sleep, and before you know it, I was landing in Tokyo.

I had about a three hour layover in Haneda, and since the airport is like Singapore where if you are doing an international connection you get let out right into the departure area without needing to re-do security, I could maximize that time quite well. The ANA Lounge was close to the gate the flight arrived at. The Lounge isn’t the best – I think I noted this as well in my blog last year that I would’ve expected more from ANA, but there are some good features. First, a really nice shower suite, which was sorely needed. Second, the had a really nice sake, which helped since their food options were fairly poor.

Of course, I ended up getting to spend some extra time in the lounge since the flight got delayed about two hours due to "mechanical issues". I put it in quotes because it seems looking at the particular route's flightaware history, that every few days it gets dealyed the same two hours. Anyway, the flight was fine in the sense I had two glasses of sake, had their meal (a nice lightly fried chicken dish), and then slept. 

We reached late enough that immigration was quick, the drive from the airport to my AirBNB in the heart of downtown was quick, and then so was the grab taxi over to The Gin House - reaching at 12:45, almost exactly one hour after landing. The Gin House was one of my original cocktail haunts in HCMC dating back mostly to my 2019 and 2022 trips. When I returned in 2022, it was a bit sad that post covid they gave up basically half their space. Well, this time they've moved a couple blocks away and got a larger space, quite reminiscent of their pre-Covid peak. The gin-based cocktails were great as usual. 

What's also as great as usual is Pho Quynh, the 24-hour Pho spot nearby that has been a post-drinks/EDM staple for every trip. The place, even on a quiet Thursday, was humming. What's also nice is it is right at the end of a street that if you start walking down the street becomes quite seedy (to be fair, not really seedy - but let's say quite Bangkok-ish), but Pho Quynh is accessible on the main road. It is the best way to end a day (hint: upcoming ranking of late night food spots...).

NFL 2024: Week 12 Power Rankings & The Rest

32.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-7  (167-310)

31.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  2-9  (208-316)

30.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  2-8  (187-285)
29.) Tennessee Titans  =  2-8  (170-263)

28.) New York Giants  =  2-8  (156-222)

27.) Cleveland Browns  =  2-8  (162-248)

26.) New England Patriots  =  3-8  (182-248)

25.) Dallas Cowboys  =  3-7  (187-293)

24.) New York Jets  =  3-8  (204-242)

23.) New Orleans Saints  =  4-7  (262-260)

22.) Miami Dolphins  =  4-6  (181-221)

21.) Chicago Bears  =  4-6  (194-187)

20.) Indianapolis Colts  =  5-6  (236-250)

19.) Seattle Seahawks  =  5-5  (230-238)

18.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  4-7  (297-296)

17.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  4-6  (279-266)
16.) Atlanta Falcons  =  6-5  (244-274)

15.) Los Angeles Rams  =  5-5  (213-239)

14.) Denver Broncos  =  6-5  (235-183)
13.) San Francisco 49ers  =  5-5  (250-222)

12.) Arizona Cardinals  =  6-4  (238-220)

11.) Green Bay Packers  =  7-3  (250-213)
10.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  7-3  (220-145)
9.) Washington Commanders  =  7-4  (308-243)

8.) Houston Texans  =  7-4  (258-236)

7.) Baltimore Ravens  =  7-4  (334-271)
6.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  8-2  (233-162)

5.) Minnesota Vikings  =  8-2  (244-170)

4.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  9-1  (240-191)

3.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  8-2  (259-179)

2.) Buffalo Bills  =  9-2  (320-214)

1.) Detroit Lions  =  9-1  (336-177)

AFC

1.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  14-3

2.) Buffalo Bills  =  13-4
3.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  12-5

4.) Houston Texans  =  11-6
5.) Baltimore Ravens  =  12-5
6.) XXXXXXXXX
7.) XXXXXXXXX

NFC

1.) Detroit Lions  =  14-3

2.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  13-4
3.) San Francisco 49ers  =  10-7

4.) Atlanta Falcons  =  9-8

5.) Minnesota Vikings  =  13-4

6.) Green Bay Packers  =  11-6
7.) Washington Commanders  =  11-6

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

Byes: Atlanta Falcons (6-5), Buffalo Bills (9-2), Cincinnati Bengals (X-X), New Orleans Saints (4-7), New York Jets (4-7), Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9)

13.) New England Patriots (3-8)  @  Miami Dolphins (4-7)  (1:00 - CBS)

12.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6)  @  New York Giants (2-8)  (1:00 - CBS)
11.) Tennessee Titans (2-8)  @  Houston Texans (X-X)  (1:00 - CBS)
10.) Kansas City Chiefs (9-1)  @  Carolina Panthers (3-7)  (1:00 - CBS)
9.) Denver Broncos (6-5)  @  Las Vegas Raiders (2-8)  (4:05 - CBS)

8.) Dallas Cowboys (X-X)  @  Washington Commanders (7-4)  (1:00 - FOX)
7.) Pittsburgh Steelers (8-2)  @  Cleveland Browns (2-8)  (TNF - Prime)
6.) Minnesota Vikings (8-2)  @  Chicago Bears (4-6)  (1:00 - FOX)
5.) Detroit Lions (9-1)  @  Indianapolis Colts (5-6)  (1:00 - FOX)

4.) Philadelphia Eagles (8-2)  @  Los Angeles Rams (5-5)  (SNF - NBC)
3.) Baltimore Ravens (7-4)  @  Los Angeles Chargers (X-X)  (MNF - ESPN)

2.) San Francisco 49ers (5-5)  @  Green Bay Packers (7-3)  (4:25 - FOX)
1.) Arizona Cardinals (6-4)  @  Seattle Seahawks (5-5)  (4:25 - FOX)

Update:: The Long Slow Continuing Descent into Madness of the Colts

Update:

Today, just 15 days after the Colts benched Anthony Richardson, they've reinstated him in teh starting lineup. It's not a surprise in terms of play, given Joe Flacco was assuredly not "better" in his two games starting than Richardson was. But the decision to go back to Richardson just reinforces how hopeless, directionless adn stupid this franchise is at the moment. If anything, this is dumber than benching him in the first place.

It seems pretty clear now that this was either (a) a serious overreaction to Richardson "tapping out" of a 3rd & 30, (b) some larger point to punish / coach-up Richardson who was not giving it his all in practice or (c) a seriously misguided effort to "save" the season. If it is C - just fire Steichen tomorrow. Like, what are we doing. Flacco at best would give a 5% increased chance at making the playoffs. That is no reason at all to bench the future.

If it is (b) then I guess it was a credible reason to bench him, but then definitely not a real reason to put him back in the lineup. I mean, has he "learned his lesson" after two games, seeing the team struggle as much, if not more, without him. Clearly all he saw on the bench was worse / equally bad QB play and the team reinsert him as some weird type of hero. 

That leaves us with (a) which might be the dumbest reason of all. Yes, I believe he may have lost the locker room in that moment. Except for one simple thing : Richardson had his best drive of the day on the next possession, leading the Colts to a TD - the drive capped by a picture perfect "wow" throw from Richardson to Downs - with the team celebrating, and more pointedly celebrating WITH Richardson. I truly don't think he ever "lost the locker room." 

At the end of the day, there was no good reason to bench him. There's no great reason to bring him back other than a "two wrongs don't make a right" admission that the initial benching never should have happened. All this exposed is that whoever is calling the shots is way over their head.

****************************************************************************

 

The Colts are benching Anthony Richardson. Not that his play hasn't warranted it - what with the 44% completion percentage. But he's also showed flashes of brilliance. He has a great arm. He can read a defense. He can run. He's started just 10 games. The Colts are 4-6 in his starts, and are 4-4 this season adn in the playoff mix. This is a woeful decision. Sadly just the latest in a long line of them for this franchise, nominally the one I root. It's been 15 years of woeful decisions, ever since that wintery Week 16 in 2009 when the 14-0 Colts pulled their starters. 15 years later, the Colts have still not recovered.

It's not like hte Colts have been a pure embarrassment since then. They've made the playoffs eight times, and in the years they didn't, they generally hovered around .500. They've had some highs. They had Andrew Luck. But really it's been one long descent from that moment of being on top of the football world. Bill Polian made his decision, that resting up a team that wasn't 14-0 good anyway was mre important than chasing 16-0. I disagreed then. Many did. I don't know if I would call everything that's happened since karmic retribution, but it wouldn't be the worst throughline for a 10-part docuseries.

The story goes that Jim Irsay vehemently hated the fact that Bill Polian pushed coach Jim Caldwell to pull his starters and give up on the 16-0 season. Bill Polian was a noted asshole. He was our asshole, the Colts asshole, and ruthlessly good at his job. Jim Irsay hated the fact that Bill Polian basically pulled every string on that franchise. Irsay wanted his franchise back. After a fairly staid 10-6 season in 2010 (their worst in eight years), Peyton Manning got hurt in 2011. The Colts fell to 2-14, got the #1 pick that gifted them a generational prospect, and Bill Polian had everythign he needed to "take his franchise back." He fired Polian, cut Peyton, drafted Luck and it was all supposed to be hunky dory. It all may have worked also, if not for that darn Peyton.

The biggest risk in all of that was Irsay cutting Peyton - the guy who basically built this franchise and turned them into a professional outfit. Manning missed an entire season and had a scary neck injury. The only failure point to Irsay's plan was if Peyton returend as good as ever. It's one thing to cut a guy who wouldn't really play again. It's another when the guy you cut leads a team to a 50-14 record over four seasons, two Super Bowls, one title, and two incredible seasons, one of which would see him set all time records that still haven't been broken for yards and TDs. I honestly don't think Irsay could take the fact that Peyton returend as good as ever and he would be the known as the guy that "gave up on Peyton."

So what did Irsay do? He doubles down on this being his franchise - and namely that he went to some degree to put down the Manning/Polian era. He lamented them winning "just one" Super Bowl. He lamented their "star wars" numbers of offensive glory, noting how teams win on defense and running and that normal bullshit. Forget that the Manning era was incredibly successful in every way - won twelve games in a row seven straight years, had four MVP seasons from Peyton, etc. But no, Irsay wanted somethign different.

That something different ruined Andrew Luck's career. With Luck, he should've just repeated the Manning era - surroudn him with great weapons, invest in pass rush, build through the draft, etc. Instead, through GM Ryan Grigson, and coach Chuck Pagano, they did the opposite. The overspent in free agency on interior lineman and linebackers. They wasted picks on running backs (Trent Richardson!). They never got a real pass rusher. They had a terrible line, made worse by Luck's one failing of holding the ball too much. Luck was great enough to win a lot of games, but also couldn't hold up. He was beaten and battered into a shock retirement right before the 2019 season.

That leads to big mistake #2 (#1 being cutting Peyton and overreacting to Polian). Luck's retirement should have been a moment of introspection. Instead it wasn't that at all. By then Chris Ballard and Frank Reich had replaced Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano, and while both have been a step up, neither had the right approach. It's been five seasons since Luck retired and there's still undercurrents of that admitted shock being an excuse for why there is no answer. It definitely lasted through three years of recycling old QBs to worse and worse results (Rivets in 2020, Wentz in 2021, Ryan and 2022). None of those were even medium-term answer, but the Colts trod on.

And then came the Richardson pick. They got a top draft pick eleven years after getting the top draft pick that got them Andrew Luck. Anthony Richardson had a lot of red flags - not many starts, accuracy issues in college. It was going to take time. 10 games isn't enough time. But the rushed decision here, even if Shane Steichen is taking full responsibility, is another sympton of how broken this franchise is mentally. 

It was broken when Irsay "wanted his franchise back." It was broken when he demeaned the Manning era because he couldn't handle he cut a Peyton who could still play at an MVP level. It was broken when it literally broke Andrew Luck - something that was such a gift that they just wasted. It was broken when they decided to keep trotting out old QBs instaed of actually just re-setting thigns for the post Luck world years ago. And it is broken now when they are seemingly either fully giving up on a guy 10 starts in, or just wasting time to further evaluate by pushing that decision into 2025 to see if Flacco can go 9-8 like Wentz did in 2021. I don't think Irsay is a bad owner, but he's a rash and emotional one that has still not mentally recovered from 2009.

Someday the Colts will get out of this cycle of stupid decision making and mediocrity. When that day eventually comes, I hope we can look back at maybe this - the quick trigger failing of Anthony Richardson - being what set them back on track. Fifteen years ago, they pulled their starters. It was a fairly cowardly, weird move, but led to so much madness. Fifteen years later, they've pulled their starter at QB. It is fairly nonsensical. Hopefully not a perpetuation of a fifteen year nightmare, but the more I think about, the more I think it is.

NFL 2024: Week 11 Power Rankings & The Rest

Tier I - The "Sr. Jones" Uno

32.) New York Giants  =  2-8  (156-222) 

The irony is I don't think at all the Giants have the worst roster in the NFL. They ahve some decent talent at receiver, at DL, and even in the secondary. Conversely, the OL is garbage, but really all this comes down to is the continuing humiliation of Daniel Jones. It was a msitake pick back in 2019, and still a mistake pick when they decided to pay him after that mirage of a 2022 season. The rumblings of benching grows louder, but even if they let him play out the string - it is already team to start scouring 2025 draft QBs.

Tier II - The "Scouting Through 2025" Quadro

31.) Carolina Panthers  =  3-7  (167-310)
30.) Cleveland Browns  =  2-7  (148-213)
29.) New England Patriots  =  3-7  (160-220)
28.) Tennessee Titans  =  2-7  (157-240)

A lot of people are commenting on the ridiculous spate of 2-win and 3-win teams at this point in the season. Legitimately so (my next two groups are also such teams). Granted, some of this is there's no 0-win or 1-win team at this point. Anyway, for the Panthers, nice that Bryce Young is 2-1 since his return but that team is still a disaster. Cleveland hopefully can get something back after their bye but I would put tabs on the Jameis-sance being a 1-week mirage. The Patriots showed they can still dismantle bad offenses, but I still think against better schemed teams compared to whatever the bears are putting forward, they will get exposed. And finally the Titans are having one of the most boring seasons of incompetence. Nothing embarrassingly bad, but really nothign aside from continuing good DL play, to enjoy.

Tier III - The "Wishing it was All a Dream" Trio

27.) New York Jets  =  3-7  (177-214)

26.) Jacksonville Jaguars  =  2-8  (202-264)

25.) Dallas Cowboys  =  3-6  (177-259)

Even if Rodgers comes back, this season is full to well shot. What a surprise that firing the defensive coach would make the defense, what was still a good unit at the time of Saleh's firing, turn into a disaster. I don't think there's any team with worse outlook this season. If you're the Jaguars, do you even bring Trevor back? I mean I assume you do, but at this point Lawrence is almost certainly the starter next year, and equally so is Doug Pederson almost certainly not the coach. XXXXXXXXXXXX. The Cowboys are just overmatched at this point, and I do wonder when the plug gets pulled on McCarthy. Jerry is generally not as rash with coaches as you think, but in a similar QB-injury disappointment in 2010, he did can Wade Phillips after a similar-ish track record.

Tier IV - The "Mediocre Mediocrities" Duo

24.) Las Vegas Raiders  =  2-7  (168-201)
23.) New Orleans Saints  =  3-7  (227-246)

I don't really know why I have these two higher than the prior four. I guess I have some more upside potential in the Raiders defense, and the Saints having some life with Derek Carr back. We finally move on from our host of 2-win and 3-win teams here. Each of the seasons since the move to 17-games has seen one team start 3-6 or worse make the playoffs. Since all the 4-6 teams were previously 4-5, that means for the streak to continue, one of the above will have to make it. I guess the only one I have any real potential in seeing is New Orleans. Not sure why, but that team from Week 1-2 may be lingering just enough.

Tier V - The "In Theory Wild Card Fodder" Trio

22.) Miami Dolphins  =  3-6  (147-202)

21.) Chicago Bears  =  4-5  (175-167)
20.) Indianapolis Colts  =  4-6  (208-223)
19.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  =  4-6  (279-266)

Ok, all four can I guess turn it around, but it all seems a bit hopeless. The Dolphins got a big win in theory but I saw some distressing signs even in that win - huge sacks, some issues in teh secondary, and more frustratingly a continued lower ceiling to the Dolphins offense than there should be. The Bears have had three msierable games on offense in a row, and Waldron just seems lost. It's not like there's not weapons, and while the OL is bad, you would think Waldron can scheme up something better than what we've seen so far. I won't put it all on Caleb just yet. For the Colts, the schedule is easy enough that I can see a path back to 9-8. Again, they never get embarrassed, but strikingly they look way less competitive overall with Flacco. It seems like Steichen's digging his heels here - another potential comeback felled seemingly by coaching malpractice. For the Buccaneers, it's the opposite really. Coaching wise they're fine, but just too many injuries. Baker has been valiant, but the defense is also getting gashed a bit more than they did earlier in the season. When they're not getting pressure, teh secondary is getting exposed at times.

Tier VI - The "Wild Card Contenders" Quadro

18.) Denver Broncos  =  5-5  (197-177)

17.) Seattle Seahawks  =  4-5  (210-221)
16.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  4-6  (270-262)
15.) Los Angeles Rams  =  4-5  (185-217)

Technically the Broncos are the #7 seed in the AFC at this moment, but since they've yet to beat anyone all that good I'm sticking them down here. Nix has played low-msitake football but the top-end needs to get higer for me to have any real confidence. For the Seahawks, it's been a rough few weeks but they remain just 1.5 games out of the division with a high ceiling + low floor combination. They have to protect better for Geno. For teh Bengals, there still is a clean path to the playoffs, starting with a huge game this week in LA. Defensively they have to blitz more; try something to get pass rush from anyone outside of Hendrickson. I'm not sure why I remain being somewhat hopeful about the Rams. Stafford and that offense have to do better in the red zone, and particularly they have to stop taking huge sacks. That was a winnable game, and Kupp and Nacua look good, and the defense continues to play above its level. I think this is a good team with enough of a runway to make it interesting.

Tier VII - The "Imperfect, Untested, but Good" Quadro

14.) Atlanta Falcons  =  6-4  (238-236)

13.) Arizona Cardinals  =  6-4  (238-220)
12.) Green Bay Packers  =  6-3  (230-194)

11.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  6-3  (186-118)

The Falcons couldn't just follow through on promise for once. They had a bunch of positive momentum last couple weeks. They outplayed the Saints in reality, but seeing Kirk struggle to attack and rely on checkdowns on that final drive was alarming. Outside of one out-of-his-mind drive in Philadelphia, they still haven't able to play in all-pass situations. The Cardinals remain a high ceiling team with a defense playing better by the week and a scheme that Murray seems increasingly more comfortable with as well. They cling to that division lead, and have an easier schedule rest of year than the 49ers. Stealing that division is definitely a possibility. For the Packers, let's hope the bye settles down a Jordan Love given a week to rest. He took off in the second half of the season, but for me at least I've seen some definite regression this year. Nothing alarming for a 2nd year player. The Chargers resume is pretty barren on big wins at this point, but man can they jsut suffocate bad offenses. Again, there is some house of cards potential if injuries set-in, but so far Jim Harbaugh has been a good luck charm in that area.

Tier VIII - The "Ships Passing in the Night" Duo

10.) Houston Texans  =  6-4  (247-252)
9.) San Francisco 49ers  =  5-4  (233-202)

It's not even like you could say the Texans should have won that game. They basically decided to stop playing at halftime, and it was only the two more interceptions by Jared Goff that kept it close. The defense though remains excellent, and can get even better when Will Anderson returns. Offensively they need to slow it down for Stroud, but this might just be a sophomore slump season. Finally on the 49ers side, with McCaffrey back there are no more excuses. Be the team that you still very much have the roster to be. Jennings and Pearsall have filled in fine enough for Aiyuk. The defense has found some punch. Purdy is still playing well. Make your kicks and go on your roll. The opportunity is there, admittedly with a tough schedule to navigate. That should have been a dominant win if not for the horrific special teams. Clean that shit up, guys.

Tier IX - The "Just Plain Good Teams" Trio

8.) Minnesota Vikings  =  7-2  (221-157)

7.) Washington Commanders  =  7-3  (290-217)
6.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  7-2  (215-146)

If Darnold isn't throwing terrible interceptions, the Vikings are pretty damn great. Yes, better offenses can take advantage of Flores (see the Lions). Yes, saying "if Darnold doesn't throw interceptions" is a tough ask, but I still believe in the core of this team and the wins that they've banked to this point. This is still a much better, real version of the Vikings compared to the 13-4 mirage of a team in 2022, even if 2022 Kirk is better than 2024 Darnold. The Commanders probably should've won that game, but a close loss to a good team is probably right given they never should've beaten the Bears. Jayden Daniels is going through a mini-slump, but is still a very good player taking advantage of some good weapons and Dan Quinn's defense remains good enough to keep them in any game of late. Imperfect team, but really high upside still. For the Steelers, my only worry coming out of that game (aside from if Wilson turns into a pumpkin) is the Highsmith injury, but they're deep enough and well coached enough on defense to get around it. The Steelers are just a very good team and have a chance for a real statement next week against the Ravens.

Tier X - The "Are We Allowed to Believe?" Uno

5.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  7-2  (233-161)

Like I get Sirriani can seem like a buffoon. I get that it is hard to trust them after a 10-1 start last year becoming a 1-5 end and a meek playoff exit. But to put it another way, in 2022 they went 14-3, then started 10-1, had that malaise (admittedly after playing nothing like a 10-1 type record), and now are 7-2. Take that malaise out of it, and they are 31-6. There is upside here because the top end is just that strong. Maybe not as strong as the 14-3 team having lost some pass rush punch adn OL dominance, but about as good. This is a very good team that more will trust over time. Starting maybe with this week against the Commanders.

Tier XI - The "Mega Contenders" Quadro

4.) Baltimore Ravens  =  7-3  (318-253)

3.) Buffalo Bills  =  8-2  (290-193)

2.) Detroit Lions  =  9-1  (310-194)
1.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  9-0  (219-161)

The Ravens narrowly averted another frustrating loss. This is a ranking based on offensive dominance, but to me clearly 4th in a group of Four based on thsoe defensive limitations. Jackson is playing at an insanely high level, but it is a bad sign that they need him to do so to win close games, rather than blowout teams like 2019 or 2023. For the Bills, that was a calm win even with some weirdness, but in past years they would lose the games with weirdness and picks and what-not. Cooper and Coleman hopefully will come back soon, but may not be in time for the Chiefs game. For the Lions, if they're able to throw the ball away four times (plus a hail mary pick), fall behind 23-7, on the road against a good team, and still win the game, that is a sign that this is just a really good unit. Finally on the Chiefs, yes it is frustrating for opponents to watch them just win these close games week after week. But this is still a good team. For their sake, I hope they lose at some point because to some degree this is like teh 2009 Colts, that were never 16-0 good despite basically getting that opportunity handed to them on a platter.

\Projecting the Playoffs

AFC

1.) Kansas City Chiefs  =  15-2

2.) Buffalo Bills  =  13-4

3.) Baltimore Ravens  =  12-5

4.) Houston Texans  =  11-6
5.) Pittsburgh Steelers  =  12-5

6.) Los Angeles Chargers  =  11-6

7.) Cincinnati Bengals  =  10-7

NFC

1.) Detroit Lions  =  14-3

2.) Philadelphia Eagles  =  12-5

3.) San Francisco 49ers  =  11-6

4.) Atlanta Falcons  =  11-6
5.) Minnesota Vikings  =  12-5

6.) Washington Commanders  =  11-6

7.) Green Bay Packers  =  11-6

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Schedule

Byes: New York Giants (2-8), Arizona Cardinals (6-4), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6), Carolina Panthers (3-7)

14.) Indianapolis Colts (4-6)  @  New York Jets (3-7)  (1:00 - CBS)

13.) Las Vegas Raiders (2-8)  @  Miami Dolphins (3-6)  (1:00 - CBS)
12.) Cleveland Browns (2-7)  @  New Orleans Saints (3-7)  (1:00 - FOX)

11.) Houston Texans (6-4)  @  Dallas Cowboys (3-7)  (MNF - ESPN)
10.) Los Angeles Rams (4-5)  @  New England Patriots (3-7)  (1:00 - FOX)

9.) Jacksonville Jaguars (2-8)  @  Detroit Lions (9-1)  (1:00 - CBS)

8.) Minnesota Vikings (7-2)  @  Tennessee Titans (2-7)  (1:00 - CBS)

7.) Atlanta Falcons (6-4)  @  Denver Broncos (5-5)  (4:05 FOX)- 
6.) Seattle Seahawks (4-5)  @  San Francisco 49ers (5-4)  (4:05 - FOX)
5.) Cincinnati Bengals (4-6)  @  Los Angeles Chargers (6-3)  (SNF - NBC)

4.) Green Bay Packers (6-3)  @  Chicago Bears (4-5)  (1:00 - FOX)
3.) Washington Commanders (7-3)  @  Philadelphia Eagles (7-2)  (TNF - Prime)
2.) Baltimore Ravens (7-3)  @  Pittsburgh Steelers (8-2)  (1:00 - CBS)
1.) Kansas City Chiefs (9-0)  @  Buffalo Bills (8-2)  (4:25 - CBS)