Stephanie Lai's previous work for The Toast can be found here. In 1926, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par migrate to Singapore from Yangon. In 1937, annoyed by Kids These Days, they open Tiger Balm Gardens, a site from which they plan to teach Singaporeans about traditional Chinese values. Their company, the Haw Par Corporation, produces Tiger Balm. It’s not traditional values, but it is traditional. In 1988, Tiger Balm Gardens is renamed…
Previously in this series: "Ozten": Pride and Prejudice for Australians Emma Woodhouse, Ems, bright, skilled, with a happy disposition and a preoccupation with jam and her friends and the Great British Bake Off (and its offshoot, the Great Australian Bake Off, filmed in distant Melbourne). She loves knitting and amigurumi, which her great childhood friend Knightley regrets ever mentioning to her after he returned from a trip to Japan, and reaches 22 with a…
MRS BENNET: Someone’s finally moving into Netherfield! ELIZABETH: Really? I thought they were going to tear that down and build a Red Rooster. MR BENNETT: When the sailors come to town you all act like a pack of flaming galahs! No daughter of mine will be going to schoolies on the Gold Coast! But if you're very good, Kitty, in a few years you might earn yourself a Blue Light Disco. ELIZABETH: Bingo has the…
Stephanie Lai last wrote for The Toast about the pitfalls of voluntourism. The majority of Australia has just suffered through an unprecedented heatwave; at the same time, North America experienced a Polar Vortex. These extreme weather events are no coincidence: I'm here to explain to you Our Oncoming Dystopic Future!
This is not an argument about whether climate change exists, or been caused by humans. This is an explanation of…
You've just finished uni; maybe you're taking a break from your stressful job, you've got some money saved, and you want to adventure and make a difference. There are children in developing countries, and you've got time and a lot of love and there's a whole world out there. But before you end up as that person on Facebook making the peace sign amid a crowd of brown orphans, stop and think. I might be…
