The lure of the bucket list can be powerful beyond imagining. Longtime contributor Ken Schechet, who is currently eating his way through Asia, felt compelled to revisit Singapore after several decades and make his first journey to Vietnam. He’s currently sharing his observations of the food scene with us.

Ken’s first post last week, Singapore Food Wars, described the intense rivalry between establishments that made their reputation on a single dish. Residents of Singapore are as obsessed with both Chicken Rice and Laksa (a spicy soup of rice noodles, fish cakes and shrimp) as Texans are with barbecue. In the city’s vibrant food scene, establishments that specialize in one item face each other down at close range.

His second post, Singapore Street Food, describes the culture of street hawkers in detail, and gives us a close-up view of a food crawl Ken did with the aid of a local guide. The photos are compelling, as are the descriptions of the dishes. I know it’s a long flight, but where else can you snag a Michelin-starred meal for $2?

In a week or so, Ken will move on to Vietnam, and we look forward his reports on a food culture that’s even more diverse and interesting than Singapore.

Here are last week’s posts:

Singapore Food Wars

Singapore Street Food