RON GLUCKMAN

Wrote “Where Runs the River,” p. 106

During his three decades living in Asia, Gluckman has traveled to the far reaches of Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tibet; ridden the rails into North Korea; and crossed the Pacific by cargo ship. For this story, he didn’t need to stray far from his home in Bangkok. Yet the assignment was a perfect fit. Born by the beach in San Francisco, Gluckman says he has always felt the tidal pull of water. He lived along the Pacific Northwest coast, right up to Alaska, before moving to Asia in 1991. Here, he made his home in Hong Kong on Lamma Island, surrounded by the sea, and later lived in Phnom Penh, along the Tonle Sap River. For the last six years, he’s been watching the Chao Phraya flow right past his door. “The river is my front yard. But the amazing thing was how little I really knew about it,” he says. “Traveling its length for this story was an incredibly fun journey. I learned so much.”