Welcome to 72 Seasons of Tea!
Join me in my practice of returning to what matters most, through people, places, and pages.
Free subscribers will receive:
All 2024-25 posts, since the launch of this space in April 2024, which will remain free and accessible.
Limited free posts will continue with light seasonal reflections — flowers, stories behind tea, seasonal kigo 季語, Zen phrases and paintings — along with brief notes from my Japanese learning journey and adventures.
Occasionally, I will share longer pieces from my series, Conversations Mostly from Kyoto and Poetry & Roots.
Paid subscribers will receive:
My 2024-25 photo essay collection, plus all free posts.
A more intimate space for thoughtful discussions.
A series of thematic essays exploring deeper readings and reflections on what matters, and the space within through people, pages, and places in Kyoto - from gardens to teahouses. These writings feed directly into a book I am currently writing.
The warm satisfaction of supporting an independent writer as she fundraises to bring a limited-edition print book to life.
I’m Peck Gee Chua.
I used to live in 21 West End, Upper West Side of Manhattan. For the 11th time in 12 years, we have now moved to our latest house in Kyoto since May 2024. Ever since Manhattan, I have been moving East, inching closer to its edges.
From Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur, and now Kyoto. Prior to New York, it was Washington DC, Dili, Jakarta, Minneapolis, Singapore, and various cities in Malaysia. These are not just cities I’ve traveled to but places I have had the privilege to have called home - albeit fleetingly.
I am a mother of two. And for the past decade, I have been an international consultant for early childhood development policy, primarily working with UNICEF at its HQ and two regional offices across Asia Pacific.
The unexpected surprises that I got thrown into along the way are perhaps the most defining moments in my life: miscarried our second unborn child; relocated from Kathmandu to Kuala Lumpur to escape air pollution, which led to my passion for the climate change and early childhood intersection; diagnosed with chronic health issues two years in a row.
Writing has since become the anchor I return to — to make sense of beauty in the broken places, and to what matters.
Publications: OpEds, Travel, Essays
Embracing the Unexpected: An essay on tea, zen and life (Musubi Academy, 13 June 2025).
Tea, Meditation and Inner Peace in Kyoto (The Straits Times, Singapore, June 2024). See full version here.
Consumed: The dangers of our mindless passion for work (The Loss & Damage Collaboration, April 2024). See ‘Less is More’ video by my tea meditation teacher
Why Sitting is the New Smoking: My sudden diabetes diagnosis (The Straits Times, Singapore, April 2024). See full version here.
Tiny Lungs, Hefty Price: Air pollution's unequal burden on young children (The Straits Times, Singapore, June 2023)
Fresh Air, Fun Play: Air pollution's initiatives in Asia to restore play in childhood (Play Rights Magazine, International Play Association, June 2023)
Raising Our Voices as Mothers: Our climate, our children's future (Capita, January 2023)
Policy Publications: Early Childhood and Climate Change
ECD Climate COP28 Brief - 3 pages (ARNEC, December 2023)
Air Pollution in Early Childhood Advocacy Brief - 10 pages (Vital Strategies & ARNEC, November 2023)
Early Childhood and Climate Change: Advocacy Brief (UNICEF EAPRO, January 2023)
Growing Steady and Strong: Early childhood regional guidance in East Asia and the Pacific (UNICEF EAPRO, December 2021)
Air Pollution and Early Childhood Development in Asia-Pacific (ARNEC Connections, December 2019)
Lit review: Early childhood care and education (ECCE) personnel in low- and middle-income countries (UNESCO, January 2015)
