I’m writing this sitting in our living room in Chiang Mai, looking out our balcony doors over the city.  Juliann is out getting some last minute Christmas shopping done, and Braeden is at the kitchen table working on a YouTube drawing lesson, his brow furrowed, his treasured Lightning McQueen pencil gripped in his little fingers, … Continue reading The City of Angels →

We watched as Braeden shuffled on his knees up to the gaunt monk who was sitting, cross-legged and placid, swathed in orange robes.  The boy held out his wrist respectfully, eyes wide.   The man in orange looked at him with a glimmer in his eye, nodded, and gently tied a cotton bracelet around the … Continue reading Falling in Love with Chiang Mai →

One of the reasons we were so damned excited to settle in Chiang Mai for a few weeks was that we wanted to be able to enjoy the holidays without packing or traveling. Braeden, ever the typical American 4-year-old, had been peppering us with questions about Christmas since maybe, oh, last Christmas, so it goes … Continue reading A Very Merry (Southeast Asia) Christmas →

Big Ears One of the biggies on our “must do” list for Thailand was a visit to an elephant camp.  After screwing around for a couple of weeks in Chiang Mai we finally decided that we’d better get moving on an elephant experience or we were going to run out of time. After asking some of … Continue reading The Bucket List Gets Shorter →

Hanoi – The City That Never Stops The stories we had heard about Vietnam prior to our arrival described the country as wild, traffic-clogged, noisy, challenging, fun, singular, frustrating, and beautiful. So naturally we had to see this sucker for ourselves. Our plan was to fly from Chiang Mai into Hanoi, spend a few days … Continue reading Vietnam – A New Challenge →

The quaint little town of Hoi An is in Central Vietnam, about an hour’s flight from Hanoi.  Our hope, with fingers crossed and knocking like hell on wood, was that the weather would be a touch warmer and sunnier in Hoi An than it had been in Hanoi. It didn’t work out that way.  It … Continue reading Heavy Traffic in Life’s Slow Lane: Hoi An →

Temples aren’t really my thing.  Or perhaps I should say thaaang. Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy visiting a beautiful temple, cathedral, mosque, synagogue, etc.  I’ll even spend a day to go out of my way and visit one. But I’m not going to fly to a city just to see the temples.  I’m more of … Continue reading (Too Short) A Visit to Siem Reap →