"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness, and just be happy." Two weeks 24/7 with our suns *ahem* sons All-in happy and boundlessly grateful. Oh and then there's this- coming up soon: We're off for a loong look around! In??

Only in Thailand.... ongoing Finding a cut-off point for a blog post with the working title "Only in Thailand" is proving impossible- even without the divisive political impasse the country is currently floundering through. So I’m spotlighting just a few personal favorites: Only in Thailand: Hot-air balloon pilots strong-armed gently persuaded to fire great plumes of flame into their tethered balloons, in sync with a thunderous rendering of Nessun Dorma by Andrea Bocelli, offset with blasts of multi-colored fireworks, at the annual

Like many- many! longer-term travelers in SE Asia, we've ended up in Chiang Mai for the winter. You'll find rants and raves about the city, but there are definitely reasons for its popularity.... No, I would not want to live inside the "famed" moat, a spectator to the same old saggy pants, strangled hair high season spectacle- Chiang Mai has so much more to offer. (A drawback for some might be that to live here and to enjoy what lies

Therese brought the winds of change to Gentle Breeze Inn! My sister’s many-faceted background as a Michelin-starred restaurant and hotel manager, followed by a seven year community work project, prepared her well for a job as challenging and varied as the people she was to work with. The fast-growing guesthouse and the Burmese employees, some of them orphans who had found shelter under Eric’s wing years ago, had reached their limits on all fronts, when her initial two month stint as

Lei Thar Gone (Gentle Breeze) Guesthouse and the adjacent Light of Love High School are the remarkable result of one man’s bold vision, fourteen years of selfless dedication, and ongoing, relentless, hard work: Eric Trutwein is Burmese through and through, in spite of his German surname. He owes the name to his great-grandfather who emigrated from Germany to the United States, where he met and married a Burmese woman. The couple later immigrated to Myanmar. Born in Yenangyaung in 1945, Eric

We stocked up on supplies and set out on our pilgrimage to Yenangyuang, Myanmar- a journey with a purpose. The first leg of our trip took us from Pakse, southern Laos to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thirty US dollars bought us a thirteen hour trip on a tired old bus- five spine jolting hours on a sad excuse for a road included. At least the visa procedure at the Laos - Cambodia border was smooth! (Not surprising seeing that you oil every

There's no doubt about it, Laotians love their “stick rite” They consume more sticky rice than anyone in the world! Many people subsist on it- and on not that much more. They work hard for their modest harvest, and still need to work inventive side-businesses just to make ends (barely) meet: That’d be the lady in the flowered apron selling early morning donuts, or the gent hawking warm soy milk from a small coal heated barrel fixed to the back of

Please remind me why I’m here? Ok, thanks M decided to skip the backpacker fave, Thakhek loop, so we stuck to sights nearer “home”. A satisfying, Laotian way of doing things it turned out. Because there are LOTS of caves right outside your front door. They don't measure up to famed Konglor Cave on the loop, but they're surely worth a visit for their low-key, local charm. Entrance to Buddha Cave, Thakhek Though the sights are "minor", even sleepy Savannakhet offers a choice of tours