Angkor Wat. If it brings up visions of a long-ago faraway place, something you might have seen in a dream, this is an accurate picture. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Cambodia, built in the 12th century, and the complex covers miles of ground. It is the largest religious monument in the world! A wat is a temple, and the famous Angkor that you see in a lot of the photos is but one of many temples here, the best preserved of them...

Udonthani, like most of Thailand, is a blend of old and new, low tech and high tech… …local market and super market. What’s it like to live like a local in Thailand? I was lucky enough to find out, thanks to a connection made by another Travel Angel, my friend Lee in California, who introduced me via email to what turned out to be two more Travel Angels, Paul and Joi. They live in Udonthani, which is a fairly big city in the...

Paradise can be had for a song in Thailand, just head south… After 10 days at a bare-bones silent meditation retreat, I needed to recover, meaning a beach, a cold beer and a hammock! Sabine, a woman from Germany that I met at the retreat, had reserved a little island bungalow on Koh Phangan for $16 a night and invited me to share for a few nights. $8 a night for paradise, how could I turn that down?! Having heard about the wild full and...

Following are 12 items that you might not think to pack, but that I find indispensable: 1) Pack towel – They’re a little bit of an investment, but well worth the price as they’re super absorbent, anti-microbial, and take up a fraction of the space of a regular towel. Most hostels don’t provide towels, or charge extra, and camping you need to bring your own as well. Staying in hotels? These pack towels still come in...

Suan Mokkh Monastery Retreat, Days 2-10 The schedule was virtually the same every day, however each day was also different. Day 2 you were given bananas with breakfast, and your new friend Sabine handed you a beautiful yellow flower in passing. And you got to go shopping! 2 rolls of toilet paper and a tiny package of laundry detergent from the little dining room store so you can wash your clothes in a basin. Since you can’t talk, you just...