Who doesn’t like Thai food?!! I love to eat it, I’d just never cooked it, and not being the world’s greatest cook, I didn’t know what to expect. But after a high recommendation from other guest house visitors, my Aussie friend Soraya and I headed to the Thai Orchid Cookery school for a day of cooking and eating… It’s owned and run by a lovely young couple who have been sharing their cooking skills for 7 years...

Agape means unconditional love. At least that’s the definition I was given at a home for children with HIV, just outside of Chang Mai, Thailand. One morning at my guest house, I was fated to meet at breakfast a young couple, Ben and Lauren, from Ohio, a state next door to my home state of Michigan. In fact, it turns out Ben’s brother lives in my home town of Grand Rapids. Small world. When they said they were headed that morning to...

When I heard you could hang out with elephants in Thailand, I admit I was hesitant. I’d heard stories of animal abuse – drugged tigers you could pet, and overworked elephants carrying tourists around and around on their backs. But then someone told me about Happy Elephant Home, a rescue refuge that takes elephants out of hard labor and gives them a life of supposed relative ease, And I have to admit, they look pretty happy! A young...

Why did I return to Thailand after a week in Cambodia? Because the artsy town of Chang Mai was calling me, as were my new friends from the meditation retreat. As an American, you get a month tourist visa in Thailand, then if you leave the country, even for an hour or two, you can get another month. I had thought I’d continue on in Cambodia and Vietnam, but when friends suggested that, as an artist, I might appreciate Chang Mai, I decided...