Last year we celebrated the holidays in Hong Kong and Macau. Having recently returned from Thailand and Vietnam, and with more trips planned for 2013, we thought a quiet Christmas at home in Shanghai would serve us well. This also gave us the opportunity to see how our adoptive city in the PRC handles a Western […]
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Temple Hopping in Chiang Mai, Thailand
There are literally hundreds of temples in Chiang Mai, more than most tourists can reasonably visit during a brief stay. Try to see too many, and temple fatigue will set in. So how do you decide which temples in Chiang Mai to prioritize? This guide highlights six of the most significant. Temples in the Old […]
Spending a Day with Elephants in Thailand
I have been blessed with many wonderful life experiences, but our day with the elephants at Patara Elephant Farm in the mountains near Chiang Mai is undoubtedly one of the best. Hubby and I are still rhapsodizing about it two weeks later! As an ardent animal lover, spending time with these magnificent creatures was a […]
Celebrating Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai
The Loi Krathong Festival is a celebration of Buddha that takes place all over Thailand, though Chiang Mai’s observance is perhaps the most famous. Images and video of the mass release of thousands of lighted paper lanterns have enchanted me for years so we planned our trip to coincide with the festival. As fate would […]
Exploring Thailand’s Incredible Sukhothai Ruins
The ancient kingdom of Sukhothai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and arguably the birthplace of modern Thailand, contains some of the most stunning ruins in the country. Sukhothai was founded in 1238 AD by Sri Indraditya, when he and and his brother took the city from Burma. His son King Ramkhamhaeng proved to be a […]