Latitude, longitude and love

I see her and her son quite often. They sit together at the bottom of one of the exits of a BTS Skytrain station, a few minutes walk from where we live in Bangkok (locally, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon). On the right hand side of the street is an upscale shopping mall, and on the…

This is the only picture I have of a lovely woman who sold fruit every morning on the street where we live in Bangkok. I wish I knew her name but unfortunately I never asked. When I talked with family or friends about her, I referred to her as “the pomelo lady” because I bought…

Today is Good Friday, and Christians around the world are celebrating Holy Week, the most important week of the year in Christianity which culminates in Easter Sunday. Jews are celebrating a holy week as well with Passover. And Ramadan is being celebrated by Muslims around the world, the holiest month of the year for Islam….

I still remember entering Trianon Cafe for the first time, with its gorgeous high ceilings and its hardwood walls full of larger-than-life paintings from a bygone era. Located in the heart of Alexandria, Egypt, this lavish cafe was opened in 1905 by a pair of Greek immigrants, and as soon as you step through its…

Christmas lights flashing inside, Lightning flashing outside.  The indoor show— whimsical, rhythmical, The outdoor show— explosive, unpredictable. Both—  bursts of energy that break the darkness of the room and the sky. Maybe there’s a life analogy in here about how the indoor light show makes us feel sentimental, peaceful and warm while the outdoor light…

All that we are is the result of what we have thought This powerful thought is credited to Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha. Having lived in the birthplace of the Buddha (Nepal) as well as in two predominantly Buddhist countries (Thailand and Myanmar), I’ve learned about and have been influenced a lot by…

A Roman writer, lawyer and scholar named Cicero once said, “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.” I’ve loved this quote for many years. But when I lived in Damak, Nepal, I gained a new insight— that a library is a garden itself. A garden where curiosity is cultivated,…

For the past 11 years running, we’ve celebrated Halloween with scores of friends around the world, many of whom had never dressed up in a Halloween costume or joined a Halloween party before. Given my love (mildly putting it) for Halloween ever since I was a little guy, I’ve always wanted our son to grow…

Food, glorious food! No matter what country you may find yourself in, there will always be plenty of different foods to try. And in every country, no matter how small, there will be something the locals eat which you will be urged to taste, whether it be regional variations of national dishes or the town’s…

One of the wonderful benefits of traveling is meeting people along the way.  Sometimes these encounters are as brief as a hello, a smile or a wave; at other times, when time is not so pressed, you might end up in a great discussion with a fellow traveler or someone local, or maybe with a…