writer. traveller. life unraveller.
Someone told me I should be writing stories about my travels. But the thing is, I'm not really travelling much these days. I spend most of the year between three places: Canada, my home, and Indonesia and Thailand. I've spent enough time in all three countries that my eyes have become a bit, well, immune... Continue Reading →
A long time ago, in what seems like another life, I sat at a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand chatting with a young monk. The experience was part of an initiative called “Monk Chat”, offered at several Buddhist temples around Thailand’s northern urban darling. The city’s novice monks––the young, and effectively in-training monks––sit with interested... Continue Reading →
It's easy to believe living in a place that is summer-like all year round is fantastic. Don't get me wrong, the heat and sunshine are glorious, everything is always in bloom, and the crickets chirp every night for the entire year. But being positioned right on the equator also makes those nights come as early... Continue Reading →
Have you ever noticed that as you’re about to leave a place, really good things happen? As I near the end of my stay in Chiang Mai again, and feeling ready for a change of scenery, I begin to notice, once again, everything awesome about this place. I LOVE Chiang Mai. I have since the... Continue Reading →
It’s strange to watch your parents age. I’m not around my mom and dad too often, just a once-per-year visit home for a few weeks to check in and enjoy each others’ company for a bit of time. To be reminded of the beautiful, natural fallibility of the people we love is a cyclical and... Continue Reading →
Click play to hear the audio version. In my blog, What I Learned From a Balinese Healer, I told the story about meeting Cokorda Rai, a well-known healer in Ubud, and Ketut, a young man introduced to us by a friend. While both experiences were insightful the main realization I had was that pain can... Continue Reading →
If you prefer listening to reading, click play below and enjoy 🙂 When I first heard about the island of Bali, it was while reading the book titled Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. The imagery she used to depict the small Indonesian island had me wriggling in my lawn chair, desperate to launch myself... Continue Reading →
It’s been five years since I experienced a Canadian fall. If not for a certain special somebody I would have been long gone, back to Asia, before autumn equinox. Before the temperature dropped, the leaves started to change, and proper close-toed shoes and jackets became necessary. I usually dread the idea of staying past August... Continue Reading →
Travelling abroad is an exciting venture into the unknown. It has exquisite appeal for the adventure junkies, the global philanderers, the foodies, the culture curious, those who just want to check out what’s happening on the other side of the world, those who wish to take a long hiatus from what’s happening on their familiar... Continue Reading →
One of the first things I remember about planning to travel the world before I left to do so many years ago was mentally listing all of the things I was afraid of. They were numerous. Would drug smugglers hide illegal snuff in my backpack at the airport unbeknownst to me? Would hand-sized spiders eat... Continue Reading →
colleen thornton 