Monthly Archives: February 2026

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Southeast Asia Adventure Edition

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I’ve been home for two and a half weeks, and it already feels like my trip to Southeast Asia was some kind of dream that happened ages ago. This month has just flown by, what with travel and then recovering from travel, with catching up on all the one million things that I was behind on because of travel, and with running errands and going to appointments and all the little things that add up to make a life.

February is a short month, that’s true, but still I can hardly believe it’s time for Favourite Things already!

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Southeast Asia Adventure Edition

ELEPHANTS

Right out of the gate, I’m going to talk about elephants. Being around those magnificent creatures was the highlight of the trip – maybe even of my life – to the point that I can barely remember the rest of the tour. I have to go back and look at photos to remind myself that yes, there were MANY other incredible experiences. But elephants!

Such intelligent, beautiful animals. I love them, and it was such an incredible gift to be able to be so close to them and to see their personalities. The young male was particularly funny; he kept shoving greenery and bunches of bananas underneath his tusks, stealthily removing them to eat later. While we were in the pond bathing them, the male’s caretaker said something to him, at which point the elephant lowered his trunk into the water, raised it slowly, and sprayed us. I got sprayed! By an elephant! I did not even know that was on my list of things I wanted to happen in my life, but it was.

Silk and Silver

Cambodia is renowned for silver and for silk, and I love both of those things. We visited a silk farm and watched women weave; it was fascinating and intricate work, and the amount of labour that goes into a single scarf is astounding. I felt a strong sense of duty to support the local economy!

In Hong Kong: red wine and silk, two Favourite Things.

I have loved silver jewelry since I was a young teen, and when we visited a women-run family silversmith business, I had a hard time not buying everything I saw. After all, there’s always room in the carryon for necklaces.

I also fell in love with this little Buddha, who serenely sits on a windowsill.

Watch Out!

On our last day in Cambodia, my beloved Garmin watch died. It just completely and suddenly died, and I was bereft. And then I was bereft that I was bereft, because what kind of spoiled and terrible person is upset about a watch in a country where people are worried about things like land mines and poverty and lack of education.

And yet.

When it died, I realized that I check my watch many, many times an hour. Every time I reflexively looked at my naked wrist I felt sad anew, and then I felt sad for being sad, the snake is eating its tail. The day after the premature Garmin death, we flew to Bangkok, and as it turns out you can buy literally anything in Bangkok. If you can’t, it’s because it doesn’t exist. This is particularly true for technology, and so my husband and I headed for Siam Square mall on our free evening, where I found a Garmin and my husband found a sun hat and mango sticky rice.

This new updated watch is very fun as it gives me all sorts of cheerful encouragement throughout the day. Also I like to say, casually, I bought it in Bangkok. Just going to the mall in Bangkok felt like an adventure; we took tuk-tuks there and back and I did have a thought, as we zipped in and out of relentless traffic, breathing in fumes with the wind in our faces, what if we get in an accident? Well, if we did, I would not be here to tell the tale. Fortunately we did not, and we were able to witness the absolute chaos of one of the biggest malls in Bangkok on a Saturday night. So many teenagers! So many insanely loud people with microphones doing demonstrations of things I didn’t understand! So many interesting outfits! So many girls dressed like anime characters!

Not, obviously, the mall in Bangkok, but a photo of my new watch in the wild.

Mangoes and Pineapples

Speaking of mango sticky rice! I have never liked mangoes, but I now realize that is because I have always had Canadian imported mangoes, not fresh ripe ones. I could not get enough of fresh Thai mangoes, or of pineapple.

We visited a pineapple farm where I learned how they are grown. When I expressed astonishment, one of my new tour group friends said What, did you think they grew on a tree? and I guess I DID think that. More accurately, I have never once thought about it, which seems strange but is true. Anyway, a single pineapple takes one and a half years to grow, and each plant can grow up to three pineapples in its life. One and a half years! I am in awe of this spiky, crowned crop.

Shine On

Months ago my friend Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) recommended Neutrogena’s Invisible Daily Face Serum with SPF 50 and since I am a huge fan both of Suzanne and of Neutrogena products, I snapped one up later that same day. I will go on record to say that it is the best face sunscreen I have ever found. It’s light and not greasy, and is perfect for the kind of heat and humidity that I experienced in Asia.

I wanted to take a light foundation or BB cream as well, but all my containers felt a little big for the amount of makeup that I wanted. I want to be efficient with the amount of liquids I take in carryon luggage, and so I was intrigued by the tiny tube of Fenty Matte makeup that I saw on sale at Sephora. I think this tiny tube may see me into my grave, or, more accurately, it’s going to go bad before I use it up. It is a VERY high coverage item, so only the tiniest dab, mixed with the Neutrogena serum, is needed for a perfect, matte finish that – and I am not exaggerating here – lasts all day. Now, would I use this matte makeup at home in a dry Kelowna winter? I certainly would not. But it was perfect for the extreme humidity and heat. Even when my eye makeup melted, giving me the look of heavy eyeshadow without ever wearing eyeshadow, my skin stayed perfectly matte. THAT, my friends, is a product.

Outfit of the Month

It was handy that we went to the mall in Bangkok, because as it turned out, I had a pressing clothing need. The next day we were going to the Grand Palace, and my clothes were all, apparently, inappropriate. I had researched clothing requirements going in and I knew that my knees and shoulders needed to be covered much of the time, but what I didn’t know was that at the Grand Palace, “knees covered” only referred to skirts. Our guide told me that my capri-length pants were forbidden, and to just wear long pants. Friends, I did not have any long pants, and when I said this, three women in our group said, incredulously and almost in chorus, Nicole, you don’t have PANTS? followed by three offers to loan me some. I would have taken them up on had I not seen this skirt at an outdoor kiosk at the mall:

I think I’m entering my long floaty skirt era. Once I got used to not stepping on it while going up the stairs, I really loved wearing it. So light! So cool! So princess-like! I wore it to the Grand Palace, with a sleeved tee from the Gap that I bought ages ago, and Skecher sandals, and then I wore it again later that night after my second shower of the day. It was extremely hot at the Grand Palace, and so my clothing was less fresh than I would have liked, but sacrifices must be made in the name of travel. An old friend of my husband’s happened to be in Bangkok for only a few days at the exact time we were there, and so we met up with him for dinner, where I nosily dug into his entire backstory. He is what I would call a free spirit, and has been travelling the world for the past forty years. He regaled me with tales from the first time he was in Thailand, thirty years ago. Malaria and amoebic dysentery featured heavily in some of the stories, and I was here for it. Amoebic dysentery! I guess I ate something I shouldn’t have he said when I asked multiple questions, which feels like an understatement of all time. None of this has anything to do with my new skirt and my new era of long floaty skirt wearing, but it was an interesting night out.

It’s a privilege to travel and a privilege to come home. I hope your month was full of Favourite Things too. Tell me everything. xo

Deep Breath: The Journey To Inhale Exhale

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“Move about after dinner, and meet acquaintance whose name I have forgotten, but connect with literature. I ask if he has published anything lately. He says that his work is not, and never can be, for publication. Thought passes through my mind to the effect that this attitude might with advantage be adopted by many others.” EM Delafield, Diary of a Provincial Lady, one of my favourite books

Last Tuesday, I had an epiphany while on the elliptical trainer. I realized that my new work in progress is all wrong. I was 21000 words in, and I had been going about it all wrong. All wrong! I decided I was going to just start over, from the very beginning, rather than pivoting and making changes in the next draft. Two days later, I got my period.

Many of you will remember that 2023 was a year of change and transition for me, not to mention a year of numerous non-hormonal emotional breakdowns. We moved here in July of 2023, and by late August I was a bit at loose ends, having unpacked and settled in. I missed my yoga students and I missed teaching, but I could not handle even the thought of starting all over again in that world.

My husband encouraged me to take some creative writing courses and write that book I’d always talked about, and in the fall of that year I registered in a series of online courses at UBC to do just that. With my yoga students in mind, and with great nostalgia for the Calgary Yoga Shala, I planned my story. I took the first two UBC courses – How To Write a Novel: Structure and Outline, and Writing the Draft – that fall, and I took the third and final course, Edit and Revise, in January 2025, at which point I was starting my third draft of what would become Inhale Exhale. It took me just shy of six months to write the first draft, and then a year after that to revise it to something I was satisfied with.

I spent a lot of time soul-searching and meditating about what to do with my project. It was written with joy; it was such a happy and fun process, taking an idea and creating characters. I was very happy with the end result, and I wanted to share it with the world. But how?

Last week, in my Monday night writing group – created while taking the UBC courses – my friend Jen said something that really resonated with me (HI JEN). She said that turning 50 made a switch go off for her, a sense of urgency. There’s no time to fuck around anymore. It’s really true. I have found, since turning 50, that I have a desperate urge to do all the things that I thought I would do someday. I might live another 50 years, it’s true, but I also might not. When it comes to friends, family, and former classmates, there have been an astonishing number of deaths, death scares, and diagnoses in the past couple of years. No one knows how much time we have left. What if I die before I do the things I want to do?

I don’t know how much you know about the publishing industry, but the path to traditional publication is complicated and full of blockades. The typical path is that after many, many months of querying, an author gets an agent, who may or may not be able to sell a book to a publisher, and that book may or may not see the light of day. It’s a very long process at the very best of times, and unless an author is of Elin Hildebrand or Stephen King stature, there is almost no money to be made. Very few authors earn out their advances, and when asked the question about how authors pay their bills, my creative writing instructor said they get a second or third job, like teaching creative writing. Something that may surprise you is that book tours are funded at least partially, if not totally, by the author, not the publisher. Authors are expected to do a lot of the legwork in terms of promotion, and on top of that, the royalty percentage through traditional publication is very small.

So one does not write a book for the money, but that’s okay, because I wasn’t. I was writing a book because I wanted to write a book; I love writing, and I hoped that people would read and enjoy my writing. I did not want my book to sit in a drawer, unread, while I desperately queried agents for years, getting rejection letter after rejection letter. Do you know how often rejection happens? It’s a real thing, and I guarantee that all of your favourite authors went through many rejections before being published. As an example, Lisa Genova’s Still Alice was rejected over one hundred times, at which point she self-published. It was picked up later and reissued by Simon and Schuster, but still. OVER ONE HUNDRED REJECTIONS. Kathryn’s Stockett went through sixty rejections over three and a half years before someone picked up The Help. New authors can be rejected dozens of times AT MINIMUM, and I just didn’t have it in me. Also, as mentioned before, I didn’t feel I had time.

So I decided that I was going to go the hybrid publishing route, which means that as an author, I would pay for editing services, cover design, and promotional and positioning assistance. I had done a cost-benefit analysis, being an economist, and decided this was the way to go. I had received a monetary gift from my parents for my fiftieth birthday, and I felt that there was no better way to spend it than to invest in something that had been a lifelong dream for me. My thinking was that even if I failed, even if I did not sell one single book, even if everyone who read it hated it, at least I would have tried. At least I would have accomplished something I always wanted to accomplish.

And I’m so glad I did, friends. I’m just so glad. Live your life with arms wide open! Do the thing, take the chance, dip your toe into the water. We don’t know how much time we’ve got, so let’s take advantage of life while we can.

Weekly Reading

As I alluded to last week, I had some great reads this week. Oh, I am excited to talk about them!

Heart the Lover. I have been waiting so long to read this and wow, it did not disappoint! I loved it so much. Lily King is such a talented writer; she conveys so much emotion in such a spare and economical way. This book is filled with emotion and absolutely heart-wrenching scenes. It shows us how choices affect our lives, and what it is like to take a turn at the fork in the road. It’s about past loves and current lives, and how mistakes, pride, regrets and lapses in judgement colour our world. She perfectly conveys what it is like to be in love at a young age, she perfectly conveys what it is like to build a life with a long-standing love. One thing I really loved is what it was like to have a long-distance relationship in the late 80s/ early 90s. It was HARD to get in touch with each other. Letters took a long time and phone calls were expensive. She smoothly moves between timelines in a deft and perfect way. I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Why We Can’t Sleep. My friend and book twin Anna (HI ANNA) had mentioned this book, and she said that it was both interesting and depressing. She was right on both counts! This is all about Gen X girls such as myself entering midlife, and all of the challenges we as a generation face. I found a lot of it relatable, although not all – some pieces seem to me to be uniquely American, such as crippling debt from student loans and medical bills, along with short or nonexistent unpaid maternity leaves. Still, there’s lots for us Canadian girlies to relate to. To me the most interesting part was the chapter entitled “The Very Filtered Profile Picture” for the discussion of body image and aging. I laughed – out loud! – at the quote “I’m not looking for inner peace,” a friend quipped when I asked her about why she skipped the resting stage of Savasana at the end of a yoga class. “I’m looking for outer hotness.” I also liked the discussion about seeing the task of living well in a negative, self-punishing way, such as “I should be exercising more/ eating better/ being the most mindful ever.” This was published in 2020, and I wondered what the author would say these days, post-pandemic, insane-news-cycle. Then I remembered she authored the WILD novel Crush, about polyamory, in 2025. Was that what was happening for her during the pandemic? I mean, I can only speculate.

Surfacing. CANLIT FOREVER! I don’t know how I got to this age, as a lifelong Margaret Atwood fan, without reading this book! This is the type of book that requires careful line reading and analysis; it contains a lot of symbolism, with themes of gender and national identity. This was published in 1972, which was a time of great importance for Canadian identity, as well as for feminism, and these parallel themes weave together in a story about a woman searching for her missing father in an island in northern Quebec. I really loved it.

Thank you to everyone who entered into the giveaway for a signed copy of Inhale Exhale; the winner of the random draw is Lorraine Anderson! Congratulations, Lorraine! I will contact you for your details. A huge thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy! If I may impose, it would be SO helpful if you left a (five star?) rating and review at Goodreads, Storygraph, or Amazon? Reviews are incredibly important, especially for new authors. And thank you all for being here. I hope you all have a beautiful week. xo

Ten Titles: Vacation Reading Winter 2026

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When it comes to travel, nothing beats an e-reader. I have a whole system about putting books on hold on Libby, and then strategically suspending and unsuspending them to fill my Kobo just before I leave on vacation to maximize the three-week borrowing term. It works great! Unless the Kobo freezes up and has an issue, in which case it is not great, Bob.

And that did happen for me a couple of times on this trip, which makes me think that I should take a physical book with me as insurance. But physical books take up space! I pack carryon only! There are weight restrictions on certain airlines! And I have always eventually managed to get the Kobo working again, which gives me both a whew feeling and also a am I running out of time feeling. The tl;dr of this is that maybe I need a new, non-wonky e-reader. But this one still works, I’ll think, and then I’ll feel panicked all over again because what if it doesn’t?

Anyway. I managed to read ten books in the past three weeks, thanks to lots of plane, boat, and bus time. I was disappointed because Pick A Colour, a book I have been looking forward to, came up on my Libby holds but then disappeared off of my Kobo, and no amount of searching could find it. Hopefully it will come up on my physical library holds soon. Also, I had a DNF, and that DNF is a popular book that I am almost scared to tell you about: The Academy. I was reading it in Cambodia, where the high school attendance rate is something like 21%, because school fees are too high for the mainly impoverished population, and teenagers are needed to help bring in income for their families. Given that, I had a very hard time getting into a story about extremely privileged teens at an elite boarding school. I got to a part where they describe the particular clothing people had to wear for dances, based on their grade – sorry, their “form” – and I just closed the book, never to reopen it. Wrong place, wrong time.

But what did I read? Some rereads, some new reads, some great reads, some mediocre reads, some reads that I’ve already kind of forgotten about. Here we go!

Vacation Reading Winter 2026

Totally and Completely Fine. This was a cute and sweet story about a pretty heavy topic: grief, and learning to live and love after loss. It’s a crossover book with the author’s hit Funny You Should Ask; I think reading the two together would be a fun experience. Unfortunately I read Funny You Should Ask years ago and I cannot remember much about it at all.

The Age of Innocence. I read this book years ago and liked it – but after watching The Gilded Age, I liked it even more on the reread! Talk of a new opera house! Forbidden love! Affairs! Deeply ingrained rules of society! Very fun. I decided to reread it because it was my friend Engie’s Cool Blogger Book Club pick (HI ENGIE) and I felt I could use a refresher. Not that I’ve participated in any of the discussions yet! Can I still use jetlag as an excuse? No, I cannot.

Heartburn. A great reread for a long boat ride! Nora Ephron’s novel based on her own divorce when she discovered – at seven months pregnant – that her husband was having an affair. IMAGINE. There is a pie-in-the-face scene which is satisfying, but also feels like a steel-pipe-in-face scene would be even better. Who cheats on their wife when she is pregnant? Or anytime? NOT COOL, CARL BERNSTEIN.

Revenge of the Tipping Point. Years ago I read The Tipping Point, and this is Gladwell’s interesting and refreshed look at superspreader events, white flight, the opioid crisis, and how people really can choose to make change – we are not at the helpless mercy of societal waves. Interestingly enough, while I was reading this, I chatted with one of our tour mates who was a social worker in England who dealt with addiction issues. He told me that there is not, and never has been, an opioid problem in England or, indeed, anywhere in Europe.

Chop Suey Nation. I first read this when it came out in 2019 and it was a good reread for a long bus day. The author, a Globe and Mail journalist, travels across Canada by car to visit small town “Chinese Western restaurants” to learn about the owners and their lives. Her own parents also owned a restaurant in the 70s. It’s a fascinating look into the Chinese immigrant experience in Canada.

Frying Plantain. I first read this in 2020; a friend loaned it to me when it was lockdown and all the libraries were closed. She feared for my sanity and I appreciate that! It was a good reread – great, actually! It’s a collection of connected stories about a Canadian born girl of Jamaican descent and her life in Little Jamaica, Toronto. It’s a moving and beautiful commentary on mothers and daughters, on seeking a better life, and on the juxtaposition between life in the community and in society as a whole.

Half of a Yellow Sun. I really like this author and this book delves into the Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967-70, from the points of view of two wealthy twin Igbo sisters and their partners, one a revolutionary and one a British ex-pat, as well as the revolutionary’s houseboy. I learned a lot about something that I knew literally nothing about. It’s an unsparing, often brutal look at the human cost of war. Incredibly difficult to read about the plight of the children especially, but it’s important, I think, to know about such atrocities.

Somehow. I really like this author and this is a lyrical little book about love and connection, with a heavy emphasis on Lamott’s true Christian faith, of the What Would Jesus Do variety. It made me think hard about the ways we show up for other people, in sometimes misguided but well-meaning ways. I read this in the flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver so it is a bit scattered in my brain. I don’t think the book is scattered, I think it’s me.

A Summer Affair. As the title suggests, this book is about a summer affair between a mom of four and the man who is on the board for a charity gala that she is co-chairing. It’s an interesting choice as the man is described as being much less attractive than her husband, with whom she has an active sex life, but who also doesn’t pay attention to her. It felt oddly realistic, and I really enjoyed it – I love a juicy affair story! Also the DRAMA surrounding a charity gala was fun to read, and strangely relatable – I have been amazed at the drama that surrounds events on a much smaller scale. I shall never forget the drama surrounding Fun Lunch, during my days chairing the School Council/ Parent Association. My friend Nicole (HI NICOLE) also reminded me of the brouhaha surrounding the idea of Fresh Fruit Fridays. In any case, this was a fun read, although the ending was not super satisfying for me. There is a lot of character crossover in these books, which would work better for me if I had read more of them! Maybe I need to read them in order of publication.

The Guest List. This multi-POV thriller about a wild wedding weekend had a lot of twists and turns, and ended in an unexpected way. I don’t know what else to say about thrillers! It feels too easy to let a spoiler slip! So I will say nothing.

Speaking of books, there’s still time to enter the giveaway for a signed copy of Inhale Exhale! Monday’s post will address all the questions from my Ask Me Anything with regards to my writing and publishing journey for that book, from Michelle, Maya, Stephany, and Anna (HI MICHELLE MAYA STEPHANY ANNA). I also have a couple of great books that I read this past week to tell you about. Until Monday! xo

My Southeast Asia Adventure

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Happy Monday! For Valentine’s Day, I got a lot of sleep, and thank goodness. I think I underestimated how exhausted I was from travel, jetlag, and the busyness of our trip to Southeast Asia. It was well worth it but still I am glad to be, in the words of Spirit of the West, home for a rest.

We took a guided group tour with Travel Talk Tours, and on the first leg – Vietnam to Cambodia – there were 26 of us. Six people left, and two more joined when we arrived in Thailand. It was a nice mix of people; mostly Canadian, followed by British, with one couple each from India and the US. I will say that guided tours are fantastic for seeing a lot in a limited amount of time, and with all the border crossings and transportation, it was very relaxing to have all of the logistics taken care of. Also, it’s great to meet people from all over the world! For those of you who were wondering, there were no “Ms NZ’s” on this trip, although I did encounter an absolutely dreadful woman from Estonia on our boat crossing from Vietnam to Cambodia. She was the only unlikeable person I met during the entire trip.

Good Morning Vietnam!

After twenty-six hours of travel, we arrived in Vietnam. Our hotel let us check in five hours early, so we happily showered and immediately went exploring in order to stay awake before meeting up with our group that evening.

Ho Chi Minh City

Still often referred to as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City is a busy, chaotic city – and I loved it! We quickly learned how to cross streets in Vietnam: just start walking, and hope for the best.

Mekong Delta, Cai Be, Can Tho

The very next day we headed to the Mekong Delta, where we boated around for a while and visited floating markets.

We enjoyed the night markets at Can Tho, and that was where I had the best meal in the entire trip. As a side note, it was not as easy to find delicious vegetarian dishes as I thought it would be. I was absolutely able to get rice or noodles and vegetables everywhere, but any dish more interesting than that was a rare sighting. Particularly in Thailand, where there was fish sauce and egg in nearly everything, it was trickier to eat. It was not at all hard to be dairy-free, though.

Chau Doc

This was such an interesting place; Chau Doc has a hotel from which a large speedboat launches to take tourists across the border to Cambodia. This is where having an organised group tour really pays off; the border crossing was as smooth as it could be, given that there were quite a number of restrictions and a lot of paperwork to be done. Other than the one hotel, Chau Doc is NOT a tourist destination; in fact, there are no shops, no restaurants, and certainly no English speakers that we encountered. My husband and I opted out of the bird watching excursion because I could not stand the thought of being on the bus for another two hours, and instead we wandered around the town that could not have cared less about us. It was a really cool experience.

Phnom-enal Cambodia

After a total of six hours on the boat and an hour at the border crossing, we landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I absolutely loved Cambodia, and I think everyone should visit and boost up that country with tourism dollars.

Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, and I had emotional whiplash there. We visited our first of many Buddhist temples, where I was so happy, followed by a visit to the genocide museum, where we met one of the seven survivors of the prison and killing fields. Seven! And two are still alive. It was incredibly moving and both a testament to the human will to survive and also to the absolute horrors of the Pol Pot regime. After that, I was emotionally wrecked – I basically started to hyperventilate while looking at the mug shots of all the prisoners – but then we were taken to our absolutely stunning hotel complete with rooftop bar and hip hop music. I did not expect that at all. If that wasn’t enough of an emotional turn, the next day we toured the Royal Palace in all its beauty.

Battenbang

We saw SO much on this part of the tour! Travel Talk, like most responsible tour groups, chooses family-run businesses to patronise, which lifts them up out of poverty. We visited two women-run businesses: silver smithing and pottery. The pottery woman, in her early 60s, was a widow who also looked after her adult brother, born without the use of his legs. Life is very hard in general in Cambodia, but for widows and the disabled it is particularly difficult. In any case, I was very pleased to use my shopping dollars for silver and pottery! In between those two, we climbed to a hilltop temple, visited a monastery, and then went to a cave to watch the nightly migration of eight MILLION bats coming out of a cave. I will tell you that by that time, I was tired and a bit cranky, and as I stared at the cave I thought this is stupid. But then! A couple of reconnaissance bats flew out, followed by an enormous flow of bats that continued for twenty minutes. It was honestly really incredible to see. Nature! It is miraculous. The bats feed on the insects in the rice paddies that would otherwise harm the crops.

The next morning we took a ride on a bamboo train, which I thought would be an actual train, but instead was this:

It was honestly so fun; once these were used to haul bamboo and other things, but now they are used for tourist rides, and I am one hundred percent into anything that brings money to these regions. After that we climbed to another hilltop temple – this one an ancient Hindu temple – and carried on to Siem Reap.

Siem Reap

We had a fantastic day touring Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and Ta Ream. Truly incredible sights, a memorable day to be sure.

I was seeking out shade – we were there in “winter” and wow, it was hot!

Thai-ing Out Thailand

We flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok, and if you think I didn’t have One Night in Bangkok stuck in my head, then you don’t know me at all.

Bangkok

There are 44000 temples in Thailand, and I will say one thing right now: if you’re not interested in temples, maybe give this trip a pass. Fortunately, I AM interested, and a day in which we visited two temples and the Grand Palace, where the famous Emerald Buddha resides, was lovely.

The queen’s mother had just died, and so the Grand Palace was not open to visitors until 1pm, which meant that it was very hot and very crowded – but hey, it’s Bangkok! The world’s our oyster!

Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya

After Bangkok, we visited a museum dedicated to those who died building the railroad from Thailand to Burma, and went to the Mae Klong river, also known as the River Kwai.

We took a short hike through Hellfire Pass and saw Burma in the distance.

Phisanoruk

This day started early for six of us, who got up to make a food donation to a local monk, and received blessings in return. After that we visited more temples, and the remains of an ancient royal palace.

Sukhothai, Chaing Rai

There were a few long driving days, but we saw more incredible temples and a “hidden” Buddha.

Chaing Rai is home to the Blue Temple – my favourite colour! – and the very Instagrammable White Temple. I know this is a controversial opinion, but I love seeing people set up photos that are obviously meant for Instagram. It’s kind of delightful.

Chaing Mai

There are some days that will forever be etched in my memory. This was one of the best days of my entire life. We visited an elephant sanctuary, where we fed, bathed, and walked with elephants that had been rescued from very bad situations in the logging industry and circuses. Elephants are such incredible creatures, and it was such a gift to be so close to them.

A couple of people have asked about the clothing that we were all wearing: the rescue organisation gives every visitor to the sanctuary these red outfits to wear, plus rubber boots. Elephants cannot see very well, and because of their abused pasts, get agitated with unknown people. But they associate these red outfits with safe people, and so they accept the presence of visitors wearing them calmly and without stress.

If that wasn’t enough, after the elephants we drove up a very long and winding road to a temple that overlooks Chaing Mai. I was not particularly prepared for this, and was wearing a tank top and short skirt, which are not allowed inside a temple. I had resigned myself to just walking around the outer area.

As I looked at the temple entrance, a woman materialised beside me, holding out a shawl and a long skirt, nodding toward it. I am not one to turn down signs like that. I put the clothing on overtop my clothes, and ended up being blessed by the monk inside.

Hong Kong

The next day we got up early for our flight to Hong Kong. Such a fascinating and busy city it is! We had only a day and a half there, but definitely made the most of it, exploring on foot and taking the Peak Tram to look at the city. The city is preparing for Lunar New Year, and I enjoyed all the horses around.

It was a wonderful trip, and I’d like to go back in that direction one day to explore northern Vietnam and the beaches of Thailand. I’ll be back later this week to tell you about the books I read – including a DNF! – but for now, I hope you have a wonderful week, friends. Thanks for coming along on the journey. xo

Five For Friday: The So Very Grateful Edition

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Inhaling Love, Exhaling Happiness. First of all, thank you all SO much for your enthusiasm and support for Inhale Exhale! I am overwhelmed with love and happiness. I have been receiving so many lovely messages and it means the world to me. My little novel is but a drop in the ocean of books released every year, but every time someone shares on social media, leaves a review, or blogs about it, the ripples get larger, and for that I am so very grateful. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a copy, shared a post, rated, and reviewed! Big thanks to Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) who very kindly hosted a giveaway, and to Coco, Michelle, Julie, Sarah, SHU, Alondra, Laura, Allison, Kyria, Maya, and Birchie, for the blog links. (HI SUZANNE COCO MICHELLE JULIE SARAH SHU ALONDRA LAURA ALLISON KYRIA MAYA BIRCHIE) (If I missed you, please let me know! I had over 200 unread posts in my reader on Monday, so apologies if things got lost in the shuffle!).

My book, in Vietnam!

Where In The World Was I? My husband and I were in Southeast Asia! We visited four countries, if you include the day and a half we spent in Hong Kong – which I do! – which meant four border crossings, four different currencies, and four languages in which I learned how to say hello, thank you, and vegetarian. I also learned how to say this food is delicious in Thai. In addition to our brief time in Hong Kong, we were in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, three neighbouring but very different countries. I will have more to say about that on Monday’s post; for now I will just tell you that it was a wonderful trip in which we saw and experienced incredible, interesting things. Travel is a big priority for us right now since we are both healthy, fit, and mobile, and as we all know, a person cannot take those things for granted. I hope we will be healthy, fit, and mobile for many decades to come, but you just never know. As we went through this trip, it occurred to me constantly that such travel would be very difficult for people with mobility and health issues. Steps and stairs, uneven walking surfaces, long hours on buses and planes – none of these things get easier with age, and so we have a pretty heavy travel schedule planned for the next few years. Health! I am grateful for it.

Getting steps in, literally.

Time Travel. Speaking of long hours on planes, it took us over twenty-six hours of travel to get from our house to Vietnam, and because we flew over the international date line, we skipped a day. On the way home, we left Hong Kong at 1 am on Monday night and arrived on Canadian soil at 7:45 pm Sunday, and it was nearly midnight before we were back at our house. Time travel! I should have bought a lottery ticket. It took until Wednesday for me to not feel that bone-deep, jetlagged fatigue, and to be able to do anything that required more than minimal brain function. I mean, I forgot the word for “lunch.” I will say that we had lie-flat seats for the long flights, which helped immensely, and I am, again, grateful to be able to travel this way.

Travel, make new friends.

Staying Healthy, Somehow. I am almost hesitant to write this lest I be smote, but my husband and I were healthy the entire trip, and have been since we got home. How, I do not know. It was pretty easy to avoid Traveller’s Tummy, because we only consumed hot, cooked meals, peeled fruit, and filtered water, but I don’t know how we dodged the coughs and colds that seem to be rampant. We were in many very crowded places, including several planes, and by the end of the trip it seemed like a third of our tour group was coughing and sneezing on the bus. There was even some dramatic tension between two friends travelling together and sharing a room, one of whom had a cough and the other of whom treated the cougher like a leper. I mean, I get it. No one wants to get sick! And I am grateful that I didn’t. But also? I felt for the poor cougher, who was – from my vantage point – being a bit shunned by her group of friends that had travelled with her.

The crowds in Bangkok were wild! This is in the Grand Palace, the site of the Emerald Buddha.
On the other hand, there were plenty of serene moments.

Today Is Galentine’s Day! It is officially Galentine’s Day today – February 13, where ladies celebrate ladies, and I am raising my glass to all of you. And, if you are a man reading this blog, you can be an honourary member of the Gals, just for today. I hope you enjoy my perimenopause content, and discussions about body sugaring. But as you all know I do adore my girlfriends, near and far, longtime and new, and everything in between. Where would we be without our gal pals? I don’t even want to think about it!

For the month of February, my friend Elisabeth (HI ELISABETH) is hosting The FIG Collective, where we all find joy in gratitude. I am grateful every single day for my life, but this week I am especially grateful for all of these things – the ability to travel, lie-flat airplane seats, health, and, most of all, the friendship and support from all of you. To show my gratitude, I am going to be doing some giveaways, both here and over on Instagram. To win a signed copy of Inhale Exhale, simply leave a comment and tell me one thing you are grateful for this very minute. If you already have a copy, OMG THANK YOU, and also I would be pleased to send, in the event that your name is drawn, the copy either to you or to a friend of your choice, in honour of Galentine’s Day. Contest closes February 21, 2026 11:59 pm PST.

I have so many things to tell you! I want to talk to you all about my trip, and books that I’ve been reading and rereading, and – since you asked in my Ask Me Anything – my thoughts about friendship, and my writing and publishing process, and SO MANY THINGS. But alas, all of those things will have to wait a few days. Happy Galentine’s – and Valentine’s! I am wishing for you an abundance of love, pink puffy hearts, and heart-shaped chocolates. And maybe a virtual elephant hug. xo