In Pursuit of Enlightenment

Phra Saneh Dhammavaro, a Buddhist master at the Wat Suan Dok temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand, is patient, kind and wise. His face is timeless, his eyes are filled with tolerance, and every sentence he delivers is carefully thought out. He’s the reason I decide to try the temple’s two-day silent meditation retreat. My journey…

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Born at Sea: Tips for Parents Taking Kids Offshore

For my parents, the decision to bring children aboard was not a choice of theirs, but a choice of nature. They had already been cruising offshore for five years before I was born in Cairns, Australia in 1982. My brother Sam was born in Mombasa, Kenya three years later. Still, the joys of having us…

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Drink Beer and Be Merry: Bavarian-style

Oktoberfest: one festival, 17 days, 6.2 million visitors, 6.9 million steins of beer, 104 oxen, 521,872 chickens and 142,253 pairs of pork sausages. Yes, the hedonistic Munich-based beer festival is rowdy, raucous and raunchy. The kind of hazy place where tourists and proud Bavarians stagger together to clink steins of amber lager and eat mountains…

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