Terror attacks are designed to create fear and to get attention. As I watch the horror unfold on TV in the aftermath of the bombings in Brussels, I cannot reconcile these images on the screen with my memories of this charming multi-cultural, multi-lingual city, full of unexpected sights…
Before I get into describing this experience, let me just say that I am mindful that this is a controversial topic. Tiger sanctuaries in Thailand have generated a lot of negative media coverage and much has been said and written about the hazards of removing a wild animal from its…
I have been visiting Bangkok for over a decade and while I know that Thailand has so much more to offer than just the shopping and nightclubs of Bangkok, I never got around to visiting anything other than the standard beach visits to Pattaya and Phuket in all these years…
Since I started the New Year with an energizing hike, I thought I was setting the stage for a number of great weekly hikes for this year. However, it didn’t quite work out that way. After more than a month of no hiking, just as the weather started to…
In October 2010, my very generous boss and his lovely wife invited me to join them on a cruise on the Aegean Sea, to celebrate their birthdays on a yacht filled with about hundred other friends and  family. We boarded the yacht at the port of Piraeus in Athens, sailed…
I have been visiting Madras, now Chennai since I was little. Every summer, my parents would pack me off to stay with my grandparents and a vast network of extended family. As an adult, I ended up moving to Chennai for work and spent 16 months living in an apartment…
I am a flatlander. I grew up in the plains in India and then moved to the tropics where I lived near some of the best beaches in the world for the next decade. In my 37 years, I have seen snow about 3 times. The first when I was…
I discovered a love of hiking after moving to the Bay Area in the spring of 2015. Mountains, hills, redwood forests, creeks, beach walks, wildflowers, caves…you name it, its there, waiting to be explored. Trails meandering next to creeks, lush green hills, awe-inspiring giant redwoods, magnificent views of…