Our host mother sits against the wall of the open-air living space in the middle of the compound. Legs straight on the floor, bamboo and flowers and leaves at the ready, she cuts and staples a different type of offering every morning. A set of several dozen each day that will be placed on the…

At age 22 I backpacked around the world for 18 months on $7,000. A key to doing this was thinking in local currency – a fancy dessert might sound cheap at $2, but an inexcusable excess at 1,000 Costa Rican colones. Ordering in a restaurant was easy because I always chose whatever’s cheapest (no drinks…

With only one day in Hanoi – a sprawling city of 8.6 million people – we have to prioritize. First priority is getting to my language school for the refund of 45 million dong I overpaid. My trust in humanity remains strong – the owner is there and happy to see me. The other reward…

While we prefer long stays in one place to truly settle in, after two months in Central Vietnam (Hoi An) what a shame it would be to not broaden our understanding of this beautiful country with a week in Northern Vietnam. Thanks to a sooner-than-expected expiring tourist visa, we pack it all into a scant…

Broken rice – those discard, misshapen bits after the milling and cleaning process – has come a long way. From animal feed, to poor-man’s food during times of starvation, to the iconic Cơm tấm dish with fried egg and pork. Today it stands proudly as a cultural symbol of the hardships, poverty, and resilience of…

We immigrants, we foreigners, we digital nomads and wealthy tourists and entitled expats – too often we’re loud, intrusive, whatever is the opposite of subtle. Our unnecessarily big bodies take up a lot of space. Our voluminous chatter in Babel tongues clogs the airways. Our tentative driving clogs up intersections. We do not blend. And…

Empty Nest + Retirement + Nomadic Lifestyle aint for the faint of ego. I had expected more times of loneliness, boredom, and questions of purpose than I’ve ended up feeling. But I never anticipated how the triple-whammy of losing in-person-parenting, work and home community would dam up the steady stream of strokes that keep us…

“What do you do all day?” I’m often asked. Other than “there’s still not enough time,” I’m never quite sure how to answer. We live here, so it’s not all tours and insta-photo moments. So here’s my journal from just this one random any ol’ day as a digital nomad in Hoi An, Vietnam. 6:15…

We move from the beach over to the heart of Hoi An, Vietnam just in time for “Tet” – the lunar new year we narrowly call “Chinese New Year” in Vancouver. While the calendar new year in Montreal was met with kombucha, half-hearted resolutions and Emily in Paris, Tet in Hoi An is a full-throated…

It’s 9pm on my first night in Vietnam when I become a millionaire. On the corner of a well-lit street, with no traffic noise to drown out the waves lapping on the shore one block away, I slip a crisp $100 bill to our AirBnB host, who opens her wallet and pulls out 2.6 million…