Chiang Mai

One of the liveliest things about travel is how unpredictably each day unfolds itself. And I suppose my daughter has somehow learnt the random happenstance of every overseas trip.

This time, we went to Thailand and stayed in a large, quiet house in Chiang Mai, a perfect respite from the noise and hustle of Bangkok. I slept in the luxury of air-conditioned room, and woke up to the singsong of birds. As a guesthouse, it's an alluring experience for us: there's a leafy courtyard where we can pick pebbles and play, a bar where we can open the fridge and help ourselves with the apple juice, a canteen we don't have to order meals (the owner chose for us).

The trip to this guesthouse would not be more complete without visiting its affiliated children's aid project. That's a big family to make education possible for children from the mountain villages of Northern Thailand and neighbouring Burma. Turns out, I found, that's the first time in their lives the children have experienced love and stability. After finishing the high school, many of them came to the guesthouse and completed the internship of tourism and home economics.

We weren't planning to have volunteer work at the children's shelter foundation. We were there playing with the kids, hearing from them how the farm was run, seeing how they made a swing like Tarzan. As for Jasmine, she found her friend by herself - the youngest among the children. Even my daughter could not speak Thai (and the other girl knows little English), the two of them were playing the slide together, sharing every morsel of snacks, chasing the cats and talking in meows.

At that, I couldn't help but smile.