THAILAND WINTER ESCAPE We are Catalin, Adina and Vladimir: a family with a small child, on a tight budget, looking for a tropical destination that's cheaper than back home. We live in Romania but we like spending our winters in Thailand. WE'RE IN LOVE WITH THIS COUNTRY Not so much with its perfect beaches, its tropical jungle, or the warm breath of the Indian Ocean, but with the humanity awoken in us by its relaxed, Buddhist, modest, smiling inhabitants. Because the gods cannot bless everyone with all of their gifts, Thai people themselves are also blinded by Westerners, venerate fair skin and Coca Cola, and are on track to lose their beautiful cultural identity within the next few decades. PERSONAL STORYTELLING, INSIDER AUTHORITY With every trip to Thailand, we are faced with the same problems as on the first: What should we do? Where should we go? How much will it cost? Exciting ideas are rare, and in their absence, piecing together a trip becomes a nightmarish task. The internet might be an ocean from which those in the know can fish out useful information. But for amateurs like us, finding a cove of useful and verified information is no easy feat. So we set out to make our own, bringing together our own first hand experiences in the form of short stories.