Suzanne Nam moved to Thailand in 2005 for a one-year stint as a newspaper reporter—and she hasn’t left since. Like all meaningful things, Suzanne’s career was more a product of evolution than of planning: She grew up in Cambridge, went to law school after college, and practiced law for five years—enough time to produce a rain forest’s worth of corporate paperwork—and then she gave it all up to study for a journalism degree at Columbia.

Next the world pulled Suzanne east—first to London, then the Middle East, and finally Bangkok. She is now a reporter for Forbes magazine, a reformed corporate lawyer, and a dedicated travel writer.

Suzanne met her future husband her first year in Bangkok, and in 2009 they welcomed a street dog named Sam into their family. Their life in Thailand has plenty of adventure and challenge, but daily life is surprisingly stable and comfortable. Suzanne and Sam take a walk every morning to the local market to get breakfast and chat with their neighbors.