I tapped out somewhere around three hours into our private food tour of the streets and canals of Thonburi. I’m pretty sure it was the bag of fish balls that pushed me to my culinary capacity. Or the dozen mangosteens I cracked open. Then again, it could’ve been the spicy papaya salad. Or the three coconut pudding-like treats steamed in banana leafs I had at Suriya Coffee Shop.

Thonburi was par for the course as we made our way through a two week exploration of Bangkok and Phuket.

We set the trip in motion a year earlier. I had banked roughly half a million American Airlines frequent flier miles that were sitting in my account waiting for an opportunity to put them toward an epic trip. We also had two timeshare weeks (yay tequila in Cabo!) to burn somewhere around the world. Busy schedules left us with a limited window to travel. We quickly locked in the only two weeks we could before our oldest daughter headed off to college and our youngest started weeks of pre-season marching band practice.

We’ve been privileged to expose our kids to other cultures through travel. It’s something as a photographer, human observer and storyteller I enjoy immensely. With the two weeks locked on the calendar, we began to look for places to go. The girls immediately suggested Italy. Can’t go wrong with Italy. Except Jenn and I have been there a couple of times. Southern Spain with a side trip to Morocco was also an early consideration. And then one morning I walked downstairs to get my first cup of coffee and Jenn asked, “What about Thailand?”

“The furthest east I’ve gone is Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Everyone I know who’s gone to Thailand has raved about it. I’d be up for it.” Turns out the girls thought it would be a fun trip, too.

Share this Story