Every now and then, the simplest lessons about life and travel and happiness and adventure can be boiled down to just a couple tiny words. For example:
ROAD MATH: TEST YOUR TRAVEL I.Q.
Behold the price of gas in Thailand. Here’s today’s assignment: Tell us the cost for a gallon of gas in Thailand in US dollars. Keep in mind, the prices you are looking at are for a liter. Use your currency convertor to find out how many Thai Baht you get for a US dollar. Then […]
THE RISKY MARKET
In a village in Thailand, about fifty kilometers from Bangkok, there is a daily outdoor market the locals have dubbed “The Risky Market.” Come along with us and check out how this place got its well-deserved moniker.The music is Harry Belafonte singing about Jamaica, but the images are pure Thailand. It’s interesting to see how […]
REFLECTIONS FROM THE ROAD: OVERCOMING FEAR
One of the goals of our journey has been to overcome our fears. We’re not referring to any specific fears necessarily, but heading blindly across the planet is an experiment in confronting our fear of the unknown (and the unknown is the source of almost all fear it turns out.) Our family has grown much […]
A THANKSGIVING MESSAGE FROM FRANNY: ANGKOR HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN
We have spent the last seven days in Cambodia, which is a remarkable country with an amazing and also horrifying history. In my parents’ lifetime, two million people were exterminated by the Khmer Rouge. Many of the people we met had family members who were killed. The people we met were all kind and generous […]
THE SIMPLE BEAUTY OF WAT ARUN
Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, rises over Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River, theoretically catching the first morning light that hits the city (before all the skyscrapers were built). It is still the most eye catching site on any water taxi ride up the river. Wat Arun is one of over 31,000 Buddhist temples spread across Thailand. […]
TWO MINUTES OF THAI BOXING (IS MORE THAN ENOUGH)
From the moment we arrived in Bangkok, the guy behind the desk where we were staying asked “Are you going to see the Thai Boxing?” Frankly, we hadn’t even considered it. But on a balmy night, Mark headed off alone in a cab carrying a bag filled with way too much camera equipment to capture […]
OUR SOUVENIR FROM THE FRENCH CONCESSION
When one thinks of Shanghai, the image that is presented to the world is the glistening Pudong skyline — a monument to the 21st “Chinese Century.” But we stayed across the river in the more historic part of town, an area more akin to Greenwich Village or the Latin Quarter of Paris. This is the […]
MARRIAGE CORNER
In People’s Square, thousands of aging Shanghainese parents gather every Sunday to try and fix up their unwed sons and daughters. When we heard about this, we knew it was something we had to witness — and we also knew it might be wise to bring along a bonafide Chinese bachelor to introduce us to […]
WHAT WE SEE TODAY: BIRTHDAY WOMAN
Since 1991, when I first met her, I’ve gotten a front row seat to watch Jen grow older and more beautiful. There is no more fabulous view a guy could have. She is an extraordinary wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, adventurer, writer, director, travel companion, taskmaster, collaborator, and muse. Jen is fierce and opinionated, and she […]