The Smiling Albino Team went to Tha Kha and Amphawa Floating Markets on a training trip on Saturday, April 3, 2010. Here are a few shots from our day out!

Eve in a paddle boat at Tha Kha Floating Market

A food vendor at Tha Kha Floating Market

The Team on the Mae Khlong River

At Wat Bang Goong

Old house at Amphawa Floating Market

Ordering iced coffee at Amphawa Floating Market

A boy on the Mae Khlong train

Experience all of these places on our super cool Bangkok 1910 trip.

There must be a movement going on somewhere. Over the past 3 months we’ve received several requests for trips in which a father is taking his daughter on an adventure as a gift, either for finishing grad school, turning 18, or getting into the right post-grad program. This has been an interesting dynamic to observe. Over the past few years we have done quite a few mother-son trips, and hundreds of family trips, but virtually no father-daughter trips. Then 2010 rolls in and suddenly we’re doing four at once. Fantastic!

There are so many ways to maneuver a trip like this so that everyone gets what they want. One father-daughter adventure duo last month warned us that significant retail and entertainment time needs to be worked in or we’ll lose the daughter, but not at the expense of missing historical landmarks, or cutting short the cultural intrigue, or we’ll annoy the dad.

How we made this work.

Take our great Bangkok day trip, the Bangkok Multi-Transport Adventure for starters. In the morning we slid into a couple of the essential landmarks like the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. At the latter we arranged some private time chatting with a couple of senior monks. This relatively open dialogue was a highlight and both dad and daughter had a short list of great questions. From here we switched gears and went for lunch at the trendy teenage hangout of Center Point Siam Square. While our guide explained some interesting things about the modern youth movement in Thailand, they listened to Thai pop music, watched Bangkok’s version of Shinjuku punk kids strut their stuff, and had ice cream and coffee. The conversation focused on the parallel forces of maintaining traditional cultural identity while openly embracing the freedom and ideals of the west. Some shopping time was enjoyed, and after this we hopped onto a canal boat hidden between retail cloisters that the average visitor would miss. From here we ventured back to the old city, jumped into a 3-wheeled tuk-tuk for a frenzied scramble through Bangkok Chinatown, followed by a highlight for everyone: a private canal boat trip through Bangkok Noi and back to their hotel.

Significant cultural landmarks: CHECK

Interesting modes of transport to keep the adventure on a high: CHECK

Retail therapy: CHECK

Insight into local culture and ideas: DOUBLE CHECK

Take away value: high-fives with dad and daughter at the end of the day

This father-daughter combo rode mountain bikes, trained elephants, sipped cocktails in a chic Bangkok lounge, shopped, hiked through hill tribe villages, visited a school and lead an impromptu game of Frisbee in a village, and soaked up layers of culture with our guides throughout the country.

The same formula of managing the moment works for all of our adventures and uniquely enables Smiling Albino guests to enjoy the best of everything in a style they can call their own.