Thailand!

A gentle and wise guide always shines the light on the most forgiving pathway home -Robert L Castellino

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving – we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

-Oliver W. Holmes

Another port down and I am really sad to leave this one. Thailand was so exhilarating, exotic, beautiful, sleazy, peaceful, calm, patient and diverse. I traveled to three different places in the country and each one had so much to offer, similar and different things. It was just great to see so much in 5 days, but there was still so much more to do and see, I only broke the tip of the iceberg. I will say, Thailand had a 7-11 on almost every corner, and I was really surprised because I thought 7-11 was a domestic convenience store.
I went to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya all in 5 days and I can truly say that I came back exhausted, but don’t regret one single second of it all. I wish we had plenty more time to do everything, but I guess that means I’ll just have to come back and do the things I didn’t have time for.

Day 1

The first day we got into port around 7 am but they didn’t actually clear the ship until around 10 am. I woke up, got some breakfast and then just kind of hung out until they cleared the ship. Once they cleared the ship, Anders and I decided we were going to go to Bangkok for the day. So we got off the ship, and looked for a taxi. Bangkok was about a two hour drive from Laem Chabang (the port we were staying at). Laem Chabang was basically a port and a mall and that was as far as it went. It was a really small place and Pattaya was the closest city with things to do. But we wanted to go to Bangkok so we set out on a mission and found us a taxi driver and finally arrived in Bangkok around noon. We had him drop us off at the Grand Palace which was a truly amazing place. It was beautiful and had plenty of gold surrounding it and was such a site to see. So we get to the main gate, it is about 90 degrees mind you, and the men begin to yell at us, with their machine guns, in Thai. And pointing to their arms and legs. We finally figured out that what they meant was that we couldn’t come in because our legs weren’t fully covered (I had capris on and Anders had long shorts). But at the temples and monuments, they are extremely strict about these things. So they told us we had to come back at 230 and we could rent shorts and skirts. So we found a tuk-tuk driver (much like the rickshaws in India) and asked him to take us to the other monuments and temples around the area. So he agreed to do so for 20 Baht (less than $1) and we were on our way. He took us to one temple which was a little bit of a cultural shock. Here, you had to take off your shoes before you entered into the temple or anywhere near Buddha or alters to give your worships. But everything was in Thai and the bathrooms were through the temple. So I was unsure of whether or not I had to take my shoes off to go to the bathroom and me and Anders couldn’t find anybody to ask, so we just decided to keep them on, which was a smart thing because we would have looked very stupid going into the bathroom barefoot; everybody had their shoes on. So slowly but surely, we realized that you only have to take off your shoes when going inside the temple or worshipping Buddha at the alter.

Then as we think that we are on our way to the next monument, our tuk-tuk driver informs us that he is going to take us to some shops, which we didn’t mind, thinking okay, some souvenirs, and some cool things. Well, apparently that day in Bangkok was a special day for tuk-tuk drivers and if they took their passengers to certain shops, they were compensated with free gasoline. He took us to a bunch of tailor stores where you can have suits and dresses tailored and made for you, but not for cheap, and it took days, and we were only in Bangkok for the day. Then he took us to some really nice jewelry stores which were expensive, beautiful, but expensive, I’m still a college student. And after about 10 stores, it got a little excessive, but most of the shops had air conditioning and it was 98 degrees outside, literally, I’m not just making a reference to the one claimed boy band.

Finally, after the shops and a few monuments, it was about a little before 3 and we could finally rent some skirts and pants to go into the Grand Palace. Let me just tell you, these skirts were pretty stylish (no, not at all). But it was the only option and it worked, maybe not as fashionable with my tennis shoes, but eh, it got me into the palace. And my skirt still wasn’t as bad as Anders 1980s MC Hammer pants. The Grand Palace was absolutely breathtaking; it had so much to offer and was beaming with gold from nearly every angle. It was so bright in the sun I had to wear my sunglasses. The Buddha shrines were really amazing too. The walls had the most interesting murals on them, and each one told a story. You just walked down this huge hallway and it was like reading a picture book. It was still extremely hot, and we had to have our rented stylish gear back by 4, so we stayed at the Grand Palace for about an hour, took pictures and then called our driver to come and get us.

We asked him to take us to a nice restaurant for dinner, and he told us that a lot of the hotels have really nice restaurants, so he took us to a hotel which had 4 different restaurants. It was a really nice hotel, but the restaurants didn’t open until 6, and it was about 430. But of course, the bar was open, so we got a snack and some drinks and played some pool until the restaurants opened. We ended up eating dinner at a Japanese restaurant…I know, Japanese restaurant in Thailand…strange, but it was really good none the less. And we had some sushi, saki, and tempura, it was really good. Then they informed us that they had happy hour still going on upstairs in the top lounge, so we went for a drink or two and looked at the view of the whole city. It was so awesome, and the city was lit up beyond belief.

Around 8 or so, we called our cab driver to take us back to the ship. On our way, we saw a strip of McDonald’s, Subway, 7-11, Burger King, Starbucks and Pizza Hut. Anders decided he wanted to stop for Starbucks, and I figured I hadn’t had it in a while either, so we got a coffee and I got a muffin. Then we went next to door to 7-11 and got us a $1 Heineken large bottle for the drive back. We got back to the ship around 10 and I hung out with a few people and then decided to call it a night because I had to be up early the next morning for my trip to Chiang Mai.

Day 2

We left the ship around 8 am and headed back to Bangkok for our hour flight to Chiang Mai. We got to the Bangkok International Airport and had about two hours until our boarding time, so my friends Max, Mike and I walked around. I ended up buying a new book about drug trafficking in Bangkok (it’s really good), and then we decided to go get some good. We stopped at a nice restaurant that had some really good Thai food and then we just waited at our gate to board our plane. The plane was HUGEE and there were a lot of people on it. Our group was really small, about 10 students and then 8 life long learners. It was an awesome group, we all got along perfectly. The flight to Chiang Mai was about 55 minutes, and once again, they fed us, but I was pretty tired so I ended up falling asleep. We landed at Chiang Mai and found our tour guide and got on the bus. Our tour guide was named Gorge. He is probably the nicest and most enthusiastic person I have ever met in my life. The whole trip in Chiang Mai he was made it the best trip possible, and he loved every second of it. He was an amazing person, one who I hope to keep in contact with and see again next time I go to Chiang Mai.

We took a little drive to a temple located in the woods of Chiang Mai. It was probably the most relaxing and spiritual thing I have experienced in a long time. The temple was located in the woods and the monks lived sporadically throughout the woods, and everything was truly so peaceful. It was then that I realized how patient and peaceful Thai people were, but I also heard that you should never cross them in any way, because if you’ve ever heard of Mai Thai fighting, you know how violent these people can be. But I never came across any of the violence, and I only ever saw the peaceful and loving side. The monks were so serene and content in their lives and just wandered through the temples and surroundings.

We went to another temple next which was a more tradition temple, where you had to cover your shoulders and your legs. We walked in and they had a memorial type thing set up for monks that have passed away within the last couple of months. It was beautifully decorated and had flowers and pictures scattered everywhere. As we continued in, they asked for 5 of us to do the monk offering. Basically you presented the monk with various gifts of food or supplies, and they bless you. They had a blessing ceremony for all of us and it was absolutely incredible. They all chanted, and it was such a beautiful sound. It was such a peaceful and truly a dedicated blessing, where you could tell that they were so interested in what we were doing with Semester at Sea and in our lives altogether.

On the way to our next destination, we took a trishaw ride, which is a bicycle with a bench attached to it and they are scattered all throughout Thailand. We visited a few more monuments and temples, which were just as beautiful as the other ones. Then we had a few extra minutes so we did “monk chat” as they called it. This basically meant that we sat and talked about the lives of the monks and in return we talked about our lives. We talked a lot about schooling and the things that their schooling as a monk involved. There were a lot of similarities between our schooling and theirs. It was interesting getting a different perspective on the monks. I had always viewed them as all holy people who weren’t allowed to do so much, but it wasn’t like that at all. We had so much more in common with them than I could have ever imagined. We talked about their ambitions as well as ours, and then parted our ways.

We then took our bus to our hotel, which was beautiful. It was a really nice hotel located in a good area near all the shopping and bars and such. We checked into our hotel and had about an hour or two of free time. A few of us decided to walk around the city and grab a drink and a snack before dinner. We stumbled upon a nice little restaurant and got some spring rolls and wontons and a few beers. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the group for dinner. We were taken to a restaurant that, as beautiful as it was, kind of made me feel like I was in Disney world, visiting Epcot. It was a great restaurant, but it was filled with tourists from all over the place. I felt like nobody that was a local would have eaten there, and I would rather prefer something more cultural than watching a show of people just dancing around and doing various dances. The food was really good though and that felt cultural. But the dancing was somewhat staged and not exactly the most authentic. But it was still a great time and a lot of fun.

After dinner, they took us to the local night market and dropped us off to shop. We were originally dropped off in the food market and they had every single kind of fruit you could imagine. It smelled so good. The mangos in Thailand were unlike anything I have ever tasted in the States. We continued walking through the food market and I saw a bug bar. I was so excited because I’d wanted to try the local bug cuisine, but we didn’t really have time to stop. We walked through till we ended up hitting the stands with clothes, souvenirs, DVD's, etc. I was so tired and exhausted from the day that I only ended up buying one thing. My friends Sarah and Max and I walked through the market a little more, and the market closed at 1145, and things were beginning to get packed away. So we ventured back to the hotel. I was so exhausted from the long day that I went back and watched a little bit of Man v. Wild (yes, they had the discovery channel!) and then ended up falling asleep shortly after.

Day 3

Wake up call at 630, breakfast at 7, on bus by 730. Let me just tell you, this breakfast might have possibly been the best breakfast I have tasted so far. Had I known how good it was going to be, I would have had no problem being up at 630. They had…get ready…watermelon, pineapple, dragon fruit, eggs, pork bacon, waffles with powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, maple and honey syrup, and…if it couldn’t get any better, Spring rolls…for breakfast. And they had freshly squeezed mango, pineapple, guava, orange, and tomato juice. I could have sat there all morning but they started to load the buses up and it was time to head off to the elephant conservation. The day just kept getting better.

It was about an hour drive to the elephant conservation and I couldn’t even fall asleep on the bus, I was so excited. We finally arrived and they took us right to the elephants. Two people to an elephant, so me and my friend Mike sat together and we got to ride the elephants for a whole hour through the jungle. We walked through rivers and up steep hills and down steep hills and through the vines and trees. I was LOVING it. The elephants were so amazing and huge and loving and peaceful. The elephant conservatory takes care of the elephants and trains them to go into the jungle every night, and then the workers get the elephants and bring them back to the conservation site. They are then trained to work, moving logs and doing some heavy lifting. It was really awesome. You can actually live on the conservation for a few days and learn to become an elephant trainer. You get to wash and bathe the elephants in the river, play with them, train them, feed them. It definitely seemed like a cool idea, and I wish we were staying longer so we could have played with them more.

After the hour long ride through the jungle, we sat and got to watch the elephants bathing in the river with the trainers. It was so awesome to watch, they were so happy. They were splashing each other and rolling around in the water, it was so amazing to watch these HUGE animals having such a fun time. Then they brought the elephants into a clearing to show us how they train them to do the heavy lifting with the logs and all the other stuff. When they called each elephants name, the elephants did a little bow and wave of their leg. It was really so cute. Their trunks can carry so much weight alone, it was absolutely crazy.

After the show, the elephants came by and we were able to feed them bananas and sugar canes. You put your hand out and they took the banana right from your hand. They were so eager, and their trunks felt so cool. After a few times of letting them take it out of your hand, they learned your scent, and we were able to just put the banana right in their mouth. It was soooo cool. Their tongues felt all slimy and soft. They were so cute; I just wanted my own pet elephant. I asked if I could pet the elephant and they told me I could take a picture with him. And the trainers asked the elephant to put up his trunk and he gave me a kiss. It was slimy, but they were just so awesome.

After the elephants, they took us to a place where they showed us how the silk of Thailand was made. They take the silk from the silk worm. They take the cocoons of the worms and they boil them. The silk is then raised through a little whole and then woven and made into spools of silk. It was really cool to watch. They dye the silk different colors too. We saw people making all sorts of silk blankets, bedding, scarves, etc. Then they took us to some carving shop where they showed us how they made lacquer wear. That was pretty interesting too. And finally, was the umbrella shop which is what Thailand is famous for, their umbrellas. They were all decorated so lavishly, brightly and colorfully.

After touring these shops, we had a few hours of free time before our nice dinner. For dinner they took us to this really nice restaurant that overlooked the river. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect. Well, minus the fact that we were sitting under the trees and the leaves kept falling on my plate and I found a bug in my food more than once. But eh, I said I wanted to try the local bug cuisine. The food was delicious and we all had such a great experience.

After dinner they dropped us off at the night market again so people could shop and I decided I was going to find that bug place again. So me and Mike set out on a mission. We kind of got lost and really didn’t know where the bugs were located but just kept walking anyways. Then it started to rain a little bit and people were closing up shop, so we decided to abort the mission and go celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

We decided on a nice little bar that was outside and lights and was really small and laid back. We ran into some other friends from SAS and had a few drinks with them. We moved inside because at this point the rain had started to pour. It felt so refreshing and fresh to watch the rainstorm. After a few drinks, the boys started to play soccer with the locals and it was quite amusing to watch. The floor was still really slippery from the rain and three were quite a few tumbles, but they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. We all went to another bar afterwards and had a few drinks there where the people were equally as friendly. The rain continued, but I love the rain, so it was no problem. Well, minus the mosquitoes that follow and the bug bites I have to show for it, but I wasn’t worrying about that at the time. Then we set back to the hotel pretty late, and passed out.

Day 4

We awoke again at 630, breakfast at 7 and on the bus by 730. But this morning, I knew what breakfast had waiting for me, so I had no problem getting up. I packed up my bags and headed down to breakfast, which didn’t fail me. We got on the bus and headed to the Meo Hill tribe we would be visiting. We got to the bottom of the hill and there was a truck that we were to sit in the back in while they drove us to the village. When we got to the top, Gorge took us to the local nursery to play with the kids. Most did not speak English and when we first arrived, they were somewhat confused about our presence. We sat down with them for a little and played with them for a few minutes and then we all began to play and sing songs with them. They began to warm up. There were a group of kids that saw me taking pictures and came up to me curiously. I took their picture and then showed it to them on my camera. They were immediately enthused and began to pose for the camera and kept asking me to show it to them afterwards. It is such a different experience playing with children, you really grasp their culture through a child. Children don’t hold anything back, they don’t keep anything in.

Next we headed up the hill to one of the housing dwellings of a family of 8. It essentially was a large shed with a large area for the bed. Then there was a stove, a small boiling pot and then various cooking wear. Nothing too fancy, however, I did find it strange that they had a refrigerator, but I guess these things are accustomed over time. Outside they were selling blankets, scarves and various tapestries. I figured that the money from these things were their only income. Gorge also informed showed us some of the plants they grew, including opium and marijuana…for medicinal purposes he told us.

After the hill tribe visit, we continued on to one more temple which had 306 stairs to the top. We opted out of the climb and took the cable car to the top. It was very similar to the other temples we had seen, but still beautiful. After, we had lunch at a nice hotel and then headed to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok. Our flight left at 3, and we were back in Bangkok by about 4, and had another two hour drive to the port. We got back to the port at about 6 pm. I unpacked my clothes and put out some laundry and then packed my backpack back up for the night to come.

Anders and I decided that we were going to go to Pattaya for the night and get a hotel somewhere there and then go to the beach the next day. We left for Pattaya around 730 and it was supposed to be about a 20-30 minute drive without traffic, but it took us about an hour. We finally got there and found a nice hotel for about $50 a night. It was right on the beach and near all the night life. Once we settled into the room, we decided to go grab some food and drinks and check out Pattaya. We went down to Walking St. Now let me just tell you, Walking Street was a mixture of New Orleans, Miami and Mexico all in one. It looked a lot like Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, had the sleaziness of Mexico with all the strippers, she-males and crazy other things, and had the party aspect of Miami. Don’t worry, I didn’t get too crazy…I was too exhausted. But it was fun to watch everybody else. We met up with a few SAS students and got a drink and then decided to go get food, and we went to this local bar and restaurant that had awesome music and sound system. It was loud, but really nice. I actually heard new songs and saw new music videos and I forgot how out of the loop I am with the whole music scene and movie scene at home. Hope you guys are taking notes for me. We walked around for a little while longer and then decided to call it a night.

Day 5

I awoke to a beautiful view of the crystal blue beach and the white sand. Our hotel offered free breakfast (that’s what sold me) and we got something to eat and then decided to go lay out on the beach for a few hours before check out. We got down to the beach, and this nice guy helped us into our lounge chairs and then just stood by us. We were like, um okay. Then he started speaking to us in fluent Thai, no English. Me and Anders just stared at each other completely puzzled, then I put two and two together (after my experiences in India) and realized he wanted money. He told us “50 baht” and we came to find out that it was 50 Baht to rent a lounge chair. So we gave up and just decided to go lay by the pool at our hotel.

After laying out for a few hours, we packed up and got a cab back to Walking St. to do some shopping. Most everything was closed though so we walked a little ways and found another cab to take us back to the port and he took us to get some little souvenirs. Then we headed back to the port, after one last 7-11 stop.

We got back to the ship around 1 and I was just completely exhausted. After lunch I went to the gym, unpacked, cleaned the room a little, got dinner and then fell asleep FOREVER.


Today we had a cultural pre-port for Vietnam, which is only a day away. For about the rest of the month, we only have 2 days between each port. It’s that way until after Japan, and it is going to fly by. We have a little more than 6 weeks left and I cannot even grasp the fact at how fast it is all going by.

They also had a crew talent show for us tonight after the cultural pre-port. It was extremely entertaining. Edwin (our cabin steward, he makes our bed and cleans our room everyday, such a nice man) participated in a dancing version of “In the Navy”. Other crew did break dancing, singing, stand up, and some weird rendition of a Sister Act song. It got a little weird at some parts, but was in great fun, nonetheless. They basically live on this ship, so it is their home, and they are such an amazing crew, we are truly pampered on this ship. So it was nice to see them all in a different light, and we are so lucky to have them.

Sorry this is such a long one. Did a lot in Thailand and fell in love with it. It is another place that I will definitely be going back too. I heard Vietnam is a lot like Thailand so we shall see what happens there. Until next time, much love and happy wishes.