Thailand

Day 1

Today was my first day in Thailand.  We are docked in a small town called Laem Chabang, about 30 minutes outside of Pattaya, where there are excellent beaches.  At 1300 pretty much all of my friends on the ship and I went to the Pattaya Elephant Village on an SAS trip.  This village is home to 33 elephants, three of which are males.  These elephants used to be used in the logging industry, but after the use of elephants in this industry was outlawed they had no where to go.  When we first got there we were given the opportunity to buy bananas, and I did.  We then walked over to the elephants, stood right next to them, and fed them out of our hands!  They are the most gentile creatures!  I was very surprised at how long their trunks were, and how the animals didn’t smell.  They are covered in this rough, pointy hair.  After this feeding students got onto the elephants to go bathe in the river.  Only about 15 students could do this, and I chose not to, but it was funny seeing everyone go chest deep into the dirty, poop filled water.  After the baths there was a short demonstration of the elephants.  We learned about their eating habits, watched them drag and push logs, and we even saw an elephant slam dunk a basketball.   One of their elephants used to work in a circus, so we watched him stand on two legs and do other tricks like that.  We then all got to ride on an elephants back.  It was so hard to get onto it, and I have a funny of Thai men pushing me onto this huge creature.  After another brief demonstration with the elephants, we were allowed to ride on them in pairs, but on the seat-like thing they strap to its back.  Stephanie and I got the small elephant and thought it was so cute.  After everyone loaded back onto the buses we came back to the ship.

 

Day 2

Early in the morning my Semester at Sea Bangkok Overnight trip left.  Emily and Nick were on this trip with me, so I was happy to know a few people who were going.  The bus ride took about 2 hours, and most of us slept the whole way there.  As we entered the city we were amazed at how much it looked like a city in the states.  It was huge, and there were skyscrapers everywhere.  One thing that I also noticed is that there are 7-11’s EVERYWHERE in Bangkok.  It is so much like Philadelphia in that aspect.  As soon as we got to the city we went to a port and loaded a long boat.  We road up the river a little to a temple called Wat Arun.  This temple is extremely tall and steep.  We got out at the temple and were able to spend about a half hour walking around, climbing up to the middle of the temple (which was shaped like a steep pyramid), and wandering around the area.  Emily and I, hot from our climb up the temple, shared a coconut (fresh coconut milk).  It was delicious.  We got back onto the boat and headed into the canal system that traverses the city.  We fed fish from the boat, saw traditional brightly painted boats, saw laundry hanging at every house, and I even saw an ice cream boat.  The ice cream wasn’t just any ice cream, though . . . . it is made from coconut milk (but made in a way not safe for tourist consumption)!  After we finished in the canals we went to the Royal Barge National Museum.  The Royal Barge is used in royal processions and festivals on the river, and is only bought out about once every five years.  After the museum we headed back to the port where we boarded our buses and headed to our hotel.  We were all amazed when we walked into the lobby of the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen.  Semester at Sea trips always put you up in nice hotels; this 5-star hotel surely fit that bill.  We at lunch at the hotel’s buffet.  The food was some of the best food I have ever, ever had.  It was amazing: sushi, pizza, soup with Asian mushrooms, pineapple, dragon fruit, mango, papaya, salads, deserts, cheeses, and meats.  It was quite the spread.  The rooms in the hotel were immaculate.  They were all dark wood, had huge mini-bars, huge showers and tubs, and being of the 23 floor we had the most beautiful view of Bangkok.  After settling into our rooms, Emily, Nick, and I walked around because we had the afternoon free.  I went to a tailor that was recommended to us by our tour guide, and went to get a dress made.  I could choose the fabric, the color of the fabric, and the style of the dress.  After I designed my dress, we left and walked around some more.  I took a bubble bath when we got back to the hotel, and Emily and I took naps before dinner.  We had a dinner/dance show where we watched traditional Thai dance.  Thai dance has much to do with the fingers, and the care they take in positioning their fingers is crazy.  After dinner we went back to the hotel where I had my dress fitting.  They had a rough outline of my dress that I tried on and they pinned it and left to finish it.  That night Emily, Nick, and I went to the night market.  On the way to the night market was saw an elephant on a leash walking down the sidewalk . . . . what?!?!  The night market in Thailand is known for its red light district, one famous in the world.  They warned us that the sex industry was alive and well in Bangkok, but nothing could prepare us for it.  Strip club after strip club after strip club lined the streets, and neon signs such as the one that said “Super Pussy” covered the street.  Men in suits come up to you with menus, but they were not menus for food.  Menus include “Open bottle,” “take rings off bottle,” “razorblade,” and other extremely disturbing stuff.  Use your mind and I’m sure you can figure out what I’m talking about.  You couldn’t walk two feet without having a menu shoved in your face.  Welcome to Thailand.  Nick was extremely uncomfortable so he headed back to the hotel, and Emily and I found a bar on a nearby street.  We sat there and had some wine, and being the only two girls and being surrounded by gay men came to the conclusion that it was a gay bar.  After relaxing and making friends with the British man next to us we headed back to the hotel for the night.

 

 Day 3

We had a 6am wake-up call, and went to the breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Like the lunch we had had the previous day, the buffet was amazing.  Not only was there normal breakfast food but there was noodles, soup, and lunch food as well.  On the way to our first stop of the day we passed through Bangkok’s China Town, the largest in the world (outside of China, of course).  We first went to Wat Rachabophit, a temple built in 1870 by King Rama V.  The temple is a mixture of local and western styles and reflects the new style of the times.  Here we talked with two monks, one who had been a monk for 23 years and one who had been a monk for only 5 days.  Next we headed to Wat Po Temple to see the Reclining Buddha, a 46-meter long gold-colored Buddha.  It was huge, that’s all that I can say.  The Thai Buddha is skinny because he starved himself, and does not look like the Buddha seen in China with the huge stomach.  Next we went to the Grand Palace, a focal point for the people of Thailand.  Built in 1872, the Grand Palace has extensive murals, gilded spires and fantastic architectural designs.  In one of the buildings you could see the Emerald Buddha, carved from a single piece of jade in the 15^th Century; moreover, this Buddha guards the sovereignty of the Kingdom and the religious beliefs of the people.  Next we had lunch at a local Thai restaurant.  After lunch the buses headed back to the port city, but about half of us on the trip signed off the trip to stay in Bangkok.  Emily and I were supposed to meet up with Matt, Laura, Steph, and Jeff, but Matt’s phone wasn’t working for the first time on the voyage, and we were unable to find them.  The two of us got a hostel in the backpackers district, which was one 4-block long strip covered in hostels, restaurants, bars, shops, and vendors.  We took a nap at the hostel before taking showers and getting ready to go out for the night, for St. Patrick’s Day.  The shower was hilarious: it was a hole in the floor in the corner of our bathroom and a European style showerhead coming out of the wall opposite from the hole.  So pretty much when you shower the whole bathroom gets soaked.  We went out to dinner at a Irish restaurant, and then headed to an Irish pub that was across the street from our hostel.  Since the whole area is for backpackers and tourists there were so many people who were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  We met a man from Amsterdam who “fancied” Emily, and he bought us a drink each.  He was very drunk and a little weird, but he had two nice friends who had had met earlier in the day.  They were 24 and were from England.  We hung out with them for the rest of the night and had a good time.  The one kid Anthony and I ate worms on a stick that some lady brought over to us.  Maybe not the best idea, but it’s a good story.  After a typical St. Patrick’s Day bash, we went to bed.

 

Day 4

After sleeping in, Emily and I paid for another night at the hostel and headed to Starbucks for a morning pick-me-up.  We then decided just to wander around for the day and to take it easy.  We took a tuk-tuk to the Grand Palace area where we wandered around the markets there.  We found a flower market, not far from the area, and I have never seen so many beautiful flowers before.  There were hundreds of them in bags and in containers lining the streets.  Since flowers are used to honor the gods, many individuals buy flowers daily.  After seeing the flower market we headed back to the hostel area and wandered around for a bit before taking a nap.  We got ready for the evening and headed into the city, not far from where our hotel was the first night.  We ate dinner on a side street, some of the best food I have ever had.  The food in Thailand, by the way, is top.  It is amazing.  It was our friend Amber’s 21^st birthday and she was on a Semester at Sea trip that was spending the night in Bangkok so we went to her hotel to meet up with her at 9.  There were about 20 of us in all that were trying to stay together as a group to celebrate her birthday, but at about 2330 the group split.  I ended up with PJ, Jeff, and Craig, and we found a small bar and relaxed.  Emily decided to go out with the other part of the group, and was going to stay in their hotel for the night but to take a taxi to the hostel in the morning to meet me.  Because I wasn’t drinking, I was extremely comfortable with that plan.  At the bar I had the best iced coffee I have had in a while and it made me extremely happy.  Jeff was too drunk, and I walked him back to his hostel a few blocks away.  When the bars closed at 2 PJ went back to his hotel, a few blocks from where we were.  Craig’s hostel and my hostel were in opposite directions of each other and were about 45 minutes away from each other, but both PJ and he insisted that Craig take the taxi to drop me off before heading back to his hostel.  I love that the boys here are so good about looking after you, it is refreshing.  When I got back to hostel I got a late night snack at 7-11, and then went to bed.

 

Day 5

I woke up at 800 and went to Starbucks and an internet café.  Emily met me in the morning and then we headed to catch the Semester at Sea bus back to the port.