World Blog: Thailand

Thailand was definitely one of my favorite countries. It was very hot, very humid, and very beautiful. I was especially excited for it because Thai food is my favorite type of food in the US, so I was excited to try some authentic Thai food. It was delicious! I was registered for a trip through Semester at Sea that lasted the entire time we were there. My first impressions were that Thailand is a very wealthy country, a huge contrast from India. The roads were very clean and everything seemed very modern. As soon as we got off of the ship, we went straight to the airport for our flight to Phuket. The first day was sort of a huge waste of time – we left at 9:30am to go to the airport, and our flight wasn't until 4:30pm – so we basically spent our whole day at the airport. The airport in Bangkok was beautiful – one of the nicest in the world. I got really lucky when we were checking in to the airport and was upgraded to 1st class, which was awesome. So we had 2-hour flight to Phuket, where we were served juices and snacks for free. One we landed at the airport, we had an hour bus ride to our resort, which was really nice and really beautiful, right in the center of everything in Phuket, which is a resort area in southern Thailand. I went out to dinner with a bunch of girls on the trip, and they picked a really really expensive place, but it was oceanfront and REALLY nice. I ate grilled prawns over some spicy rice. It was delicious but smelled disgusting.

After a really expensive dinner tab, we went out. Thailand is absolutely crazy, like Panama City to the extreme. The streets are blocked off and turn into basically one big huge, wild party with all of the bars and stuff combined. It was insane. There were strippers and prostitutes everywhere, and people passing out pamphlets for “sex shows.” I didn't go to one but a lot of people did, and from what I heard it was absolutely disgusting, involving live birds and live fish. Gross. There were also creepy old European men EVERYWHERE. There were also a lot of games at the bars that the bartenders challenge you to. One of the bartenders challenged me to a game of Connect Four, which I won, which meant that the bartender had to climb up the stripper pole (which were everywhere) and write my name on the ceiling.

The next morning, we had to get up really early for our 3-hour bus ride into the RAINFOREST, which was absolutely beautiful, extremely green and extremely lush. There were also lots of tall random cliffs (they are called a “Tepui”when they are located in the Brazilian rainforest, I don't know what they are called elsewhere), and trees were even growing out the sides of the cliffs. Incredible. It was also extremely loud, with the sounds birds and frogs and waterfall filling the air. It was a little more lush than the rainforest I visited in South America, granted I didn't get into the depth of the rainforest there as I did in Thailand. When we first got there, we were told of our agenda, which, unfortunately, extremely structured.

First, we went on a short hike on a path through the rainforest. It was cool but sort of boring, we didn't see much and I kept getting yelled at for taking too long because I was trying to enjoy it and take pictures. The leader wouldn't let us slow down. We also got to see how they harvest rubber from the rubber trees, which was cool and very primitive. They cut little lines in the side of the trees and tie a little bowl underneath and let it drip down into the bowl. After our hike, we got to go through a stream in canoes, with someone else paddling. This was definitely my favorite part of the day. It was extremely beautiful and we were able to see frogs, lizards, birds, and amazingly bright dragonflies in so many different colors. This paddle definitely did not last long enough- it was only about an hour but I wish it was all day long. After the kayaking, we had a short elephant ride through the rainforest, which was also really fun. It started raining at the end of the elephant ride, which enhanced the total 'rainforest' experience. After the elephant ride we had our 3-hour bus ride back to the resort, we went out to dinner – much cheaper this time – and then did a little shopping (the shops- which are more like little booths of pirated goods – were open until at least midnight) and went to bed.

The next morning, we had another full day of the outdoors. We got up early again and headed about 30 minutes by bus and then go on a boat to several little islands on the coast of Phuket. The islands were everywhere, and many of them stuck out of the water like little gumdrops – with really steep, tall cliffs forming a circle. Once we got to one of the islands, we got off the big boat and into canoes (once again we had someone to paddle for us) and went through these sea caves into the lagoon in the middle of the island. It was really really cool, straight out of something like Pirates of the Caribbean. We had to duck really low in the canoe to get in, and the ceiling was covered with bats. Inside the lagoon was also amazing – the water was so calm and such a pretty color turquoise. There were a lot of monkey and jellyfish. We also saw some creatures known as “sea toads” which looked like half frogs and half fish. We went to a few lagoons and paddled around, and saw an island called “James Bond Island,” which was were some part of James Bond was filmed. After paddling around in several places, we had a buffet lunch on the boat and then went to an island to relax on the beach for about an hour. We were allowed to use the canoes during this time, so I canoed around a little bit. After that, we headed back to the bus and then to the resort.

When we got back, we did a little more shopping (hunting for art, specifically). We came across this really cool gallery where the painters were all at work. They seemed really cool and could speak English, so we ended up talking to them for a while and buying some paintings from them. They were really nice and we became friends with them. They had never heard of St. Patrick's Day (which is what day it was), so we decided to invite them out to an Irish Bar with us that night. First we went and ate dinner and then met back up with them to go out for the night. It was really fun.

The next morning, we had to be out of the hotel by 11, so we didn't get to do much. We made our way to the airport and then flew back to Bangkok. This day was wasted by a lot of traveling, as well. We got to Bangkok and checked into our hotel, which was BY FAR one of the nicest hotels I have ever been in. It was extremely elegant. We didn't get to Bangkok until sort of late, so we only had time to eat some dinner and then go for a Thai Massage, which we were told was a “must” in Thailand. The massage was really cheap – it was only about 10 USD for 90 minutes of a massage. The massage was not enjoyable at all; it was extremely painful and left me more stiff and less relaxed than before. Other people who also got a “traditional Thai massage,” as we did, also said theirs was unpleasant. Apparently, the massage to get there is the “Thai oil massage.” O well, it was really cheap at least.

The next morning, we had to get up early again to tour some temples and stuff before heading back to the boat. We went first to the “Grand Palace,” which was a huge area of palaces and temples that was incredible. Everything was gold and shiny and extremely ornate – more ornate than any European architectural monument that I have seen. It was also home to the “Emerald Buddha,” which was very impressive (not actually emerald, but called that because of its color). The story behind this is that a piece of land was struck by lightning and someone dug it up and found the Emerald Buddha. Then we went to 'The Largest Jewelry Store in the World,” where we were able to see how they mined and made gemstones into jewelry, and then go shopping. I bought a black star sapphire ring and matching necklace for only about 30 bucks total. After this, we headed back to the boat to heat to Vietnam!

Overall, Thailand was absolutely amazing, and was my favorite port up to this point (later to be tied with Vietnam and Japan). I can't wait to go back!!