Thailand!

My trip around Thailand was absolutely unbelievable! The way that the people of India really shaped my Indian experience, the landscape is undoubtedly what I will remember the most about Thailand. Never have I seen such incredible limestone cliffs and islands covered with lush jungle vegetation. I went on a five day independent trip with 90 other students that had been organized on Facebook. The tour company did an incredible job packing our days full of unique experiences, while also providing a less rigid schedule than that of the usual SAS trips. On a personal note, I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet and make friends with students as I often find myself hanging out with staff friends on SAS trips.

Our first day, two large double decker buses picked us up at the port of Laem Chabbang, for our two hour drive to Bangkok. The port is in an industrial area 30 minutes outside of Laem Chabbang, while not a great city to port in, it is the only one that allows ships our size. Thailand is roughly the size of Spain and has a population of 63 million. The central area of Bangkok, a city of 8 million, has a river and canal system similar to Venice. We arrived in Bangkok and took a boat taxi to a large restaurant that looked out on the main river. There they had a massive buffet of all sorts of Thai delights set up for us. I was quite impressed with all of the Thai food I had on my trip. While fearful of things being too spicy, I was pleasantly surprised by Thai foods five elements- spicy, sweet, bitter, sour, and salty. Rice with curry sauces and pad Thai noodles with chicken or tofu were staples of our trip. We also tried dragon fruit- a relative of kiwi I think – a red fruit the size of a small cantaloupe with green spikes coming out of it, while the inside is the white with black seeds similar to a kiwi. We left lunch and walked by the grand palace on our way back to the bus. Our one hour flight to Phuket included a three course meal – while most of us weren’t hungry, it was still interesting to see the difference in service.

Phuket is an island off the south tip of Thailand. While accessible from a bridge connected to the mainland- a flight was much faster than what would be a 550 mile drive from Bangkok. Phuket is about miles wide and miles long. Mostly a tourist destination, the lush vegetation is dotted with beaches and hotels. We stayed at a great resort, DuangJitt, about 2 blocks from the beach. We didn’t get in until rather late, but I ended up with a great roommate named Katie. I went out to dinner with a group of students- one of whom I know because her cousin was one of my corps members this past summer at Institute. We had great Thai food and mai tais served in pineapples. The live entertainment was truly something else! A ten person group that covered pretty much any top ten song from America’s charts in the last thirty years. We had a quick drink at a Tiki bar on the way back to the hotel before resting up for the next day.

We rose early to board 14 person vans and take off on a 2 hour drive north off of the island. I had met one of the girls in my van before, and became friends with the other ten people by later in the day. Somewhat out of my comfort zone, I was pleased to not have a staff member to just stick with. We first did an inflatable canoe trip through the jungle under limestone cliffs. We had men who paddled for us- pointing out frogs, birds, flowers, etc. At one point we stopped to swing off a large branch into the water. Apparently all of my pushups in yoga are not paying off as much as I might have hoped, because I didn’t hold on tight enough and ended up cutting my foot on a rock. Before judging my decision to jump into a river in the Thai jungle, keep in mind that the other 89 people safely landed in the water, so it’s not that it was an unsafe decision as much as an unlucky result. However, thanks to Mom I have many a band aid and my foot is almost healed (the doctor on board checked it out and said it looks good.) The cliffs were in incredible! 90 degree straight limestone cliffs with the jungle growing up on either side loomed over us. After our two hour boat ride we loaded up in the vans and headed to a Thai lunch at a jungle restaurant. There I tried my first fried pineapple and fried sweet potatoes that were delicious!

Next we were off to ride elephants through the jungle! Each elephant had its own guide and could hold up to two people on the seat attached to their bodies. I was worried about how they might treat the elephants, but was pleased to see that the elephants were quite well trained and responded to barked Thai orders. Each of the guides also had a stick with a metal hook on it in case the elephant didn’t respond to orders, but fortunately I didn’t witness it being used. I ended up with my own elephant because we were an odd number. We rode for about an hour altogether through small rivers, muddy terrain, lush grass and rocky creeks. I was also excited to see rubber trees lining the trek with their bowls full of white sap! We took a break halfway and wandered up to a waterfall while the elephants played in the water. On the ride back I got to ride on my elephant’s neck! Holding onto its massive skull it had cute prickly black hair sprouting out of its head. Ten minutes from the end, we were inundated by a full on jungle downpour! Once again, I truly felt like Aunty Mama in my trek around the world.

That night we went out to a rather famous Cabaret show with all male dancers- all the girls were actually boys J, That night we went out to Mexican food, which although not truly authentic Thai, it was a delicious treat that reminded me of home.

The next day (St. Patrick’s Day!) we rose early again and drove to the northeast corner of the island to board a boat. We had about 50 people on our boat for the day- the back of the boat filled with blow up canoes for later. We took a 30 minute ride out to James Bond Island- where they filmed part of Man with a Golden Gun back in the day. Phuket has 42 smaller islands that also belong to it which are incredible! Like nothing I have seen! Limestone cliffs covered with vegetation just popping out of the blue water. We spent half an hour exploring the small island before taking off to our next. At the next point we stopped and boarded our canoes- each one had a man paddling for you and two students. We went through some incredible tunnels/caves that opened up into open water areas inside of an island. However, this experience only prepared us for the next island! At our next island we went through a small tunnel/cave that took about 15 minutes to get through to get to the center area with open daylight. We had to lie completely flat in our canoe as the cave’s ceiling literally came inches over our faces at certain points. If anyone is claustrophobic at all- this is not the trip for you! We then entered an incredible inner bay with open sky above. The boys got out to climb on the trees- that water was pretty shallow- about a meter. One kid, Murphy, ended up getting bit on the wrist by a snake- he had two big fang mark cuts! (On the boat they had a wash to treat it- it wasn’t poisonous.) We were fortunate that of all the people on our trip, he is probably the most laid back and least worried- if it had been a girl- I am quite sure the boat would have been commandeered back to the main land to a hospital. On the way back out of the cave we were stuck in one place for about 15 minutes with only our little flashlight to see, as a large line of German tourists were coming in. (During this time I had to keep reminding myself that tsunamis are very rare and not to worry, haha.) We made it out alive and got to jump off the boat a few times before boarding.

We had a delicious Thai lunch onboard as we headed out to a larger island. I was sitting up in the front of the ship and could see huge jelly fish in the water as we zoomed by. We arrived at a beautiful beach to swim around at, but unfortunately we only had about 30 minutes there before we had to head back to Phuket. Arriving back at the hotel, a few of us went to get ridiculously inexpensive massages. I had a back and shoulder massage that I have to say was quite painful- I think I have a low tolerance for elbows sticking into my back, haha. That night we went out on the town to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the local pubs and bars.
Much of our fourth day was taken up by our traveling back to Bangkok. Upon arrival we made it to our hotel and then I wandered to meet up with my friend Janetta (one of the counselor’s onboard) at another hotel (that looked 2 blocks away on my map, but was a good 2 mile walk!) A student joined us for dinner for a unique Thai/Mexican dinner. We wandered on to the notable “Night Market” where you can buy pretty much anything you might ever need. Think Saturday market times fifty. I found a few small bargains before it closed at midnight and we headed back.

The next day we had a whirl-wind tour of Bangkok. Beginning with a river tour and ending at the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha temple. It was hot!!! Without the nice Phuket breeze to cool us, we realized just how warm Thailand can be. Nonetheless, the palace buildings were truly impressive and fun to see. Thais are extremely proud of their royalty and revere them greatly. We took a two hour bus back to the ship where we were happily greeted by cold showers and our own beds. Thailand is probably one of my favorite countries to date. While a major part of India was experiencing the people, I feel that visiting Thailand I was overwhelmed by the unbelievable landscape. I am surprised that I have not heard more about Thailand as a travel destination in the past as I would highly recommend it to others! India blog still coming! Thank you for reading! -Rose.