Thailand

Thailand was a different trip. I felt like I took a brief break from SAS to walk down the wildest streets in the world, ride through the most lush and green jungle on elephants and canoes, and lay on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was like taking a mini-vacation in the middle of this intense life adventure. A much-needed break after India I might add.

We arrived in Laem Chebang on Sunday morning and immediately got off the ship onto party buses. Laem Chebang is two hours outside of Bangkok so we had a bit of a drive in front of us. I wasn’t on an SAS trip for this port, I was on an independently arranged trip with an identical itinerary to the SAS one headed to the island of Phuket. I was with my friend Laura whose 21st birthday was the night we were staying in Bangkok, our last night in Thailand. So we pretty much made our whole trip into her 6-day birthday celebration, started appropriately with out pink party bus to Bangkok. Clearing the ship took a lot longer than we thought so by the time we got into Bangkok, we only had time to take a river boat to an amazing restaurant before catching our flight to Phuket. Bangkok is an amazing city. First of all, it is a city built on water with canals and boat taxis everywhere. They call it the Venice of the East. They love the king too. The king of Thailand is one of the most popular men in the world, I’m sure, because on every corner and every billboard and every overpass and every car and every store window and every street there is a picture or sticker of the king and sometimes the queen too. “Long live the king” bracelets and posters and t-shirts are everywhere. They love their king. It is actually a serious crime to insult the monarchy. If you do so in any way, they throw you in jail. They seriously love their king. It was really cool to look out over the highways (yes! They actually had highways there! It had been a while since I’d seen one and sadly it really excited me) and see amongst the tall buildings gold onion domes of temples and giant golden Buddha statues sitting in the middle of the modern city. Bright hot pink taxis glittered amongst the other brightly colored cars, they really loved brightly colored taxis with lots of decorations and stickers. The only problem with their super cool taxis though is that no driver knows where anything is in the city. No joke, we knew where we wanted to go and had the hotel write out in Thai the name and address of the places (which were extremely well-known, popular places) and would always ask if they knew where it was before we got in but every single time we would end up driving around and around for ever usually stuck in the horrendous Bangkok traffic while the driver would get out and ask around where this place was that we needed to get to. Extremely frustrating. But that was only one drawback from the bustling city.
Let me just take a moment for the food in Thailand. Oh. My. Goodness. My mouth is still watering thinking about it. It was delicious, that doesn’t even sound right. It is like heaven in your mouth. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Seriously, I can’t get over it. Its nothing like Thai food in the states, it is so much better than that. I would go back in a heartbeat just to eat one meal there.

Anyways, back to my adventures. So we had an uneventful flight to Phuket, grabbed our bags and took another long drive to our hotel. Oh the other really cool thing was they had welcome banners everywhere we went which made us feel super special. One was waiting outside the ship, another was in the airport when we landed, and another at the hotel. Our hotel was awesome and Laura and I roomed together which made it even more fun. The first night we went out to explore Patong Beach where we were staying and wow, did we get a lot of it. Bars, hookers, ping-pong shows, strippers, sex tourism, music everywhere. It was insane. I’ve never seen anything like this. The only thing I might compare it to would be Bourbon Street, New Orleans. But even that was tame compared to this. It was a really fun atmosphere and my girlfriends and I had such a good time. I can’t divulge any stories from our night outings but just know that they were ones to remember.

The next morning bright and early, we left for a day in the jungle. We headed north to the Khao Sok National Forest, which remains from a jungle older and more diverse than the Amazon. Our first stop in this incredible place is to ride elephants through the forest. Laura and I were one of the last elephant groups to go because I got distracted by the baby monkey they had. It was chained to a tree and broke my heart but it was the sweetest, cutest thing ever. Actually it was kind of a brat but I loved it anyways. It would jump onto us from its tree and then jump from person to person, trying to take a hat or sunglasses. Sometimes it would tire out and then just hug whoever it was on. A couple of us sat down on the ground next to us and started to pet it and feed it with its baby bottle. It calmed down immediately then and would curl up in someones lap or grab onto a leg with hands and feet and just lay there, licking your leg. If someone sat down that he didn’t like though he would jump up and start attacking them and then run back to cuddle in a lap like he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the cutest thing I have ever seen. So when they could finally tear me away from the monkey, we got on our elephant to trek through the jungle. This was such a cool experience. I still can’t believe I did that. On the way up we rode in the bench on top of Samoon, our elephant. The scenery surrounding us was unbelievable. Lush greens and trees and rocks created our pathway and the train of elephants was beautiful. On the way back down, they let us ride on the neck which we thought looked so cool when we saw people coming down. However, one word of advice: make sure you get an elephant with a big neck. You might think that all elephants have big necks and its true, but when you’re trying to squeeze two big American girls onto an Asian elephant’s neck in front of the bench and behind the ears, it gets a bit tight. Laura and I barely fit, we were right on each other sweating like mad. They wanted my legs behind Samoon’s ears but to do that I had to lean forward so that I was practically sitting on its forehead with nothing in front of me (I had the privilege of sitting in the front). Then everytime Samoon would flap his ears, it would slap me on the legs. We must have looked like a circus act. And it wasn’t funny at all but we were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe because everytime the elephant would move I was lurched forward and she would have to grab the back of my shirt to keep my from plummeting to my death on the slippery rocks underneath while holding on to the bench behind her to keep us both from falling. We also kept sliding off his neck to one side or the other so it was a fight to stay on the elephant. No one else had as many problems as we did and I’m still trying to figure out why. It got even tighter when our guide decided to sit in front of us. I don’t really want to talk about that part. So after we lived through our near-death elephant experience, we thanked God for our lives and headed to lunch. It was an outdoor restaurant with fresh coconuts with the top whacked off to drink out of and fried bananas galore. After thoroughly stuffing ourselves, we headed towards our next adventure. We got in our swimsuits and drove down to the river to climb into two-person canoes and canoe down the Khao Sok river. This was possibly my favorite experience in Thailand. We just laid back and took in the steep stone cliffs that jutted up randomly on all sides, covered in side-ways growing trees and white pumpkin vines, the overhanging trees that made a beautiful canopy overhead, the lush tropical jungle on either side of us, and the sounds of nature telling us their story. It was the single most relaxed and peaceful time in my life. I loved it. It got even more magical when thunder boomed from far away and moved towards us with every raindrop that started to fall on us. It was warm and refreshing. It was a humbling experience; I was just a powerless human on a small float in the middle of nature in all her glory. It was breathtaking. We finished our journey right before the heavy rains came. I loved it, the rain. It reminded me of home and we all fell asleep on the way back to the hotel to the sound of it pounding away outside our little van. That night, Laura and I got a two-hour massage for practically nothing. It was incredible. Wow is all I can say. Thai massage is part pain, part relaxation and a whole lot of, “Wow, I didn’t know my body could move like that!” It was incredible. We went and walked along the beach for a little bit to see the night market and then just went back and had the best sleep ever.

The next morning was a boat excursion day. We got on two big boats laid out with fresh fruits and sailed through the Phang Nga Bay. The Jade waters surround hundreds of islands that rise straight out of the water in shapes that looked like they had been hand-carved, like they didn’t belong there because they were so incredible. It was beautifully breathtaking. We just sat there in silence looking out at the natural wonders around us. That was another peaceful feeling that I can’t forget. Small wooden fishing boats and big wooden pirate ship-looking vessels made for tourists dotted the sea of green. The jagged rocks that formed the bottom of the islands hung above the gentle water. We first stopped at James Bond Island (Ko Tapu), which is called so because the island, which rises straight up and tapers at the bottom and is about 20 meters tall, was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun (Tomorrow Never Dies also has a scene filmed in Phang Nga Bay).  Took some good James Bond style pictures there and then headed to the island of Koh Hong to canoe around the rocks and caves. It was so cool to squeeze in between these different colored rock formations that created little pathways perfect size for a canoe to fit through. The colors were amazing. The foliage on the islands was like nothing I’d ever seen. They took us through caves where we had to lay down and flatten ourselves on the canoe to fit through while the stalactites that hung inches from our faces looked ready to stab us at any moment. How we actually fit I’ll never know but we emerged to the prettiest lagoons you can imagine. It felt like we had just discovered these hidden paradises that were completely untouched before our arrival. So striking! After spending our time “oohing” and “awing” we squeezed our way through the caves back to the boat and took a swimming break. We of course jumped off the top of the boat into the warm emerald water underneath. After we had our thrill of swimming, we stopped at Koh Panak where we got back into the canoes and headed into more caves. They didn’t tell us what this adventure was so when it just kept getting darker as we paddled deeper into the caves and there was no light on the other side and our guide handed us a flashlight we knew we were in for it. Above our heads hundreds of bats hung from the ceilings not too far above our heads. We kept feeling raindrop like things falling on our heads and didn’t want to ask what it really was. Then the bats started to wake up. I don’t know if it was all the noise that 100 college students in a dark confined space can make or the light from our flashlights interrupting their sleep but they started screeching and flying around. I am not a fan of bats but I managed not to freak out. It was definitely time to move onto our next location. After an amazing fresh lunch served on board en route to Ko Wa Yai, we spent some quality time laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. The heat there is another story, it was a great day though. On the way back to Phuket, another afternoon rain shower began and I fell into another great nap. Back at the hotel we began the celebrations for Laura’s birthday. We met all our friends at a great restaurant that looked like it was in a tree. Amazing food and some delicious cocktails later (it was her 21st), we hit up the streets of Patong to do some birthday damage. We actually started the night at celebrating St. Patrick’s Day but as soon as midnight hit it was crazy birthday time. While the details of that night will forever remain inaccessible to those who were not present, I can tell you that I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in an Irish bar with Irishmen and Thai strippers in Thaiand and my good friend’s 21st birthday with Asian breakdancers, Australian men, our hotel pool and the security guard. It was a packed night and one for the books for sure.

Luckily the next day was just a traveling day. We woke up and got the last of our Thai massages (I’m really going to miss those) and some Starbucks (I can’t express to you the joy I had when I saw the sign). We finished up some shopping, got our stuff together and boarded our flight back to Bangkok. We had plans to meet up with our friends at a well-known and highly recommended restaurant as soon as we got into Bangkok (they had been there for a couple days) so we only dropped our stuff and rushed to find a taxi there. This is where we first experienced the frustration of taxis in Thailand. It was infuriating actually. So we wasted an hour of our precious time sitting in the taxi while he tried to find this place and with no luck so just had him take us back to our hotel. Our friends met us there and we went out to a lovely seafood dinner. After we had finished eating and all the girls had gotten ready for Laura’s big night, we headed to the most exclusive bar in Thailand. It is on the rooftop of a beautiful hotel and looks out over the whole city. They are really selective about who they let in though, if boys were wearing shorts they were turned away and if girls were wearing pants or open-toed shoes they were turned away. The view from the top was really amazing. We didn’t stay long though because you had to buy something off their very expensive menu in order to stay but we got some nice pictures. After that the girls wanted to head to the craziest street in Bangkok but the boys weren’t up for it so we found a disco tech and danced the night away with people from all over the world. Em and Vanessa stayed with Laura and I that night so we had a big sleepover to end our night adventures in Thailand.

The next morning we took a boat-tour through the canals of Bangkok and then headed to the Grand Palace. It was incredible. Gold and jewels and colors sparkled on the astonishing architecture and design of the palace. We saw the famed Emerald Buddha atop mounds of golden structures. I wish I had been in a better frame of mind to enjoy all that was before me but it was miserable hot, I’ve never felt so close to dying of heat (this was before Vietnam) and there was a dress code so we had to be mostly covered and I was so tired from all the constant traveling and lack of sleep. I was not a happy camper but it was still incredible to see. I can’t wait to go back. We took the long bus ride back to the ship and I fell right asleep…

Good times in Thailand, I absolutely loved it there. It was some of the most beautiful, breath-taking sights I have ever witnessed and some of the best times I’ve ever had. The people there are so friendly and wonderful. It really was incredible. It’s very weird though, it was only last week that I was there and already it feels like another lifetime. We just left Viet Nam (I didn’t have a chance to finish this before) and I don’t even believe myself that I was in Thailand just one week ago, let alone Africa last month. This is an amazing trip and an amazing experience but it goes by too fast. I just looked at my calendar on my wall and in the span of 5 weeks I’ll have done India, Thailand, Viet Nam, China and Japan. That’s madness. I only scratched the surface of the places I’ve been to.

Off to write about Viet Nam now! I got a bad cold/the flu in Viet Nam so my head is not normal right now and I apologize if my writing reflects that. Love!