Thailand

Hey all,

We Semester at Sea students have passed the halfway point of our voyage.  We have also started our grueling Asia itinerary.  We just returned from our 5 day trip to Thailand.  Upon arriving at port in Thailand, I had not made any plans for the country.  I had only a trip on the second and 5^th days of our time there.  I was able to procure a ticket to the Sri Racha tiger zoo.  At the tiger zoo we saw performances using tigers, crocodiles, and elephants.  All of which were very entertaining except for the fact that the trainers were obviously not treating the animals properly.  I then spent that night packing for my adventure to Bangkok…

In the morning I boarded a bus to Bangkok with my second SAS trip called Venice of the East.  We traveled to Bangkok to see the sights.  We took a cruise on the river and canals.  We also saw two temples, Wat Pho and Wat Arun.  Wat Pho featured a huge golden Buddha.  Wat Arun, also known as the temple of the dawn, was especially beautiful.  We then went to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  They were amazingly beautiful.  The pictures I took could never do them true justice.  I then left this trip and met up with some friends, Ruth, Jason, Koya, and Brendan in order to spend the night up in Bangkok.  We then made our way to the local park where we saw a muy thai fight.  Muy thai is a fighting style that is very similar to kickboxing.  It’s a ton of fun to watch.  Afterwards we went to a tailor where Jason and Brendan bought custom suits for a great price.  I was too cheap, so I didn’t buy one…

The next day we did some touring of temples.  Nothing was quite as good as the first day.  Afterwards we ate food from the street that was amazing.  All the food we ate was amazing from start to finish.  Brendan and I then split from the group in order to find a place to stay for the night.  Since in the morning we were doing a performance/lecture with MICE at Bangkok University, we made our way over there.  We walked around the campus until we found someone who spoke English.  He was a professor of communications from California.  He was able to tell us about this place just around the corner that had cheap rooms.  After booking a room we headed to the bars as it was St. Patrick’s day.  All I will say is that the night life in Bangkok is like nowhere else.

In the morning we did a presentation at Bangkok University.  It was a pretty successful talk.  The students seemed to really enjoy it.  Thai students are very shy, so it took us some time to get them interacting with our talk.  Once we did, it was quite a lot of fun.  I met some cool people as well.  We then took a tour of the campus.  After the tour, we only had time to go to the mall before heading back to the ship for the night.

The following day I did the most amazingly touristic thing I have ever done.  It was called Nong Nooch cultural village and it really was lame.  It was not real Thailand, it was Thailand for the foreigner who isn’t willing to search for it.  I loved real Thailand.  I will be going back there before I die.  Bangkok is one of the most amazing cities in the world.  It is a sprawling metropolis that is clean, during the day, and fun during the night.  It is also extremely affordable, especially for an American.  It is not for the faint of heart though.  You will see things on the streets that even the most liberal person will raise an eyebrow at.  For someone in their 20’s it is a great destination to enjoy.

In two days we arrive in Vietnam, I can’t wait to see what is there.

 

-Steven at Sea