Currently, we are sitting in the airport waiting to check
in. Apparently in Bangkok you cannot
check in until you are within a few hours of your flight. Since our flight is at 5am, we choose not to
get a hotel and just hang out here. So,
we are just chilling in the check in area waiting to head to our gate. To waste some time, I figured I would catch
up on some blogging since I haven’t done so in a few days.
On Thursday, we got up and drove from Kamphaeng Phet to
Prachuap. This is located on the tail of
Thailand on the coast….8 hours south of Kamphaeng Phet! It was a long ride! I rode in the back of the van, which as we
all know is the bumpiest place. And Thailand
roads are not the smoothest. It was like
a freaking roller coaster. You could try
sleeping, but the minute you would get comfortable, we’d hit a bump and slip or
it would jerk you awake. It was still a
very good trip, we turned it into a humorous event. My butt was just a little sore afterwards!
We finally made it to Prachuap around 6. We checked into our hotel and headed to the
best dinner. We got to chow down on
fresh seafood! Crab, shrimp, a couple types of fish, and squid. I of course only ate the crab and shrimp, but
it was soooo good! It reminded me of
Hawaii. After dinner, we had a bit of an
accident. As the curious college
students we are, we wanted to go down on the beach that was across from the
restaurant and hotel. The tide had gone
down, so we could see the sand at the bottom of the ramp. Haley and Lance headed how first and the rest
of us followed linked up. Well, next
thing we know, Haley and Lance have slipped and fallen and cannot get back up
the ramp. Apparently, the bottom of the
ramp was not just covered in water, but slimy algae as well. While we are trying to control our laughing
and figure out a plan, a man decides to run across the street with a sign
stating the ramp is slippery. Thank you,
captain obvious. We clearly know this as
our friends have fallen and cannot climb back up! I don’t know about you, but it makes perfect
sense to have to sign for the slippery ramp across the street in a store as
opposed to on the ramp…NOT! Anyway, some
Thai guys climb down the ramp to help them, as we all did not want to attempt
and slip ourselves to cause an even bigger mess. As they come up, we realize they have scrapped
up their hands and have blood everywhere!
No worries though. We got them
both cleaned up and determined they only had some minor scrapes and cuts,
nothing that needed medical attention.
Thankfully!
Friday, was by far one of the best days…but let’s face it,
what wasn't a great day?! We first
traveled to a park where we got to interact with some monkeys. I was so excited. I have always wanted a monkey! We each got a bag of food and got to feed the
monkeys out of our hands. As we held out
our hand, a monkey would come up, reach out, and grab it. There were also some baby monkeys. How freaking cute!! Some of the monkeys would try and be sneaky
and try to steal the entire bag, so you had to be careful. Sometimes the monkeys would also jump on your
shoulder. I was lucky enough to not have
this happen, as they would sometimes be mean and scratch as Cara found
out. This was such a cool
experience. To feed a real live monkey
straight from my hand…I still cannot get over it! I want one even more now!
Next, we visited an aquarium. Nothing too special, just a typical aquarium,
but it was still pretty cool to walk around and see all the fish and sea
life. We then headed on to the
beach! We got to each lunch directly on
the beach. Pretty sweet! We spend the rest of the afternoon chilling
out on the beach. We laid out in the
sun, walked the beach, and searched for sea shells. We also spend some time reflecting one on one
with Dr Matney. As painful as it sounds,
it was actually very helpful. It got me
to think deeper about my trip and what I learned. I thought more in depth about my experiences
here and how they have helped me grow as a person. I realized that I not only got to physically learn
about the culture and education, but I learned more mentally about life. As I began thinking about the trip and all
that I learned, I began to make more connections with my life back in America. I was able to make more meaningful
connections between the similarities and differences in American culture and
Thai culture. To be honest, I am jealous
of the cultural atmosphere created in Thailand that does not exist in
America. In general, Thai people are
very generous, caring, and altogether selfless people. They always put others about themselves. Thai people also have a different set of
priorities. They put their money toward
their faith, helping others, and their own bare necessities. They do not put much emphasis on their homes
and extra materialistic items. The Thai
culture is very much a community where as Americans are about
individuality. I have learned that I
take way to many things in life for granted.
My life in America is full of many luxuries, but I do not think I can
say my life is better than my Thai friends because of it. I learned a lot more throughout this trip, but
I believe this is the biggest life lesson I learned. I want to challenge myself to be more
selfless and appreciative of the life my parents have created for me.
For our last day in Thailand, we traveled to Bangkok, the 3rd
and current capital of Thailand. Over
the last two weeks, everyone but me has gotten either sick or injured somehow. As I clearly jinxed myself yesterday, I got
sick on the car ride. Luckily, I felt
better after sleeping the rest of the way and was able to enjoy the day! We got to walk around two sacred places, the
Grand Palace and Wat Arun. Both were
beautiful! Their statues and buildings
we covered in stained glass. Hand placed
small pieces of stained glass. It was
amazing! The Grand Palace is where the
deceased bodies of the king and his family are stored for 180 days. The temples and statues are all based off the
architectural design of Ayothaya, the previous capitol. This location is also the home to the place
where foreign ambassadors stay when they come to the country. We then traveled by boat across the river to
Wat Arun. This temple was again
beautifully hand crafted and created by stained glass. The steps to the top were very steep. Most of our group chose to climb it. I stayed down with Lauren and Morgan as I did
not feel like throwing up all over the holy temple! In this location, there is also a wishing
well Buddha. You can throw coins into
the bowl held by Buddha. This is meant
to be a sign of good luck. We spent the
rest of the night enjoying a dinner on the river and driving around Bangkok
before heading to the airport to fly home.
It was a great way to end our last day in Thailand!
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