Saturday, February 24, 2007

   My Adventures in Bangkok, Thailand
So, I've been rather absent from the internet community for quite some time now, partly because of exams, but also because I spent 10 days visiting my Mom in Thailand, who's teaching English there for a year.

Needless to say, my Asian experience was completely different, and absolutely amazing. My family certainly got a lot of attention from the very friendly Thai people (attention being something I'm not particularly accustomed to getting at home ^_^), since we were often the only white people around. It was a great experience, and if I could go back tomorrow, I'd do it in a second.

The flight there was certainly a long one, but it was awesome to stop by in Chicago and TOKYO (woot!), two places where I'd never been before. Oh my gosh! The people in the Tokyo airport were ADORABLE! They all had their great little uniforms on and everything... and they were all really courteous.

Anyway, when we arrived in the Bangkok airport, the heat was almost unbearable. It was certainly a shock, having come from -30 degrees Celsius weather in Canada. ^_^ Anyway, it was great to see my Mom again, (since I hadn't seen her for, like, 6 months) and I suppose it was rather emotional for me *sniff*.

So we spent the night at an apartment called "Poonchock Mansion", which was nice enough, but certainly not a mansion. ^_^ I guess I'm young enough not to be effected by jet lag, because I was fine in the morning to hop on a bus and take a 3 hour bus ride to the resort town of Hua Hin.

Hua Hin was an absolutely beautiful place, full of plenty of old European tourists, wearing bikinis/speedos (that didn't exactly always compliment their body type *coughs*), and Thai people who wanted to sell you something, or bring you somewhere in a taxi. ^_^ It was great to swim in the Gulf of Thailand, and it was fun to go shopping at the Night Market, which was full of sights, smells and LOTS of people. It could get very crowded. There were also always a bunch of guys on the beach, trying to get you to take a horseback ride... for a price, of course. Me and my sister were often targeted, since we were probably the only two young white girls on the beach. ^_^ We didn't end up actually getting on a horse during our time in Thailand, though. We also enjoyed the Thai meals we had there, and an assortment of AMAZING fruit juices and shakes, since the fruit there tastes SOOO much better than the fruit we get at home. It so fresh, and... mmmmm... *drools at the thought of tropical fruit*

Anyway, we spent the weekend in Hua Hin, and then returned to the crowded city of Bangkok, where we spent the rest of our vacation. We went to lots of malls and outdoor markets (they have them EVERYWHERE there), and did a lot of shopping. It was really great, because everything there is so cheap! I got a really nice top for $5! Canadian, of course... The sizes there are so small though! My size was XL there, and I'm usually a medium. It was also cool when people gave you a discount, just because, I guess, you were white. "For you, 350 baht." That sorta thing. That happened to me twice while I was there. Their currency is BAHT, by the way. So we were at quite a few malls, one being "Fashion Island", and another was "Central Mall". We also went to some absolutely BEAUTIFUL temples, and saw the famous "Reclining Buddha". That's another thing. It was quite common to see an orange clad Buddhist monk walking down the street.

We also went to Safari World, where we got to feed a giraffe! ^_^ We also saw a really awesome aquarium. It was around Chinese New Year when we went, so we some of those kind of celebrations going on, too. We went to this incredible Thai puppet show on Valentine's Day (probably my favorite thing I did on this trip), where I ended up having a brief romance with a Thai puppet... Hee hee, the puppet stole my purse, and wanted me to kiss him to get it back (that's the short version of the story, anyway).

While I was there I also got to see my mother's students. Ha ha, they were absolutely lovely. They have nicknames like "Golf" and "Boom Boy", because their Thai names are too difficult for the Western staff. They were all wearing uniforms, of course. I saw a LOT of students in the malls, and on the streets, wearing their school uniforms. It was a completely different world. Anyway, the children were absolutely amazed at how tall I am, and lots of them said I was taller than their fathers. ^_^

So, the easiest way to get around was by taxi (tee hee, they had hot pink taxis!), but a lot of the taxi drivers tried to rip us off, since we were foreign. Some of them were really nice, though. That's another thing. The traffic there is HORRENDOUS (too many cars!) and the rules of the road are rather lax... But they know what they're doing. I don't think the crash rate is too bad there. Anyway, besides taxi, we also travelled by subway and skytrain. Tee hee, pretty cool.

So I learnt how to say hello (Sawatdee Ka) and thank-you (Kap Kun Ka) in Thai. Hee hee, and that's it.

So on the flight back, I was in Japan for the SECOND time (oh, I'm so cool, hee hee), and I even said Arigato Gozaimasu to the person my sister and I bought some souvenirs from. Hee hee. I felt kind of dorky.

Despite the smoldering hot temperatures and scorching sun, I never actually got a tan in Thailand. Since I'm as pale as death, I will burn before I tan, so I had to be careful... It doesn't matter though, since I'm not all that bothered about tanning, anyway.

It was so different there, and I loved it. I was actually a bit depressed when I got home, because I REALLY wanted to be back in Asia, but I got over it. ^_^ Vacations can't last forever. I needed to return to reality... and school. :(
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