3/15 - 3/19 Thailand

Day 1: We woke up for breakfast and then just spent the rest of the morning just hanging out because we had been told that getting out of the port cost a lot of money and that there wasn’t much to do; plus Rhina and I had an SaS trip in the afternoon. So we worked on homework and stuff, ate lunch and then met up for our trip to the Elephant Village. So cute and so much fun! They told us about the elephant reserve and then we got to ride them!

When we got back we ate dinner and met up with some friends to get a shuttle to Pattaya where D was waiting for us at a guesthouse. We got there, dropped off our stuff, and went to find food at the mall. We walked around Pattaya looking for a ‘hopping’ but cheap bar or club but ended up just walking most of the night until someone we were with snapped about all the walking and lack of drunkenness. Dumbs. So Shelly and I left and spent an hour and a half at the computer place across the street from our room because it was only 40 baht for an hour. Yay! The rest of the crew eventually showed up and we all crashed.

Day 2: Slept in until 9:30 or so. Went out looking for brunch and then headed to the beach for the day. The water was bath warm and the sun was beautifully hot. After spending the day laying on the beach and playing in the water, we went back to change and pack up, went out to dinner and then Rhina, D and I went back to the ship to hang out and watch a movie.

Day 3: We woke up early, had breakfast and loaded the bus to go to the Pattaya orphanage with SaS. We stayed there for about 3 hours; just long enough for me to fall in love with one of the little boys that fell asleep in my arms. If I could’ve adopted every child there, I would have. Afterwards, we were dropped off at the Pattaya mall where we ate lunch and then went off in search of the train station. We finally got a truck taxi (a truck with seats built into the back) to take us for a decent price. Got there and had to wait an hour before the train came but it was only 31 Baht to Bangkok instead of the ridiculous prices that the taxis and shuttles were charging. However, it was the longest most uncomfortable train ride ever; 4.5 hours with not even padded seats.

Anyways we got there and had a taxi bring us to the road where a lot of our friends were supposed to be staying and found a guesthouse for a decent price. Dropped our stuff off and went to get dinner. Khoa Son road was the craziest place to be that night; it was St. Paddy’s and apparently we’d found the travelers area where a lot of backpackers go to. We ate pad thai from a street vendor and it was amazing. I found vendors who were selling patches, 3 for $1 US so I got 6 of the countries I’m going to or have been already. Then we had a green beer with some other SaS people we ran into. We walked around until we decided to go to an Irish pub on the street and had a few drinks, all Irish themed; black & tan, an Irish car bomb, an Irish flag, and an Irish Momo. Then had some more food and looked for a club; danced for a bit and decided to call it a night.

Day 4: We woke up late and took a tuk-tuk to the Grand Palace where we didn’t go in because I didn’t want to pay to see a bunch of statues and monuments PLUS have to pay someone an exorbitant price to rent a shirt so I could go in. So instead we walked around towards one of the Buddha temples nearby. Of course, we picked the hottest day yet to walk around. So after seeing the Buddha we were already tired of Bangkok so we decided that we’d go back to the ship; we were all also running out of money. So we took a tuk-tuk back to the guesthouse, checked out and walked down Khoa Son road again to eat a cheap lunch and get a few souvenirs. We walked to the tourist info desk nearby to find out where the bus station was and then had a tuk-tuk driver take us the half hour to the station for 300 baht. Got there 10 minutes before the next bus was leaving to go to Pattaya so we bought our tickets (for 95 baht), went to the bathroom and got on the air-conditioned bus and settled in for the 2 hour ride back to the ship. We got to the mall outside of the port, walked around and bought some snacks while Rhina got a massage then jumped in a taxi truck to take us into the port. We stayed on the ship the next day because we were all out of money and didn’t want to deal with the hassle of trying to get a ride out of port.

What I’ve learned:
*You can still travel on a tight budget; while everyone else paid up to $45 for a one-way shuttle to Bangkok, my friends and I took the train for 31 baht (<$1 US!) and a 95 baht bus back. In case you didn’t calculate, that’s $4 US in comparison to $90. lol Suckers! We were also able to do our entire 4 days for about $130. Love it.
*I have 2 great friends/ travel buddies and including others into our group just creates problems
*Thai people really do love their king; you can’t drive for 5 minutes and not see a picture of him
*English is not an important language here which made it difficult to communicate at times
*An elephant only has 4 teeth and their fur is really bristly
*People get their Irish on during St. Patrick’s Day even in Thailand!
*Pad thai and spring rolls from street vendors are cheap and delicious; 45 baht = app. $1.40 US…I think we had it for 3 meals. lol
*I didn’t think I’d ever see as many old, over-weight men in speedos as I did while in Pattaya, especially not with skanky Thai females that all look like they’re 14.
*Not all Thais are conservative; I saw more half-naked (and fully naked) women in one night than I ever have in the US; and some of my friends went to something in Bangkok called a ping pong show where they stick random things up where they don’t belong and shoot them out using muscles most of us don’t know how to use. Crazy.
*It doesn’t matter what country we’re in, those that provide transportation try to rip us off; they think we’re all a bunch of spoiled, rich Americans.
*The internet is so much more enjoyable when it’s not $30 per hour.

It’s 2 days later and we’re almost in VietNam; I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I just left India and Thailand and I’m almost in VietNam. One of my classmates has done this before and she said that you get back home and it all feels like a dream. I believe it because even this far it just feels like I imagined all the places I’ve been or things I’ve seen. I have to go slave away at the demonic pile of art homework I have but I’ll write again as soon as I can. Loves & kisses!