Thailand

Sawasdee-Ka!

NO, I have NOT forgotten about my poor blog…it’s just that I honestly have no time to write. Writing always takes longer than I think it will. I had a midterm this morning so I was studying for that, and now I have another midterm and a big project due on Sunday so that’s what I’ll be focusing on next…so I need to get Thailand out of my system because we’re going to be in India soon! We’re actually in Singapore right now bunkering I think is the term – getting more fuel and food; yay!

Alright the run down, Thailand Day 1:
I was on a group trip that was headed for Phuket and then Bangkok. We were the first trip off the boat, and I heard (although every rumor I’ve ever heard on the ship has been false) that they didn’t let everybody else (not on trips through SAS) off the boat until 2:30 PM so that people would miss their flights trying to make it to the Half Moon Party (a crazy drunken extravaganza). I recognized a girl from my Japan trip, her name is Ellen. We sat together on the bus and talked for most of the long ride to the airport, which was great because in Japan it was Ellen, five other girls and myself so I hadn’t gotten to know her that well and she was really awesome! She was pretty much my other half for the next 5 days, though we did meet up with some more awesome girls (Mary, Kendra, Roberta, namely) and had a great little group going. So the first day was just a lot of transportation. We finally arrived at our hotel-resort…which had the biggest most gorgeous swimming pool I’ve ever seen, complete with a bar you could swim up to, a little enclosed area, and an Ariel Little Mermaid rock in the water to pose on. I am seriously considering having my honey moon in Thailand, dependent upon the water not being yellow with visible specks of dirt in it when it should be nice and clear. That night Ellen and I went out with a couple other girls for dinner and shopped around at the market and then got a traditional Thai massage for about $9. It was way better than my Cambodian massages and it felt so good! After that we were pretty much just ready for bed.

Thailand Day 2:
Well, Ellen and I had switched things around so that we could be roommates and also be on the same busses for the same trips. We were with 120 people, divided into 2 groups of 60. From there, Ellen and my group was divided into three groups of 20 people and we did a rotation of three fabulous activities. First up was the Jungle Safari!!! It was amazing!! We all got ponchos on the bus while it was super sunny and our guide was like, “weather changes quickly here,” and while we were filing off the bus it started to monsoon-rain! Hahah. So we ponchoed-up and took a raft made of bamboo to the other side. My Keen shoes worked out perfectly, I just pranced across the rocks and logs and through the mud and water while everybody else worried about their shoes and socks. Some of us got a little lost but while we were lost I got to look at rubber trees up close! We met up with our group and spent an hour and half walking through this gorgeous green jungle amidst intervals of rain. Oh we also got large bamboo walking sticks which were actually very useful! After our safari we had lunch with the rest of our group – there was humongous noodles involved and rice with a spicy chicken sauce that was delicious. After that was elephant riding time!! Today I think was my favorite day in port, everything was so exciting, and it was so much fun hanging out with Ellen. Our elephant’s name was BuBu, or maybe BuPu, but I will call her BuBu. She was big and leathery and hairy and really fun to ride. I got to feed her some fruit at the end and she snotted all over my arm and it was really gross. It’s hard to describe riding an elephant without pictures! After elephanting, we had a guide take us on inflatable canoes down a little river. He let me paddle for a little while and that felt really good. Back at the hotel we met up with Mary, Kendra, Roberta, and Christina and went out to Mexican food. They had a live girl cover band playing which was hilarious and so much fun! We started signing along to one of the songs and the singer brought the microphone up to our table and we all shouted into it. It was a really cool atmosphere. After that Ellen and I wanted another massage so our groups split. Once again, after the massage we were ready for sleep.

Thailand Day 3:
Today was sea cave day! We all went out on a boat together (yeah I get a lot of boat time) and then when we got to the caves there were two people to a boat plus a guide. The canoes were inflatable but very sturdy. Our guide’s name I think was Dee. We went to a number of different caves and in the process saw lots of fun animals. We first went to the Bat Cave I think, where there were TONS of fruit bats hanging from the ceiling! We had to lay flat on our backs to get into the caves and then it was dark and stinky around the bats. Back in the light on the other side we were in a lagoon type thing and it was so beautiful! We also went to a Diamond Cave where everything was really glittery…but we kind of got jipped cuz I guess it looks better when it’s dry and it was rainy out. We also went to two more caves. Outside of one there were a whole much of macaque monkeys! Ellen and I had brought a banana to feed monkeys if we saw them so we got all excited. There was only one monkey close by when I pulled the banana out of my pocket but 5 more immediately ran over across the rocks close to our boat. Then like 3 monkeys Jumped in the water and started swimming out to our boat!!! I did not know monkeys could swim! At all! AND THEN two of them Jumped onto our canoe and came up and started pawing at our arms and hands!!! It was crazy! So I got scared and ended up just giving the banana to the monkey that was like attacking me instead of sharing it with all of them and of course he ate all of it and didn’t share with the skinny monkeys. In the caves we also saw some very brightly colored crabs… I mean like bright turquoise!! And also some mud skippers which are just brown and hang out in mud and look like slugs. After the sea caves we had an amazing lunch on the way to the beach we were going to. My new favorite food is tempura pineapple. So then we got to the beach and of course I had forgotten to bring my bathing suit on the entire TRIP so I just hung out…some people were playing soccer on the beach so I kind of played for a few minutes but I wasn’t really dressed appropriately so it was difficult. I resorted to walking around looking at cool animals. I saw all of a sea cucumber’s guts still attached to the sea cucumber and also I saw an intact sea cucumber. Our guide found an enormous star fish that I got to hold! And we also saw tiny little white crabs in the sand. Back on the tour boat they gave each of us an entire coconut, so I tried fresh coconut and coconut milk…not that good…but I tried it! Back at the hotel we met up with our little group again and went back to the Mexican restaurant, shopped, and wandered around seeing the night life. We had a couple crazy incidents but they’re funnier in person I’m sure so you’ll have to remind me. But we ended up staying out pretty late and walking on Patong Beach at like 3 30 in the morning and eventually made it back to our hotel.

Thailand Day 4:
We had to get up early to get to the airport, we were headed to Bangkok. We were on the biggest plane I think I’ve ever seen, it had an upper level and 10 seats across! When we got to our hotel, our group ate at this little Italian place in the basement. Then Mary and I separated from the rest so that we could go shopping. We took a tuk-tuk to this disgusting day market where everything smelled like vomit and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Finally we started making our way back to the hotel, stopped off at a Starbucks (my first time doing that on this trip!) and ended up walking right into the Night Market (which was our goal of the day to find). The night market was so much fun! I bargained a lot and bought lots of cool little things. I just figured, India is the last super cheap place we’re going and I haven’t bought that much stuff yet and I need to use up some of this money…so yeah night market was super fun! Then it was massage time again, but this time I decided I just wanted a foot reflexology massage…that sounded perfect to me. The first place we went to was in a dark upstairs room and the owner was a Lady Boy and it felt really sketchy, and then they didn’t know what reflexology was (everybody else was advertising it), so I was like, this isn’t what I wanted and this place is freaking me out, so we left. Then we went to this super nice place that smelled like menthol and was brightly lit and you could see the street outside. So they give us these silk pants to change into and they’re working on our left feet and I realize that we forgot to ask if they take credit cards (a lot of them don’t). They didn’t. So we spent like 15 minutes trying to explain to them that we really did not have the money to pay for this, even between both of us, we didn’t have a debit card, and no, we were not going to send just one of us to go back to the hotel alone in the dark. So we just paid them some of the money and walked out. The third place we went to finally worked out. Our masseuses were very nice and when I told Jon I got a foot massage he goes, “what, it didn’t tickle?!?!” and I was like, “oh no, it did, I made a scene, don’t you worry.” It was actually a little embarrassing cuz you’re supposed to be quiet, and every once in a while I would just like yelp and flinch really hard and they would all laugh at me…ooops. Anyway we learned that of our $9 massage, our ladies only got paid $3/massage, got no hourly wage, and it cost them about $3 a day just to transport themselves from home to work. So Mary and I tipped them all the money in cash we had left…we tried to tip more but they wouldn’t accept tips on my credit card. We walked back to the hotel, and in the process, literally almost walked into a real elephant. Just walking on the street. Yeah. This other guy almost ran into it also and he screamed a little and it was kind of hilarious. Anyway…it had been a long day of walking, our feet felt great, and so we slept. Or, we slept until our roommates came back at 3 AM and needed to be let in…

Thailand Day 5:
We went to the Grand Palace and saw the Emerald Buddha (the biggest Buddha carved out of a single piece of jade). The palace was of course gorgeous and it was fun walking through that. Then we went to this huge jewelry store and tried on diamond rings just for fun and looked at other expensive things. Then we went back to the hotel, ate at the Italian place again, and then it was basically time to go. But I didn’t have my plate for my collection yet, so Ellen and I like bolted off to this market, couldn’t find one, but somehow made it back to the bus in time. The bus ride back to the port was 2 ½ hours long, and even after spending 5 days together we still talked for about 2 of those hours while most everybody slept. Back at the port, I dropped my stuff off on the boat and then made a big mistake – I took my $US to the little port shops…which are already more expensive and harder to bargain. But I had to get my plate, and also I got a phone card to call Jon and my parents. They were all super thrilled when I called at 3:30 and 4 AM…anyway I ended up buying more stuff than I was planning on at the port stores but I got some cool things. And that was Thailand.

Ship Life:
I had my politics midterm yesterday and I think it went fine. The second global studies test is coming up on Sunday so I’m studying a lot for that. My leadership class is going better, I think because we’ve started doing projects in port and the accounting is all set up so things are actually moving now. My friend group seems to have shifted a bit – I’ve been seeing less of Victoria and Camilla and Katie and more of the people I’ve met on my trips, which I really like. I still feel like I’m always in meetings, half of which occur during meals, but I’ve been having fun with people and also been spending a lot of time in my room studying and trying to sleep. Anyway, I’m feeling quite comfortable on the ship and having a great time. I think I need to go buy some Pepto before India though. I’m excited for India, all the professors keep saying, “you haven’t seen anything yet, just wait til you get to India. India will change your life.” So I’m a little nervous, but my home stay should be Awesome and Mary, Adam, Megan, and Jesse are all on it so I’m excited to hang out with them! Except Adam thinks he’s going to trade me for a cow…so I need to watch out for that among diarrhea and other things! Oh, and yesterday there was a GBLT Open Mic night and peoples’ stories on this ship are just amazing!! So many of them almost made my eyes water. We have a cool community here.

OK, sorry it took me so long to do this…you have no freaking idea how busy it gets here, it’s a little chaotic. And if it makes you feel any better, I’m about a week behind on my personal journal because I just don’t have the time it would take right now to write in it. And I’m two countries behind in my politics journal. I’m awesome at life. Also, we’re tearing through the water right now at about 25 knots, partly because we’re half a day behind because fueling took longer, but partly because WE’RE IN PIRATE AREA!!! Unfortunately, Captain Jeremy has never had any pirate encounters. The end.

Love,
Hilary