Thailand (October 4-8)

Who would have ever thought that I would be able to come to Thailand when I was twenty? I know I am going on a trip around the world but for some reason I never thought that I would be going to Thailand! I don’t know…. I guess it is just now hitting me that I was in Thailand and it just seems crazy to me that I was just there yesterday!

Once again Kristen and I had no plans what so ever for port so we decided to wing it again! The morning we came in to port Kristen and I decided that we would figure out what to do before we got off the ship for once. So while we were still on the ship we decided that we wanted to go to this island that is south of here called Phuket. So we booked two tickets on ‘One-To-Go’ airlines to go to Phuket that night. We made reservations at Deevana Hotel on Phuket for three nights… so we were all set. The only issue is where the ship was parked. For some reason the “closest” port to Bangkok is two hours away! The harbor we docked in is a complete industrial area and there is latterly nothing around besides big cargo tankers and all of the containers that hold it all.

Prior to docking in Thailand SAS was selling tickets for $35 on way to Bangkok form the ship and also return tickets for another $35. I thought in my head that there should be a better/cheaper way of getting to Bangkok (not knowing how far away it was). So since I did not have a ticket and Kristen did I decided to sneak on the bus all smooth Jorge style!

We made it to Bangkok and found a Taxi that would take us to the airport which was another 45 min away. Along the way Kristen and realized the fact that this was the first Kingdom that either of us have visited. Then we were discussing the fact the there were pictures of the King and Queen everywhere. There would be huge billboards with pictures of them, or pictures that would drape the sides of some of the big skyscrapers and there were just pictures everywhere. I was talking to a Thai man later on in our trip and I was asking him question about their King and it amazed me what they said. He said that he loved the King so much and he was the best thing that ever happened to this country. I asked him what was it about the King that he loved and he quickly said “Everything!” He said that if a bullet were ever to try and kill his King that he would throw is body in front of his King to keep him alive and he would die for his King. He said that everyone else feels the same way! So it just amazed me that everyone there is very proud to be part of their Kingdom. I thought to myself that not too many people would say that about people who have “ruled” the US.

Anyways, Kristen and I caught our flight to Phuket then we got a taxi and drove another 45min to our hotel from the airport. When we arrived I was again happily surprised at the niceness of hotel and we just had a nice standard room with a bathroom and two twin beds! That night we booked some activities to do on the next day and then went to bed.

The next morning we woke up and went down to get our breakfast which turned out to be a very nice breakfast indeed, very fancy. It was at breakfast we realized that we were probably the only Americans again even though this was a much bigger hotel. There were lots of Australians again and Japanese. It was also at breakfast the we realized there were quite a few old men that were with very young Thai girls, let me clarify very old men, with very young girls! We later realized that this was just not prevalent at our hotel, or Phuket, but all of Thailand. Crazy!

After breakfast we met our tour company that was going to take us on adventuress day. We started off by going to this very beautiful view point where you can see many miles of beautiful beaches! After that we drove up into the hills where it got way junglier, and we were dropped so we could drive ATV’s through the Jungle!! I know, it was so much fun I loved it J We got to go as fast as we wanted and I totally went through a puddle and got all gross!

Then from the ATV’s we got back in the car and drove to a elephant and monkey park where we got to see a “monkey show”. I did not really enjoy it very much just cause I “think” I could tell that the Monkeys were not having fun and you could tell that have gone through some pretty intensive training! However after the Monkey show we got to go and ride an elephant!!! We had to sit on a little seat thing with the elephants handler on the elephants neck. We had an awesome ride and the guy that was giving us our ride was having a lot of fun too! He would pretend to loose control of the elephant until the point where the elephant was going to go down a really steap hill and then Kristen and I were freaking out but then he just looked backed at us and smiled! He did it a couple of times and every time he seemed like he really lost control, he was a really good actor! I think because K and I were playing off of his jokes he gave us a better ride because we went across the river twice and went off the path quite a bit and we were gone way longer than all of the other people that went out at the same time as we did. But it was a lot of fun though! After the elephant ride we watched an elephant show where they did little tricks like sitting and playing the harmonica and cutesy stuff like that. Then at the end of the show they were asking for volunteers to get massages by elephants, and of course who said yes… me and K! They have you lie down on this mat and it is the most non-human thing to lay there as a gynormus beast walks up to you like he is going to squish you! So the elephant walks up and puts its foot on your back with a little bit of pressure and was using its trunk to massage your shoulders like someone’s hand, then the elephant suction your skin up your arm which actually felt pretty good and then at the end he gives you a huge elephant kiss that’s all slimy on your cheek! It was fun, I liked it!!!

We got back in the car and drove off to a cashew store where they bring all of the tourists to see how and where the cashews come from and then they lead you to a big room where you can buy all of the different kinds of cashews and what you can do with them (like cover them in honey or hot sauce). After that we drove to a different mountain where we went down into the bay and got into canoes and floated around in this little bay for a while. There was a small oyster farm there and there were also mud puppies in the water and along the shore which was cool because I have never seen those before!

Being on a tour with a tour company I think it is a law that they have to stop you at really big tourist traps. We stopped at this big building where when you first walk in it is nice a quite and it looks like they might not a try and make you buy things….but no…. you turn the corner and boom it is this ridiculously huge jewelry room. When I first saw it, it made me want to just turn around and find a trashcan to go puke in, that’s how disgusting it was. It was just huge and I am sure that you could probably find anything in there you have ever wanted to do with jewelry or gold or silver or gems or pearls. It was probably like half a football field in size and there were all these people standing around trying to convince you to buy thousands of $ worth of jewelry.

After the horrible jewelry palace, we drove back up into the jungle where we went to a gibbon rehabilitation center where they get gibbons (that were mostly pets) and try and rehabilitate/de-humanize them so they can be released into the wild again. It was raining kind of hard by this time so I was not able to go look around at the gibbons as much as I would have liked but it looks like a very good non-profit and I wish them good luck because it seem like are giving it there all.

Just up the hill from the gibbon center we went on this little hike up to a very pretty waterfall. It was a nice walk and it felt really good to hike again plus I got some really good pictures! Then that was the end of our tour adventure! They took us back to the hotel and that was that. I was really glad we did that because it let us see a lot of the island and what else was around our hotel besides a whole bunch of other tourist things.

Kristen and I freshened up a bit and went to find some dinner. We ended up finding this really nice place on the beach where I ordered some curry and the lady told me it was a little hot, and holy crap it was really hot. I only ate like a third of it because it was just way too hot but really good at the same time. We watched the sun go down and just enjoyed our evening on the beach. On the way back to the hotel we took a different route and one of the streets (which is really famous I guess) we went down there are tons of bars and if you would like to find someone to take back to your hotel room, that would be the place to find someone. I guess most of southern Thailand is sort of known for having an abundance of transvestites, which was also very apparent in Phuket. While we were walking they have all of these little food stands all around and I found one that makes all sorts of crapes and I got one for my dessert and it was delicious. Then off to bed for us.

The next day we just chilled around and hung out on the beach most of the day and just had a relaxing time. That night we went back to that same restaurant and I got a different curry that was not hot at all but pretty good, and Kristen got this amazing garlic chicken that was to die for!! We went for a walk again that night and just enjoyed the scenery and all of the night life. Kristen wanted to find a crape for her dessert that night and as we were walking around looking for a crape we walked down this dark street and as we ended up getting back to the lighted area I saw a tall guy with long blonde dreadlock! It was Jeff!! The three of us ended up hanging out the rest of the night and we ended up at a hookah bar where we got a beer and enjoyed a green apple hookah! It was a very very nice night and a good ending to our trip in Phuket!

Well the last day we woke up had breakfast and caught our flight back to Bangkok. Once we arrived to Bangkok we had to figure out how to get back to the main city because we had come by a cab earlier but it was really expensive. So we asked this lady if she knew how to get back and she told us to take this bus and it would get us there. We had no idea if she understood us correctly or not because it kind of seemed like she did not really know, but we tried it anyways. We got on the bus and we were definitely tourists but we played our money and hoped she was right! She ended up being right and we saved ourselves 460 baht by taking the bus, awesome! So we got to the city and….. then what? That was as far as our plans had taken us so we decided to walk around again. We walked around until we got thirsty and decided to go find a coffee shop and where was it, the mall! We just sat and enjoyed our coffee for a while since we had a lot of time until the bus back to the ship. Since we did not really feel like walking around with our backpacks on anymore we thought it would be ice to do something sitting, so we saw a movie! The movie was called Banrhah and it was a Thai movie and it was really good. It was a comedy and it was kind of like one of those silly teenage movies that most adults don’t like! I liked it though it was really funny! The odd thing about the movie was you got assigned seats and someone actually waked into the theater with you and sat you down at your seats with a little flashlight and everything. During the previews about the time when those adds come up and tell you to turn your cellphone off, everyone in the whole theater suddenly stood up. Then some music started playing and pictures of the King started to pass by on the screen! We gathered that they play their national anthem before the movie with some pictures of the king too!

As the movie got closer and closer to the end, it got to be closer and closer to the time to when K and I had to leave to catch the bus to come back to the ship. We had to figure out where we were in the mall and try and remember how to get to one particular door that we had seen 4 days prior! It got really close with time and we did not know if we just could get up with our big backpacks and make everyone else move during the end of their movie just for some tourists to leave….. and we got very antsy sitting there waiting for the movie to end. It finally ended and we had 7 min to get from the 7th floor to the 1st floor and find the one door that we had no clue of just so we could catch the last bus to the ship. We ran like crazy and tried to get past everyone on the escalators and just ran as fast as we could in latterly some random direction and for some crazy reason we made it! We have no idea how we got down from the 7th floor and found the one door we needed out of a mall that is probably 2 city blocks long! So right then and there Kristen and I decided that we are going to go on the Amazing Race when we get home because we will totally win!

Well that was the end of our Thailand trip! I really want to come back someday because there was a lot I wanted to see that I did not get to see this trip so I will have to come back someday in the future to do it all. Kristen and I had a really nice time in Thailand and I am glad we were able to do all that we did!