Greetings family, friends, and the rest of the known world:
I have now officially finished my first week in Thailand and not one single word in the entire expanses of the English language could describe everything that has happened to me.
I have gone from soaring miles above the Earth in total and complete ecstasy to falling face first into mud 1,000 times over [NOTE: this may be extreme exaggerations].
But honestly, this whole week has been a whirlwind of absolute insanity.
Due to the INTENSE WINTER STORM OF WINTER '14, my flights were delayed for an entire day, so I didn't get into Bangkok until 8 hours before my orientation, so that was a bit nerve racking. But orientation was a lot of fun. I met a lot of cool people.
I mean, everyone is in the same place as you are and for someone who is just as terribly shy as I am it's easy to reach out to people.
The next day, the school sponsored a trip to The Grand Palace. What an incredible place. Several temples spread out over this compound with the Grand Palace in the middle. They actually let us inside the Grand Palace which is an incredible honor because the general public is typically not allowed inside. We went into the banquet hall where the Thai King has had dinner with both Bill Clinton and the Queen of England.
And as we were walking around, someone mentioned going to Phuket for the weekend because our classes had gotten postponed until Thursday.
This is when the insanity began.
So 8 of us total decided to go. We all got plane tickets for about 3,000 Baht round trip (100 bucks!) and left Saturday morning.
Saturday morning was coincidentally my 21st birthday......
So we got to Patong beach by around 2 in the afternoon. Now Patong during the day is very much your typical tourist beach. Overpriced shirts and decent food. Patong at night, however, is absolutely and unforgivably unruly. Imagine Las Vegas on steroids. So as night hit we.. [INSERT INAPPROPRIATE 21ST BIRTHDAY DETAILS HERE]......
The next day, we slowly and reluctantly got up and caught a ferry down to Kao Phi Phi.
Kao Phi Phi is an incredible island. There are no roads anywhere on the island, so the streets are narrowed and frequented by carts and bikes and noisy European backpackers. Really cool place though, filled with fantastic food and little hole in the wall stores. That night we found a hostel for 10 bucks and crashed.
The next morning we got up early and booked a long-tail boat snorkeling tour for 10 more dollars (I love this place) and got to experience a small island off of Phi Phi.
However, this is when stuff started to go downhill...
I don't know what illness I came down with but it gives the Flu a run for its money.
But I chugged through it and got on another ferry back to Phuket Town where we met up with our fabulous, over-the-top Thai friend Fame who took us to a great local place to eat (we all tried Chicken Feet) and took us to some markets and then eventually a low key beach on the other side of the island.
Now, I thought the flu was bad...until I woke up with some sort of stomach virus the next morning that is still kind of laying me up right now.
BUT besides all of the stuff I've gone through, this has been really cool so far. I'm starting to get a little homesick and out of wack, but it's all a part of it.
But to finish off my first true blog post in Thailand, there are 5 things Tyler has learned in one week in Bangkok:
1) ALWAYS take Kleenex or tissues with you. Most bathrooms don't have toilet paper.
2) Most people don't really speak English here....and that makes things like opening a bank account and securing an apartment REALLY REALLY difficult.
3) Taking a ferry down the river might be the most inexpensive and satisfying mode of transportation.
4) Sex tourism is much darker and disgusting than you could ever imagine.
5) I miss everyone beyond comprehension.
Until my next installment....
Korp khun krap! Lah Gorn!
I have now officially finished my first week in Thailand and not one single word in the entire expanses of the English language could describe everything that has happened to me.
I have gone from soaring miles above the Earth in total and complete ecstasy to falling face first into mud 1,000 times over [NOTE: this may be extreme exaggerations].
But honestly, this whole week has been a whirlwind of absolute insanity.
Due to the INTENSE WINTER STORM OF WINTER '14, my flights were delayed for an entire day, so I didn't get into Bangkok until 8 hours before my orientation, so that was a bit nerve racking. But orientation was a lot of fun. I met a lot of cool people.
I mean, everyone is in the same place as you are and for someone who is just as terribly shy as I am it's easy to reach out to people.
The next day, the school sponsored a trip to The Grand Palace. What an incredible place. Several temples spread out over this compound with the Grand Palace in the middle. They actually let us inside the Grand Palace which is an incredible honor because the general public is typically not allowed inside. We went into the banquet hall where the Thai King has had dinner with both Bill Clinton and the Queen of England.
And as we were walking around, someone mentioned going to Phuket for the weekend because our classes had gotten postponed until Thursday.
This is when the insanity began.
So 8 of us total decided to go. We all got plane tickets for about 3,000 Baht round trip (100 bucks!) and left Saturday morning.
Saturday morning was coincidentally my 21st birthday......
So we got to Patong beach by around 2 in the afternoon. Now Patong during the day is very much your typical tourist beach. Overpriced shirts and decent food. Patong at night, however, is absolutely and unforgivably unruly. Imagine Las Vegas on steroids. So as night hit we.. [INSERT INAPPROPRIATE 21ST BIRTHDAY DETAILS HERE]......
The next day, we slowly and reluctantly got up and caught a ferry down to Kao Phi Phi.
Kao Phi Phi is an incredible island. There are no roads anywhere on the island, so the streets are narrowed and frequented by carts and bikes and noisy European backpackers. Really cool place though, filled with fantastic food and little hole in the wall stores. That night we found a hostel for 10 bucks and crashed.
The next morning we got up early and booked a long-tail boat snorkeling tour for 10 more dollars (I love this place) and got to experience a small island off of Phi Phi.
However, this is when stuff started to go downhill...
I don't know what illness I came down with but it gives the Flu a run for its money.
But I chugged through it and got on another ferry back to Phuket Town where we met up with our fabulous, over-the-top Thai friend Fame who took us to a great local place to eat (we all tried Chicken Feet) and took us to some markets and then eventually a low key beach on the other side of the island.
Now, I thought the flu was bad...until I woke up with some sort of stomach virus the next morning that is still kind of laying me up right now.
BUT besides all of the stuff I've gone through, this has been really cool so far. I'm starting to get a little homesick and out of wack, but it's all a part of it.
But to finish off my first true blog post in Thailand, there are 5 things Tyler has learned in one week in Bangkok:
1) ALWAYS take Kleenex or tissues with you. Most bathrooms don't have toilet paper.
2) Most people don't really speak English here....and that makes things like opening a bank account and securing an apartment REALLY REALLY difficult.
3) Taking a ferry down the river might be the most inexpensive and satisfying mode of transportation.
4) Sex tourism is much darker and disgusting than you could ever imagine.
5) I miss everyone beyond comprehension.
Until my next installment....
Korp khun krap! Lah Gorn!