สวัสดีค่ะ (S̄wạs̄dī kh̀a) (Hello)

My journey to Thailand

March 2018 I set across the world on a 21-hour plane ride, the destination Phuket International Airport in Thailand. I woke up at six to meet my classmates at the school on March 5th, 2018 at seven in the morning. From there I got on a bus to travel for an hour and a half to Boston Logan International Airport, four hours before our flight. Thirteen students and two adults embarked on a three-week journey to Thailand’s Andaman Coast. This incredible journey was full of culture shock and life-changing experiences. Throughout the trip, we stayed in Ban Talae Nok a Muslim village, a hotel in a small city, a jungle resort, and in floating bungalows. I got to go swimming in the Andaman sea, learn and practice the Thai language, try amazing food, and work at a Burmese learning center.

We landed in Thailand on March 7th, 2018. From the airport, several others and I traveled two more hours to the hotel. Once my classmates and I got to the hotel the chaperones told us to drop off our stuff and get ready to go out to dinner. I was exhausted from all the traveling, and all I wanted to do was collapse on the bed. I dropped my stuff in my room and walked across the street to a restaurant that had only had two walls. I sat down next to my friend Mary and the cooks served us our first meal in Thailand. The first plate that was placed in front of every person was white rice, which is served at every meal including breakfast. The next thing was a mossy green curry that smelt like spicy chili peppers. My goal for the trip was to try all the food, so I took my spoon and tried some of the green curry. As soon as the liquid hit my tongue I felt a burning sensation, my eyes started to water, and I started to sweat. After that, I always asked if something was spicy. After I ate that spicy food I started to not feel well. I placed my hand on the wall to stable myself, the wall ended up being a curtain and I fell into a ditch. My cheeks reddened, I wanted to curl up into a ball of embarrassment. After that we were told we could go to bed, my roommate Emma and I ran across the street into our room. I thought it would be easy to fall asleep that night, but falling asleep that night was the hardest thing I have ever done. Emma and I did not end up falling asleep until four in the morning and we had to wake up at seven. Every morning our tour guides would come and wake us all up. Lindsey was the tour guide who woke me up and I really bonded with her. She is twenty-eight and originally went to Thailand with the peace corps, but she is now living there full time. The boys got woken up by PB, who was born and raised in Thailand. The next two days my group started our service portion of the trip by going a Burmese learning center where I got to help children learn English, play games with them, and clean the classrooms when they had lunch. The children at the learning center were ages 3 to 12, and they taught me Thai and I taught them English. I bonded with a first-grade class and they taught me songs and games in Thai. It was an incredible experience. Friday morning I went to the market across the street for breakfast, I had an opportunity to try this bright orange liquid called Thai iced tea. Thai iced tea is the best drink I have ever had, it is better than coffee. I also got to try three different types of bananas, my favorite was narnwa, a banana the size of an adult thumb, biting into this banana I was hit with a sweet juicy flavor. After we had breakfast our group piled into two vans and travel to Ban Talae Nok, a Muslim village where we would do our homestay.

Ban Talae Nok is a small village that focuses on teaching people about the Thailand culture. I stayed at Ban Hem’s home with him, his wife, and his five-year-old son, Feriet. The home I stayed in was made of bamboo with two bedrooms, a living room, a shower room, a toilet room, and a kitchen. They created two rooms by putting up curtains in the living room for the four of us that stayed there. There was no air conditioning or running hot water. I had to take showers by a bucket and a tub full of water, these were some of the best showers I ever took. There were domestic animals all over the village, like oxen, chickens, horses, and goats. One day well I  played soccer with Feriet a cow walked into the front door. Feriet then ran after the cow down the street to get it away. Staying at a homestay allowed me to fully emerge into the Thai culture. All the meals I had in the homestay were cooked by our host family, and sometimes they let me help. One of my favorite dishes was a fried fish Ban Hem caught that morning, served with a sweet soy sauce. After dinner Ban Hem’s wife served us a plate of fruit, my favorite was the dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is a cross between a kiwi and a watermelon, it is very sweet and has tiny seeds like a kiwi. Although the food was amazing, my favorite part of the homestay was getting to know all the people in the village. I wish I could go back to see them again and have some more of Ban Hem’s delicious food.

After Ban Talae Nok I stayed at a resort. This resort let me relax and have a vacation time, after the service projects. At the resort, I got to go on a kayak trip down a river. Two of us sat in a boat, well a guide rowed us down the river. Halfway through we stopped at a cave and went to explore the cave when I stepped out of the cave my guide gave me hot chocolate in a bamboo cup. Later that night I went safari, where I saw, millions of spiders, walking sticks, and three different types of snakes. I also got to see three lar gibbons and two grey langurs. I only spent two nights at the resort, and the next day I  spent shopping and having a day to relax.

The last three days of our trip were spent in floating bungalows on Khao Sok lake. This was my least favorite part of the trip. Although it was beautiful and amazing to go swimming as soon as you wake up, it was very touristy. There were no aspects of the Thai culture I had come to love. One of the interesting things about staying in the bungalows was that we got to hear and see the howler gibbons early in the morning. Howler gibbons are louder than five fire alarms all going off at once, so I got woken up every morning at the crack of dawn. Although there were many things I did not like about the bungalows, the best part was going on a dawn and dusk boat ride around the lake. It was very peaceful and created for the perfect ending to the trip. Surprisingly the floating bungalows were the one thing everyone was looking forward to, but when we did get to them, all we wanted to do was go back to Ban Talae Nok.

Thailand was the best experience I have ever had. I got to experience a new culture, try great food, and see things I would never see in America. If I had the chance to go back I would love to spend more time in Ban Tale Nok and at the Burmese learning center. I miss spending time with my host family as well as the children at the learning center. But what I miss more than anything is getting to eat real Thai food instead of cheap American Thai food. If you ever have a chance to go experience a new culture take it, it will be the best decision of your life. I will leave you with a phrase Lindsey told me every morning well in Thailand, วันนี้เพิ่งเริ่มต้นขึ้ค่ะ (Wạn nī̂ pheìng reìm t̂n kh̀a), which means the day has just begun.