Realities of Bangkok

April 18-30. Bangkok. Our last stop was in Bangkok, where we spent 3 nights and 4 days. It was quite an environment and culture shock to go from the sunny beaches and blissfully peaceful atmosphere of Krabi to one of the world’s largest bustling cities. We stayed at the Lebua hotel in the State Tower, which failed to break the continuous luxury vacation I found myself in.

I have no doubt had my fill of Buddhist temples by now. Our tour guide, Sunny, brought us to the most famous temples of Bangkok, but there seems to be an endless number of these famous temples. Sunny, who is one of the nicest people and tour guides I have had the pleasure of meeting, insisted on describing and giving the history every aspect of each temple. I was only too happy to listen to her, but it did become a little tedious when you’re trudging around Bangkok during the hottest time of the day.

The temples we visited that, I believe, are worthy of highlight are as follows: the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace and the temple of the Reclining Buddha. Each was amazing, but each had their own peculiar features. The Reclining Buddha, for example, was a massive 25 meters and painted in gold leaf. The Grand Palace had decorations of monkey demons slaughtering humans, which I thought were incredibly interesting.

Yet, the Emerald Buddha stumped me the most. When I heard that this Buddha was made of nothing but Jade, I thought it would be amazing to see. Don’t get me wrong, it was amazing, but it was a bit misleading. I expected a massive jade Buddha, but when I stepped inside the temple, I had to look hard to find where the Buddha was. There were so many decorative gold pieces that it took a full minute for me to spot the jade Buddha. It stood no taller than a foot at the top of the golden hill. Everyone around me stood in awe, staring up at the Buddha. I didn’t find a foot tall, jade Buddha that impressive, but maybe that’s just my opinion, because it does seem to attract plenty of viewers.

I can describe Bangkok as a mix between New York City, Chiang Mai, and Venice. The aspect that it holds of New York is that it is just as crowded and just as cluttered. The aspect of Chiang Mai that it holds is that it’s genuinely Thai, which I found surprising because it attracts so many foreigners. The canals of Bangkok are where Venice comes in.

Sunny rented us a longboat one day, and we spent that afternoon zipping through the canals. I’ve been to Venice and I felt as if there was a distinct similarity. The hoses were located directly on the water and instead of cars; the people had boats parked right outside their doors. Vendors floated around on their rowboats trying to sell souvenirs or food to us foreigners, while 4 foot lizards swam past us. Poverty was abundant in this area as well, but it brought out the true nature and beauty of Bangkok. That journey was unforgettable.

Our nights were spent in the hotel, swimming in the pool, and sitting atop the State Tower at the Skybar. The Skybar provided a breathtaking sight of Bangkok, but also brought the reality out of the city. The effect of sitting atop one of the highest points of Bangkok, sipping on your 25 dollar drink, and being surrounded by a bunch of rich westerners brings a smug feeling of overwhelming self-importance. I didn’t really need that.

Before I knew it, it was time to part ways from my brother and parents. They were going back home, while I was going back to the orphanage. I was half glad to say goodbye to my parents because it seemed that I had lost some of what I had gained. I noticed that I was no longer making decisions for myself as often as I had done in the past 3 months. I had lost some of the independence that made me who I was now and I needed to gain that back. I had also noticed that I had become accustomed to having everything handed to me on a silver platter, and I needed to get back to reality. The other half of me was slightly down. Only after 3 months did I notice how much I missed my brother and I didn’t want to say goodbye to the kid who is my best friend. Yet, while I sat on the plane to Chiang Mai, I noticed something peculiar. While my parents were heading home, so was I.

Riding Giants

April 18-30. Krabi. The island of Krabi is a neighbor of Phi Phi, which conveniently meant that we didn’t need to take another plane, just an hour ferry ride. If my arrival at the island was any indication of the time we had spent there, I would have been miserable. My dad and I were so eager to get off the ferry that we didn’t even realize that we had jumped aboard the wrong longboat, causing us to be separated from my mother and brother. Not until we arrived on the island and walked about a kilometer along the beach to the hotel, with backpacks and the 2 heaviest bags of our family, did we notice our mistake. Will and my mom were sipping tropical smoothies by the pool in their bathing suits when we arrived covered in sweat and with our arms aching. To make matters worse they both informed us that they arrived on an air-conditioned boat on the right side of the island. Now I wasn’t only tired, sweaty, and irritated, but I was also envious.

The hotel we stayed at for the 4 nights we were in Krabi is called The Rayavadee. There is nothing negative I can say about this stunning area and hotel. The people were uncharacteristically and almost unnaturally nice, for southern Thais that is. The beaches were all stunning, the water was green and warm, the surrounding cliffs were breathtaking and the area flourished with the unexpected. Sometimes a monkey would jump down right in front of you to scurry up another tree and other times a bat would swoop overhead and into one its larger dens. The rooms were 2 story villas made and stocked to perfection and the food was beyond delicious. Honestly, I would have stayed there for another week, even with the prospect of going back to the orphanage.

We embarked on several new adventures during our stay. We did more snorkeling, more rock climbing, and plenty more relaxing on the beach. However, my brother, my father, and I went for a few dives one day. I have to say, there is no other beautiful place to dive, in my opinion, than off the coast of Krabi, Thailand. I didn’t see anything I hadn’t seen before, but the mix of rock, coral, fish, and water was unbelievable.

We also went on plenty of hikes around the area, but the most amazing of them was the Big Bat Cave I journeyed into with my dad. True to its name, it was massive. It held plenty of bats, which you could hear fluttering above you as you stepped cautiously through the cave and once at an opening point we were able to cliff jump into the water, which was pretty exhilarating (although it could never compete with The Nevis Bungee).

One of my favorite parts of Krabi, and Thailand itself, was when we rode elephants through the jungle. This was particularly what I had been looking forward to since I came to Thailand, but I never imagined that I’d actually be able to DRIVE an elephant as well. Thai elephants are massive compared to the ones I had seen in Africa, especially the males. When we reached the jungle, our driver turned to me and asked if I wanted to drive the elephant, and who am I to pass up such an occasion? I slid onto its head and uncomfortably sat there for the rest of the journey. The reason why it was uncomfortable is because it was extremely unsteady while the was lifting its head to eat some greens and the elephants head is also one large, rough caliste, and I happened to be wearing shorts on the occasion.

I was also able to feed my elephant pineapple. This was pretty amusing considering that I had never fed anything larger than a dog. The elephant snatched the pineapple from my hand as soon as I picked it from the pile. I developed a close relationship with my elephant during this adventure, and I was heartbroken when I was forced to leave and I’m almost sure I saw a small tear trickle down my elephants face when I left as well.

So my Krabi experience was definitely one of the better ones of Thailand and as I left I wished I could split myself into 4 parts. Part of me wanted to stay, another part of me wanted to continue the journey to Bangkok, the third part of me wanted to go back to the orphanage. The last part of me was a desire that I had not felt since I had started traveling. I wanted to go home. I thought this was strange, because I had just had the best time of my life. Now, I didn’t want to go home because I was tired of traveling or missing the Hamptons. I just wanted to experience what it would be like to go home after all I have done. Well, I guess that time will come very soon, but I hope I experience plenty more of Thailand before it does.

A Paradise Unfit

April 18-30. Phi Phi. From the cities of Chiang Mai came the beaches of Phi Phi in southern Thailand. I had never known there was a distinctive tropical paradise in any part of Thailand, but I experienced such a place. After a 1 hour on a plane and a bumpy boat ride, we arrived on the white beaches of Phi Phi, where the emerald water kisses the fine sand every so often. It was exactly like an ad for Budweiser or one of those cheesy tropical postcards people send each other and that aspect was a little unappealing to me. The only things disrupting this tourist paradise were the dozens of longboats motoring around the island.

The longboats were the taxis of the islands of Phi Phi. They have been used for several decades and used to be similar to rowboats. Now they are equipped with long propellers connected to a car engine. It was a wild sight that I hadn’t become accustomed to even after spending a week around them. We were picked up by one of these contraptions on our way to the hotel. Once we got on the boat we immediately noticed that if the weight of both sides wasn’t precise it would tip to one side and be in danger of capsizing. This was a slight inconvenience, given that we consisted of a 12 year old, two adults, 4 bags of luggage, and me.

Our hotel was situated right on the beach, so we never took the time to doddle in our rooms. The next few days were spent snorkeling right off the beach, rock climbing the stunning mountain faces, and relaxing on the beach. The snorkeling, in particular, was unique. We were able to see black tipped sharks, sea turtles, moray eels, seahorses, and several varieties of fish just off the beach. On one day we hired a longboater to give us a snorkeling tour of the surrounding islands, but after a while it seemed slightly repetitive. He took us to several tourist locations, each cheesier than the last. The most touristy of them all was Miami Beach, which is improperly and properly named. It is improperly named because it possesses a natural beauty of green waters, perfect sand, and stunning cliffs that a Miami beach cannot compete with. It is, however, properly named because it is filled with so many people that it’s hard to walk peacefully.

The nights in Phi Phi were fun, but also repetitive. The hotel we stayed at put on a fire dancing show every night. It was great to see, but then again if I had stayed for more than 3 nights at the hotel I would have been fed up with it. The food was great, just as Thai food usually is and I finally convinced my father to eat his first piece of fish in the 49 years he has been alive. I was pretty proud of myself after that.

I became more comfortable with my family during these 3 days, to the point where it seemed that the stage of getting to know each other had finally seemed to have dwindled away. I had a blast with them during this time, but time and time again I found myself longing for the experiences I had become accustomed to. Meeting new people, spending time with the friends I had made, sleeping on the floor, and experiencing vast cultures were the things I was used to. Then whenever I thought of this I would tell myself that I’m just on a vacation. Yet, I couldn’t help thinking that this was a sign that, eventually, my adventures will have to come to an end.

The Unexperienced Chiang Mai

April 18-30, Chiang Mai. First off, I want to apologize for the largest gap so far between posts. I had no intentions to leave it hanging like that, but it couldn’t be helped. Between traveling around Thailand with my family by day, I only had enough time for college research by night. Since my college decision deadline was closing in on me, I dedicated a lot of my energy in choosing the right place for my home of the next 4-5 years, but that’s neither here nor there. Don’t worry, however. I’m going to be telling you all about these last 2 weeks of April, location by location. So I’ll just start at where I left off, the Tamarind Village hotel in Chiang Mai.

We spent 2 more days in Chiang Mai and even though I thought I had experienced Chiang Mai to the fullest extent already, I was wrong. The next day we went mountain biking with a company called Mountain Biking Chiang Mai (pretty creative name huh?) I would definitely recommend this company if you were ever to desire an adventure like this. They have 4 different levels, from beginner to expert, great equipment, and friendly staff. I had never mountain biked before, but my dad, my brother, and I chose level 3, while my mom took level 1. We really had no idea what we were getting into, and we were all in for some serious biking.

The trails were exceptionally tough for someone who had never done it before and you could make it even tougher by taking the single track routes instead of the regular route. So I tried the single track. It turned out to be a lot like skiing, only with more rocks, dirt, sweat, and wheels. None of these helped the landing during my wipeouts; although it was still plenty fun. Trying the single track had a few benefits, but the greatest was that it focused my mind more on this new experience rather than rethinking of everything I had thought of last night.

We came down to a lake in the end to find a delicious meal and a gorgeous area to swim in. It was exactly what I needed to soothe my sore muscles. The massage that we received when we came home helped a bit as well. We couldn’t book it through the hotel, so we scouted out our own cheap location. However, just because it was cheap doesn’t mean it wasn’t amazingly soothing. If there is one piece of advice I can give you concerning Thai massages it’s to never pay more than 600 baht (20 dollars) for 60 minute massage. No matter how much they spruce up the description, it all turns out to be just as good. Most places will sell you a massage for 150 baht (5 dollars) so I wouldn’t recommend spending an extra 50 dollars just to get some oil or a few hot rocks on your back.

The days with my family became easier as time went on. I felt more at home with them and we opened up to each other more. It still wasn’t perfect, and it sure wasn’t the same as before, but it was definitely getting better. The next day we walked around Chiang Mai city and I showed them a few temples and exactly what to do at the temples. I actually saw something I had never seen before when I went to visit a temple I had been to before. After I said my prayers, I saw a monk whip out his iPhone and start taking pictures of the altar. I got a great laugh out of that when I remembered the monks I had lived with in China and compared them to this monk.

We had an early dinner before we set out to the Chiang Mai Night Safari. If you ever head out to Chiang Mai, this is another attraction I would recommend. They have everything there. Hyenas, white tigers, alligators, black bears, cheetahs, leopards, panthers, and plenty other crazy cool animals. My brother and I fed the largest freshwater fish in the world, we held baby tigers, and they even put on a light show for us to watch before we left. It was all amazing and when I left, I felt that these next 2 weeks would be better than I had expected.

The Most Difficult Experience... So Far

April 17. So I haven’t blogged for about 5 days now, which I apologize for. Although I’m only writing about one day, there are plenty more to come in the very near future. The reason that I haven’t posted anything for so long is because I have been trying to enjoy the past few days, which are more or less a “vacation”. It hasn’t been as easy to enjoy this “vacation” as I would have thought, and here’s why.

Today, my parents arrived to visit me. I hadn’t mentioned it in any of my past posts because I was too caught up in writing what had happened to focus on the future. I was excited throughout the day and during the car ride into Chiang Mai, where I was meeting them. We had booked to stay at a hotel for 3 nights, a hotel called the Tamarind Village. It’s a beautiful property, with luxurious rooms and complimentary breakfast, but I was too preoccupied to even notice. I checked into our room, though I didn’t stay long. I lingered in the lobby for an hour before they arrived.

They arrived from the back entrance, and it caught me completely by surprise. My mother was the first to seize me in a bone crushing hug and then my father and brother were upon me. Seeing them all standing there brought a flood of mixed emotions. I was happy to see them, of course, but their presence was far from comforting. I still stay another week at the orphanage after they leave, but I felt as if my trip was coming to an end. I also didn’t know how to act around them. They didn’t seem to have changed at all, but I felt as if I no longer knew my own family. A few people who have been on similar trips might not have had a similar experience as I did when I saw my family. This trip, however, has flipped my perspective and world upside down, so it was for that reason that I found myself lost for words at their encounter.

We brought the luggage into the rooms and then went back to the hotel pool, talking all the while. They, my mom especially, bombarded me with questions about my travels and it was easy to talk about those experiences for a while. Then when it came time to ask them questions and relate to them, it became harder. I had known these 3 people all my life, yet with my new outlook, I felt as if I was meeting new people. It was an awkward experience, followed by an awkward conversation. I didn’t know what to ask or even say, and it’s very hard to explain why. I loved seeing my family, but it was as if I was back in the home where I had left a part of myself I never wanted to see again.

My parents left me with my 12 year old brother later on in the pool. This was a bit easier, because he, like me, seems to have changed. He told me that he has now joined a crew team, shaves, and has had his first girlfriend. All this took me completely by surprise, even more so than his deeper voice and developed chin. I was seriously impressed by all this, and we swapped stories through most of the night while we all walked through the night market of Chiang Mai.

I went to bed feeling out of place and in an uncomfortable position. I don’t mean physically, but mentally. I was again being thrown into a situation that I had not dealt with before, but like the ones before this, I wasn’t going to keep myself from making the best of it. I also was unnerved by the luxurious hotel we were staying at. The area around me felt tainted, as if I had left the best part of Thailand behind on the floor I had been sleeping on and I was now one of the worst parts of Thailand, surrounded by falsely comforting sheets and pillows. Going from living in hostels, temples, huts, and orphanages to living in a 5 star hotel is quite a shock and my mind was rebelling against this experience with more ferocity than it had ever done before.

Songkran

April 12-16. I’m just going to keep listing my activities for the past few days because they’ve not only been numerous, but they’ve combined into a 4 day long party and political lunch to top it all off. Probably the most prominent reason why these last few days were so fun was because of Songkran, the Thai New Year celebration. Songkran is a 3 day water festival where you get to waste as much water as you can by dumping it on people. It first started many centuries ago, where elders would sprinkle the heads of family members with water as a sign of good luck. Somewhere in between now and then someone had the brilliant idea to throw the biggest water party ever and continuously splash people for 3 days. This festival is where my story begins.

Many towns and cities celebrate Songkran early, and Maesariang is no exception. During the twelfth, most of the staff, their friends, and I went to a waterfall 30 kilometers away from the orphanage. The waterfall was tucked away within the depths of a forest and it took at least a walk of 2 kilometers before we came to the falls. There were two areas in which the whole area would party. One was an actual waterfall with a large face consisting of smooth rock. The other was a 50 foot face consisting of large boulders that seemed to have rolled down the side of the mountain. This area was where we chose to stay.

I did check out the actual waterfall and swam in that area for a bit, but the boulders were much more fun because of the simple fact that you could climb them. Bay and I climbed all the way to the top of the falls, but I can tell you that it was no easy ascent. If I hadn’t just spent a week rock climbing, I doubt I would be here to write this post. The only thing I would have changed about the area was the water level at the bottom. I really would have like to jump down from that height. Sadly, there was only 6 inches of water to break my fall.

The next three days were spent throwing water at passing pedestrians, motorcyclists, and cars. During the first day, I joined a couple kids from the orphanage in the back of Yutana’s truck. We loaded it up with huge buckets of water and small pales for throwing the water at passing people. This was the first day of Songkran, so even the streets of Maesariang were wild and crowded. There were water fights between car loads of people, kids on the street, people riding motorbikes, and everything/everyone in between.

That evening I left for Chiang Mai with 4 other staff members. I wasn’t going to give up the chance to experience a massive, city-wide water fight, even if it did cost me three and a half hours to drive there. The next day was chaotic, cold, infectious, exhilarating, and one of the best days of my life. The day was cloudy and one of the coldest I have experienced in Thailand. But carpe diem! We equipped our truck just as we had equipped it yesterday and set out for the city. Even the outskirts were hectic. When we finally came to the river where everyone was celebrating, we started circling the area for prey. The problem was that I turned out to be the prey. A white male standing on a truck bed with chalk war-paint who is yelling at the top of his voice stands out much more than thousands of Thai citizens. Everyone seemed to target me. The worst part of it all was that they all threw ice water, and I was soon shivering from head to foot. As the day picked up, the streets became more and more crowded. It took nearly 4 hours to circle the river area 3 times! Music seemed to be blasting from every corner. Multiple foreigners joined the fray as well and we had 2 Swedish girls on our truck as well. The only reason for me to end this mania was that my legs were in agony from shaking because I had been drenched in ice water so many times. When you experience that realization, you know it’s been a good day.

I was in such ecstasy as I came back to Maesariang that even the agony couldn’t worry me. The only thing that could dampen my spirits during a Chiang Mai Water Festival was that I forgot to put the memory card in my camera. It depresses me to admit it, but I have no pictures of that day...

The entirety of the next day was spent on the street just outside the orphanage. A few students and I made the most of our last day and threw water at passing motorcyclists and pedestrians. It was fun until a couple people started to retaliate by tossing more ice water, die, and baby powder… that’s when it became awesome. We started blasting our own music, technically my music, and everyone started dancing to hard rock, heavy rap, and some adrenaline pumping techno. Only when the sun dipped below the horizon did we come back inside to escape from our unceasingly wet bodies.

Today, I tried to rest as much as possible. That’s, however, impossible to do at this orphanage. One of P.A.’s friends, Took, picked me up for lunch that afternoon. Took is the one who has been driving me around everywhere and she seems to have taken a great liking to me. She constantly invites me to parties and meals at her restaurant, where I have met her entire extended and immediate family. This appointment was one I couldn’t pass up either. I was going to dine with the governor of Chiang Mai province, who is apparently the Thailand equivalent to the governor of California. He is also the son in law of the woman I have been driving around with.

We met Mom Luang Panutda Ditssakul at his favorite restaurant in Maesariang. He introduced himself in broken English, but tried his best throughout the entire meal to engage me in conversation, no matter how difficult it was to understand each other. 5 of his business and political associates joined the meal as well, but none tried to speak to me as much as the governor did. He seemed sincerely interested in my travels and my life in America, so, in the simplest English I could speak, I told him of my travels. It was interesting to meet a man of political stature in Thailand and it was nice for him to take such an interest in what I was doing. Soon, however, he turned to his associates and began to converse with them in a serious manner. I didn’t sit in silence for too long, because the meal then ended shortly after.

Thanks again for reading everyone! This has been a hectic 2 weeks, but it’s been as fun as it’s been crazy. Between writing, sleeping, eating, and experiencing life in Thailand, I haven’t had much time to reflect on how much I’ve actually done in this country. When I do, however, you’ll be the first to know. By the way, I’ve also uploaded dozens of pictures from the past 2 weeks and have everything from the temple in Chiang Mai, my second day, to the Songkran Water Festival. Check them out!

The Best of Thailand: Part 3

April 2-9 part 3. Here is the last addition to the list of experiences that I have had during my first week of the orphanage in Thailand. I will start off with a less recent discovery of mine, how I can phenomenally budget my money, but only in Thailand. The other day I rode my bike to 7-11 and purchased body wash, 3 packs of gum, candy, water, chocolate milk, shampoo, toothpaste, and a new razor. It wasn’t the items that made this purchase so astonishing. It was the price. That list of items cost me 200 baht (6 American dollars). I couldn’t believe it when the cashier rung my price up and I checked the receipt to make sure, but he was right.

My next experience with budgeting was when I was able to buy the entire orphanage, 25 people, ice cream for 250 baht (8 dollars). I was astonished, but it wasn’t over yet. That night, I took the entire staff (10 people) out to an all-you-can-eat barbeque, but it wasn’t a barbeque that you or I would think of. It was more along the lines of fondue. Each table was equipped with a large metal bowl. The center of the bowl was comprised of a single hill of metal, which you could cook meat on. Surrounding the hill was boiling water where you dipped vegetables and certain meats into. There were also several other dishes to choose from, including noodles, ice-cream, fried rice, salad, and Thai desserts. When the bill came, I was again astonished. It cost 750 baht (25 dollars) to feed 11 people.

That night, Doe, Goe, Bowjoe, Samat, and I went out to see a local concert. It was made up of mostly a bunch of guys sitting around and watching young Thai girls’ belly dance and sing. Doe, Goe, and I, however, took up the mantle to start dancing. It wasn’t long before one the girl who was singing spotted me and pulled me up on stage, where I started dancing with six Thai girls in front of a few hundred people. I’d say that’s a pretty great end to a great night.

I forget what day it was, but I recently went to a Thai funeral. I didn’t know the person who had passed away, but P.A. did so she decided to bring me along just for the experience. Thai funerals are the complete opposite of American funerals, or at least this one was. The family celebrated the death of their grandmother by giving away tons of food, dancing everywhere, and praising her name as they toasted to her long and fruitful life. When I arrived, I was welcomed as if I was a family member as well. One of the members led me over to her coffin, where I bowed in respect and lit an incense candle. Then they hugged me and lathered me with food and attention. I’ve never heard of a funeral party, but I suspect that’s the closest I will get to experiencing one.

My weekend was packed with animal brutality. I witnessed a chicken fight one day with Bowjoe. I spent 4 hours there, most of which were spent waiting for chicken owners to compare chickens and agree to a match. Then I saw the chickens fight nearly to the death. Everyone was screaming at each other to change their bets or up them, and it was a scene of such infectious chaos that I was soon screaming for no reason at all. After the first round, which lasted 20 minutes, the chickens were picked up and mopped up. There was plenty of blood around their heads, and after witnessing one round I didn’t need to stick around for 7 more.

The next day the orphanage celebrated the New Year with slaughtering their pig. This was a depressing experience, but one I witnessed all the less, so I will state this shortly and to the point. While the pig was drinking, one of the orphans brutally swung an enormous club at its head. The helpless pig let out one shrill squeal and the fell the ground. It wasn’t yet dead, so another kid stuck a knife in its heart. It’s an extremely difficult thing to watch a helpless pig thrash on the ground while a knife has impaled it, but soon the pig was dead. Bowjoe washed it down and, with three others, dragged the pig onto a metal grate. They then poured boiling water over its hide and skinned it with nothing more than ordinary kitchen spoons. When the animal was finally nothing but bare flesh, I had to turn away. I left for 2 reasons: 1) I needed to teach an English class that morning 2) I couldn’t stand to keep staring at that skinless pig.

So that’s my first 9 days at the orphanage. I hope you enjoyed them, because I sure did. I’m just about to fall asleep, because my body, my emotions, my adrenaline, and my stamina are at the breaking point (just as they are everyday). I just pulled a foot long lizard out from under my covers, but that surprisingly didn’t faze me as much as it should have. Bugs and lizards have just become part of my normal life, in normal Thailand, on my normal trip.