Thailand reflection

So my Thailand experience was one that I will never forget. It was a pretty amazing experience and I couldn't be more thankful for it. It was a spur of the moment adventure and probably one of the coolest, most spontaneous things that I have ever done. I learned so much and it was crazy to see such a different place: Asia. Its a pretty crazy thing to grow up in one place for so long and be so clueless about the world around you and then get an experience like this. The culture, the people, the scenery, the poverty the language and so many other things are just so different. We tend to think that our way is the only way and the right way (it's part of being an American) but... when you get the opportunity to go somewhere that is completely different and things don't work the same way as they do in America you just really get your eyes opened and adapt and accept that things are different. Its a good thing and for me, I was happy to learn a lot, I was happy to see so many things, do so many things, eat so many different things, and although its completely different and the people there have absolutely nothing, they are so happy and know the true meaning of "the little things that matter". This experience has taught me a lot and I learned how to see life through different RESPECT-icals. Who are we to judge? Striving to look the best on the outside isn't what's important, this concept sounds so simple. I think that if everybody got the amazing opportunity that I was so blessed to experience, so many people would learn that life is really not a competition to see who can have the nicest car, the most expensive purse, and the biggest house (although these things are also blessings). In other cultures, the meaning of true happiness is so much more simple. Try your hardest to go day by day not judging other individuals and learning everyday that there are other ways that things work out. Your way or our way is not the only way or even the right way, its just the way we know. My abroad experience is teaching me that the world we live in is a lot bigger than Missoula, MT and Green Bay WI and things work out differently everywhere you go. When you catch yourself judging others remember to ask yourself, "Who am I to judge?". Work on improving your own life before comparing and judging others. Always try and remember that there are other right ways besides the one you know.

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"You must be the change you wish to see in the world"
-Gandhi

Full (long) day in Bangkok

Like I mentioned we woke up around 11 because the town didn't shut down till 5 in the morning and we still needed our sleep. Checkout wasn't until noon and our plane didn't leave until midnight so we had a whole day to explore. This was just enough time. A little over 24 hours in Bangkok is just enough because it is pretty crazy and there are so many people there that hassle you to buy their things and after awhile enough is enough. I had no interest in leaving Thailand yet because our trip was nothing less than amazing but being in Bangkok for too long gets to be too much. We woke up and Carly and I just walked around the streets for about an hour checking everything out.

Then we went upstairs of the restaurant we stayed at and packed up our stuff and asked the front desk lady if we could keep our stuff there until later in the evening so we didn't have to walk around with it all day. She said that was fine and I had a lock on my bag so I wasn't too worried about it. After walking around for awhile this 'tuk tuk' driver came up to me and wanted to give us a tour in his 'tuk tuk'. I said no but he was really persistent and gave us the great deal of 5 baht. He said he would take us to the standing Buddha, sitting Buddha and laying down Buddha for only 5 baht. For those of you who are still confused with the Thai baht conversion 5 baht is only 15 cents. So he wanted to take all three of us on this tour for a total of 15 cents. We were going to make all of these stops, see all these Buddha's and it was a two hour tour for only 15 cents. I told him no but he was just the cutest Thai guy ever and so I asked the girls if we wanted to go and told them it was only going to be 5 baht for all three of us to go for two hours. We checked out his license plate of the Tuk Tuk and it was yellow so that meant that he worked for the government and it was safe. Alex and Mark warned us of tuk tuk tours before and told us the yellow license plate trick so we were sure to pay attention that we got a yellow one because if they are other colors then they are fake and could be dangerous. Saan's tuk tuk had a yellow plate so we were safe. Alex also warned us about the tuk tuk tours and told us that they will want to bring you to suit stores and other stores owned by the government because if they do then they get a $5 gas card and he told us to make sure that we only stop at the Buddhas and nowhere else but I guess we got caught up with our driver Saan and forgot what Alex told us. Plus, cute little old Saan tricked us a little but he was only doing his job.

Here is how the Tuk Tuk tours work: First they get you into their tuk tuk by offering you a unbelievable cheap price. Once they reel you in and convince you to get into their tuk tuk you are on your way to go to some really cool Buddha's. Some are sacred, some are special, some are even lucky. Our Tuk Tuk driver (Saan) told us we will see all of these Buddha's first and then, "after that we will make a quick stop because this week they have gas specials for the drivers if we stop at a government shop".

This was our first stop. This was, "standing Buddha", it was really cool to get a good taste of a culture that is so different from my own. These Buddha's in Thailand are a very special place and the Thai people worship them because they represent peace, and they are a place for people to pray and meditate. There were a few Thai people at the feet of this Buddha and they laid flowers and different things at the feet of it. It was a lot bigger in real life than this pictures show. Just its toes were pretty much the size of my leg, (I hope I don't offend anybody by calling the Buddha's "it", I don't really know what else to call it for now. . . him? err?) Here is a picture of some Thai's who are praying to the Buddha.

. The Buddha to their culture is like our God. So after we go see the tourist spot of the Buddah's we get to go to the "government gas special" location. This means we have to go to a suit/ wedding store. In this store, in order for our Tuk Tuk driver to get his gas card from the government then he had to bring us into the store and we have to pretend that we are interested in buying a male's suit or a dress. They are cheep but ... we aren't really interested, none of us were planning a wedding and none of us needed to buy a suit for men. BUT, we had to pretend that we were totally going to get one in order for Mr. Saan to get his gas card. IF we wanted one then we would be able to get it fitted right then and then and there, their factory makers would make it and have it ready for us in a few hours. This would be a good option for somebody who is getting married because you could get bridesmaid dresses and everything made for super cheap. HOWEVER, we were just not interested. I felt really bad for doing this but it was a good benefit because then Saan got a gas card for his Tuk Tuk. I ended up gaving in and buying something cheap at each place. The first place I think I got earrings for maybe what is equivalent to $3.00 US. The next place had scarves and I felt so bad for these guys because every time somebody walks in they get super excited that they are going to have a sale.

So I bought a scarf and at the time I didn't like it but now it is my favorite scarf so it worked out great. Probably part of the reason I didn't like it was because when we were there it was like 100 degrees and 100% humidity so I thought it was silly to be buying a scarf. Carly or Jourdan just laughed at me and they were strong and made it obvious that they were not interested, I actually worked hard and pretended that I was so interested in buying stuff so Saan got his gas cards. We drove around to a few different suit stores and played this game. One time we walked in and the people in the store wouldn't even help us with anything because they are pretty educated at this game and they know when some people walk in just because the Tuk Tuk drivers get a card so they know better then to give in and play along with the game. During the drive to the different suit stores we always made a stop to go see a Buddah. This one place we went into was really sacred (we didn't know) and you had to take of your shoes at the front door and we met a guy who had traveled a lot in America so he kinda gave us the update on the place and the different Buddah and showed us how they do it and told us a little bit about the Thai culture and he was really nice and had good English so it was easy to communicate with him.

After telling Saan that we were not going to go to anymore suit stores (like 100 times) he finally got it and we told him LAST ONE, LAST ONE, so many times but the real LAST ONE we said we were not going to do it again and to take us back to our neck of the woods. He finally did and he was really happy and it was a great experience. As annoying as it was to just keep going and going to these places I feel that doing a TukTuk tour in Bangkok is pretty much a must! It was mostly awesome but the suit stores sucked. Buuut, I am glad we did it. The FUNNIEST part was that Alex and Mark had already visited Bangkok and were never told about the TukTuk tours so they had the same experience and they warned us anb told us exactly how to handle it and to make sure before we got in that we would only stop at 1 suit store and we wanted to see 5 Buddahs or something like that but since we didn't really know what they were talking about we just kinda brushed it off and then we remembered right away when we went to our first suit store. But we didn't think it was a trick because Saan told us that it was just for 1 day he had to stop around to get gas cards. So anyway, if you ever go to Bangkok then dont say I never warned you! However, it is an experience that everybody should have if they go to Bangkok.

After our Tuk Tuk tour we walked up and down Khaosan Road (the famous road I told you about where all the action is at) and we got our last $5.00 massage and that was really nice and we tried this fish thing that all of us hated because it was too weird and ticklish. It was hard to let them just eat off all your dead skin.

And we just kept walking around a lot and we ate at a few different places until we had to catch a cab to the airport at 11pm. We walked a lot that day and the guy that brought us to the airport was really nice. His English was fairly good and he told us a lot about the school systems in Thailand and it was really sad to hear about. If you want your kids to get a good education it costs a lot of money and it is too hard for him and his wife to afford. All they do is work all day everyday and they live in a small flat and share a room and he told us a lot of other things but since I decided to wait 7 months to finish my blog I forgot :(.

So then he just drove us to the airport, we flew back home (to Aussie) and got there around 11am and took a shuttle back to our apartments and then I had a little surprise waiting for me so I was ready to start a new adventure with my guest that came all the way from AMERICA to visit me, SHAWNAAA!!!! So I got back from Thailand at 11am (flew all night) then came home to Shawna and then the next morning we were off to Sydney.

So I have one week left to write about and then I am done! The last part of it should be good so... sorry for the hold but stay tuned ... :0)