After six weeks of class spring break was much welcomed. I am now at the half way point in the semester and a recharge in a country other than China was exactly what I needed. Spring break in the Kingdom of Thailand is not the ordinary for me, but since I was in the area I thought I would stop by. If you are surprised by the full name of Thailand including Kingdom then you are not alone. I too was astonished to find out Thailand had a king, but that was only the first of many new things I found out about this oddly shaped country in Southeast Asia.
I went on this trip with my friend Owen who I met during the January semester in Beijing. We both had an interest in seeing Southeast Asia so Thailand was our decision for a few reasons. One was because the flights from China to Bangkok are so cheap and two is the fact that Owen’s friend lives in Phuket, so we could stay with him for a few days. Owen and I also decided on getting ridiculous hair cuts for our spring break. He settled on a mullet as you can see from the picture and I bleached my hair...which I will be shaving before I come home so no worries anyone.
Owen is currently in Shanghai and we planned on meeting in Bangkok at the hotel we booked called Sawasdee. Sawasdee is also how you say “hello” in Thai. One of the three Thai words I learned in a week. I did not really even bother learning some Thai before my trip because I thought that most of the people could speak English due to the fact that Thailand was such a tourist destination. I was wrong…another surprise. There was little English spoken and those that did pretended not to so they could try to exploit money for cab fare and tourist trips.
When leaving the airport for the hotel I jumped into a cab in the line up outside. The driver was out of the car but I just went to the passenger side and threw my bags in. To my surprise a steering wheel was right in front of me. Not missing a beat, I thought to myself, “Oh, this must be a student driver car.” The driver knocked on the window and gave me a confused expression. In Thailand they drive on the opposite side of the road. I did not know this prior to coming so once again I was culture shocked. My first cab ride from the airport was 400 baht, but later I found out a legitimate cab ride to the airport from my hotel was only 190 baht. I know I usually complain about people in China ripping me off, but Thailand was ridiculous. I was overcharged for nearly everything I did, which strengthens my newly discovered theory of when going on vacation estimate how much the whole trip will cost you and then multiply it by 2.5 and that will be closer to the approximate cost...but still lower.
We spent two days in Bangkok before flying down to Phuket Island. Owen and I took tours to the Bangkok markets where many cheap clothing items were sold. This set up was similar to the Silk Market in Beijing except bargaining was nonexistent. A fundamental difference between Thai vendors and Chinese vendors is their unwillingness to go lower on prices. The price was set and if you did not like it then you could walk, whereas in China they will come running after you and grab your arm to get you to come back and buy their product. The Thai people could not care less if you walked away. I even tried bargaining for 5 baht, which is approximately twenty cents, and they would not budge. I bought some shirts and spices, but other than that Bangkok market shopping was not as fun as it is in China.
The next part of the tour was a visit to one of the King’s Palaces. You can see the beautiful architecture and high roofs from the picture. Along with a trip to the palace we got to see the river slums of Bangkok from a longboat. It was a nice social contrast that only a tourist could appreciate, but anyone living in the conditions would despise. Despite the poverty and problems in Bangkok I realized that people absolutely love the king. They almost worship him as a god, which adds to their communal sense of religion and Buddhist ideals. Thailand is a very religious country and makes sure to venerate its gods by practicing traditional Buddhist customs such as hanging flowers over doorways and burning incense.
Another traditional part of Thailand is its delicious food. The most common dish served in America is pad thai which is fried rice noodles covered with scallions, peanuts, and shrimp. Not to disappoint, Thailand really made its famous dish right! I took a picture for some visualization but I wish I would have had my camera when the chef cooked the dish in front of me. I ordered the shrimp pad thai or like every menu translation in Thailand has, “Pad Thai with the Shrimps.” At the restaurant we got to pick our live shrimp with tongs and stun them in ice water. After a minute the chef would take them from the ice water and cook them into the noodles. It was indescribably delicious. Thailand also has the best fried chicken I have ever had. They fry the pieces in a small frier attached to their street carts and serve legs, breasts, and basically every part of the chicken including claws to you right there, piping hot! See picture for deliciousness.
After a few days in Bangkok it was time to hit the beach…
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Jordan J. Foley
傅力波
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