Seeing as how this is my last year in college, I decided to kick off my senior year by studying abroad in Thailand.
There is no better way to commemorate my last three years of college than with a three-and-a-half-month-long trip to the land of elephant pants and savory street meat, right?
Well, my three-day-long journey started from me catching my first flight from home in Kingston, Jamaica. After connecting in Miami, I hopped on a plane to New Jersey then made my way to Tokyo, and from Tokyo, my final destination Bangkok, Thailand.
Stepping off the plane, I wondered if this was the right decision or if it was too late to catch a flight back home. However, after finally passing through immigration and picking up my suitcases, I arrived at the International Studies Abroad (ISA) meeting spot and was greeted with welcoming smiles. Despite my two-hour delay and the fact that it was almost 2 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018, Megan Dekievit, the Assistant Resident Director was more than happy to be my first introduction to my new temporary home.
Phutthamonthon Buddhit park has the tallest free-standing Buddha statue in the world, which is 15.87m M. high. Credit: Rebecca Hugh
At this point, I was physically drained from flying for three days and was in desperate need of a long hot shower, but all I could think about was whether I was going to wake up my new roommate and what I need to pack for my first ISA excursion.
Nalin Sadabjit, my new roommate, was awake and waiting for me to arrive at our apartment at the Bundit Home, Salaya, Bangkok, Thailand.
And, between getting to know each other and semi-unpacking, I realized we only had four hours to sleep before we had to hit the ground running for excursion No. 1.
Sept. 1 – 10 a.m
It was 10 a.m., bright and early. All the other ISA students and I had gathered in front of Bundit to hop on a bus for our first weekend activity. Three vans loaded and ready, we started off our Thailand experience by going to the Phutthamonthon Park, here in Salaya. Here we paid respect to the 15.87 meters high Buddha and then jetted off to Kanchanaburi.
Kanachaburi is a town in west Thailand. And, for the entire weekend, we stayed at the RN river raft hotel. A small boutique hotel literally on the water, it treated us with amazing sunsets and tons of crawling baby lizards to keep us company at night.
The following morning, we went to the wet market (meat market); we roamed for an hour, passing along vendors selling fresh vegetables, fruits, street meat, sweet treats and of course, Thai coffee.
With the lingering scent of fresh cilantro and the countless varieties of meat on a stick that captivated our every whiff, the ISA group made the time to pick up a few fruits and snacks to offer up to the monks roaming the market that morning.
Essentially, the offering of food to monks is called giving merit, in which you do a good deed. And, in exchange for our good deed we received a blessing.
That same day we were taken to the Erawan National Park, Thailand’s 12th national park, which housed the beautiful Erawan waterfalls. It has seven major tiers, each which were accessible by a series of trails and some steep uphill climbs.
However, we then ended our weekend by bathing with elephants at the Sai Yok elephant conservatory, visiting the Krasae cave and learning the heartbreaking history of the death bridge.
A street vendor preparing chicken on a stick to sell at the local wet market; each chicken stick costs roughly 32 cents US. Credit: Rebecca Hugh
Sept. 4, 2018:
On Tuesday, we were educated on the Thai public transport system. Buses, taxis, sky trains or tuk-tuks were the main form of transportation around the city.
And, for those wondering, a tuk-tuk is a small motorized vehicle with a carriage that can sit up to three people. It’s relatively cheap but very unstable and dangerous to be carrying passengers at such fast speeds. Nonetheless getting around Bangkok was much easier than I thought.
Sept. 6, 2018:
Thursday was the official Mahidol University International College (MUIC) orientation. All dressed in our proper uniform, over 100 exchange students from around the globe gathered in the international college, to receive their official welcome to Thailand and the university.
The campus was bigger than any campus I have ever visited, but to put it in perspective, the campus is big enough that it has its own tram system.
Since school was about to begin, a few ISA students and I decided to make a short weekend trip to Ko Samet. Ko Samet is an island off the Thailand province, Rayong, filled with mountainous terrains and stunning beaches.
I was able to lay out on the beach and drink as many fresh coconut and pineapple smoothies as I wanted. And, while I was there, I decided to sign up for a four-island boat tour.
Because one US dollar is 31 Baht (Thai dollars), and the island tour was 500 Baht, roughly 15 US dollars, I decided why not enjoy a speedboat ride around to different islands, while being able to snorkel and eat freshly cut fruit.
After all the adventures of the first week, classes had begun and so far, they are enjoyable and interesting with the classroom diversity dynamic. I am still getting used to two-hour long classes, but I don’t have classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays, so I am not complaining.
With all the fried rice and tom yum soup ingested, and many more weekends to travel, I cannot wait to see what the rest of this semester has in store.
