Well, they've been eventful. Three weekends ago 12 of us exchangers headed south to Pattaya. I saw a very different side of Pattaya than when I first landed in Thailand, though, because instead of staying with the Cummins in their condo I stayed in a motel. At $9 a night it was the most expensive motel I've stayed in thus far, with the exception of the very first one I stayed in when I landed in Bangkok. (But hey, you expect to get ripped off for your first few weeks in another country.) We spent the first entire night on Walking Street, Pattaya's version of Austin's 6th Street, and I didn't drink at all because everything was so expensive. I think the town is really touristy, and in all of my experiences so far, when I leave Bangkok, the prices for everything double. But I danced until 5 a.m. and had one of the best nights I've had in Thailand. The boys of our group made it even longer than I did, and I learned the next morning, when I had an incredibly hard time getting them moving, that they watched the sunrise on the beach and - how classically American - had eaten McDonald's for breakfast.
Side note: Ronald McDonald looks like this:
The next day we ferried to an island off the coast of Pattaya and spent the day in the clearest water I've seen since I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was a little crowded, but that's expected in such a touristy city so close to Bangkok. That night I introduced all 12 of my friends to the Cummins who, forever gracious, treated us to an incredible meal of lobster, jumbo prawns, fried rice, and crab at a seafood restaurant set on the water. Since we're all used to eating street food that costs a dollar or less, this was the best meal most of us have had in Thailand. I love my Thailand family so much!
Ferry to the island; from left we have Marney, Brad, Jon, Brian, Annelise, and Natalia:
The Cummins at dinner with all of us:
The weekend after I left with just three other boys for Kanchanaburi, my first trek north. North has no significance in terms of weather, though, and it was just as sweltering hot as anywhere else I've been. We spent the first night hanging out in the small town, and Brian and Jon successfully found two Danish girls to mack on. Thank goodness for Brad, who has a girlfriend, because without him, I would have been that girl who makes all her guy friends look a little more legitimate while they spend the weekend trying to hit on other girls. No thank you. Brad and I, at least, stuck together in that sense, and I actually ended up becoming friends with Christine and Julia, the two Danes. When they stop by Bangkok in March they're going to stay with me.
We had planned to go to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over the river Kwai, to see the Tiger Temple, and to see a famed waterfalls nearby. We ended up accomplishing one of those tasks, because we also ended up meeting one of the most hospitable people I've ever met, a Thai biker named Saen (pronounced San). When he told us that his biker gang, Tanousri, was going to a biker gang reggae festival, we ditched our plans and spent the day with him. It was out of this world. We rented a car (that Saen drove) to drive about half an hour outside of Kanchanaburi to this festival. We were the only farang by far, which I thought was the coolest part of the experience. It truly was not a tourist event. Bikers look a little bit like I would expect them to in the United States. They wear black leather and bandanas, but they also combined their clothing with Western wear. A lot of them wore cowboy hats and boots. If that's traditional biker wear, I guess I'm out of it. We ended up staying at this concert/festival for more than seven hours, which was too long for me, but probably worth it to get to experience the weirdest part of Thailand I've seen yet.
We did, however, make it to the Tiger Temple. Here is a photo to prove it:
This past weekend we went to Koh Samui, Thailand's second largest island way the hell down south. To get there we took an 11-hour overnight bus ride (in which I slept barely a wink), another hour bus ride, and an hour ferry ride. With wait time our one-way travel took about 17 hours. Oh boy the bus ride was miserable. There was something wrong with the bathroom, and almost the entire night it emitted such a rank stench of urine that my breath was actually shortened. After about five hours of this one of the bus staff sprayed the toilet. I tried to convince him to just let me hold the spray, since I was sitting just above the bathroom, but what got translated was that I just wanted him to spray more. I laughed when he sprayed even the stairs, but I didn't stop him.
James got 10,000 baht (or $300) stolen from him because he left his bag unattended. He borrowed 8,000 more from Meris and I guess spent it, because he had to borrow 2,000 again the next day. She also had to cover his 14,000 baht medical bill when he jumped on a taxi and the taxi cab driver beat him up. James thought he had internal bleeding and checked himself into the hospital. We think he was kept in there for a bad hangover.
Prior to that, though, the beach was great!
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