Thailand

Thailand

Bangkok Thailand could be my favorite place in the world. This city has it all, culture, food, drink, partying…there is nothing that this place can’t offer you. The first day was spent outside of Bangkok at the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo. This was for my Zoology class Field Study. I would describe it as an under-funded Disney Zoo. The main attractions were tigers, elephants, and alligators. All of these animals were clearly abused and were tranquilized out of their minds, it was pretty sad. At one point during the alligator show the trainer guy shoved his entire arm down the throat of an alligator and it didn’t move one inch. This was clearly because the alligator was closer to death than life because of all of the drugs it was on. The elephants were clearly abused out of their skulls so that they grow up being afraid of humans. They were being lead around the park picking people up with their trunks, which I did and it was sweet, but they were being controlled by a guy with like a sharp pick that he would just stab the elephant with constantly. Then I saw tigers jump through fire hoops and all that. I guess the tigers are raised at this place feeding from a pig, so they grow up thinking that they are a pig…weird I know. This place wasn’t the best part of the trip but I have read about animal abuse in Thailand before and now I got to see it firsthand.

Bangkok….

I all of my time in Bangkok and I am so happy that I did. This city was my dream, I will make another visit. I don’t know when, and I’m not sure for how long, but I will be back. Everybody in the city was so helpful in providing information on where to eat, how to get there, how much we should pay..the whole 9 yards. I spent most of my time during the day just city dwelling, hitting up markets, and eating the local food, basically exactly what I wanted to do. No agenda, no time to be anywhere, just enjoying the city life and diving head first into the culture. I had lunch at street side family restaurants and ate the local food that everyday people eat. My group that I was with and I basically refused to be treated like tourists, we wanted to be a part of that city instead of just a visitor. We spent one day traveling on a boat shuttle to the Grand Palace, it is all of these religious buildings that are made out of gold and jewels. It was just a complete tourist spot but we had to see it and I am glad I did, plus the pictures I took there are pretty sweet. I also stopped by a Muy Thai match and saw an American female fighter just beat the crap of a Thai fighter, it was the most lopsided fight I have ever seen, regardless I was glad to see the US come out on top haha

The nightlife in Bangkok was just unreal... The nightlife consisted of bar hopping and going to clubs. There nightlife was just street after street of bars that were covered with small markets and the most delicious street food I have ever had. We would stop at 7 11’s and get a few beers to walk around and drink then head into a bar and have some more drinks. Most places had live Thai bands and all of the people there loved Americans and they would buy us drinks and ask about our travels, they made you feel right at home. One night I decided to get real in depth with the culture and had myself some fried bugs from a vender. I ate a scorpion, a few crickets, and an assortment of small little critters, they tasted pretty bland, but super crunchy, especially the scorpion which was probably 3-4 inches long, I would eat them again haha, probably just for the laugh. Just stay clear of the Go-Go Bars, because that’s where all of the creepy old white men hang out, I don’t feel like I need to say more, it is Thailand after all.

Vietnam in a 2 days and that means only 2 days of classes haha, once again life is tougggghhhh