Thailand, It Was Our Pleasure

Hello, Sarah here! What to say about Thailand… WE LOVED IT! We truly enjoyed the Thai culture and would like to explore Thailand again in the future. If you have ever thought about visiting Thailand, do it! The people in Thailand were by far the nicest and the most accommodating people we have met so far. Maybe it is because so many of the people here are Buddhist, but for whatever reason the Thai people were so sweet. Thailand was beautiful, with tropical trees and Thai architecture. The Thai people are also very proud of the fact that Thailand was never conquered by imperialists and they have maintained fierce protection over their people. I asked one woman if people in Thailand were happy with their King and she said, “104% of Thai people love the King, we love the King because we know he loves us.” Well, that just sounded nice to me!

We spent our first day in Thailand. I worked until after lunchtime. So after lunch we explored Laem Chabang, an up and coming port city. We found a local mall without any tourists and just people-watched, then came back to the ship because I was on duty that night.

Our second and third days in Thailand we spent in Bangkok. Bangkok is the shortened name for the city, the full name is the longest city name in the history of language and it is several sentences long! Bangkok is known as the City of Angels, which of course made me think of home and I told our guide that Nathan and I met in the American City of Angels. Bangkok was a huge bustling city full of lights! The city is networked through a series of canals. So people row to work instead of drive to work, there are also floating markets and most houses are on stilts above the water.

While touring the canals by boat we observed so many fish, mango trees, a huge monitor lizard, temples and the most beautiful tropical plants! We visited the Temple of the Dawn or Wat Arun which has a 79-meter spire silhouette and is the symbol of Thailand. We also toured a museum of the Royal Barges, which are the Kings ornate boats…they were so beautiful! I loved being on the water and exploring the city by boat. We also watched a beautiful dance show and had a lovely Thai dinner! Bangkok at night was something that I will not forget, the lights were amazing.

After a good night’s sleep in our beautiful hotel, we then went to the temples Wat Rachabopit and the Wat Po. Wat Po holds the Reclining Buddha, a 46 meter long statue with mother-of pearl and gold embellishments. This Buddha was huge, it is so hard to describe! We then visited the Grand Palace, that holds a huge Buddha made out of a single piece of Jade in the 15th century. We traveled by boat to a Thai lunch and then visited the Prasart Museum.



After two days in Bangkok we were pretty tired! We slept in a bit and then took a cab to Pattaya, a city nearby famous for its beautiful beaches and sex workers. We arrived in a rain storm, which was much appreciated after the 100+ heat in Bangkok. We went in the pool, walked around the beach, and had a mango daquiri! Our hotel had lovely gardens full of frogs and lizards which was fun as well! Pattaya was an interesting place though…. When we arrived at a restaurant for dinner there were a few families and locals. When we left the restaurant though the only people around were old white men in their 50s-60s with very young Asian women who were clearly not their wives in their teens-20s. It was interesting to see that sex work is so out in the open, when a white man walks into the establishment several women come out and try to proposition him. I don’t judge the women because we have learned that for many of them it was a choice between prostitution or poverty. And many of the women did not have a choice at all, they are survivors of human trafficking and slavery from Burma. At massage parlors and salons women sit outside marketing themselves.

We came back to the ship torn, loving so much about this Tropical place and then questioning so much about what is happening here. Gangway duty in Thailand was hectic…dealing with lots of bag searches and intoxicated people while getting sun burnt. All in all though, we truly enjoyed our Thai experience and can’t wait to travel here again. Thanks for reading everyone!