On September 14th, I kept word of my promise and commenced my busy schedule of traveling for my last year on JET. Destination, Thailand. Boy was that an experience. The whole time I was there, I couldn't help feeling so blessed and so lucky to be able to visit that country. It was like I was floating on air for the first few days. I had a lovely companion, Paprika that hailed from Russia/South Africa and I myself became Malika from Kenya.
Before our venture, my traveling partner and I had heard that being American was a point against you while visiting Thailand so we had to come up with an alias. Although my partner isn't American, we both decided "hey, what the heck?," let's both become new people. The only problem was after a while, we got asked questions that as citizens of those countries we should have had answers for. Such as the country's currency and its political leaders and all that key jazz. Haha. It was amusing to say the least (to watch us fumbling at these questions) and we had too much fun being from SA/Russia and Kenya. It was a blast.
So much of the country reminded me of Haiti. Foremost, were the smells. The smoke filling the air smelled so much like the smoke filling the streets in Haiti when I first visited the country as a little girl. I think maybe even for that reason alone I felt a more intimate bond with the country. The first couple of days were spent in Bangkok, the country's captital. I'm told by most people to avoid this place and use it only as a transit point for other locations in Thailand, but if I had to say anything, Bangkok is a GREAT place! There's so much hustle and bustling going about, it makes you want to be at every corner all at once. The noise, the attractions (the Grand Palace which is AMAGZING!!), the people. It's a sensory overload, but a scrumptious one!
Our next stop was Chang Mai, a less touristy and more secluded city located in the northern section of the country. Here we got the opportunity to visit the hill tribes, do bamboo rafting, elephant trekking, etc. Then heading down south for days of relaxation on the beach was probably the best part. We went to Kho Phangan were the infamous Full Moon Parties are held. Our trip fell at a time where there were HALF Moon Parties instead located in the "jungle." Getting there was no problem and reasonably price, but getting back was a trip and a half and we certainly got ripped off. They had us clinched as we were stuck in the middle of nowhere and they new we had to pay any price they gave us. Of course I
wasnt happy about this. haha
But the next day was probably my best night in Thailand. Usually, the Full Moon Parties are held on the beach with tons of bars playing different genres of music right on the water. We went there for our last night on the island and boy did we wreck havoc. We literally started the party. I kid you not. After sitting down a nd listening to song after song of great music we said "forget this! Let's dance!" We dashed to the dance floor and boogied by ourselves for tracks after tracks until people got brave enough to come and join. And then the rest was history.
The highlight of the night was my fantastic win of this ballon crushing tournament. You've got a blown up balloon attached your ankle. The object is to go around and pop as many of the balloons you can while still keeping yours intact. Out of 40 or so people (all each representing their prespective countries), I was the only one left to battle a male Thai for the crown jewel of Ms/Mr Ballon Popper. My tactic? I kinda cheated at the beginning when I realized how easy it was to get your balloon popped and avoided the action by staying as far away from the melee as possible . My tactic worked until it was impossible to hide. Then it was me and 5 others, then me and 3 others. By this point I was holding my breath because I couldn't believe how far I'd gotten. And then sure enough the moment came when it wa just me and the Thai. The excitement was palitable! He almost got me, oooo he was sOOOooo close, but then a miracle happened. Somehow in his aggressive moves, he lost control and POP! his balloon was gone and I was the victor!. YOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never really win anything like this so you could imagine my happiness at the result of this game. One of my best memories for sure of that trip.
But throughout the entire trip one strange occurance kept repeating time after time after time. Despite my fear and thus dislike for dogs, the dogs in Thailand loved me! And when I say loved me they LOVED me. Every where I went, no matter who was around, one would always come directly to me and rest at my feet, smelling me, caressing me. It was totally crazy. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but soon it was quite apparent that it wasn't. I couldn't figure out why it was so, but Parika couldn't stop laughing at my predicament because every time it happened, all I could do was stand still hope they didn't bite a big piece of my leg. Totally weird and yet hilarious in retrospect.
