Thailand

Because I’m no longer in New Zealand and my blog is called “New Zealand”, I didn’t know if I’d write about my travels through Thailand. But after thinking about it long and hard, I decided to continue writing about my journey home back to Texas even if it is just for myself.

Currently, I am in Thailand.

Alone.

Now I haven’t been alone the entire trip in Thailand, but because of my wonderful travel luck, I am now. If you’ve followed my story from the beginning, then you know I don’t have the best of luck while trekking across the planet. I wouldn’t even want to travel with me. Bless those that have the guts to.

So here we go: Thailand.

I left New Zealand but my phone never managed to get onto the plane with me. It was sitting on the sink in a restroom in the Auckland airport. Great way to start out a trip phoneless. I decided to look at it as a good thing: A vacation without checking my phone for texts every hour.

I arrived in Bangkok with Lacie, a lifty friend, and from the airport we went straight to our hotel, The Plaza, which is nothing like it sounds. The face of the hotel was black and brown, cooked from a fire they had had the previous month. You could faintly still see the lime green print “THE PLAZA” boldly pasted across the doors. They reassured us, the inside was stable. Oh boy.

Within my first hour in Bangkok, I enjoyed my first pedicure since January, then saw a giant sewer rat run across the sidewalk, and also went to a Buddhist prayer ritual where I found a spider that could eat my face in one bite. I wasn’t impressed with Bangkok to say the least. That night Lacie and I drank Singha beer and ate vanilla ice cream in our bright green hotel lobby. Yes I said that right, beer and ice cream for dinner. We couldn’t help but laugh about our situation: The green/burnt hotel, the spider, the rat, the horrible smell of sewer that hits you like a slap in the face when you step outside. Oh Bangkok…this was not what I expected.

Lacie and I woke up early to get some sight seeing done. We braved our first Tuktuk, which is a motorcycle taxi, and he took us to the wrong destination 4 times. The last place being his cousins boat pier where we had to walk through a foot of water. That’s where we ran into Llazslo, a 57 year-old Hungarian man that was also fed up with his Tuktuk driver. After cursing and refusing to pay the taxi driver for taking us all to the wrong destination, we decided that we should battle Bangkok as a team, the 3 of us against Big Bad Bangkok. We went sight seeing for a few hours, enjoying The Wot Pho Temple, The World’s Largest Reclining Buddha, and The Grand Palace. Llazslo surprised us by treating us to lunch on the rooftop at the Hilton hotel. It was probably the best salad and iced tea I’ve ever had. That day was such a mission, and the humidity didn’t help one bit. Llazslo reminded me that it’s the wonderful people you meet on a trip that make it so memorable. I’ll never forget that salad, but more importantly Llazslo, the angry Hungarian man.

That night, Lacie and I got on to a bus thinking it would be 8 hours until we got to the Islands. 17 hours later, Lacie and I arrived in Phuket. Our hotel was in mint condition compared to The Plaza in Bangkok. We enjoyed the beach for a few hours and even ate out at a nice restaurant (which is still really cheap in Bot!) That night I found all the “Lady-boys” I had been warned about so much. It was interesting to see all of Thai men dressed as women, but more interesting to see all the tourists flock to them like they were a tourist attraction.

Thailand was slowly getting better/more interesting the further South we went.

Lacie and I made our way to the islands within a few days and met up with 2 other friends from New Zealand. There is just something about girls going on a vacation together that makes everyone act like they are in grade school again. We were official beach bums for about a week, sharing intimate details about our lives, drinking fruity drinks with little colorful umbrellas, talking about boys, and even going topless at a remote beach. (Which is so out of character for me let me assure you) We were like synchronized swimmers, turning over every 30 minutes to get a fresh coat of sun on our backsides and then our front-sides. We were having the time of our lives just being silly girls without any boys or parents around to listen in or call and check up on us.

Unfortunately, my girl time had to end too quickly. Due to the bank thinking my card was stolen and being used in foreign country, my 2^nd credit card this month got eaten up by the ATM machine. The Visa and Mastercard were long gone. I was down to one card, my American Express, which NO ONE takes in Thailand. I needed a Western Union and fast. The nearest one was back on the main land and the girls and I had planned to travel to another island the following day. I had to do what was responsible and get back to the main land, which also meant I’d be alone for the rest of my journey in Thailand while the girls enjoyed more beach and sun without me.

After getting back to the mainland and getting settled into a hotel, I immediately found a Western Union inside a mall. The only problem was, NO ONE spoke English. Not even broken English. Great. As frustrated as I was getting at their Thai language, I’m sure they were just as annoyed because this crazy American girl was just babbling away not making any progress whatsoever. I had 60 Bot left in my wallet, just enough to get me 30 minutes on Skype to call American Express and set up a Western union money transfer. I knew this would probably be the quickest way but had just 30 minutes credit. Pressure was on. If I spent the last 60 Bot and it didn’t go through, I’d be penniless in Thailand.

I called American Express and immediately told her my situation….Now Debbie at American Express was a sweet bubbly girl, but had no idea what “I’m in a rush” meant. After all the questions and account information, I was down to 2 minutes left, and good ole Debbie put me on hold. On hold!! The transfer didn’t go through when it was all said and done. And no one was there that spoke English.

Even at 23 years old, when I didn’t think I would have any more childish breakdowns much like this one, it happened. I sat in the mall holding my face (I hate when people see me cry) and just bawled. Bawled and bawled and bawled. I was scared, lonely, and penniless. A situation I knew all too well in New Zealand, so why was I crying? The language barrier might have been what sent me over the top, but regardless, I was scared to death! I had only paid for one night at the hotel and had to stay until my flight flew out on the 4^th. Do I sleep in the airport for 3 days?

That’s when a nice little Thai man walked over and gave me an internet card for free. He had seen me on Skype shaking my American Express card at the computer screen. Thankfully, If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably still be in that stupid mall crying uncontrollably. Again, it’s the strangers you meet on treks that make it so memorable.

I called American Express back and they got a hold of my parents to finish all the privacy details. Thank goodness for parents, my poor dad had to get out of bed at 3 am and talk to Debs because I still didn’t have enough Skype credit on my free internet card. I don’t know what I would’ve done if my dad didn’t answer the phone. At 15 years old, I hated that my dad was a light sleeper. Now, I couldn’t be a happier daughter that he woke up to that phone call.

So, now that I have enough money to get me home, I am cautiously roaming Thailand alone for a few more days. Here is my current state:

- I have 32 mosquito bites (yes I counted because I’m that bored at the train station)

- I got all my laundry washed yesterday on the street, which was extremely embarrassing watching someone wash your delicates in front of hundreds of people. Point is, I actually smell like a lady today and not sea salt, sewer, and Thai chicken.

- In the last 24 hours, I’ve killed 3 cockroaches. Two being in my bed last night, and one here in the train station that ran by my head as I was lying down.

- I’m obsessed with Thai pancakes. A pancake from a street vendor has been my dinner the last 3 nights.

- Currently, I’m sitting in the train station waiting for my bus to pick me up and take me to Chiang Mai where my first experience as a “Couch Surfer” will be. I’m staying with Jake, a boy from Texas who moved to Thailand about the same time I moved to New Zealand. Looking forward to a conversation with not only an English speaker, but a Texan!

I arrive in Chiang Mai tomorrow morning and have only 2 things that I MUST do. 1) Visit a climbing shop where I will honor a friend from home that passed away last year here in Thailand. 2) Go on an Elephant trek.

Thailand has been interesting, but I’m having the time of my life just getting through this in one piece. Chiang Mai then to Hong Kong on the 7^th. I can almost see Texas I’m getting so close!