Central Trip

Okay, this is really late. I go on Northern Trip in about 2 weeks...

Anyways, Central Trip was a blast! I hope I never forget how incredible it was. But, quite honestly, even now I don't remember everything we did. I made the decision to write this post because even though it's ridiculously late, I figure I will at least be able to enjoy the reminiscings as I age and my memory fades.

Day One: Had to be at the hotel to catch the Bus at 5. As in, 0500h., 5 a.m., Dtee Ha. Whatever you call it, it sucks. 5 in the morning is not a happy time. But it wasn't that bad because I at least got to sleep on the bus.

This bus was pretty cool. It was one of those massive, Asian, double deckers with the living room and bathroom on the first level and the seats on top. The upholstery was patterned with rainbow pot-leaves and they gave every person a blanket to use for free! (Which already gives them a leg up on Air Canada).

Then we went to the Sukothai Historical Park. It was really beautiful and over 700 years old! That evening we stayed in a hotel comprised of adorable little bungalows.

It was a good day.

The Second Day was much better. But it's not really a fair fight because I didn't have to wake up at 3:30 the second day. But that day we went RAFTING!

It was LEGENDARY. I mean, first we were all crammed into these two little super-sketchy cattle cars for like an hour over very bumpy roads. Then we got to the river, and climbed down the rather steep embankment. Waiting for us was a large bamboo raft and a lot of life jackets. We put on the latter, got on the former, and were off!

Rafting ended up to be more swimming than rafting. The water was just cool enough to be refreshing but still warm enough to be nice and we all just drifted along with the current. The scenery was gorgeous - think Forrest Gump in 'Nam and the sun was scorching hot. It was one of the most chill moments I have had so far in Thailand.

For lunch that day we got burgers. Not very good burgers. But burgers all the same. Chantale, my Californian friend, found Thousand Island dressing and got ecstatic. (Something about this Californian fast food place called In-n-Out...)

Then we went to our hotel, had dinner by the ocean, and hung out on the beach that was directly in front of our hotel until curfew.

ฉันรักประเทศไทย

Day 3 was pretty sweet. For some reason that I don't remember/didn't understand, we didn't have to be ready to leave until 11. So Chantale and I walked around, found some awesome shops, including one that kept disappearing! I bought contacts (though the whole putting them into use took about 3 more people and was...well...long and drawn out...and very interesting).

We went to visit Buddha (cause it's Thailand). It was awesome (cause it's Thailand). And then it rained (cause it's Thailand). So instead of going to the beach :( we went to a mall. But that was okay because we found EPIC pins for our Blazers with pictures of the King and Queen on them.

คนไทยรักใหนลวง

We went to a night market that evening. Bought a sand bucket. Ate at a restaurant that said the translation of it's name was Bird Chili. Our Golden Oreos told us the truth: it really said Mouse Shit Chili.

Why you would name a restaurant Mouse Shit Chili is beyond me. But maybe it's kinda like Ratatouille....

The Fourth Day we went to this super old wooden palace. The summer palace of King Rama VI. It was pretty cool, but they had tons of rules (like not wearing shoes) to help preserve the wood. And I definitely felt like the 100+ year old wood was just gonna give up while I was standing on it :/

We went to a floating market that was kinda stinky. But they made this coconut candy that reminded me of maple sugar candy... It was really good and I ate way too much of it.

The ride to our hotel was... fun. Not. Because I'm pretty sure our driver usually drove something a lot smaller than a bus. He kept on trying to take us down these tiny little side roads that our bus was about twice as big as. Maybe he was a tuk tuk driver in a previous life...

That evening we went to go see fireflies on the river. But it rained instead (cause it's Thailand). Instead a bunch of us hung out in my room and we watched a super-cheesy 90's chick flick. (Drive Me Crazy, if you were wondering).

The fifth day we woke up at 5:30 so that we could feed monks at 6. But that was pretty cool, cause the monks rowed up to us in little boats and we put food in their bowls.

Then we went to Bangkok (Or GrunThep, as it's actually called). We visited the Grand Palace, saw the Emerald Buddha, took lots of pictures. Then we went to the Rotary Center in BKK.

After that we went to our weirdly sketchy hotel. I say weirdly sketchy because it looked really swanky. But there was a pack of condoms on the nightstand, 90s slow jams in the CD player, and a card advertising the 24 hr massage service. Prices were as follows: Thai massage 400 baht/hour, full body massage 1,700 baht. Can you spot a happy ending when you see one?

Day 6 we went to this teak palace that had ridiculous security. As in, there were super-armed guards everywhere and you weren't allowed to bring cell phones (or really anything) in with you. I had to go through a metal detector and then pass through a door. Between the door and the metal detector there were two thai chicks. Who felt my butt and thigh as I went past to make sure I wasn't sneaking anything in. And after all that, it was kinda ugly. They had painted over all the gorgeous wood with ugly paint.

That night we had our night cruise, which was really pretty and fun. And I avoided buying the rather unattractive, way over-priced, tourist picture. Because my daddy taught me well :D

The seventh day was so amazing. For our last day we got to do... anything we wanted!

We just had to follow our generic Rotary rules and be back at the hotel by midnight.

So we went to the area with all the malls - and saw crazy Thai people waiting in line for literally hours just to buy some Krispy Kreme donuts. We went to a bookstore, and I got a hardcover set of the Chronicles of Narnia in Thai for 60 bucks (go me!).

We also went to JJ market - it was HUGE! I bought some awesomely sweet watches and a 7-11 shirt. Because Thailand has TONS of 7-11s (everytime there's a traffic jam in Bangkok, a 7-11 gets its wings).

Central Trip was great. I loved hanging with the other Inbounds. I'm so looking forward to Northern Trip, and everyone should go check out photos on FB!

Lots of Love.