Off to Southeast Asia

The last mornig in Rome, we woke up and went to the airport.  We went through security and to the lounge and I ate meringues and pasta. Then we got on the airplane and it was awesome.  

The name of the airline was Thai Airways.  On each seat there was a plastic bag and a small cloth bag.  Inside the plastic bag was a really warm purple fluffy blanket.  And inside the cloth bag there was a pillow. In front of us on the back of the seats there were iPads with a lot of kids movies and a lot of video games.  The plane started moving and I watched Avengers. Then dinner came. It was fun eating dinner because we got to eat while watching a movie. I ate pork and rice with roasted and mashed potatoes and tiramisu.  You couldn’t choose your dinner, but it was really good. After dinner, I finished Avengers and I watched The Secret Life of Pets 2. I really liked Thai Airways. In the morning I woke up and ate breakfast and finished The Secret Life of Pets 2.  We ended the flight really early in the morning. We arrived in Bangkok when it was still dark. But we weren’t done traveling. We had to catch a flight to Chiang Mai!  

Whoa!! Southeast Asia is NOT like other places. It is awesome in different ways than other places I’ve been.  Let me tell you why! We left the airport and got in a taxi. First thing, NO SEATBELTS!! Second thing, our driver, Mr. Tom, was a CRAZY driver!!  He was swerving in and out of traffic and was reading passages from a book with his customers reviews, WHILE HE WAS DRIVING!! There is a lot of crazy traffic here!! So many mopeds and scooters everywhere!!  And they don’t seem to follow any traffic rules. Many of the drivers are wearing masks. Maybe for pollution or to stay healthy. Another thing I noticed right away was the temperature. It was hot and humid!!  We somehow made it to our Airbnb alive and then we all showered and took a nap. It had been 24 hours since we left Rome and we were all so tired.    

After a long rest we got up and went to the night market, also known as the Night Bazaar.  We saw bugs that people eat and all sorts of different foods. We also saw clothing, little charms, keychains and patches. One little booth was really cool.  It had shirts with glowing and blinking lights! The shirts moved to the beat of the music that was playing!! There are all kinds of souvenirs and local handmade goods.  If you wanted to get something and it had no price, you can negotiate or barter. Negotiating is when someone says their price and you think it’s too high, you can ask them for a lower price.  If you start walking away, sometimes they lower the price. You can’t act like you really really want it because they’ll charge you more if you look too excited. You have to have a poker face and stay calm.   One time I really wanted a wooden souvenir and that cost 500 Thai baht. I negotiated and was able to get it for 70 baht!! They try to get a lot of money at first, but in the end, everyone is happy. Just so you know, if the item you are getting is double digits in money, this is how you figure out how many dollars it is.  You look at the price, take off the last digit, and what is left you divide by three. For example, 30 Thai Baht is the same as one US dollar. 30฿ (this is the symbol for Thai Baht) = $1.  

While we were in Chiang Mai another cool thing we did was take a Thai cooking class.  We made soups, curries, noodle dishes, desserts, appetizers and sauces. Even Anna and I got to use gas stoves and machetes!!  It was so fun! It was only my family and two other women from Germany in our class. Our teacher, Aek, was a professional Thai chef who does the class right at his house.  After every course we prepared, we got a cold refreshing new towel to keep cool. After the class I got a cookbook of all of the recipes I learned. When I get back to California, Anna and I might set up a stand on the Strand or at Valley Park so we can sell good Thai food.  We learned so much and all the recipes were so delicious.  

One morning, mom woke me up early and said we were going to The Elephant Nature Park and staying overnight!!  A van picked us up at 8 am. It was a long drive to get there from Chiang Mai. It was windy and eventually we entered the jungles in the north of Thailand.  We drove into the park and saw a lot of animals! Cows, buffaloes, water buffaloes, cats, dogs, chickens, goats and, of course, ELEPHANTS!!! Our guide’s name was Gun. She said we were going to get to feed the elephants.  We fed them watermelons and bananas. The elephants could eat a WHOLE WATERMELON in one bite!! When they ate it, it made a weird squelching sound. It was sort of disgusting! Then we went off the platform and on a long walk to the elephants habitat.  We got to see them in their natural environment and Gun told us some information about them. I was wondering how the workers remembered all of the elephants names because there are 70-80 of them. Gun said that they all look a little different once you get used to them.  They also have different personalities. We had to be very careful around some of them because they can get aggressive. The reason they can be aggressive is because they feel threatened because some humans used to treat them badly and they still aren’t used to being around nice humans. There are 5 or 6 adult male elephants, but we didn’t see them.  They are kept more secluded because they are dangerous to be around because of their hormones. One worker got killed by a male elephant when the elephant was in his mating season. We also had to be careful with the dogs with red collars. If you get within 5 feet of one they might attack you. They are still being trained to trust humans. The dogs without the red collar are safe to pet, but only on the platform.  

There is also a place called the Cat Kingdom.  It is a big two level open area for cats to roam. Anna and I snuggled with so many cats.  Mom and dad got massages while we played at the Cat Kingdom. Two little cats that weren’t very cute bit me, but they didn’t break the skin much. We also got to walk the rescued dogs. I had a really cute one named Casper who wore clothes. I had fun walking Casper around the park.

At dinner there was a cool show that happens once a year and we were lucky enough to be there on that day. It was a bunch of kids of all ages dancing in Thai costumes.  It was really fun. Did I mention the food there is SOOOO GOOD? It was so amazing! If you like meat, you shouldn’t go there. Do you know why? It is a vegan place. No animal products, no eggs.  Most Thai food has fish sauce, but not here. They use a lot of coconut milk and oil. It was awesome!!

The next morning we made food for the elephants that don't have teeth.  We used lots of bananas and other ingredients. It felt good to volunteer and help the elephants and other animals. 

I was sad to leave Elephant Nature Park, but we were going back to Chiang Mai and that made me happy because I really like it there.  That night in Chiang Mai, we went to the biggest market in all of Thailand, the Sunday Night Market. Guess who we ran into?? A friend of our’s from the Elephant Nature Park!! She came over to hang out with us after. She is from Taiwan and we will visit her when we go there.  The next few days was nice in Chiang Mai. We had a swimming pool all to ourselves on the rooftop and it felt like we were swimming in the sky. We even got to see the temples and hear the monks chanting from our place. By the way, did I mention that Chiang Mai has over a hundred temples?  And they are all beautiful!! They are gold and detailed and have dragon carvings!! The next few days were normal…school, going to lunch, grocery shopping. The last day we went to lunch, packed up, and went to the airport. In Southeast Asia we always have to fly because the buses are too long and the train system isn’t as good as Europe. I know that really makes me sound like an American, but it’s true.  I really don’t like packing up all the time, but I was excited about going to Krabi and the next part of our Thailand adventure.