How was my trip to Thailand?

When my father called me in 2007 and asked if I’d like to go to Thailand in 2008, the possibility seemed so far away, completely foreign and truly exciting.
My first trip to Asia was one of the greatest travel experiences of my life and I thought I would share a few of the things that made this trip so enjoyable.

As part of tour group I had a tight schedule of day tours with 35 other conspicuous tourists. We traveled everywhere by huge bus. All of us unloading and loading within an hour at each destination to fit all that was on our fast-paced itinerary and lectured in between. In this way we were introduced to the history of the Thai culture, like a traveling schoolhouse with 36 old students. We had a great tour guide as teacher.

During the free hours, I took off my tourist tags and immersed myself in the cities, the people, the architecture, language and foods. My introduction to Thailand; Bangkok around 11pm:
On my first night out, I met a guy from New Zealand who’d been living there seven years. Rather than ask him questions all night I joined his group of friends and was catapulted into Bangkok nightlife. What a nightlife Bangkok has! From 3am street-side meals of spicy strange foods costing pennies; with tarot readers and elephants and sidewalk serenades from a one-man-Thai-band to thousands of motors whirling cycles and cars, trucks and scooters past a variety of crispy cooked bugs and critters for snacking on by tens of thousands of beautiful girls in the street speaking sounds of sweetness but like fire to the touch.

We were in Thailand during the ‘cool season’ and for that I am thankful. Everyday, the temperature was somewhere around perfect and the food was somewhere around really hot.
Markets everywhere: The Damnoensaduak Floating Market, night markets, day markets; I even bought beer while rafting down a river at 9am. Most of the markets were a mass of blue tarps and umbrellas with vendors under each blocking the sun from their wares and haggling with Thai and Farang alike. One of my favorite markets was outside Wat Mahathat at Ayutthaya with mostly Thai patrons and great prices.
I ventured to a market to buy flowers, was invited to a party, lent a motorcycle and got a tattoo. That’s it; from that first night in Bangkok seeing who could get across town for $1 on the back of a motorcycle taxi first to driving a friend through Chiang Mai on a Honda Click, getting around was much better than in Athens, Istanbul or Mexico City. I love the go attitude of Thai traffic, it’s a more yielding chaos than elsewhere.

Insane nights with the nicest of strangers, learning to speak Thai, eating the weirdest things at all hours, learning to be patient, holding my tongue and being more respectful, racing through traffic to meet someone I hardly know and having it be the most fun I’ve ever had was day and night after another for two weeks straight.
From huge discotheques to intimate outdoor clubs with live music, from huge golden Buddhas to intricate teakwood carvings, from meeting people equally curious to know about my way of life to standing on the bridge over the river Kwai while the train rolled into Thailand chased by several dripping wet kids come up from the river – I stayed up too late, got up too early and did everything beyond my expectations but Thailand was much better than I imagined. With 95% of the population Buddhist, the Thai people are the reason for such a rich and enjoyable time. The experience of flavorful foods, interesting Khmer, Ceylonese and Thai architecture, wild nightlife and a varied foreign geography left many a lasting impression, some that will undoubtedly have a ripple effect on my life.

I have a long list of places I’ve never been but I’ll be back in Thailand before crossing off many more. It was a great trip.

(It wasn’t until boarding the Northwest Airlines plane headed for Tokyo when an American stewardess started barking orders at us did I realize how great the last two weeks had been and how differently we treat each other over here. Everyone should visit Thailand.)