Winter Break Part 2
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2006
1
16
19
Trip End
Aug 2007
Bangkok,
Thailand
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
01. Christmas Time?
! haha! It was very surreal arriving in Thailand because its Winter Break which means its around Christmas time. Being from MN I am used to feet of snow and pine trees. Instead I had 75+ degree weather and Palm trees decorated with Christmas lights. It was so great! It didn't seem quite right, but it was still great. Especially the Thai guy dressed up in the Santa suit. That was priceless. So, we met everyone and they are very cool and Ryan has got his stuff together for this trip. It's his 3rd time so I'm feeling pretty good. Everyone heads to the shopping area again to just bum around and hang out. Then we all kinda start tapering off in our own directions. Most people went back to the hotel, but Andy and I went for ICE CREAM!! It was delicious. We had a bit of a sad thought, regretting how excited we got over ice cream and not beer. We felt old for a second. But, seriously this ice cream was amazing. It was huge and layered and there was tons of chocolate. Oh boy. I love food. Shortly after that it was time to go back to the hotel and rest up for the tons of travel we have to get to the orphanage. The next morning we take a bus to the orphanage area making a couple pits stops on the way for sightseeing. Now, this day was a surprise for us so we didn't know what the heck was going on and apparently we had to wear special clothes. However, I didn't know about this and came downstairs in my new orange dress. Well, orange was an off-limits color. So, I change into my dark pinkish one. This was also no good. I was like my goodness what is going on today. Clearly no hiking or anything cause it's only the color thats a problem. I guess the third time is the charm cause it worked. The running joke became no matter what we are doing, my clothes weren't right for it! Boy am I glad I changed too because one of our stops was to go to a Monastery where monks live and pet the tigers that live there!!! IT WAS SO F-IN SCARY BUT AWESOME!! You could walk with the tigers down to their resting area for after they eat
02. Thai Santa
. Since tigers virtually pass out after eating its ok to go in and touch them Well, supervised of course. I have never been so excited and scared at the same time. They even take your camera in with you to take pics. Its cool. Although at some points they definitely took too many pics cause I wanted to get the f away from the tigers. There was rumbling in the throat that was working it's way up to a growl and a potential paw swat. Apparently this is no problem. Cause the camera just kept snapping. There aren't only tigers here. There are all kinds of wild animals, bears (I fed the bear a banana), peacocks, little pigs, cows, mules. You name it, they got it. Pretty neat. We also stopped at the Bridge over River Kwai where the Japanese slaughtered a bunch of Thai people and I think made them build this bridge. I think I need to watch the movie to get a better idea of this. Either way, they let you walk right onto the bridge and even across it if you want. And no, its not safe in the least bit. Its not fenced off or anything and the only real place to walk is between the tracks cause if you walk anywhere else and lose your balance you'll fall in to the river. I mean Thailand is great, no codes, no rules really, you can pretty much do what you want. Hold tiger heads, walk on train bridges, that yes are still in use. It's the place to go for adventure. It was a 9 hour bus ride to the orphanage so we were poopered out by the time we got to the town where the orphanage is near and pretty darn late so we decided to stay at a hotel in town and get dinner and rest up for meeting the kids
03. The Bridge
. We stayed at the Burmese Inn. Nice little huts is essentially what it was. But, I loved it. I slept great! The cold shower wasnt so pleasant though, but when its that hot, a cold shower is best. At dinner we met a little girl from Singapore who could speak Chinese, French, and English. She was 7!! Is that really possible? I mean she could actually speak all these languages. She spoke to me in English and a girl on our trip knew French so she talked to her in French. Both fluently, very, very fluently. And just demonstrated Chinese for us. To tell the truth, it was kinda creepy how smart she was!! It really makes a person think about how much of their brain they are actually using! I guess this was all too much to handle cause Ryan, Andy, and I bought a bottle of the local wine, Romberry wine! Not so tasty cause its really strong!!! Very good for bonding. Gets right to the point. Tipsiness. It was so good, Andy decided he was Mexican and dressed to fit the part. This was quite the riot for the locals who were so kind and wonderful. Even though every time we ordered food mine came last, even when I ordered first. This also became a running joke along with the clothes. I wasn't allowed to order food the entire trip!! Everyone was too worried it would take too long!! Hahaha! Ok. Well, we have really only made it through day 2 of this trip!! I mean we havent even got to the orphanage yet, which was the whole point of the trip. But, Im am pooped out and need to get some sleep. You will just have to be patient and wait and see what other twists and turns this Adventure in Thailand took. Cause let me tell you there were lots!! Till Next Time! 
