Asia-Thailand

Thailand is Cool! For Maddy J, Erin and Savannah  Best time to travel:  the best time to visit is between November and February when the weather is kind and the beaches are at their finest. We will be leaving January 6-January 15. Place: Bankok Our tour is from: Thursday the 8th-Tuesday the 13th

FLIGHT DAYS: The 6th and 7th. We arrived at PDX on time, but our flight was delayed. The flight addentants were very kind and gave us fairly decent meals. I fell asleep a lot. United Airlines was an amazing airline to fly on. We met Maddy at the hotel we are staying at which is the Grand Diamond Hotel.

DAY 1: We get picked up from the Grand Diamond Hotel in a tour bus. We visit [|Wat Pananchoen], Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, ancient ruins. Then we go to the city of Lopburi and go around the city in pedaled rickshaws. We are staying at the Topland Hotel. For lunch I tried the a popular dish in Thailand called Tom Yam which is a lemon-flavored soup usually with shrimp.

DAY 2: Today, we visit Wat Maha That where there is a large Budda statue. Then we go to a historical park and ancient ruins. We then continue to Lampang where we will go on a tour of the old city in horse carriages. We will also go to Ban Sao Nak which is a teak-wood mansion. We have an overnight stay at Lampang River Lodge. Today, we learned how to formally greet someone in Thailand. You place your hands together in front of your chest and bow slightly.

DAY 3: Today, we go to the biggest natural lake in Thailand. Later, we take a boat ride on the Mekong River towards the Golden Triangle. Our tour director told us that the Golden Triangle is where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos converge. We then traveled to Mae Sai and stayed at the Rimkok Resort.

DAY 4: Today we departed for Chiang Mai and visit local handicraft center. Later we visited the Wat Doi Suthep which is a temple in the mountains. The artwork on this temple was amazing and so beautiful. We are staying at the Empress Chiang Mai.

DAY 5: We visited the Mae Saa Elephant camp where we watched the elephants at work. We paid some money to get to ride the elephants, and it was a blast! Then we visited a beautiful orchid farm. After that, we went to the Ciang Mai Railway Station. We had an overnight stay on a the train. For dinner, Maddy and I tried a dishthat was called 'satay' which had barbecued pork or chicken on a stick with peanut sauce. It was delicious!

DAY 6: We arrived at the Bankok Railway Station. Then, we were transfered to our hotel. Once there, we relaxed, hung out and enjoyed Thailand cuisine. In the afternoon, we played badminton one of Thailand's popular sports.

DAY 7: Today we woke up early and got our suitcases packed up and ready to go for our flight the next morning. Then we went shopping for souveniers and gifts. We also did a lot of sight-seeing. Maddy and I saw that many of the people were wearing western style clothing, but there were villiage women doing some shopping that were dressed in traditional clothing. They were wearing a wrap around skirt, a simple blouse and flip-flops.

DAY 8: We got up around 4:15am, grabed our bags and went down to the modern style lobby to catch the shuttle bus to the airport. Once we got boarded, it was a long and slow flight, so I slept most of the time. We arrived at 7:04pm. By far traveling to Thailand was a great and enriching experience.