Study Abroad: Thailand Spring 2022

  06/01/2022 - Bye Bye Thailand and hello 40 hours of flying haha. I will miss Thailand more than words can express, I love my life here and I really hate to leave it. I have so many friends and so many things to do. While here I have been able to grow so much as a person and have been able to experience so many things I never have before. I have changed so much I am scared I won’t fit into my normal life anymore, but I am excited to see how much my life will change from here on out.  

05/30/2022 - Surprise! Today Fai, her family and all my friends made me a surprise birthday party (I almost cried). They gave me a new book bag (my old one broke), many shirts and gifts for my family, and they gave me 300$ (which is a lot of money for us in the US, but is a ton of money for Thai people). I can honestly say I am blessed to have met such amazing people, they have blessed me in so many ways. I really hate to leave them, I hope I get to see them again soon.

  05/29/2022 - Today Fai has brought me to Mahidol university (the same university I attended) to take her graduation and my graduation photos from Mahidol University. We got super dressed up and even have a professional photographer to take many photos of us throughout the day. It was an amazing and very sad day because I know I will never attend this super beautiful university ever again. I really love this university, it made me happy to study here and made me excited to attend school everyday.  

  05/13/2022 Don Inthanon national park, which was made in 1971 to honor Thailand 7th king Inthawichayanon (note: this is not the current king this kind lived in the 1800s). The temple has a ton of flowers and is placed on the top of mountain. It is a very unique temple, a bit more modern than most temples since it even has an escalator to bring you to the temple. It was very neat and the view was amazing. 

  05/12/2022 - One thing about me is that I love hiking, it is one of my favorite things to do and finally I am in Chang Mai, which is also a previous capital of Thailand. Chang Mai is located in northern Thailand where the weather is a lot colder than the south. it also has more mountains and hills than the south, and today I get to go explore them!

  05/04/2022 - Khao San road! It’s the main party road in Bangkok with a ton of bars, restaurants and photo destinations. My friend Bird and Fai are here with me and we have taken so many photos at the photo destinations. Wow, I just ate at a middle eastern style restaurant named Shoshana and the food was unbelievably delicious. 

05/01/2022 - Fai’s mom has invited me to go on their family vacation (for free) she is so sweet. She was teaching me how to cook and honestly I don’t know how she does it everyday, so much grinding the ingredients haha. On this trip we stayed at a private house in the south of Thailand and I was able to meet some very very amazing people.

  04/30/2022 - Today I have met up with my good friends Fai and PK, Fai is a pharmacist and PK is a medical representative. They both have been telling me about how delicious this desert is and that I must try it at all cost and so they brought me to try it and it was AWESOME! it was like a snowcone but not a snowcone, a bubble tea but not a bubble tea, it was very unique and very delicious. If you could get the audio from me eating you would hear me say “Alloy MAK” which means very very delicious haha.

  04/29/2022 Today I have decided to travel to many street markets by BTS and MRT by myself. While it did take me about 2 times longer than it should have, I finally made it to the markets. I got on a Songtail (a truck that is like a bus) and then on a bus and then on an MRT then I swapped to the BTS and now I’ve finally arrived YAYYAYA! It’s a very nice day today, I love the life in the city.

  04/28/2022- Today I feel like walking, Its finally isn’t too hot outside to go for a walk. It is very peaceful today, the heat here can often make you upset but I see so many people outside playing and smiling. I see so many kids playing sports, it makes me wonder what life would've been like growing up here.

  04/27/2022 - Ayutthaya once was the capital of Thailand until the Burmese raided the capital and burned it to the ground. However to this day you can still see the fire marks on the bricks and see many large beautiful temples that were left standing. When the Burmese raided, they knocked the heads off most statues so you will see many Buddha statues with their heads removed. Honestly by far it is my favorite temple and was a highlight of my trip.

  04/25/2022 Ahhh we have arrived at Phuket, the land of the foreigners. Here you will see the most amount of foreigners but for good reason! It is super pretty and very diverse here. They have walking streets (party streets), beautiful beaches, fancy hotels and best yet it has its own airport fairly close. While here I got my first Thai massage at a fancy hotel I was residing at, and I was able to relax at a super huge pool while looking over at Patong beach. 

  04/26/2022 Lovers beach, it’s a great place to be alone and single despite the name. It is very lovely and very isolated, you must hike for about 15 minutes to get here so many people don’t want to come (in Thai we would call them “Ba na”) which means crazy in a sweet way. This is the most isolated beach I’ve been to and honest the most relaxing, I even took a nap in a tree.

  04/21/2022 Hello! Today I’m going to the Similan islands! It’s a small island right off the coast of Thailand that is one of the most popular snorkeling destinations. The trip includes the boat ride, snorkeling equipment and food, but I wish I would’ve brought more sunblock :c it is very pretty at the islands, but so crowded, very very beautiful, but it’s like being in the city with the amount of people haha.

  04/19/2022 - Finally I have been on a beach where Leonardo DiCaprio has been, Maya beach. Many of you will remember this beach from being in the 2000s movie named The Beach, where a while after the movie sadly the island and Thailand was hit by a very deadly tsunami. However, the beach is still closed due to efforts to rebuild the coral in the bays, so you can only get knee deep in the water. Also, this bay is very known for sharks due to the beach being closed for so long. This is definitely the cleanest, prettiest, and whitest beach I’ve seen in Thailand.

  04/18/2022 - Phi Phi island is one of the bigger tourist places you will see in Thailand, it’s very popular for snorkeling, boat rides, pictures and wild monkeys haha. The water is so clear you can see all the way to the bottom like you are looking through glass, it’s very pretty. You must watch out for monkeys though! They may seem cute and sweet, but they are cute little mean thefts haha, I seen many go onto the boat taking things while everyone snorkeled. This day was amazing, I wish I could stay here forever.

  04/13/2022 - Songkran day is Thailands New Year’s Day, where you can find millions of people having a water fight in the streets for a whole week! Everyone gets dressed in very bright shirts and gets buckets, balloons and bottles full of water to throw at strangers. I have spent this week at home doing water fights with all my friends and people in my apartment building. Also, it is a spiritual day, where you can see young people washing their elders feet and putting powder on their faces to wish their elders prosperity in this next year. It was so fun! 

  04/01/2022 - Everyone shout with me ICONSIAM!!!! Wow this is such a wonderfully big place, it’s a huge mall on the river, but it is super fancy. It has water shows, dinner boats, and many many cakes as you can probably imagine (I love cake).This is one of the prettiest places I’ve been in Thailand, especially at sunset with the water show and with the way the sunset reflects off the glass of the building.

  03/20/2022 - “Chiang Chiang Chiang” "Chiang" means elephant in Thai if you are wondering. This is a phrase everyone has heard me say all day, due to my excitement to see the elephants. I’m not going to lie, I was slightly afraid of the elephants at first, but then I noticed how smart they truly are. These elephants are brilliant, they can even do tricks. This is my first time seeing an elephant in person, but I wouldn’t have thought they would be so loving, friendly and happy haha.

  03/19/2022 ITS A HUGE MALL ON THE BEACH!?!? This is so insane, never would I ever have imagined that such a huge mall would be built right across from the beach. Then again, this is Pattaya, which is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. However it seems empty here due to covid, but I like the peacefulness. I was wrong, it is peaceful during the day, but it is booming at night, there are so many people you can’t hardly find a place to sit! But who needs to sit when there is so much to explore. 

  03/09/2022 - I miss American food a ton, please don’t get me wrong I do love Thai food, but it taste very different from food in the US. My friends mom noticed how much I missed it so she brought me to this restaurant that serves some of the best ribs I’ve ever tasted. The Ribs taste a bit spicy and nothing is better than spicy BBQ. My friends mom is truly amazing, words can’t express how much respect and love I have for her.

  03/06/2022 - China town is a very popular street in Thailand, it’s home to many fried bugs such as grasshoppers and beetles. Now you may be wondering, did Brandon eat a bug!?!?!? The long answer to that question is NO, I could not eat one haha. Other than the bugs, there are many cafes and bars you can visit, There is even a hidden bar behind a book shelf if you can find it! I ate at a noodle shop that had a Michelin star and honestly the food was shockingly good.

  02/19/2022 - Koh Kood is a small island right off the coast of Chonburi Thailand, and is the first island I’ve ever been to. We had to take a boat here and then a truck drove us (VERY QUICKLY) through very narrow roads to our hotel, honestly I believe the guy should work for Nascar because he was a great driver. Our hotel is named A-Na-Lay and I would highly recommend it to everyone, I met the owner and he was very very kind, it had great food, super amazing staff and a private beach with a pool. 

  02/12/2022 - Siam Amazing park is one of the best amusement parks I have ever been to! There are zero lines, water rides, carnival rides, big rides and small fun rides. However, I’m the kind of person that’s always on the move and with there being no lines, I almost drove my friends crazy by going from ride to ride, but in the end I can honestly say I rode every ride at least 4 times. 

  02/05/2022 - The Giant swing is so tall! I know it’s in the name, but standing next to it makes you really see how tall it is. It appears to be over 100 feet high, but google says my eyes are wrong and says it’s only 70 feet tall. The swing sadly is only for looks and doesn’t have the swing part anymore (I know kinda a bummer), but it’s still awesome to look at! 

  01/30/2022 - Wat Arun is the prettiest temple I have seen so far, the details in the art and craftsmanship is so outstanding. Me and my friends ate dinner across the river from the temple and watched the sun set down on the temple and I must say it is something everyone should see at least once. Also, it was my first time getting on a boat in Thailand, which was exciting and also surprising because it was only 4 baht (11 cents).  

  01/29/2022 - Today I am with my friends Bird and Fai, both of which are amazing. They have taken me to a national Thai museum to prepare me for university, and to show me how to act in a classroom (there is an old classroom in the museum and also Thai traditions are very different than in the US so I must learn them). This museum was a ton of fun, they have many old Thai games to play, they have a room dedicated to Thai food, and they even have a room where you can dress like a traditional Thai women or man would. 

  01/22/2022 - Wat Pho, this is the first temple Ive been to and I found that they charge foreigners 200 baht (6$ or so) to enter the temple. It is free for national citizens so I was joking with the guard saying “Phom Ma Jak Thailand Khrup” which means I am from Thailand haha. He laughed and asked me to sing the national song so sadly I was caught instantly, I know shocking right? When you enter a temple you must wear long pants, closed toe shoes and a shirt that covers your body and shoulders (so I was sadly very hot both by appearance and temperature). The temples are very pretty and have a ton of detail, Thailand is known for gold so I’ve noticed they paint everything golden it’s very pretty. I had a ton of fun.

  01/10/2022 - This is the first beach in Thailand I have seen and it is so beautiful. The beach is so quiet and no one is here, all you can hear is the waves and the birds. I’m very happy my friends have taken me to this place so soon, it’s exactly what I’ve wanted to see.