"I'm dreaming of a warm, Thai beach..." ราชอาณาจักรไทย

Like I've mentioned before, I have a list of places I want to see while living in Asia. The top place on that list while living on this side of the world: THAILAND. I have been wanting to go to Thailand for a number of years now. I can't point out exactly why I was so fascinated with Thailand. Was it the exotic beaches I had heard about? Perhaps the Thai-food phase I went through a few years ago? Maybe it was knowing that despite all the natural beauty, it's also a country that has a sad, dark side? I  think it was a combination of all and I am so glad that I was finally able to go to "The Land of Smiles."

Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia that borders the countries of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia.

          







We flew out on Christmas Day (side note: It was sad being far away from home during Christmas. Although I was excited about my trip, I decided I would never again be far away from my family during Christmas). Our flight left Incheon airport around 1pm and we had a very long layover in Shanghai. During our layover, we slept, watched movies and ate. After the layover and then a delayed flight, we finally left China around 10:00pm and got to Bangkok around 1am. It was a long trip to get there but it was worth it.

At Incheon Airport with my huge suitcase

BKK, here I come!

 Nothing like napping on some 'comfortable' airport chairs

 Yes we look scary. It was about 1am!

We made it to our hotel and got up the next day to tour Bangkok!

A tuk-tuk

Bangkok has multiple forms of transportation such as tuk-tuks (see above), taxis/public buses, the Skytrain (elevated rail system which crosses the city), the MRT (subway) and the boats and ferries on the Chao Phraya river. The boats were my favorite as you can just hop on a boat and it takes you to major parts of the city and you get a nice view, too.   

Our first day, we did a lot of sightseeing and touring (mostly, the Buddhist temples)

The food and fruit were so good!

Fish, rice and a really good salad that included mango sauce

 Yummy fruit everywhere: mangos, watermelon and more

 Street food!

 One of the nights, we went to a market and of course there were vendors

Touring the Grand Palace: This served as the official residence of the Kings of Thailand from the 18th century onwards and the construction began in 1782

After a long day of touring, I figured it was time for a massage and I got a traditional Thai massage. Wonderful!

On Monday, we took a train into Cha-am beach which is about 2 hours away from Bangkok. The train stopped a lot so it took us a lot longer to get to our location but we got to see a lot of the countryside along the way.  

The train station

 Vendors would come on the train at every stop and of course I couldn't resist that fruit.

 At the beach!

 Beautiful at night

So something I knew I wanted to do in Thailand was ride an elephant. Elephants are their national animal and although I know it is a very "touristy" thing to do, I didn't care. I finally did it (and scratched it off my list!).

The beach was so beautiful and relaxing

 My favorite thing to have at Thai restaurants at home is
"Thai Tea." Well, I asked someone at the hotel to teach me how to say it in Thai so that I could order it (cha yeng). Well once I figured out that I could order it, it was all downhill from there. I had a lot of Thai teas and even went to the supermarket to get the powder to make it here and send it to my sister (she loves it, too).

Here is a lady making Thai tea. Yum! If you haven't had this, get in your car right now and head to the nearest Thai restaurant. 

 Back on the beach

After spending, a couple of days at the beach, we headed back to Bangkok for a couple more days. Then  it was time to leave. On our way back, we once again had a layover in Shanghai and we had just planned on camping out at the airport. (FYI in case you didn't know: China requires citizens of many countries to acquire a Visa before being allowed into the country. I plan to get one because I want to go to Beijing but I didn't get one before this trip). Well, after being questioned by immigration, they gave us a 24 hour pass which allowed us to leave the airport and see a little bit of Shanghai! It was a quick visit but I can now cross that off of my list, as well! :)

We were back in Seoul for the New Year's Eve festivities.

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Thailand is a beautiful place and I hope to go back one day, not only to vacation but also to possibly help out with this organization, www.freedom424.org, or other similar organizations. 

I believe it's great to travel and see the world but I'd also like to help the people in the locations that I visit. 

About 300,000 women are forced to work as prostitutes in one of Thailand's 60,000 sexual service centers.  More and more young girls and women are being sold, trafficked or forced into prostitution due to poverty.

Organizations such as Freedom 4/24 and others help these girls and women by letting them know that there are outlets for the sexually exploited.  They provide educational, health and employment opportunities to these girls and women.

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