New Experiences in Thailand

Submitted by Matthew Geist on the 2017 winter session program in Australia and Thailand sponsored by the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics…

It’s incredible how quickly time is going by!  After exploring the city of Bangkok for seven short days, our group traveled south to Rayong to stay in Purimas.  This was a delightful change of pace after the constant chaos (in a good way, of course!) that Bangkok presented us.  The resort sat right on the beach, giving each of us a beautiful view of the Gulf of Thailand from our rooms.  Although the view was gorgeous, unfortunately, it wasn’t as pretty when we got closer.  The shore was riddled with trash, but that didn’t stop our group from constantly playing beach volleyball or taking turns doing flips into the pool.  The stay in Rayong reminded me how lucky we are to have clean beaches in the United States, something we certainly take for granted.

After our relaxing stay in Rayong, we took a quick flight to Chiang Mai.  Our first activity involved attending Thai cooking school, where each of us learned how to make curry from scratch, as well as authentic Pad Thai.  On our way to the cooking school, we stopped at the market where we helped select fresh ingredients for our day of cooking.  The next day, our group visited a tiger sanctuary and the Doi Suthep Temple which is the most famous of its kind in Chiang Mai.  The temple sits atop a mountain which provided us with beautiful views of Chiang Mai in the valley below.  The tiger sanctuary not only gave us an opportunity to see the tigers up close, but to also pet them and interact with them.