Adventure Thaime

Five days in Thailand.

On the first day I went to the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo, where I saw some mistreatment of animals and got my picture taken with a baby tiger. It was fun, but not really.

The real fun started on my Bridge over the River Kwai trip.

There were only 16 people signed up for this three day trip to Kanchanaburi and Ayuthaya. Not even all 16 showed up. In fact, there were only 3 guys there of the 5 or 6 guys who signed up.

The bus ride there was long, and I took a nap, but then we had lunch and hopped on the Death Railway, a railroad build by POWs in WWII. It runs over the River Kwai, where we got off. It was really interesting to see the real bridge and read about the kinds of things that went on there.

After the bridge we went to visit a temple. It was beautiful! They called it the “son of Angkor Wat” the great temple in Cambodia. I climbed to the top of the steep staircases and look around at the wonderful Thai landscape.

We checked into the hotel, since there was an odd number of guys, I got the room to myself. It was a 5 star hotel, and I had the “superior king” room. All to myself. I felt like James Bond. We ate another Thai meal which was incredible. I have never eaten so much food in my life. For the entire trip, even, I have had so much food. I don't know when I turned into an eater. On the other hand, I don't know when I had a shaved head and wore a necklace.

Then came my massage, which you've read by now. The next day came our boat ride on the River Kwai itself. They put us in these small boats with the largest rudders I have ever seen. The boat ride started nice and calmly, and then out of nowhere we jumped to lightspeed! We TORE down that river! All along the river there were small cabins and floating dance floors where you could have a party. I thought about what it would be like if I flew all my relatives out to Thailand for my son or daughter's bnai-mitzvah and had it on the River Kwai on a float.

After our boat ride we went to the JEATH museum, which was a small museum dedicated to showing the torture of the POWs who had worked on the River Kwai and lived in the area. Some of the photographs were sickening, and even the paintings were appalling. It amazes me what incredible things humans can accomplish, like building a bridge, and the terrible things they can do, like make people live in loincloths and feces.

The rest of the day we visited various temples. One stood out in particular because it had the largest bronze Buddha in Thailand. It was an incredible sight to see. Our tour guide took some pictures of me in front of it, which I'll include in a later post.

We checked into our hotel, and I, of course, had the room to myself. I sat down next to the bed to see if there was a Gideon's Bible, and as I took off my left sock I saw a book below the Bible that was called “Teaching of the Buddha.” So I picked it up and started to read. I sat there and read it for 20 minutes, with one sock on and one sock off. I was so enthralled by it I couldn't put it down. After a nap, dinner, and some socializing, I went back upstairs and read it for another hour before falling asleep.

Buddhism has got to be one of the most interesting religions out there. What it teaches about controlling desire and keeping the mind pure and understanding the impermanence of all things struck me deeply, and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. I have already started to apply some of things it teaches into my life, and it has fared quite well.

The last day of our trip (my 4th day in Thailand) we visited the summer palace of the king and it was beautiful. Various types of architecture. We also stopped in Bangkok for a little bit, and saw the largest mall I have ever seen in my entire life. It has 7 or 8 floors stretching across 5 sections. I could not believe how big this thing was.

One great thing about the trip were our trip leaders, Joe and Susie Brazas. Joe is the conduct officer and Susie is his wife. They were wonderful! They invited us all to their giant house in the woods up in the Tahoe area whenever we want.

After India, Thailand seemed really clean and really empty. The hospitality of the Indians will never be matched by anyone else, so I feel like Thailand was beaten before it could get started as far as life changing experiences go. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time,it was beautiful, and the history is so rich! I was sad to leave, but I am much, much more excited to get to Viet Nam than I am sad about leaving Thailand.