In the beginning...Thailand Day One

 The first day of any trip is always a bit stressful. We had to make sure everyone came with us or met up at the airport by 7:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Then you have to factor in that they are all very excited teenagers. The term "herding cats" will be appropriate for many of our days. It is one thing to be responsible for kids on local treks but across thousands of miles it is much different.
It didn't even take until check in before Matthew here found the fruit smoothy place. As is common in Korea, one person buys a treat and others all just grab a straw. How they tell whose is whose I will never know. This is the same child who got stopped through immigration for paperwork issues and who we had to make special trips everywhere to find his guitar in oversize baggage claims.



As for the girls, once we all got through customs they had time to grab a quick bite before getting on the Thai Airways plane. What better for breakfast than french fries by sunrise. They were happy and that is all that really mattered. 17 of us including adults set off for this adventure and with just a few hiccups we all seemed to make it through.

American airline companies have nothing on these international flights for the most part. They have much more leg space in economy, much better service and in the case of Thai Airways, much brighter colors. I have to say that they win my vote for keeping your eyes open on the plane. The only downside is that all safety and other announcements are done in three languages, Thai, English, and Korean so they take a bit longer.

This is us coming into Bangkok Airport. You could start to feel the heat immediately. It was in the 90's when we got off the plane and it really smacked you in the face. This is their cool, dry monsoon season. Dry monsoon season really? Such an oxymoron in my opinion. It is about a 6 hour flight from Korea so some students slept while others had plenty of movie and music options.
Bangkok airport is absolutely huge. I had no idea how big it was. It has to be one of the larger international airports in the world. When you walk in, you immediately notice the bright colors and the smell of incense. It is not an overpowering smell, but just part of the air you breathe. It definitely tells you that you are in a different country.

Once we found our rides from the airport, the effects of the trip were rather immediate. First was the epic cry from many of the kids that there was no wifi and thus their phones did not work. (I was doing my secret happy dance inside) That meant they were going to actually have to converse on this trip. Then when we got in the vans I scared some of the students because I sat on what would be the drivers side of the vehicle in Korea and in the states. In Thailand they drive on the opposite side of the rode so I had to calm their fears that no, I would not be driving them around.
Within about 30 minutes this was the result of the majority of the van so I decided to try and take a few pictures of roadside attractions that they would otherwise have missed.

I think that the driver thought I was crazy because first I sat up front, and second, I was taking pictures from a moving vehicle. I am no fool. The best view and air conditioning was in the front seat. On picture I snapped was of this three headed elephant on top of what looked like a temple building. I am not sure what it was and could not converse enough with my driver to find out. It would give most buildings in Las Vegas a run for their money because it was so huge. I really wanted to find out more about it but it gives me something to return to one day.

This picture is of one of the bridge spans we crossed. Bankok and Thailand in general were surprisingly spacious in many areas. It seems as if urban sprawl is not only an issue in the states. Of course trying to navigate their freeway system is something best left to the experts. I would say the Thai folks drive even more insanely than the Koreans. Makes me question why Americans and Europeans for the most part follow any of the rules at all. The rest of the world sure doesn't seem to.
We drove about 90 minutes to our first destination which will be in the next blog posting. We only got turned around once which was good and even though I was tired, I really enjoyed looking at the contrasting landscape. More to come...