Taiwan: Thailand

To put things into perspective, ill relate countries to college. Vietnam is your capstone, it’s hard. There is not a lot of room for error. Taiwan is the difficult class you take your junior year. But no matter how hard the class gets you always seem to get a good grade. Thailand is like an intro class. It’s Southeast Asia 101. Nearly everyone speaks English. Everywhere you look there are expats. All the comforts of home can be found easily. But there is still a different culture, a different language, and different food. Oh man, the food. So if you want to travel to SE Asia, start here.

Bangkok: It’s hot. Really hot. Take a shower and change your clothes 3 times a day hot. Being surrounded by concrete doesn’t help. And they say this is their winter… We spent a couple days wandering around Bangkok seeing some sights, meeting some people, drinking out of buckets on the side of the road at van bars. But most importantly, eating. The food is reason enough to travel to Thailand. I would list all of the foods that I loved, but there would be too many.

Yellow Curry Soup

Mango Sticky rice

Grand Palace

Thai dishes rely on balance. Sweet, salty, spicy, and bitter.

After 2 days in Bangkok we traveled to Chaing Mai, the 2^nd largest city located in Northern Thailand. It is here that history was made. I, David Voltz, got to play with Tigers. Unreal experience. They claim that the tigers were not drugged, im not sure, but for peace of mind I will believe them.

Seriously!

Roar

The big ones were my favorite.

I think he sees a jayhawk

I realize I am really cool. You don't have to tell me.

street band

yum

The next day we went to an Elephant rescue camp. They rescue abused or overworked elephants and bring them to this camp. Here we got to feed them, ride them, and give them a bath. So much fun.

They cry to keep the dust out of their eyes

The last day in Chaing Mai we did a Thai cooking class. We cooked 6 different courses and ate them all. My stomach nearly exploded. But I must say, I am quite the cook. (when there is a lady standing over my shoulder telling me what to do)