Alrighty, still bringing you up to speed with my new life. Here we go.




So I'm going to shorten up the re-cap a little bit, because I really want to get to posting about recent events, rather than stuff from the beginning of the trip.

I soon found out that my host brother and sister, Shine and Nuch respectively, would be heading off to Mexico on exchange within the week. Over the next few days, we spent much of our time visiting friends and family all over the city, and getting the final things packed for their journey. Their departure date came around, and we all loaded into a snub-nose van, along with a couple extended family members, to make the trip back to Bangkok. we left at about noon, as their flight wasn't until 11:50 that night. On the way there, I was gazing out the window the entire time. Everything here is still brand new to me, and I didnt want to wasted a second of it.
 The road we drove along was quite strange. Along the entire road, their were small houses and shops and little vendors. Right on the edge of the highway, miles away from the nearest city, you could see an old Thai woman sitting on a rickety lawn chair in front of a table laden with brightly coloured fresh fruit. Then you look to the other side of the road, and a 9 year old boy would be pulling out of his dirt driveway on a motorcycle, and onto the highway... This country is amazing.

We got to Bangkok right around 5:30, so we found a restaurant for dinner. It was my first meal out, and   was quite a cool experience. The restaurant sat overhanging a pond, and had a live band playing in the background. It was a gorgeous place! As for the food, I was still learning how to eat properly, and the Thai people can be rather particular about the right way to do it. You fill your plate with rice, and, with your spoon in your right hand and fork in your right, you start to serve yourself the many different dishes on the table. You only take one at a time though, and only usually enough for about 2-3 bites worth. Then you combine a little bit of rice, and whatever you just dished yourself on the spoon, and chow down. Most of it was quite good, and yes... almost all of it was spicy.
We got to the airport about 2 hours later, only to find out that the travel agency had goofed on the bookings, and the airport had no record of Nuch and Shine's tickets. Great start to an exchange eh? So we spent the next 6-ish hours moving from one location to the next, consulting with people on the phone and then confirming with airport employees, all in Thai. Every once and a while i would get an update, but in the meantime, all I could really do was sit and read. Thank goodness I brought a book. At about 1am, I was finally told that we would head back into the city to spend the night, and hopefully sort things out the next day. Boy oh boy did I love hearing those words.
The hotel we stayed at was meh from the outside, but our rooms were amazing. Not at all what I was expecting. Neither were the exceptionally hard beds. I was beginning to think that that was a thing in this country. My sleep started as soon as I laid down, and came to an unwanted end at 8 the next morning. We all went and ate breakfast together while the travel agency was sorting things out, but when we had finished, nothing more had been solved, so we waited around at the hotel until 12pm, when we had to check out, and then back to the aiport we went.

Eventually, we got everything fixed, and my brother and sister were to leave at 10pm that night. We spent the next 6 hours touring the airport, which really isnt that exciting, and I took another big chunk out of my book. Finally, the time came. They were ready to go through security and officially start their trip. After many more hugs and consoling words from their biological family, I gave them each a hug and realized then how quickly people can bond. I had only known them for about a week, but knew I would miss them while they were gone. They said their last goodbye, and off they went, tears streaming out all over the place. It was kind of cool to be able to experience that kind of thing from both side, once when i left Calgary, and then saying goodbye to someone else as they left.

Goodbye Nuch and Shine!!

We drove back to Kamphaeng Phet that night, and much to my surprise, I was informed that I would still be going to school the next day, even though I only got to bed around 4a.m.


My first day of school is soon to come!!

In the meantime, if you have any questions or want me to talk about something specific, feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer you
Sawatdee Krap