The Day Has Come

The time has finally come! I've been waiting for this day since April. I am off to Bangkok, Thailand to begin this new chapter in my life. I couldn't be more excited and ready to challenge myself as an educator and even more so as a person. But, before I start teaching, I have a week long of training at the Royal River Hotel in Bangkok. Luckily for me, training doesn't start till Saturday and I arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday around 1 pm. I was welcomed to Bangkok by an old friend, Brogan, who met me at the airport. I met Brogan through my brother and he has lived on and off in Bangkok for a couple years now and he was so gracious enough to let me crash at his place for a few days. I was so excited to explore Bangkok, see the sights, eat some crazy Thai food, and check out the nightlife. There was just one tiny little problem... I arrived the day before the saddest day in the history of Thailand. The late King Bhumibol Adulyadej's ceremonial cremation was scheduled for Thursday, the day after I arrived. Now if you know nothing about the Thai king, which my guess is you don't, just know that he died on October 13th, 2016. No, that is not a typo. He literally died a year ago and the people of Thailand have spent an entire year, an ENTIRE YEAR, mourning the late king! Since this was happening the next day, the entire city of Bangkok was essentially shut down for 24 hours. Starting at 12 am Thursday to 11:59 pm, the entire country was on lock down, which meant, no alcohol was to be sold or bought, no loud music could be played, people should wear black or at the very least wear dark colors, and all bars, nightclubs, etc, were to be closed. So as Brogan and I ventured around town, nothing, and I mean nothing was open. Bangkok is home to over 8 million people and as we were walking around town, you would assume that we were in a small town of about 100,000 people. That's how quiet and weird it was that day. Brogans never seen Bangkok like this before and, quite frankly, no one has because the king ruled for 70 years! The people of Thailand absolutely loved their king. His face was everywhere in Bangkok and people flocked to his picture just to take a photo with him, it was a crazy sight to see. So needless to say, my first night in Bangkok was unexciting and uneventful.

The next day was the royal cremation and since this hasn't happened in 70 years, I figured it would be something worth experiencing. So Brogan and I decided to head down to the Grand Palace to partake in this glorious ceremony. For us, it was the opposite of glorious. The Palace was flooded with millions and millions of people! It was insane!! Not only could you not move or walk, but you could barely breathe! The one good thing about the ceremony was that vendors and volunteer workers were handing out free food and drinks all day, which was nice and another reason why the people loved the king; because he was all about helping the people of Thailand. After a few hours we decided to get out of there because we were tired of all the dirty looks we were getting because we were in shorts and t-shirts, whereas everyone else was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt. Mind you, it was 90 degrees with 80% humidity. It was ridiculously hot and there was no way in hell I was wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt. Thursday night was pretty much a ghost town as well, since the people of Thailand were mourning all day and night, I pretty much did nothing and called it a night rather early.

On Friday, I had to check into the hotel where I was having teacher "training/orientation" and then I was free to wander. So Brogan and I took that time to see some more of Bangkok. We went and hung out around the central world mall, MBK center, chilled at the night market, and gallivanted down the famous Khaosan road. The city was a little more lively but it still wasn't the usual crazy Bangkok that you hear about.

Saturday arrived and that meant teacher training all day. It was long, uneventful, and quite boring. On the flip side of that, I did get to finally meet the two other teachers that will be teaching at my school in Rayong. Their names are Matt and Cailyn (like Caitlyn without the "T"). Throughout orientation we became really close friends and without them to get me through orientation, I probably wouldn't have made it out alive. It was a long and daunting five days of training and I couldn't have been happier to finally get out of Bangkok and head to my new home in Rayong! I'm excited and can't wait to move into my new home, and meet my fellow co-workers and students. This is going to be an interesting and fun next few months. I have no idea what to expect but like with everything I do, I will stay calm, be positive, and just have fun.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more blogs, pictures, and updates.

On top of the roof at the Sky Bar which was seen in the movie The Hangover 2

#Bangkok #travel #Asia #Thailand #TheHangover