Ko Si Chang

We started off the day by meeting up with our Thai advisor View who took us to the zoo. It was fun to walk around and see all the animals, but the enclosures were much smaller and less authentic/natural than the ones in America and I felt really bad for them. We visited the giraffes and learned that one of their names was Bin Laden, which I thought was pretty funny.




After that we went over the the lions and tigers. I was astonished at how low the walls were that separated the animals from the visitors. This little fence thing definitely would not fly in America. This piece of wood was all there was, no wire, no plexi glass, nothing. If you look closely you can see the tiger in the cave thing.




At the reptile exhibit we were able to handle some snakes and birds.




After eating lunch at the zoo we took the bus to the sky train which we then took to the Ekami bus station. Once in this super cool Japanese district of Bangkok we took a two hour bus ride to Si Racha (a small Thai fishing town). Once there we took a tuktuk to the main pier where we caught a ferry to this perfect little island that greeted us with this beautiful lighthouse.




As you can tell it was quite the trip, but well worth it! While on the island our group of six students stayed in a gorgeous bungalow. Aside from the scorpion in the shower it was a fairly uneventful night of hanging out and exploring the island. In the morning we rented motor bikes and went to the beach! It was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous! When eating lunch our waitress asked where we were from. Upon saying America she shouted "WOOOO OBAMMMAAA!!" and gave us a discount on our meal. I thought it was pretty funny.
















After swimming and eating a few of us decided to get sea kyaks and explore the ocean, island and surrounding caverns. It was stunning, but unfortunately I did not bring my camera with me on that trip. With the rest of our afternoon we explored the island and found ourselves at some very cool sites including wild monkeys and this giant Buddha!








The monkey above found some leftover takeout by a temple and was not willing to share it with his hungry friend.




The whole trip cost around $35 and was an absolutely amazing first impression of rural Thailand!