3 Reasons To Visit Thailand (and 1 Reason Not To)

Thailand was a blast! But I had a good thing. Here is a

5 Reasons To Go To Thailand

I took a vacation recently and went to Thailand?

Why Thailand?

The main reason is that my girlfriend and I have never been to Asia and we really like Thai food

So we booked a ticket in October because that's my only semi-chill time when summer camp is over, Fall has begun and rosters are, for the most part, finalized.

We saved up vacation money, the old school way: we put away money every week since the beginning of the year and said "no" to a lot of other short-term excursions.

Like every business owner/professional I scrambled to get "everything" taken care of before we left, of which I was partially successful.

After 22 hours of flying, we arrived in Bangkok at 1pm. The first thing that hit us was the humidity.

It was hot, humid and we immediately appreciated the more cool and dry temperatures of living in Southern California.

First Impressions

We exchanged currency to the Baht and immediately felt like royalty. We went out to restaurants, got massages and explored many temples and buddhas throughout the city.

Here are some highlights from the trip.

Also we will incorporate some Asian cooking into the Winter Session and some Asian adventure into the Lego Robotics "story"

1. You can visit the city, beach or moutains within a few hours.

This trip started in Bangkok, a bustling metroplois with poverty and wealth within a few streets of each other. It has great transportation via the metro, taxis and uber.

After spending a few days here, our next stop was Phuket, a popular beach island with crystal clear water. Sip a fresh Thai coconut (only $.40) and enjoy the sun and seafood

You can take a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Island, a stunning beach paradise with day trips you can take by long boat.

And to round it off, we went to Chaing Mai, our favorite spot of the trip, which had all the comforts of the city but green mountains all around.

2. The Food is incredible.

After eating Thai food for 2 weeks, I'm not even close to being bored of it. The reason?

There is SO much variety. A lot of dishes are made up of staples like rice, noodles, lean meats, seafood, veggies and soup but the combinations are endless. Go to any Thai restaurant and you'll flip through pages of dishes.

I tried A LOT of food and didn't even get close to experiencing everything I wanted to.

Favorites include: Chicken Satay, Green Curry (making the paste from scratch is an extensive process), Pad Thai, Tom Yum Gong (hot and sour soup with shrimp) and lots of freshly steamed, fried or bbq seafood, particularly fish.

3. The dollar is strong and you can live like a king!

This is the most common favorite aspect of Thailand. The cost of living is low, especially compared to Los Angeles.

Example: After weeks of travel, my girlfriend and I wanted to treat ourselves to a lavish date.

• First we each got a one-hour massage
• We went to a local restaurant and ate to our hearts content plates of stir-fried vegetables, chicken, shrimp and rice.
• We treated ourselves to an American movie (the Jack Reacher sequel, which was solidly entertaining)

Total Cost: $30

$13 for two massages (including tip), $7 for dinner and $10 for two movie tickets

Now we're back in the city where you can spend $15 and eat a (delicious) lunch, but we miss the fun days of ballin it up.

I'm not gonna sugar coat the trip, because like every vacation there were a couple hardships. Thailand has mosquitos and we got bitten up. Also we almost got scammed into buying overpriced suits. We typically got charged more on EVERYTHING than a local, and built in a sense of distrust with any cab driver or vendor who asked "Where we from..."

My least favorite aspect of Thailand: the HUMIDITY (and heat)

Within moments of stepping out of our hotel or airbnb, during the day time hours, or even at night, the temperature was high, typically between 80-95 degrees F with a humidity of 80%.

I rarely wore jeans because it was just too uncomfortable to sweat so much.

The Thai wear a lot of shirts, sandals and flip flops and for good reason.

You can take respite in an air conditioned mall or 7-11.

But the heat and humidity is intense. You don't want to be out during touristy things between 1pm-5pm because you'll just sweat everything you have. At the Grand Palace, everyone was enjoying the beautiful architceture and statues, but were noticably hot.

I even caved and bought a $9 ice cream! I love ice cream, but not that much.

I am thankgful and appreciative for the cool Los Angeles Fall weather. Plus I can wear jeans, boots, long sleeve shirts and a blazer before I go visit some churches and other venues in Sherman Oaks for summer camp (and Winter camp)?

Stay tuned,

More Thai recipes and culture coming to a classroom near you!