Luqman's Day 21 - After MBK, no mall will be the same Today is the last official day of our tour, but it doesn't really have any format. We are free for today and have a couple of other days before leaving Thailand and returning home to the U.S. Thus, there are decisions to make about daily agendas. We experienced a dilemma today because we both wanted to visit Bangkok's Grand Palace and a huge shopping center called MBK. However, the Grand Palace closes at 3...

Return to the City of Angels Our morning started off with a great breakfast buffet at the Thai house. As Luqman mentioned, this place is beautiful! I think it is my favorite place we stayed at during the entire tour. Anyways, half of our group headed to the local market as well as to a Chinese Buddhist temple with Arjan before our return back to Bangkok. However after going to the local market with my Thai cooking class, I decided to relax and enjoy some q...

Luqman's Day 19 - Same same, but differentToday's blog follows a very popular saying here in Thailand and in neighboring countries of Southeast Asia. It is "same same, but different." Our tour guide has used this saying numerous times, and there are even t-shirts expressing the same adage. It is basically used to describe the commonalities between various aspects of Thai and Southeast Asian culture, yet it still respects the subtle differences that m...

Luqman's Day 17 - Life before the West had won Today is my fourth straight day in Asia without any gastric problems (yes, that is how I am counting my days now but give me a second to find some wood), and we are planned to leave the beautiful P guesthouse and visit a village that houses the Karen people. The village is about an hour away. The Karen people were originally from Burma, but they migrated to Thailand a little over a hundred years ago. We are to see h...

Hannah's Blog 16- Elephant riding, Bamboo rafting, Burma Border, Buddhist Temples & Thai Orphanage Okay before I start this blog, I just want to warn you all that it is probably going to be somewhat lengthy because we did SO much today. My head hurts just thinking about all the activities and I literally have the scars and marks from it. However, if you are still inclined to read this blog, please fasten your seat belts and hold on because it was quite a r...