The Alexis Angle – Thailand

Thailand is the eighth stop on our gap year and one of my top three. I don’t think any place could compare to Japan, but I really enjoyed staying here! These are some of the things in Thailand that really stood out:

The Elephants

Thailand has a slight obsession with elephants, and when I mean slight, I mean that the people here put elephants everywhere. There are elephant pants, socks, dresses, shirts, flip flops, statues, pictures, earrings, necklaces, you name it. Whatever you can think of, there are probably elephants on it. 

The Food

I’m not going to lie, the food here has not been my favorite. I think I was a little scarred after eating that spicy rice and ordering fried rice that also turned out to be spicy. Everything here is basically spicy. Except for the Pad Thai, but that just doesn’t have a taste. One thing that I have tried here that I enjoy is pineapple fried rice. It sounds unbelievably gross, but actually all of the flavors work out really well. 

The Thing About Women

So, if you haven’t already read the blog post about it, Mom and I weren’t allowed to go into a temple because we have periods. Why? Because apparently it’s “gross.” This in my mind makes no sense what-so-ever because without a woman, Buddha never would have been born. Also, when I read about the Monk Talks before we went to them, it advised that any girl going there should never hand a Monk something. This one I might understand a little more because they ruled off dating and marrying but STILL.

The Absolutely Adorable Dogs That I Just Want to Adopt

There is a rugby field right by our apartment and around three or four dogs that roam around it. I’m pretty sure the dogs are strays, but you wouldn’t know because they are all very well fed. On the path there is a large bowl of water and two large bowls of food that are always full when we walk by. I’m assuming that this is for the dogs, because what else would it be for? My favorite dog is this white one with black spots. He is SO ADORABLE. He has this little duck blanket around him and we always see him stretched out in a patch of sunlight on the field just napping. He is the most adorable dog in the world.

My Birthday

Obviously I couldn’t overlook this one . . . I’m 14!! It doesn’t feel like that big of a change, I feel like I’ve been 14 forever. Although I couldn’t celebrate my birthday with my friends, I had a really fun time just hanging out with my family and eating cake!! One thing that I dislike about birthdays is that awkward moment when everyone is singing to you and you have no idea how to react. You kind of just sit there smiling, it’s just awkward. 

Overall, I really liked Thailand and it feels like we just got here. I’m really excited to go to Sri Lanka (they have SEA TURTLES)! I hope we can come back here again sometime.