Here in Thailand I have been lagging behind on my journal
entries. It’s partly because I haven’t been doing too much, and partly because
I couldn’t find my journal. Well, here is my story:
Have you ever been on a road trip for 7 days, and in a tiny
car that is so stuffed it can’t even fit a hat in the trunk? Well, I have. The
first 2 days of our trip we spent going to Ubon from Phuket.
On the way we stopped at many temples and gas stations. We
also stopped at the Surin Elephant Camp. That place was devoted to giving
elephants better treatment in captivity. At Surin, a while ago, my mom
volunteered to help the elephants. While I was there, I rode some elephants,
went to an elephant history museum, went on a walk, and visited some of my
mom’s friends. The elephant ride was fun, and it was my third time riding an
elephant.
When we finished doing our stuff at Surin elephant camp, we
drove to Ubon Ratchathani. We eventually arrived to the hotel that we reserved
after a long car drive.
The room we got was on the very last floor and had the
highest number in the entire hotel. My parents were expecting a small room (we
only got 1) but it was a fairly good size for the price. There were only two
beds, so Josh had to sleep on the mattress we had brought and James had to
sleep on the couch. I got my own bed, and Dad and Mom slept together on the
other bed. Also, there was a singing electric kettle.
When it was night, we went to the dinner buffet. There, I
ate papaya salad, some rice, and more.
Next day, we woke up in time for the breakfast buffet. At
that buffet, I ate so much food that I don’t think I could write all of what I
had in this blog entry. When my stomach gauge changed to full, I left and went
to the mall.
At the mall, I got a pair of pants and a swimming suit. I
also ate some donuts. When I had finished shopping, I went to the 5th
floor for a swim in the pool.
The pool that was there had two sections. There was the
toddler section and the regular pool. They were connected by a line of water
long enough to stretch you arms in. There was also were a few waterfalls coming
off of greenish-gray rocks. After I played in the pool for a while, I got the
card for our room from Dad, and left.
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| Mine and James' puppets |
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| A wax float at the judging |
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| Some of the delicious food |
Later, after I took a shower and got dressed, I went to the
Ubon Candle Festival. The festival was very exciting. There were lots of stands
selling everything from fried insects to puppets. There were a few rides, too.
While I was waiting for the judging of the floats to begin, we played on a
trampoline, got some beverages, and rode a Ferris wheel. I even got a puppet.
After we finished playing in the fair, we went and watched
some
of the floats. The floats were coming one at a time, for it was not the
parade. The parade was tomorrow morning. My dad said they were getting judged.
The floats were almost completely made out of wax, and had delicate carvings of
the Buddha and more. The judging of the floats seemed to be going on forever,
and it was very late, so Dad ran into the middle of the street to get a taxi motorcycle.
My entire family was able to shove themselves in the motorbike’s sidecar and we
got to ride the down the back alleys to get quickly home.
Tomorrow, in the morning, we set out to get a taxi for the
parade. We were early, so we got some drinks and played on the same trampoline
as last time. When the parade started we got some seats, and watched the show.
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| My brothers and I playing |
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| dancers |
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| A wax float at the parade |
The parade had many wax floats. There was also fingernail
dancers and marching bands. My favorite dancers was a group that signaled the
“eat”, as I heard from the Thai speaker (I speak Thai). They would wave their
grass around and dance to some music. The music came from a speaker being
pushed behind them.
After some of the parade, Dad got another taxi motorbike,
and we set out for our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel Joshua and James
left to go to see Lambang, while I stayed home.
The next day we set out to Bangkok. On the way we tried to
go into Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. Unfortunately we decided not to go because
I wasn’t feeling to well and we couldn’t bring our rental car. Late that night
we arrived, and we went inside to the hotel we had reserved. We immediately
fell asleep in our beds, for we were tired.
Next morning we woke up and went to the mall next to the
hotel we were staying at. In the mall, we went to Kidzania, a place where kids
learned how to do occupations. Kidzania is a city built inside a building. It
is in an enclosed area with a ceiling made to look like the sky. The currency
there was kidzos, and you earned kidzos by doing the many different jobs there.
I am going to name some of the jobs I did. The first job I
did was a Canon Photographer in which I went around the busy streets of
Kidzania and took pictures of specific memorials and statues. Another Job I did
was a veterinarian, where I took care of some animals (not real). I spent some
of my Kidzos on an eyesight test so I could do my driving test. The driving
test had a driving simulator that was actually quite hard. I made one mistake
on the driving simulator, and it was passing the red light. After I passed the
driving test I got to drive a mini car around on a mini road.
When we finished in our jobs, we went to the department
store. Inside the department store, there was super expensive stuff. The most expensive
thing was a scooter, which cost 20,000 Kidzos. I only earned 94 so I would have
had to come about 199 more times to get it.
When we exited Kidzania I went to a restaurant where you
cooked your own food. There, we had various meats, seafood, and vegetables.
When we finished our meal, we went to the shopping part of
the mall. There, my brothers and I looked at Legos.
After we finished shopping, we went back to our room. I
shall now describe it. My family got two
rooms. A door connected them. Our room had two beds. James slept on the floor
with our mattress while Joshua and I slept in the beds. There was a TV too.
Inside the bathroom there was an electric toilet that washed your posterior for
you.
On the next day in Bangkok we went to the immigration
center, for Mom needed a new visa. The immigration center was huge. One of the
coolest things about the immigration center was this room in the middle of it. The
room was an immense amount of space with barely anything in it.
After a while of waiting, we left mom and went to explore
the city. We walked through a street that had tons of people selling fish.
There were a lot of types of fish. We also went to the mall and got haircuts.
When we got a call from mom we went to go pick her up. When
we got her, we immediately went back to the hotel. When we arrived, we swam in
the pool there.
Next morning we left and traveled back to Phuket. On the way
we stopped by a farm and feed the sheep.
Thanks
for reading Jacob
