A Time To Never Be Forgotten

At first, Thailand was not one of my first trip choices. Just like a lot of people, I've wanted to go to all the big places like France, Italy, and Spain. I've always heard people talk about how great those places was and I was starting to base my choice off of other people's experiences, but I have no regrets. In my opinion, Thailand was better than any other trip could have been. Starting off, our trip didn't go as planned. We were originally supposed to fly out of San Francisco to Taipei on July 1st but because the airline (EVA Air) was experiencing a worker strike, we had to stay at a hotel in San Francisco and fly out the next day. While it may have been a slight inconvenience, this allowed me to meet all of my fellow experimenters. Before our trip even started, we had created a group chat so it was a bit easier to loosen up around each other, and by the time we arrived in Thailand, we all seemed to have been well-acquainted. For our first few days, we stayed in a hotel in Chiang Mai. While we were in Chiang Mai, we took "survival Thai" lessons at Chiang Mai University. That was pretty cool because we got to work with teachers from the university, as well as sharpen up our Thai skills. Obviously, we were in no way fluent. We had just been taught the bare essentials, like foods, how to ask for directions, and my favorite: how to ask for a discount. Later on, I'd say about a week in, we began going out to the night markets. These markets are gigantic! They take up about at least a couple blocks and it's all bustling with activity. You could buy snacks, meals, clothes, gifts, pretty much anything you could think of. I remember I would always try to bargain and most times it'd work. All you need is a smile! Overall, this trip has given me the chance to dip into a whole new world. A lot of times I was given the independence and freedom to try things I wanted to try, and this has fostered my curiosity and desire to continue exploring the world, one country at a time.