The vacation of the year!!! But not without minor setbacks, but still it was the best vacation for the year 2013. Being reunited with my Association of Black Social Workers, seeing Bangkok and being a tourist was awesome. It was a much needed trip away from the Philippines. Here is my adventure to Thailand!
This trip was not something that was planned last minute or during the year 2013. The idea of traveling to Thailand came about post Christmas 2012. I sat in my office the day after Christmas during the rain season and told my counterpart Marvie, that next year I would not be in Bicol for the holidays and in fact I was going to be somewhere awesome. She responded with a smile and asked where would I go. I replied Thailand and asked her if she wanted to come. She exclaimed yes and then we planned our adventure. In 2013 Marvie applied for and received her passport as well as purchased her plane ticket for our round trip flights to Bangkok from Legazpi. The costs of the tickets were about $400.00!!!! We both were really excited as this was going to be her first trip out of the country and she had done alot work and was truly deserving of the trip. At the center she had been the social worker for the entire year to handle over 40 cases between local foster care as well as domestic and inter-country adoptions.
So we set out on December 26th, heading for Thailand and made it to Manila (after traveling from Legazpi, to Cebu and from Cebu to Manila, due to our original flight being cancelled). Once we arrived in Manila we exchanged our Pesos for Baht and paid the terminal fee to leave the country. Our last two stops were immigration and security screening. Once we reached the immigration desk she was asked her profession to which she responded social worker and was then asked if she worked for the government, to which she responded yes . . . . Everything after that question went downhill. We were escorted off to the side and made aware that government employees must have an official authority to travel despite being approved for personal leave. We were not aware of this and tried our best to persuade the immigration specialists to let us go on our way. We were unsuccessful and our travel plans came to a crushing halt. I said good-bye to her and went on to the gate to make sure I was on time to board the flight.
It was an awful feeling to leave my counterpart there and for her to return home after all of the work we put towards the trip. My heart sank and I was left frustrated, disappointed and confused about policies that are supposed to be transparent but instead worked against her. I couldn't help but notice that my status as a foreigner enabled me to ease pass immigration without properly filling out the forms while Marvie did everything correctly and still got the short end of the stick. We're talking about 16,000.00 pesos wasted for a wife of 5 children. Of course Marvie said it was a learning experience and did not show bitterness towards the officials, nor sadness for being left behind. Her only wish was that I did not say on Facebook that I had to leave her behind and so I honored her wish.
Once I landed in Thailand, I made my way to the Pension hostel where I would be staying for the week. Surprisingly, I was able to navigate my way through the airport and to the Pension with very little English and lots of patience and non-verbal communication. I wasn't afraid/nervous nor flustered; it just felt natural traveling in a foreign country. To add to the bad news of traveling without a companion, I also was having stomach issues and could not eat allot of the Thai food without being close a bathroom, Peace Corps Volunteer problems.
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| Here is a shot of me leaving the airport |
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| My first encounter with Thai Language . . .In the bathroom stall. |
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| Saphai Pae is the Pension where I stayed for the week. This place is also used by PCVs serving in Thailand. |
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| Here is a view of the bathroom accommodations. Really modern and clean. |
While at the hostel I ran into a PCV who was in town for the weekend to celebrate her birthday and make her way to New Years vacation with other PCVs. That was Sasha! I met Sasha while I attended the 2012 ABSW National Conference in Atlanta, GA. Who would have known that we would both be serving as Peace Corps Volunteers a year later. Sasha was going to run errands and visit the office and invited me to tag along for the day. It was a great day with laughs, site-seeing, comparing of programs and learning about Thailand.
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| Me in front of the Peace Corps Thailand sign out front. |
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| Sasha, a PCV bargaining with the Tuk-Tuk driver, trying to get us a ride back to the Hostel. |
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| Terminal 21 mall. |
Sasha's blog about being a PCV in Thailand
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| Sasha in front of a drink station. This vehicle has been converted into a mobile drink station that has music, chairs and drinks for customers on the street. |
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| Sasha and I getting pedicures that evening. |
Stay tuned for more updates from the trip!
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