Throughout our travels in Thailand, we tried countless new foods and dishes.  Some became group favorites, while other foods might be more of an acquired taste.  Though it is impossible to touch on all of the foods we tried in Thailand, I’m going to highlight a few common dishes or items that we encountered throughout the three weeks! First, the fruits in Thailand were much different (and fresher) than those…

As an aspiring veterinarian, touring Kasetsart University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Bangkok, Thailand was an absolute dream. Kasetsart University Veterinary Teaching hospital is the largest veterinary hospital in all of Southeast Asia and may even be the largest veterinary hospital in the entire world. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital in Bangkok receives over 600 cases a day and offers clinical services for almost every service you could…

On May 10th we had the privilege of meeting two gentlemen involved in the Tham Luang Cave Rescue. One of the gentlemen, Josh, was American and moved to Thailand to teach English after completing college. He was mainly a translator between the Thai and Americans during the long 18 day rescue. The other gentleman, Vern, was a British cave expert that recruited the four cave divers that ultimately rescued the…

When I first heard that we were going to tour the fishing village in Phang Bay, I was hesitant. After all, the village is very small, and it seemed like we would be stomping through their backyard for the sake of our own “immersion.” But after we were greeted by a man from the village, and I learned that the boat company was familiar with the community, my reservations disappeared.…

I have been thinking about language, and how compassionate the act of expanding ones capacity to communicate is. I took Spanish for six years, but it was always in a classroom setting and I never felt an interpersonal pull to master it. Our time with Pasacorn, B, Gig, Earth, and all the other people we have met so far has made me rethink my responsibility to learn a new language.…

Our Thailand explorations have taken us throughout Kanchanaburi, Phuket, and Bangkok thus far! We have been extremely fortunate to meet with various people from different organizations and initiatives, from the BAAC to the Srinagarind Dam to KU Veterinary Hospital. Recently, we visited an organization that I found particularly interesting, the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute, otherwise known as the HAII. As a statistics major, I really enjoyed hearing Mr. Surajate…

Yesterday we had the amazing opportunity to hear from Surajate Boonya, who works for the Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute (HAII) which is a government agency in the Ministry of Science and Technology within the Thai government that processes data on water management in concepts such as flooding and irrigation. It was really cool to see a field like informatics and data processing being used for a public service and…

While we were in Phuket, we toured the mangrove forests. Not only were they beautiful but mangroves are incredibly important for the environment, economy, and safety of many places. The formal definition of a mangrove is a plant that can survive in salty water, but most of the mangroves we saw were trees so I will be using the colloquial definition of mangroves as trees for this blog. Although brackish…

Blog post 3- Thailand A few days ago we were boating through mangrove forests around Phuket, Thailand. We passed a small fishing village and our driver offered to dock the boat so that we could see the village. We were given a tour by one of the elders. This was an amazing and eye-opening experience. By and large the people we met looked happy. Children were playing, some men were…