Sunday: Arrival in Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok early this morning… exhausted. Although our two flights were relatively short (1 and 4 hours), we had an eight hour layover in Delhi, India; and without visas the airport officials would not let us into the main air terminals. This meant we had to spend 8 hours in a very small area with no books stores or restaurants to keep us distracted. 

Students crash while waiting for everyone to get through customs

Unfortunately, one student did not feel well. She flu-like symptoms. By the time we were in the air it had gotten even worse. As soon as we got to Bangkok, Laura went with her to be checked out at a hospital where they kept her overnight for tests and to provide fluids. We are all hoping she gets well soon so that she can rejoin the group events.

After a quick breakfast at the hotel many of us crashed for a couple hours to make up for a complete night’s sleep lost. We had class outside on a patio adjacent to the hotel restaurant, then most of us, including me, ventured out to check out our immediate surroundings. We are right on the Chao Phraya River and truly close to many tourist sites like ancient monuments of various kings. I wandered down a pedestrian street filled with people shopping, drinking, and eating. I found a used bookstore to buy a lonely planet guide to Bangkok and sat down with a “Singha” and watched people go by. I happened upon father and daughter travelers from the U.K. who told me tales of their adventures in Calcutta India and Cambodia. I shared our stories from Ghana, Dubai, and Nepal. They suggested our next UD trip should be in Cambodia, where a large population are disabled from landmines. Instead of wheelchairs, they have those little platforms with wheels used to get underneath a care. They said in India, the people with disabilities they saw didn’t even have that and they got “used to” seeing starving people living in the streets.

Our hotel “Bhinman Inn” (see earlier blog with more details and link) is quite a step up from Hotel Buddha in Nepal. The hotel features hot showers, electricity, breakfast with food choices, and even a TV. There is no free WiFi but they have a hotel computer with internet that they allow guest to use for 15 mins per day (yippee!). Oh, and there is a small pool out back!

Bhiman Inn

Tomorrow, we have site a site visit with Disabled Persons International (DPI) for the Asian Pacific Region. One of its representatives will brief us on the situation in Thailand for people with disabilities. I am looking forward to it.