By: Grace Gonzalez
As the holiday season approaches, many people embark on new adventures to take advantage of the break. Whether some are just visiting family or travel for personal enjoyment, trips can shift your perspective in many ways.
Thailand has become a hot spot for tourists because of how incredibly cheap everything is. You can get cheap delicious food, beautiful beaches, and tropical forests all for half the price in comparison to many other places in the world.
This summer, three of my girlfriends and I decided to take on this adventure and seek to see what Southeast Asia had to offer. I was really nervous to go on this trip because I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was going to be on the other side of the world with no one to really respond if anything were to happen. Every time we mentioned that we were going to Thailand, people kept asking why we were going alone if it’s so dangerous and really that started to trigger a lot of anxiety for me.
However, we figured we’re pretty smart girls who just have to keep a bigger lookout for our surroundings. Sucks doesn’t it, as a girl, to have so many more things to fear when going anywhere because we’re girls?
Despite all the fear and anxiety, I was feeling on the plane ride there, I came back feeling inspired.
All the people greet foreigners with such a welcoming spirit despite the living conditions that they face. Many areas in Thailand can be really dirty and from the looks of it are extremely polluted but I realized that it’s something that comes along with living in somewhat poverty.
However, the people of Thailand hustle to make their ends meet and sustain their families. In particular, women work so hard and work so many different positions that can sometimes be dehumanizing. Thailand is notorious for their sex trafficking trade. As you walk down the i large nightlife areas, women as young as 14 are seen dancing on tabletops and groped by men. Multiple businesses like massage parlors and bars offer women for sale for different services and it was very eye-opening to see it happening so openly in front of me.
Although many of these women go into the business willingly, it made me realize how much privilege comes with living in America despite all the things we have left to work on for our women’s movement. In areas with extreme poverty like Southeast Asia, women don’t have access to education or opportunities and are put in situations like these in order to gain some sort of revenue.
During my time in Chiang Mai, I was able to experience beautiful spiritual forests and wildlife up close. Chiang Mai has a lot of history behind the small town, and Thailand, in general, is very rooted in their religion. You can come across monks everywhere who have devoted their lives to their religion. What really surprised me about my time in Chiang Mai is how in touch people are with meditation and appreciation of the nature around them.
Thailand has a big problem with poachers killing elephants for their ivory trunks and different inhumane entertainment businesses putting elephants through harsh conditions to train them for entertainment purposes. Elephants are a huge symbol of their religion and therefore many different sanctuaries are working to rescue them and maintain them free as they should be.
Being able to experience the way their culture is in touch with nature and their commitment to preserving the wildlife they have made me realize how much our world has taken our natural life for granted. All l
In many ways, my trip to Thailand put me through some uncomfortable situations but I embrace all those emotions and want to use those to push others to make changes even as small as in our own communities. To put yourself through uncomfortable situations is to really see some growth and I encourage you to push your boundaries as well and see how your perspective can change too.
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