Thai Grand Palace (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By ELISA MALA
This post is the first in a series about my month-long stint in Thailand.
I can trace my life-long love of travel to a post-high school gap year abroad. In my adult years, work and study have taken me to over two dozen countries - hiking through volcanoes in Iceland, lodging at an oceanography institute in Bermuda (during a hurricane, no less), and venturing to a tiny lakeside town on the Finnish countryside to observe a cell phone throwing contest.
Having recently landed in Bangkok for a month-long stint at a news agency, I already have the sense that this time abroad will be markedly different. I’ve only visited this city twice in my life, but since my background is Thai and I speak the language fluently, every place I set foot has the air of being both familiar and foreign. Sort of like seeing a brace-faced niece or cousin whose thumbs are glued to an iPad and recalling the pudgy toddler who liked running around the house in nothing but underwear.
Stay tuned in future weeks for highlights and lessons learned from this life-changing adventure!
[Continue to the next part of the adventure: New Year's in Thailand!]
