Thailand and updates!

Good evening all! (It is 11 pm in Thailand-new time zone) -to be in order read the last paragraph first and then return to the top of this post.
First of all, I would like to apologize in advance for the lack of updating on my blog. I am actually keeping a daily electronic journal and it is packed with info, however the internet takes at least 15 minutes to upload my blog which is about 1/20 of my small internet allotment. Hopefully it will get better? As for port internet, I am usually quite busy in port and don't always have time to sit and write a full blog.
I know I haven't finished a description of Shanghai but I am not quite sure what I wrote about in the last blog. But since I am currently in Thailand I will tell you about that!
Yesterday we arrived to Thailand and went straight to Bangkok, unfortunately our port is 1 1/2 hours from Bangkok so we have to bus there every day (quite a long time since traffic can increase it up to 3 hours!) But Bangkok is a great exciting city. We went to a partner university there Chula (short for a long name i dont know how to spell) and learned a lot about Thai culture from walking around and the representative from the school. We also ate lunch at the largest restaurant in the world for some Thai food. Then we went to the famous night market and worked out our bookings to go to the North when our Academic Field Program ends here. Then we drove back, exhausted from so much driving and our first day.
Today was better as we stayed nearer to the ship and had a small group of only about 10 people. We met with a woman from a non profit environmental organization who told us about the many problems that Thailand has due to the lack of protection for the environment. Many foreign countries come to Thailand to set up factories and big industries with no concern for the damage to the people or environment here. Then we went to the sites she discussed and saw huge toxic waste piles (it was a small mountain) and the factories. We also saw a school where children used to attend but because they all began to get sick from the water and air of the polluted area their school was relocated (it was actually quite eerie.
Then on a lighter and happier note, we went to an elephant park! I RODE AN ELEPHANT!!! It was lots of fun trekking through the jungle and little area on top of an elephant. We fed it bananas and it kept going, lol. The elephants were quite rocky and one of them loved to try and steal bananas from us with his trunk so I still have elephant snot all over my clothes, lol, but it was well worth it! And I have some great pictures and video! (to be uploaded when I can figure that out!) Then they showed us silkworms and how they make silk and we had fresh amazing fruit. Now we are at a beach city (I am with Luisiana from Mexico and Ron and Eva from the States) near our port and we walked around and had dinner looking out at the beach. There were also "ladyboys" as Ron calls them that worked there and it was quite entertaining. Tomorrow we head to Bangkok again and then tomorrow night I am going with some friends (mainly from Mexico and Pablo from Spain and Eva) to the northern area called Chiang Mai via bus (yay haha not). There are lots of jungle there and the areas is apparently very beautiful. We will spend 3 days there and at the golden triangle (where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos all meet) and then fly back to Bangkok before the ship departs.
This trip is amazing, but as many students and I have discussed, quite exhausting. I am never bored, but the weeks in port do wear me out. Lots of people are going to the beach and kicking back for the whole week, but since I have less time with my field programs we are going to the North and focusing time there. Soon I have to start plans for India and we are hoping to go to the Taj Mahal, as I have 7 free days of travel in port there.
In the week between Shanghai and Thailand (for those who are still reading) I was quite sick as the seas were very rocky. Class was difficult to have as things fell over lots and concentration was difficult. We did have a reporter from the Bangkok post onboard who was very knowledgeable and his excellency, the Swedish Ambassador to the United Nations for Human Rights (I think that was the right title, it had many parts). They get to hang out with us and eat all our meals with us, etc, so it is quite informative. We also picked up 9 students from Fudan University (like Apple, my neighbor, who is adorable) and it has been fun meeting them too. OOOOOOOOO AND other exciting news-we had church for the first time on the ship! There are 4 other Mormons onboard with me and we had church on Sunday! I gave a lesson, Maureen played the piano, and we had a short scripture study and video as well. It was so wonderful! It only lasted about 45 minutes but was a nice meeting. We will be having church every Sunday at sea and will alternating teaching and leading etc. O I also had my first meetings for Student Voice, Social Events, and Interfaith Dialogue, o and Rotary/Service club. They all went well but man was it a busy week with getting ready for Thailand, classes, and meetings. I look forward to doing service in the upcoming countries and planning some fun events onboard ( I had made a big list of ideas when I got onboard and we will most likely be using several of them :) O and we had our pre port day in the beautiful waters of Thailand and laid out in the sun/pool and it was wonderful! I think I have the best campus in the world!
That was backwards order but I don't know how to fix it so enjoy whichever order in which you read it!
Signing off,
Sailor Kasee