Scarecrows and worker in the rice paddies in Thailand.

To Thailand ... and back

Van Vooren trip educational, but glad to be home

Embarking on a trip to a third world country can be a bit of a culture shock for an American. Gayle Van Vooren found this out when she joined her sister JaNeil Peschon and her niece Jordan Peschon (JaNeil’s daughter-in-law) on a 13-day trip to Pattaya, Thailand, from Jan. 8-20 to visit JaNeil’s son and grandson. “I went on this trip thinking I would keep an open mind,” she said.

“I knew it was a third world country, and I respected the culture there; “I was very glad to visit to see what’s it like for people to live there, but it’s nothing like the United States. We are very spoiled here and we take everything for granted.” Pattaya is a resort city of 115,000 people on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

Before they flew there, the Americans had to get shots to prevent against contracting diseases like hepatitis, cholera, malaria and typhoid fever. The American group was able to stay in a home in a gated community, but still witnessed the extreme poverty that is part of the daily life of most of the natives of that part of the world.

“I don’t know how some of them live the way they do,” Van Vooren said. “But it’s the only way they know, so they are used to it. “Some of the people are living in trees, and so many of them have nothing. And it’s 85 degrees and tropical all the time. Even where we stayed in a nicer area, we thought we saw a mouse in the house, but it was a huge cockroach.”Van Vooren and her traveling companions never felt as though they were looked down upon because they were Americans. “We never felt intimidated at all,” she noted.

“And we never felt unsafe.” Well, maybe they felt a little unsafe by the mode of transportation they took, but not by any of the citizens there.

“We took a taxi to get around; only it wasn’t like any taxi we would take in the U.S.,” she laughed. “It was a pickup truck that has benches to sit on in the back. You just hung on for dear life.

“We had the same guy drive us every day because he would stay and wait for us wherever we went out to eat, or shop, or to tour some place. And he only charged $30 for the whole day.” Food Food is always one of the toughest things to get accustomed to in another country. There are many familiar fast food restaurants in Thailand such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway, as well as various Thai restaurants. And, unlike in America, most of those eating establishments offer delivery.

“They deliver the food on scooters,” Van Vooren told. “There are scooters everywhere. It’s unbelievable how they drive so close to each other. And they will have four people on one little scooter. And they drive on the other side of the road and the steering wheel is on the opposite side of where ours is, too.” Van Vooren’s group had McDonald’s food delivered one night and KFC on another occasion.

“The food was good, too,” she said.

“It’s just like what they serve over here.” Still, as with most travelers, they don’t want to return home without giving the native food a taste test.

“Some of it was pretty good and some of it was … well, not so good,” Van Vooren said. “I had pizza with squid on it and it was so awful. It was one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten. I ate a lot of shrimp; deep fried, steamed, sweet and sour. I loved that.”

One neighborhood Thai restaurant the ladies visited was rustic with Coca Cola memorabilia and antiques everywhere. But there was one other thing there plenty of. “There were cats everywhere in there,” Van Vooren said, with an expression to reveal her displeasure.

“They keep the doors open because it’s so hot there and the cats come in to get something to eat. “The food isn’t served individually either. Whatever is ordered comes on big trays for a family to share.” And the servers of food are the popular “Ladyboys”, or “Kathoeys” as they are known in Thailand and Bangkok.

Outdoor vendors are prevalent in Thailand, too. But the fish and meat for sale sit in the heat all day, scaring off those not used to seeing unrefrigerated food. Supermarkets similar to Walmart are available to patronize for those desiring fresher food. Historic sites One of the places Van Vooren and her party visited was Wat Yannasangwararam, a Buddhist Temple located in a huge park-like garden area south of Pattaya that is open to the public. “It is a museum devoted to the monks over the years,” Van Vooren said. “It’s ornate, quiet and stately.”

Meditation classes are held at this Buddhist Temple in which Thai people will stay for four of five days to meditate. Another place Van Vooren enjoyed visiting was The Sanctuary of Truth, a teakwood building which is a hybrid of temple and castles base on Buddhist and Hindu beliefs.

“It’s a man-made wooden structure with carvings to celebrate things like earth wind, fire and rain,” Van Vooren noted. “Workers are constantly carving there.”

The Sanctuary of Truth has been under construction since 1981 with the ongoing carving and is not expected to be completed for many more years. The center of the building is 105 meters high. The Four-Face Brahma Statue on the rooftop represents respect to father, mother, teacher and the king. And each area of the facility represents something different, such as the planets, the sun, the moon and how they influence the environment and way of life.

Van Vooren also went to a floating market. “It began with a walking tour that told the history and culture of Thailand,” she said. “There was a market of goods to buy that stretched on and on. There were so many people there and it was so hot the day we went.” Van Vooren’s group also was able to buy bananas and feed elephants at the Nongnooch Tropical Garden, a botanical garden that features elephant rides, live tigers and more. “I was a typical tourist and had to buy something at many of these places we went,” she laughed.

Good to be back

The total length of the trip by airplane was 18,316 miles round trip, which took a total of approximately 23 hours. They flew out of Minneapolis to Chicago, then to Seoul, South Korea, and then to Bangkok.

From there, they were driven two hours to Pattaya. Van Vooren said the one things she missed the most while visiting Thailand was her friends back home.

“It was a very educational and interesting trip,” she said. “But it’s nice to be back home with my friends. I wasn’t able to do some of the things I like to do when I was over there."

Gayle VanVooren

Contact Us

The Minneota Mascot
Address: 201 N. Jefferson
Minneota, MN 56264

Phone:(507) 872-6492