Trip to Pang Saen Beach, Thailand

I know this event is already past, but everytime I recall it, it is very fresh and very memorable. It is nice to have found persons you can call them "brother and sister" when you were struggling outside your motherland. The trip was made one month after I had finished my pre-session course in 2010.

Locating in Chunbori province, Pang Saen Beach is about two hours drive from Bangkok capital. It was my first trip in Thailand after having settled my new life here for 12 days. I was excited for this opportunity. I could recall first few days that I was in Bangkok, before the Pre-Session course has started, I felt so lonely. I was about to pack my belongings back to Cambodia. It was very challenging at first to end up in a new environment where the language was an obstacle.

Soon, after the course has started, I made friends with all of the classmates. They come from different backgrounds - we have our own stories carrying with. Though, we speak different language in the class, we, still, quite get along with each other. I like all of them, and I am really enjoying staying with them. Most of them come from Burma, a country where the military government has controlled the country over decades. Moreover, I also have an Indonesian and two Thai classmates. They are friendly and helpful. Their smile and laugh fade my loneliness away. I do not feel lonely as I did.

After the first week of the course ended, we had decided to go together to a beach. How could I reject such a good proposed! Shining was the one who planned everything for the team. She is thoughtful and well-prepared. Without her, I thought, this tour would not take place.

I left my apartment at 7 in the morning and traveled to the MRT station at Chamjuree Square next to Chulalongkorn University. Everything was the first experience to me. Again, I got on a metro for the first time. I had to travel from Sam Yan to Kuai Khwang Station, and it runs across 8 stops before reaching the target. I supposed to meet Shining there. After meeting and buying something to drink, we left for the beach.

Our team had 10 people including 4 of Shinging's friends. Three of them come from Cambodia, my motherland.

The beach was quite nice and long. It was a sunny day – good for swimming and sunbathing. I could smell the sea foods once I got off the car. There were many food stalls of various dishes available; starting from appetizers to main courses – almost all were local foods. Visitors could choose whatever they liked. We tried whatever edible. Anyway, I could hardly found any foreign visitors, Westerners, there. Most of them were Thai people who came from the city for a weekend relaxation, I thought. Sometimes, the wind softly touched my shoulder; I felt a sense of relief of exhaustion of a whole week of study.

In the water, there were many kinds of sports available including 'banana balloon'; I used to play once I was in Sihanouk, a coastal province of Cambodia. In addition, visitors could rend a 4 wheels bicycle of which 3 people could ride on it. It was fun. Unfortunately, I missed a chance to try it. Anyway, if we had next time there, I would try once.

I was impressed for this opportunity. Right now, I am pursuing MAIDS program development on development studies. I just read some topic concerning 'development' which its meaning is a change. But, change could be good or bad, it depends on the context.

I viewed Pang Saen is a tourist site attracting many visitors every weekend. In this context, many job opportunities have been provided to local people. They could earn a living by offering visitors foods, drinks, and others support. However, more people gather in one place, there would cause more environmental problems. For instance, rubbish, noise, or water pollution. Therefore, a plan for environmental preservation should be carried out.

In Pang Saen, I could witness lots of plastic bottles or wastes lying on the beach. I could also smell the dead fish nearby. If we just collected those fish, it could fill a basket. To me, it was a sign of water pollution. It does not only affect those lives in the sea, but also the visitors who swim. Some of us did not want to swim as they saw the water was black. Having seen these, an action should be taken to prevent these problems. If there in no any action dealing with these issues, sooner or later, there will be no more tourists visiting the place. Local community's income would be affected.

Moreover, in Pang Saen, I rarely saw any children vending along the beach. It means that in Thailand there is less child labor. In contrast to Cambodia, in Sihanouk province, there are a lot of children trying to sell something to visitors. Those children are supposed to go to school and get knowledge. But, they do not have to a chance as they have to help their parents earning an income to support their family, otherwise, their little brothers or sisters would be starved of no food. I am so sorry to having not enough ability to make a change. I was sad to think about Cambodian.

After having lunch, relaxing and taking some photographs, we decided to go back to Bangkok. We also took a chance to visit an Elephant Park along the way back.

It was a nice trip. Zzz! be quiet! Everybody in the car was sleeping for they had spent a lot of energy playing around on the beach and the park.