Walk a mile in my shoes

When I traveled to India and Nepal it was like going off planet to somewhere else then in 1985 and 1986. And I could easily see how many young people from the U.S. or Europe going there then would or could be confused beyond belief by what they found there. So, I was really really glad to have my family with me (my wife and 3 children then) and to be 37 years of age while I was there 4 or 5 months time then because I found it periodically difficult to deal with even as a 37 year old.

And the most surprising thing for me personally was coming home and the culture shock coming home was 10 times worse than the culture shock then of going to India and Nepal and Thailand and Japan.

Japan was the easiest to take because outwardly it appeared the most like the U.S. (but it wasn't really) if you get to know the culture.

Then Bangkok was a lot like going to Disneyland in some ways only with no one able or wanting to speak English to you and you not being able to read the Thai Script on street signs. So, actually Thailand in 1985 and 1986 was the most frustrating place for us to go. Because you could always find people in Japan who spoke some English and you could always find people in Nepal and India who spoke English. But at that time this just wasn't as true in Thailand and I'm not sure why to this day?

However, once we got to Koi Samed Island north of Bangkok on the ocean we found more people willing to speak English to us. Also, we hired Nairoosee a Malaysian College Student who spoke good English to bargain for us and to travel with us after getting very frustrated in Bangkok for one day. We met him on the bus and he traveled with my family and I to Koe Samed Island and climbed Coconut palms there after getting permission and cutting us some ripe coconuts there on the island for my family and he snorkeled in the ocean with us there to and ate with us. At that time hiring him for a week we paid him $50 which was great for him because it was like taking a vacation for him to do this with us to travel to a tropical island and to go snorkeling with beautiful tropical fish like you see in Hawaii was wonderful for him.

But, you had to watch out for the giant Clams because if you put your hand or foot in them they would close and then you would drown. And you had to watch out not to step on Rock fish because the spines on their backs were poisonous. And you had to watch out for little poisonous sea snakes whose bite was fatal. We saw several sea snakes, and several rock fish and many giant clams and avoided them all and survived the whole thing fine then.

But, my two older sons got sick likely from the water or food on Koi Samed Island for a few days but part of it was people we watched (after we paid for this water and drank it) filling drinking water bottles from a garden hose at one point which likely made my boys sick from the water not being good. So, at that time this wasn't policed and still might not be. I don't know.