Battle of the Mud Buckets
Max Wicklund
Film, video and Media Studies
Business and Culture in Thailand, Summer I 2019
While our group was in route to Chicago to board our 15-hour flight to Hong Kong, we had a startling realization that a time delay for our flight meant we would miss the flight to Bangkok, leaving us stranded in Hong Kong for a night. We would be in a place we had never been and never intended on staying without the comfort our professors being present. Stumbling out of the plane, into the Hong Kong International Airport, we saw the beautiful city-scape in the distance and decided it was time to make some lemonade with all the lemons we had just been handed. Quickly, we threw our travel bags in our rooms and headed back to the airport to figure out a game plan. Luckily, in the confines of an airport, there were a lot of people who spoke English. Since the airport was on an island, there was no walking into the city, so we needed to be a little more creative with our travel plans. We were told the cheapest way to travel would be by metro pass, so we bought metro passes and withdrew enough money (in Hong Kong Dollars) from an airport ATM to get a taxi back to the hotel. With set plan, we hopped on the metro and rode it till we reached, what we had been told, the city.
Seeing as it was about 11:30 in Hong Kong, the terminal that we exited into was absolutely dead. Coincidentally, the streets of Hong Kong shared a similar story. There was no one-else in sight and the town seemed done for the night. This is where the weak separated from strong, the alphas from the betas, the Broncos from the Chips. We persisted into the city, finally finding someone of a similar age and mindset who led us deeper into the city where we began to hear music and other people.
We turned a corner and BAM! We had stumbled into Hong kong’s night life. Street Vendors and stores lined the street. There was hardly enough room to walk, because so many people were flooding the very narrow road. After a night of exploration, we split-up into groups and found taxis back to the hotel, giving us the opportunity to sleep for one or two hours before our four am flight departing Hong Kong.
This short excursion in Hong Kong would offer as a great preparation for the following days in Thailand. Often, we were not with our professor during situations, so we would need to make decisions on our own. In one night we learned how to: communicate with people even though there was a language barrier, travel on public transportation, and withdrawal money from a foreign ATM.
The next day, we boarded our flight to Bangkok and bid Hong Kong adieu. We met with our professor and commenced the “planned” portion of our trip. (I put planned in quotes because if I could describe this trip in one word in would be, spontaneity). Although we completed everything listed in the itinerary, the way we did it was so unique. Our professor, Dr. Duke, lived his early life in Thailand and wholeheartedly wanted to share with us all of the things he loved and cherished about his country. This meant, sometimes he would see someone selling bugs on the street and buy them for the class or make a last-minute change in route so we could visit the Bangkok flower market or an ancient pagoda. I have never been on a faculty-led Western study abroad program, but I would be willing to say that this trip was not your “standard” faculty-led Western study abroad program.
One thing that absolutely shocks me is the amount of American culture that saturates the Thai market and culture. While you walk down the street at night you might hear Ed Sheeran playing over a loud speaker in a bar or listen to someone playing a Wonderwall cover on the side of the road. You see shop owners and street vendors selling shirts that say, “New York” or “Los Angeles” and the people running the shops know enough English to try to get you to buy something from their shop. It shows how large of a role tourism plays in larger parts of Thailand.
One of the final activities we were able to participate in, before departing back to the US, is visiting an Elephant Sanctuary. This is an area dedicated to saving Elephants who were either: being abused, weren’t getting enough nourishment or just needed a home. We spent the day feeding, walking, playing and bathing with the Elephants. I don’t know what it is, but there is something special about standing next to something that could easily trample you but chooses not to. Some of the Elephants at the Sanctuary were upwards of 80 to 90 years old.
Looking at an animal that is ten times the size of me and has lived four times longer than I have, really put my own life into perspective. At one point, we all were taken to this large pit of muddy water and handed buckets. The buckets were to pour water on the Elephants, but before you knew it, everyone had a slightly different plan in mind. Someone filled their bucket with mud and dumped it onto someone else and just like that, a war had been declared. Everyone rapidly filled their bucket, either looking to defend themselves or to actively contribute to the fight. The mud fight released the inner child in everyone on the trip. No, not everyone enjoyed getting mud splashed in their eyes, but yes, it did happen to everyone. This experience offered great resolution to the trip being over. If the trip were to ever be turned into a full-blown motion picture, a slow-motion montage of the great mud dispute of 2019 would be a very fulfilling ending.