Thailand is a proud nation, full of friendly people, insanely delicious food, and a rich, unique culture that is completely different to my own. Here are a few insights of my exchange life here, and some of the main differences between Thailand and my home country, Australia. 

Jumping off the plane at Suvarnabhumi airport, I was equally scared and excited at the same time. It was the first time I was on my own, albeit alone in a completely different country to my own. For the past few months, I had been learning as much as I could about Thai culture – reading books, watching travel shows, and researching online – but nothing could prepare me for the journey that lay ahead.

Nothing could prepare me for the journey that lay ahead

Prior to beginning my semester of exchange in the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJM) at Thammasat University (Rangsit campus), I gave myself a week to settle in. One thing that really surprised me about that first week was that I was treated like a local. Walking around the city, no one would stare at you or anything. If you purchased something, the Thai people would smile and appreciate your attempt to ‘wai’ (the Thai greeting) and say “khob khun krap” (thank you). It was completely different to my time in India, where people would stare at you or approach you and start a conversation with the intention of getting you to buy something.

After exploring the city on my own for a week, orientation began at the Tha Prachan campus. I met my fellow exchange students; however, I found out only a couple of them would be studying at Rangsit. When I went on a campus tour to Rangsit, I was shocked with how large it is. Thammasat Rangsit is 1,251,435 square metres, over six times bigger than my campus, QUT Kelvin Grove (201,800 square metres).

What I loved about studying at Rangsit was that each time I went into Bangkok, it felt just as exciting as the first time. If I was studying at Tha Prachan, I would get used to living in Bangkok and the excitement would eventually subside. But by only getting to see Bangkok on the weekends, the thrill of driving through the city and walking around the different areas is still there, even now in my last few weeks in Thailand.

Each time I went into Bangkok, it felt just as exciting as the first time

University life in Thailand is completely different to university in Australia. Thai universities feel more like a school: you have lots of homework; you are asked to participate in class discussions; and you have the same classes with the same people. Most classes have between 40-60 students, but in one of my classes, Advanced News Reporting, there were only 10 students. This was great because I could really get to know everyone, and could develop a good relationship with my teacher. You also take between 6-7 subjects, so you get to know the other students very quickly because you see them so regularly.

One thing I found fascinating about the Rangsit campus was how difficult it was to purchase alcohol. There are no bars at Thammasat, and many of the surrounding stores, such as 7-Eleven, didn’t sell alcohol either. I found out that according to the Alcohol Beverage Control Act, alcohol cannot be sold or drunk at educational institutions. At QUT there are bars on campus which are very popular among university students. Most days, students finish their class and head to the bar with their friends. There are also many events held at the bars for societies and clubs. In fact, I was previously a member of the QUT Brewing Society. We were allowed to brew our own beer on campus and give it out to students, for free!

Here are the Thai laws about the selling and drinking of alcohol in educational institutions:

Section 31. No person shall drink any alcoholic beverage at or within the following places or areas: 

(4) an education institution under the law on national education, except the area designated as the living area of an individual or club or in the case of a conventional banquet or education institution providing the course relevant to the mixing of alcoholic beverages which having been permitted under the law on national education;

Section 27. The selling of any alcoholic beverage at or within the following places or areas is prohibited:

(5) an education institution under the law on national education;

Walking around campus, you would see animals that you wouldn’t see back home. At Thammasat, it was common to see monitor lizards, street dogs, and squirrels. Some monitor lizards were huge, and when they were in the river, they looked like small crocodiles gliding through the water. At QUT, we have many ibis birds, which are a native Australian species. Colloquially known by students as ‘bin chickens’, you would usually spot them eating out of garbage bins on campus. An ibis has a long beak, which helps them pierce through garbage bags and pick from scraps.

While I’ve been here, I noticed a lot of Thais smoke, including many of my classmates. According to the The World Bank, 38.8% of the Thai population smokes, compared to 16.5% of the Australian population. Walking around Bangkok, I often saw people smoking illegally out the front of shops like 7-Eleven. When I was a large produce market in Rangsit called Talad Thai, I spotted a worker smoking a cigarette while he was sorting out fresh produce. As he was crouched over snake beans, the cigarette ashes would have fallen straight into the produce, which is horrible.

According to the website Tobacco Control Laws, smoking is prohibited in all markets in Thailand. This is backed up by article 42 of the Tobacco Products Control Act 2017, which states:

No person shall smoke within a smoke-free zone, except within a smoking area.

FOI request exercise

As part of a subject I undertook called Editorial and Article Writing, I was required to submit Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Australian government. I found this a really smart way to retrieve information if you can’t find it anywhere else.

I sent numerous requests; one to the University of Queensland; one to the Brisbane City Council; and one to QUT. I was successful with the last two, and I successfully received the information I was after.

For the Brisbane City Council request, I asked them to tell me the number of fines issued to Lime scooter users from the period 16 November, 2018 – 15 January, 2019. Then I asked them to tell me the total amount of fines from the period 15 January, 2019 – 15 February, 2019. They replied with:

“In relation to your query regarding the total number of fines given to Lime scooter users, Council has issued zero fines to users of Scooters in the Brisbane City Council area.”

This was fascinating as they publicly promised to hand more fines out in early 2019; however, it seems they haven’t.

For the QUT request, I asked to see the sizes of the campuses, which I strangely couldn’t find online. This request was quickly replied to, and they shared me a file which contained the information I was after.

Here are some links to my FOI request, and the responses I received: https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/fines_issued_to_lime_scooter_use#incoming-14300

https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/gardens_point_and_kelvin_grove_c#incoming-14483

https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/complaints_made_in_2018_about_re#incoming-14409

Not many would move away from the beautiful beaches, crystal waters and stunning surroundings of the Sunshine Coast, but my Nan did and I am really glad she did! She decided to move back up North to Atherton (one hour drive west of Cairns) where she had spent a few years living there after I turned two.

It was my forth trip to Atherton. I had been there to visit her a couple of times. My third time was for a cricket carnival I was playing in two years ago.

This time I was going with Mum and the Princess (my Sister). On touchdown in Cairns my Aunty Louise (the healthy eater) met us. She took us on the ascent to Atherton through lovely green leafy bush and a long and winding road. Half an hour out from Atherton, the healthy eater dropped by Coffee Works at Mareeba where she encouraged Mum to buy her favourite blend Black Mountain. We returned there later in the trip for a tour, which I will provide more detail about.

We arrived at Nan’s and spent a day just to catch up with her in the house.

The healthy eater brought a bottle of chilli salt that we became addicted to. It’s made out of the Bhut Jolokia (formerly the hottest chili in the world – number 1 is the Trinidad Scorpian) and Pink Himalayan Rock Salt. In Queensland you can only buy it online from Western Australia at http://www.burningtastebuds.com Mum just ordered a few –due to our recent addiction.

A few days later we decided that we would go back for the tour of Coffee Works (CW). On our first visit Mum had also bought me a packet of their white chocolate, which was smooth and divine. The Princess had chosen chocolate mint, by the time we returned to CW it was all but gone. Mum had also picked up one of their brochures as well, which entitled us to a decent discount on the admission price for the tour.

Back to the chocolate, it’s made in house and you can see them making it behind the counter. On this occasion they were making chocolate in the shape of fish. We made the most of eating chocolate that day, there were so many different flavours, dark, white, milk, macadamias, mint, chilli, cappuccino, espresso, latte, coconut and even lime and black pepper and lemon myrtle which I wasn’t a fan of.
They also supply 21 different types of coffee where they roast all beans in house. This started my addiction for vanilla coffee. Also, they have the world’s largest collection of coffee and tea memorabilia with over 2000 items, some dating back to the 1700’s.

We started by tasting all the coffees, teas and chocolates. Below is a couple of coffee blends. I loved the vanilla coffee with white chocolate. Divine!

On the walls was information about coffee in the Far North and the conditions, blends, stages of preparation and much more.

Then once we were full, we entered the museum where there were remotes that we put to our ears to listen to information regarding a specific item.

Five theatres were scattered around the museum that focused on a specific country (USA, Turkey, Italy, Asia and Australia). There were also little corridors reminiscent of being in a strange place like Alice in Wonderland. Some of areas scared the Princess like the dark Einstein and Queen themed room.

While there, the Princess and I completed a scavenger like Quiz and located different items on a map – not an easy as it sounds, given the incredible collection of coffee related memorabilla. As a prize she was given some chocolates to take home.

Once back at the veranda – reserved only for those who were on the tour, Mum and I ordered the beef burger to share and the Princess and the healthy eater ordered chicken skewers with salad. They came out in no time and both meats were juicy and succulent. I didn’t really agree with the Smith’s crisps that were served on the side of the burger though.

What I loved about the tour was that it was UNLIMITED tasting for the whole day! We didn’t hit the coffee or the chocolate too hard when we first got there. Coffee for reasons well known! So instead we spent some time leisurely sitting, relaxing and enjoying the calm surrounds. For kids instead of the coffee, they do provide you with an iced chocolate. I actually got this plus for the first time Mum let me try coffee.

All in all it was well worth the $48 dollars (with discount, excluding lunch) for the four of us. We left with (if you can believe it) almost full bellies and a couple of coffee blends (including vanilla coffee!). Below is a collage of a couple of the CW photos.

The healthy eater then took us back to Atherton and to Shaylee Strawberries where you could see tents scattered around the fields (which we found out that there were strawberry pickers in them) and a team in a production line packaging the fresh and perfect strawberries. I couldn’t resist eating a small cupful of house-made strawberry ice-cream which was so creamy and delectable.

We also took home a 1 kilogram punnet of strawberries to eat at home I would have to say it was the most perfect strawberry we have ever eaten.

The next day was Dairy Tasting Day! We first ventured to Gallo Dairyland where there were lots of animals, cheese and chocolates.

Off to the side of the main building is a viewing building where you can look down and see a worker making cheese.

While there we watched a DVD in one of the rows of seats set aside for viewing. The movie showed the full process of making the cheese from cow to the finished product. The movie sucked us into ordering a tasting platter with heritage, tilsit, gruyere, camembert, gallozolla and crispy haloumi cheeses. Never in my life have I enjoyed eating cheese this much, because I knew how much work was involved in the process of making cheese.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay to see the milking of the cows but we saw them come in from the pastures to the station. There were other animals like Goats, Chickens, Birds, Pigs and Sheep. All of which the Princess loved, she considers herself a bit of a farm girl at heart.

We then ventured much further a field where we found virtually in the middle of nowhere Mungalli Creek Dairy in Millaa Millaa. Their entire dairy is biodynamic which means that they work with nature and not against it.

As you enter, a large wall of awards stood at the back of the dairy. While Mum was deciding on what flavour yoghurt she should buy, I made a very difficult choice. I was deciding between two cheesecakes (my favourite cake). I opted for the Sicilian Cheesecake made with the dairies own ricotta cheese, dark chocolate and glace orange. The chocolate and orange flavour worked perfectly with the crunchy cinnamon base. And the vanilla ice cream on the side… awesome! We left with Mum’s blueberry and white chocolate yoghurt and (if you can believe it) enough room for lunch!

The healthy eater recommended going to Nick’s Swiss Italian Restaurant at Yungaba on the way home. So we decided that we would go for a light meal since we had already eaten so much! As you enter, you can see Swiss equipment in every direction. Cowbells, accordions, dolls and multicoloured hats (just to named a few) lay scattered around the room.

There was a bit of confusion, as we came in through the entrance of Nick’s but were seated in the pizzeria next door. There wasn’t a problem when we asked for Nick’s menu as well as the pizzeria one.

Mum and Nan decided to share a prawn pizza while the Princess some how convinced Mum to buy her a whole Frankfurt sausage meal. The healthy eater ordered chicken caesar with dressing on the side in case it was too oily (which it was). I ordered the ravioli “Napoli” which had a ricotta and spinach filling with Napolitana sauce and Parmesan cheese.

The prawn pizza was more like a plain pizza, as some pieces had no prawns on it at all.

The pasta was quite robust with a thick covering of sauce and ravioli cooked to my liking, which is just a bit past al dente.

As for the Princess’ meal… lets just say there was some waste.

As for me that was the end of my tasting adventure in Atherton, as I was then confined to the table to do my assignments and homework. However, on the way back to Cairns we ate at the award winning restaurant Nu Nu in Palm Cove. You will be able to read about that great lunch soon.