Trip to Thailand enriches history teacher's perspective

It’s a dog day Thursday afternoon. The phone rings. It’s your aunt and uncle. They’re going to Thailand tomorrow. Would you like to join them?

History teacher Jeff Scott would.

This past August, Scott spent nine days in Thailand with his aunt and uncle, learning about the southeast Asian country’s culture, landmarks and people.

Scott decided to visit Thailand “on a whim,” a country he had never even given a thought to visit before then.

“I quickly got my passport, I went home, and I went to the local Campbell library and checked out three books on Thailand. Before I knew it, I was at the airport, boarding a flight to Tokyo and then to Bangkok.”

Because Scott’s uncle is a long-term employee of United Airlines, Scott got to fly first class for next to nothing.

From Bangkok, Scott visited Ko Chang, an island near Cambodia, where he spent two nights.

“We ate a lot of good food,” Scott said. “We were on mopeds for three days. We saw some really cool waterfalls. With our mopeds we were able to go over the entirety of the island.”
While there, Scott truly immersed himself in the culture of the island.

“One of the coolest things I did when I was there, I got to feed a baby elephant soy milk,” Scott said. “I got a real kick out of that.”

Scott then went back to Bangkok, where he enjoyed going to night markets in the city.

“It was really fun going to the night markets in Bangkok,” Scott said. “Mostly because they were selling everything from fake watches to bootleg DVDs, to fake sunglasses, to basically whatever you wanted to buy, and you could bargain with them. It was really fun, buying headphones that looked just like Apple headphones, except they were like $3.”

Scott also recalled the foot massages that were given in the street.

“You sit next to like 20 people and they give you foot massages,” Scott said. “I think it was only a couple of dollars for half an hour.”

All said and done, Scott said that his favorite memory from the trip was learning about the history of the monarchy in Thailand.

“I never really learned the history of Thailand in college or high school,” Scott said. “It’s amazing how much they love their monarch. In Thailand, the king and queen’s picture is everywhere. It’s in every single business. You see it on the sides of buildings, on overpasses. You see it all over the place.”

Scott visited the Grand Palace while in Bangkok.

“I got the audio walking tour,” Scott said. “So basically, I was able to walk around and I would punch in a number, and I would learn all about the historic landmarks that were inside the temple.”

Scott said that although the history of Thailand is not a part of the California high school history curriculum, his trip enriched his perspective and would positively impact his teaching.

“And again, this was stuff I had never really learned about, so it was fascinating,” Scott said. “I felt like a student of history again.”