Sorry for the long silence. Our days and evening have been filled with activities, with little down time other than to sleep. Hopefully the students will find some time to catch up on their postings.
We arrived without any problems on August 6. The trip was long, about 24 hours, but no delays. We had a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, and the students enjoyed having time to explore Narita airport before the last 6 1/2 hour leg to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok around 11pm, and finally made it to the hotel around 1am.
After sleeping in on Friday morning, we spent the afternoon at Mahidol University Faculty of Pharmacy. Our host and co-Chair along with myself of the US-Thai Pharmacy Consortium, Dr. Surakit gave us an excellent overview of the healthcare system and pharmacy education in Thailand.
On Friday night we started a busy weekend if sightseeing--we visited 2 temples, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, taking the ferry (after eating pad thai at the dock) across the river to get to Wat Arun. On Saturday we went about 60km west of Bangkok to a floating market, and on Sunday toured the Grand Palace and the teakwood Palace.
We are incredibly lucky to have Supranee's aunt. Ms. Jonglak Kit as our tour guide. She had provided us with transportation and great advice on what to see and where to eat.
On Monday, it was back to work, visiting Ramathibodi and Siriraj Hospitals and Siriraj Medical Museum, both large teaching sites for Mahidol University students and residents. Yesterday we visited Huachiew Chalermprakiet University, and today we visited Ruen Ya Drug Store.
I'll let the students fill in many more details, and since it is after midnight I won't take the time to embed photos into this posting. For those of you who are not my Facebook friend, you can see all my photos at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153409119959473.1073741849.635549472&type=1&l=824f0f4e4d
Some quick impressions:
The students have been extremely adventurous with food. We have eaten mostly at local, non-tourist places to provide the opportunity to have truly authentic Thai food (like pig blood soup).
When I am on a trip like this with students who have never visited the country, I try to see things through their eyes. I can tell their experience are leaving a great impression. My ulterior motive for hosting a trip like this, and having an international program is to have our students not only learn about culture and practice, but to make connections with people from very different cultures. Last night after our visit to Huachiew University we went to dinner with some of their faculty and students. I could see the excitement along the UA and Huachiew students and they got to know each other, learned about each others' lives and exchanged Facebook information. A life-changing experience.
More to come!
Mike
We arrived without any problems on August 6. The trip was long, about 24 hours, but no delays. We had a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, and the students enjoyed having time to explore Narita airport before the last 6 1/2 hour leg to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok around 11pm, and finally made it to the hotel around 1am.
After sleeping in on Friday morning, we spent the afternoon at Mahidol University Faculty of Pharmacy. Our host and co-Chair along with myself of the US-Thai Pharmacy Consortium, Dr. Surakit gave us an excellent overview of the healthcare system and pharmacy education in Thailand.
On Friday night we started a busy weekend if sightseeing--we visited 2 temples, Wat Pho and Wat Arun, taking the ferry (after eating pad thai at the dock) across the river to get to Wat Arun. On Saturday we went about 60km west of Bangkok to a floating market, and on Sunday toured the Grand Palace and the teakwood Palace.
We are incredibly lucky to have Supranee's aunt. Ms. Jonglak Kit as our tour guide. She had provided us with transportation and great advice on what to see and where to eat.
On Monday, it was back to work, visiting Ramathibodi and Siriraj Hospitals and Siriraj Medical Museum, both large teaching sites for Mahidol University students and residents. Yesterday we visited Huachiew Chalermprakiet University, and today we visited Ruen Ya Drug Store.
I'll let the students fill in many more details, and since it is after midnight I won't take the time to embed photos into this posting. For those of you who are not my Facebook friend, you can see all my photos at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153409119959473.1073741849.635549472&type=1&l=824f0f4e4d
Some quick impressions:
The students have been extremely adventurous with food. We have eaten mostly at local, non-tourist places to provide the opportunity to have truly authentic Thai food (like pig blood soup).
When I am on a trip like this with students who have never visited the country, I try to see things through their eyes. I can tell their experience are leaving a great impression. My ulterior motive for hosting a trip like this, and having an international program is to have our students not only learn about culture and practice, but to make connections with people from very different cultures. Last night after our visit to Huachiew University we went to dinner with some of their faculty and students. I could see the excitement along the UA and Huachiew students and they got to know each other, learned about each others' lives and exchanged Facebook information. A life-changing experience.
More to come!
Mike
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