Volunteering at A Thai Orphage

We had an early start, we had some walls to build. So the Orphanage that we were helping out at were moving to a bigger site, which we were going to help build, the organisation that I went with do this every month with each group, the group before us had put toilets in and our job was to make the cubicle walls. It was hard work, in the heat with hardly any shade to cool down in but it was well worth it. Knowing that the beautiful children would have better facilities to grow up in and more room so the Orphanage can help more children was heart warming, some of the children came to the site which was the best kind of motivation we could possibly of had. After the first day of grafting, we headed back to where we were staying and freshened up before we set of to the Orphanage to spend the evening with children.

We arrived and immediately they would run up and grab you hand wanting you to play, the boys were more playful than the girls, and with the majority of the boys being younger they just wanted to run around and play football which was the most fun! Most of the Orphans are here because of the Burmese war, one little boy was saved from a fire where his parents sadly didn't survive, he has a number of scars from his past, for now they are physically but i'm sure when he gets older they will be emotional scars too, that why them being in the Orphanage surrounded by love and warmth of the people in charge and the other children his life is made that much better, they are a family, and one that I was lucky to spend time, I will never forget any of the children.

We were out playing with them until it was pitch black, we had tea, then played inside for a bit longer too, the fascination with phones and cameras is just delightful, they are items we do take for granted but they bring such joy to these children because it is something out of the ordinary for them. 

The little boy that was in the fire, he had my camera and took LOTS of photos, its incredible just how quickly they learn how to do things, I would wipe the lens then a few minutes later he would be copying me, I taught him once how to zoom in and he got it straight away, i got some beautiful photos from him, which I will treasure. 

My next post is going to be a selection of photos from the volunteering.   

More Buses and A Thai Orphanage

It was now time to set off in the overnight bus again, this time with no toilet which was a bit of a pain! This journey was no better than the first time in the overnight bus, except I actually slept for about an hour, we had more stops this time, and had to get off the bus whilst it filled up with petrol, it must have been a sight for any locals, about 3 am there’s 23 British people sat on a curb all looking half dead having just been woken up waiting for the driver to fill up the bus we weren't too impressed! Luckily there was a 7 11, so we could get some snacks but at that time in the morning you don’t feel like much at all. 

Finally we arrived after god knows how many hours in the middle of nowhere; it was like a scene out of a

Where we stayed, just need a tumble weed
and we are in a Western Film.

western film, the one road with a few shops and nothing else. We got shown where we were staying but the rooms weren't ready yet so there was a circular room with mattresses’ put out for us were we could nap until our rooms were ready, this nap was much appreciated , we were all so tired! We got into our rooms, and this time we were sharing with four people, our room turned into the gathering room for little group. It was great, we even had a toilet that had a proper flush, we were the only ones who had this! We set off to find some food, we found a little place couldn't really call it a restaurant, it was very quaint, not much about it, but the food turned out to be lovely and VERY cheap, Thailand is very cheap any way but for a portion of chicken and garlic with rice and two sprites it cost 60 Thai Baht which is about £1.24, which in England you pay that for one bottle of sprite. The communication wasn't the best as we were in a very rural area, they did not understand English very well, but they were the sweetest people and you really could not fault the food, especially for that much.

After heading back to the guest houses, we got picked up and headed to the Orphanage, now this was the part of the trip that had really sold it to me, I love kids and want to work with children so this was perfect for me, straight away they would run over to you, they couldn't speak English but you didn't need to speak the same language when you saw their smiles, that was a welcome that words would not be able to convey. We played with them, swung them round gave them piggy backs and just had the loveliest time with them, I was so glad this wasn't the only time we’d have with them, because you instantly knew it was going to be so hard to say goodbye to them. We had our tea at the orphanage then spent more time with the children afterwards too, they love phones and cameras, they would play angry birds and take as many photos of themselves as they could! They were so precious! It was time to go back to where we were staying and get some sleep before we would up early to start building.

Songkran (Thai New Year)

Well if you read my last post you would of learnt that I had no clue what Songkran was or that it was happening whilst I was out in Thailand until my flight, when i was sat next to a guy who started tell me all about it, from what he told me I was not expecting what we were faced with. So at Songkran, its basically a three day on going water festival, or a water fight seems more appropriate, because they are in the dry season they have the water fight to welcome the monsoon season, which starts normally about a week after Songkran. 

So we were in Chiang Mai for Songkran, and it was mad, people actually fly out to Thailand just to take part in Songkran, it brings a lot of visitors. We got kitted out, with waterproof pouches for phones and money, and bought water guns which came in pretty useful! ... Stages were being set up for the day, where performers would be playing through out the day and stalls and bars would set up barrels of water for people to fill up their water guns, to use the ones at bars which normally had ice in them you'd have to buy a drink, but families were sat at the side of the roads with a barrel or even just a bucket of water which if you asked they would let you fill up from it, it normally consisted of you getting wet by them whilst you were trying to top up the water gun, but it was in good humor. On the main day of Songkran we set off to head to the buzz of it all, where the stages were, with water guns in hand we were set, you could tell we were getting closer not just by the thousands of people but by the warm puddles we were trying to wade through, it was like a stream. The crowds were huge and there were normal traffic trying to get through too. It was great fun though, the smiles and joy it brought to peoples faces was amazing, and the quick connection you  get with people when you are shooting them in the face with ice cold water is hilarious, that day I never saw one unhappy face!

The water throwing was supposed to stop in the evening, so we headed out to find somewhere to eat, still had our plastic pouches but were dressed up a bit, yet we were greeted with people still out enjoying the celebrations, so by the time we got to the bar we were going to we were well and truly soaked! 

Then the most ironic event happened, on the last day of Songkran, I was having a nap, when I could hear water running, at first I just thought it was my room mate Lexi, having a shower, but when I opened my eyes the bathroom door was open and she was not there, so I opened our front door, too see a down poor of rain. I could see two of the girls of my trip were stood at their door in complete awe, it was the strangely beautiful. 

Rafting, Tuk Tuks and Chiang Mai

So we headed to what we were expecting to be white water rafting, well this was not quite an accurate description, four of us were sat on about 5 bamboo shoots tied together with rope with a 12 year old as a driver, who was using another bamboo shoot to steer us, the water was very shallow at some points and you could feel the raft scraping along the bottom, the kid was also quite cocky and it seemed that we were not his first priority, but looking in the water for things he'd be able to sell on were. he was searching so much that he let us collide into quite a few other rafts... it wasn't the most enjoyable activity, especially as it was the start of the Thai New Year i.e. a water fight, so everyone was splashing us with ALOT of water and the raft had a lot of ants on it. 

After this we headed back to the idyllic hotel to sadly pack and head into the City of Chiang Mai, this is where we would be spending 4 days until we were to carry on to the volunteer project at an orphanage.

We had a nice hotel with a very inviting pool, the weather was gorgeous, this was the first time we had to actually relax and catch a bit of sun, we so needed to the time to just sit down and do nothing, we had been so busy up until this point so we enjoyed it. We had the chance to go to a Tiger Sanctuary, where you could have photos with the tigers and stroke them and feed the baby cubs, but we found out that they actually drug the tigers so people can approach them, this sickened me so we did not end up going, I didn't want to give money which would probably pay for the drugs they use on the tigers, I was not supportive of this one bit! When some of the group had gone to it came back they weren't even that impressed they just said it was an expensive photo.

When I had booked the trip I was not aware about Songkran, I had no clue what it was and certainly didn't have a clue what we would be getting ourselves into!

A Night With No Electricity or Running Water

After the ordeal that was the awful trek we go settled into our home for the night, a bamboo hut which when you walked on felt like it was about to crumble under your feet. It was one big room to fir 9 of us in, there were thin mattresses laid out on the floor and blankets for us to use, no pillows and plenty of holes in the walls for the friendly misquotes. If the hadn't been a cooler full of beers, I really don't know what we would of done that night. Our tea was prepared over a camp fire, which the fella that had built the hut and it was part of his home had cooked all the food for us, it was tasty, but I feared I was eating dog, so i mainly stuck to the veg. Night fell and it went pitch black in a matter of minutes, so the drinks came out and so did the drinking games. Our elephant trainer had traveled up on his motorbike to spend the night with us then would travel back down in the morning and be with the other half of out group who were with the elephants. Music was playing and the games began, it was a card game and whoever lost had to either take a shot of a unknown alcohol or have the face painted from the soot of a cooking pan, lucky me lost first so had my face drawn on.

More Elephants and a Trek I Won't Forget.

Second day with the elephants was just as amazing as the first, Chi tried making us get on the elephants some strange ways, like crawling up the elephants trunk, I passed on this because I would of felt sorry for the elephant! We were going on an elephant trek, somehow it felt higher up than the day before, but thankfully heights don't bother me too much. We set off but we were soon interrupted and had to alter the trek because the original route had a forest fire, this was quite scary being in the jungle surrounded by trees, it hadn't rained for months there so it could quite easily of spread but luckily for us it didn't it was just a small one. Going uphill on an elephant is a terrifying experience, never have I held on to a piece of rope as tight as I was that moment, going downhill I could cope with! We had a well behaved elephant that day unlike one of the others, whose elephant just wanted to go and eat all the time! After the trek we headed down to the river again, and splashed around with the elephants, and got to do a few tricks with the elephants.

After a good nights rest we were waking up to the knowledge that we were going on a trek into the hills today and would be staying overnight in a bamboo hut the trekking back down the morning after with a few stops at some waterfalls, I don't mind walking, but in the high temperatures we would be walking in I was having some serious doubts whether to do it or not, up until the night before I was adamant that I would not be trekking and would pay to get the truck up to the site where we were staying, but it was after a couple of drinks that I decided I would do it, because when would I get the chance again to do something like this in Thailand. So I did it, and it was horrible. I honestly wished I had just got the truck up, it was not one bit enjoyable to me, and obviously this is a person opinion because some people on the trip really enjoyed it, I just didn't. We were told we would only be walking for about 2 hours, this turned into about 5. We stopped at the waterfalls, and being so miserable I didn't even enjoy them properly. Whilst walking I would put my sunglasses down and just cry, that shows just how much I didn't like it. I'm not a drama queen or a diva I was just being made to walk at mid day in the scorching sun on a path which at times was no wider than a foot, with a drop down to god knows what. 

Majority of people in the group helped me and tried to cheer me up, and even when we got to the end on of the girls asked if I felt a sense of achievement after doing it, i shook my head and she just burst out laughing, I had to join her laughing otherwise I would of cried, I was that drained and exhausted. 

Overnight Buses and Elephants.

So after a not so enjoyable overnight bus journey, with no sleep and being scared for my life because the driver was a complete maniac! They seriously can not drive in Thailand, I honestly don't think they know what a driving license actually means! So we arrived at a petrol station where we were to wait for our next mode of transport, which was a big version of the tuktuk we went in Bangkok, these actually had more room so we could all fit our rucksacks in too, this was also the first glimpse of the Thai New Year too, as there were children throwing water in our direction all the time, driving through the rolling hills and rice fields for our scenery we go to out desination, the worlds best guest houses ever, set in the jungle was just the first bonus, the next we found out when we were sitting down to breakfast, we had the best cook ever, it was the sweetest little lady ever, she was so accommodating to us all, next we saw where we were staying, it was like a tree house it had a magical feeling and look about it, trees towered over you, but left enough view to stare at the clear starry sky at night. So after no sleep and a wonderful breakfast we had time to clean up and get ready for the elephants! I was so incredibly excited! This was the main feature of the trip that sold me. So after a quick tuktuk journey we were now acquainted with our elephant trainer Chi, who was such a lovely guy, who could speak a bit of English and was really trying to explain facts about the elephants, our guide Nom could properly tell us what he was trying to say. We all got a turn to get onto the elephant, this was surprisingly scary, you don't expect how high up you are on an elephant! We learnt the commands to tell the elephant and fed it bananas which as you can tell by my expression was so exciting!We then partnered up and rode down to a river where we played with the elephants and gave them a wash, it was so surreal, I was sat on an elephant in Thailand, life couldn't get much better that that! After a few hours with the elephants we headed back to where we were staying, to freshen up and then have the most beautiful meal I had had so far, we then ordered a few drinks and our elephant trainer joined us and taught us some drinking games, we played jenga and tried teaching Chi how to play ring of fire, don't think he quite grasped the rules, but he tried! We ended the evening by being told off for making too much noise.