So, the Internet in Thailand is not so awesome, so I apologize for the wait. But here's my first blog post!!
Day
1: a good 48 hours of flights. I met all my campers! Jacob S (who was
also on Classic Italy with me last year!), Alena G, Collier R, Hannah S,
Cristina I, Helena T, Jessica RW, Niha K, Gonzalo E, Francesca R, and
Julianne K. Luckily, I got a really great group. Also all of our flights
went perfectly well, which is awesome. When the group arrived in
Bangkok we met the lead counselors Jordan and Lydia. They're pretty cool
too. As a group we flew to Chiang Mai and then drove to our
accommodations.
Day 2: our activities for the day were jungle cooking and visiting some pretty amazing temples.
In
jungle cooking, we literally made our meal. Pork salad, grilled
chicken, Nam-Prik (which is like Thai salsa), steamed/cooked mushrooms
in banana leaves, and other things and sticky rice (which is present at
almost every meal). It was quite delicious and I took some really artsy
photos. At one point, Julianne and I snuck away to explore a bit, and we
ended up milking an angry goat. It's a lot harder than it looks my
friends.
After
lunch we traveled into Chiang Mai and I got to visit my first Buddhist
temples! The first one was Wat Doi Suthep. The legend of this temple in
particular is that a expensive white Elephant belonging to a king was
set free with a piece of Buddha. This elephant traveled through the
jungle and let a roar out at the top and died. This prompted the king to
build a beautiful temple in that spot. Everything is lined with gold,
I'll post photos as soon as I can.
Wat
Chedi Luang was the name of the second temple we visited that day. It's
super bedazzled, I kind of want to copy it for my new wall paper in my
room. Very very beautiful.
Then
we spoke with a monk, he began every response to a question with "Well,
you know..." And that slightly bothered me, but otherwise was very
interesting. They don't eat after noon, which I could never do. So I
guess becoming a monk isn't in my future, plus I'm a girl and I don't
really want to shave my head and eyebrows, but whatever.
We
finished the day the Sunday walking street market. I bought a tie-dye
shirt. "#awesome" (-Lydia said that..her and Alena are helping me type
this blog post aloud."
I
also bought a silver ring for my collection and stretchy pants. The
total for the end of the day was about 500 baht. Which equates to
$16.66. Everything is really cheap here and it's awesome. Then we went
to bed.
Day 3: Rock climbing and repelling. I was excited because I already knew
how to tie all the important knots on my harness. One concern I had
though was that they didn't use stopper knots there, for the extra
security, so, hmmmm. I still had one anyway.
It
was a real mountain, not a fake rock wall. Which is surprisingly
challenging. But, I handled like a pro of course. What else would you
expect from me?
The
next thing I did not handle as well was repelling. I've repelled
before, but it was maybe like 10 feet, at least. That day, I repelled
about 120 feet, so it was a little different. Also in the times I have
repelled before, I had the wall right there. It was just me, in the air,
like 100 feet up. Pretty scary.
That
evening we had a barbecue, sort of American themed. Which was quite
pleasant. We also played Mafia, but I don't want to talk about it.
Day 4: our busiest day yet! We began the morning a little grocery market
for 15 minutes, it was cool, but everyone was itching to get to our next
activity.
Elephants.
Yes my friends, elephants. We did not ride them though. We actually
learned about how abused these poor creatures are when they're forced to
perform in shows and give rides. The place we spent the morning at was a
refuge for 35 previously mistreated elephants. There was all really
cute baby to, but we weren't allowed to touch it. Unless we wanted to
get trampled by its mom and her friends.
Right
after that we went zip lining through the jungle. I took my camera up
into the trees with me (although my father would not approve--sorry
daddy!) and snapped some pretty sweet photos. Hooray!
We
then went to the night Bazaar. Which was awesome and had knock off
everything. Ray bans, beats headphones, Gucci, you name it. HMU (hit me
up) if you want me to hook you up.
Days 5,6,7 and half of 8 were community service days! We completed part
of an addition to a kindergarten in an obscure village 4 hours outside
of Chiang Mai. Lydia says it was near the highest mountain in Thailand.
We stayed in the homes of local villagers without a real bathroom or
shower. And yet, we all survived. I stayed in a home with Helena,
Jessica, and Cristina. It just happened to be the nicest one in the
village. We could close our windows and had a nice big room to
ourselves.
I
actually had a lot of fun on this volunteering trip. I got to paint a
lot of murals and interact with local children. We didn't finish the
addition, but we really did do a lot. I'm proud of us no matter what.
Day
8: yesterday. A travel day my friends. We left Chiang Mai for Phuket.
Took two cars, two planes, and a boat to get to our hotel on Koh Phi
Phi. I got a little sunburned, but I still look good.
And
then today, day 9, we're snorkeling! The rest of the group is actually
scuba diving, but Lydia, Alena, and I are not. And that's what gave me
the perfect window of time to write this post, we're in an area where
there are just too many boats for us. But it seems like in a few
minutes, it will be our turn! So that's all for now folks!
As always,
Julia Rose
