Excursion 2

Excursion 2

On Sunday the 17^th of April we were due to head off for another excursion which was expected to be very different from our first excursion. This excursion would involve us exploring the cultural aspect of Thailand a lot more. I was excited for this because one thing I’d always said when someone asked why I chose to go back to Thailand was that I wanted to immerse myself in the culture more than when I’d first visited.

The drive to the hill tribe was really .. interesting. With quite a few hungover passengers, the song thaews were a ticking time bomb. Adding windy, steep roads to that meant it wasn’t too surprising when someone threw up off the back. Anyway, before too long we’d arrived at the hill tribe and were making our way up the stairs to the top of the tribe. There was a lovely garden at the top. After some light shopping (just got some lil coin purses for my friends and family), I made my way back to the song thaews. I quickly grabbed an ice cream (it was a berry cornetto, the best cornetto I’ve ever had, haven’t found it here since then) and teased it in front of the hungover people (unintentionally at first). Then we were off the see the Queen’s gardens which were given to the Queen by the King. The Queen’s gardens were absolutely beautiful and a lovely experience. We wondered around for quite a while and then enjoyed same pad thai and a waffle for lunch.

We finished off the excursion by visiting Wat Prathat Doi Suthep Temple. This was a beautiful temple and was an awesome 300 step walk to the top. Once there we took part in what there was (lighting candles, walking around the main statue and praying or asking for forgiveness) and we also got a blessing. The blessing was pretty cool because you shake a container that has sticks with numbers in them. A stick will fall out and you take a blessing according to the number. My blessing felt quite fitting at the time and will continue to have relevance all throughout my life.

That’s about it for the second excursion, thanks for reading!

The hill tribe we visited.

The Queen's garden.

The Queen's gardens.

The steps to the top of the temple.

At the temple.

Wat Prathat Doi Suthep Temple.

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Songkran

The second week of the course involved our first presentation and a trip to an old age home. The presentation was extremely nerve wrecking. Orals were my least favourite thing at school and here I was meant to do a presentation that was a good 10 minutes long in front of 52 other people, majority of whom were older than me. But I made it through without any major hiccups. And was fortunate enough to only do my presentation after the group of 52 was split into 3.

It was also a very special week because this week was Songkran, the Thai new year. This also meant we got a half day off on Wednesday and Thursday and got the whole of Friday off. On Tuesday we were all fortunate enough to attend a small ceremony at a local old age home. The trip to the old age home was very significant because we got to celebrate the religious part of such an important festival. This involved being blessed by the elderly residents and dancing with them to end off the visit. It was an eye opening experience and I feel truly blessed that I was able to be a part of it. Soon we were off to class and planning our afternoon of watergun hunting (Songkran involves a water festival where everyone sprays or splashes everyone else with water).

A group of us headed to the Big C supermarket on Wednesday afternoon with one of the teachers from the course to find the perfect watergun. The selection was small and the prices were increasing, we had to move fast! I had my heart set on a Stitch gun but, after being told it wouldn’t have much power, settled for a teddy-giraffe hybrid backpack watergun. With that sorted, it was time for the fun to begin. We headed off to the old city with a stop to drop off the stuff we didn’t need and to get splashed by the staff where the TEFL course took place. The drive to the old city was an adventure all on its own because there are only so many places to hide in a songthaew. We made it to the old city and were keen to get our fight on. We walked a lot and left no stone unturned (i.e.: we sprayed everyone). The water was interesting because the buckets people used to refill their guns were either filled with dirty canal water or ice cold water. Best of both worlds I guess. Before we knew it, it was time for us to head to the resort. We were bummed to leave but absolutely exhausted from the day’s madness.

Thursday Songkran day 2: Today involved mostly chilling. I dropped my laundry off at a place across the road to be washed and then spent most of the day in the beautifully air-conditioned room. That night we all planned to go to a foam party and then head to a place called Zoe’s (a really nice club with a pretty cool atmosphere, check it out if you’re ever in Chiang Mai) afterwards. I was keen for the foam party but disappointed because we landed up at the wrong place. On the plus side we did experience some of a Thai concert where we felt like celebrities due to the overwhelming excitement shared by many of the audience. And the staring. The staring made us feel it too. Most of the group were restless and just wanted to go to Zoe’s. Before we knew it we’d arrived at Zoe’s and met up with more of the group from the course. The beginning was good and most of us stuck together but then I branched off to a different part of the group because I was starting to feel like a bit of a third wheel and wasn’t really keen on watching where all the arm touching and flirting would lead to. Then when that was over I was left holding people’s drinks and waiting an hour for them to get back from the toilet. Luckily a guy from the group (the fourth member of my rafting party) offered to stay with me while I waited so I wasn’t completely alone.  After over an hour of waiting Sara came back, not fairing so well after 2 buckets and countless sips of other drinks. Tristan appeared and said I should take Sara home and Simone and Thiv (the couple) were nowhere to be seen (I later found out that they had headed home just before Sara and I left). Tristan also told me he needed some disinfectant for his foot (he’d fallen into a scooter), so he’d be knocking on my door when he got back.

After getting ripped off by a tuk tuk Sara and I were safely back at the resort and Sara was off to the showers. I quickly got dressed and soon there was a knock on my door. I grabbed the germiline and headed out to the damage Tristan had caused himself when he fell into a scooter (more to come on the damage in future blogs). The rest of the night was a blur and before I knew it was Friday.

Friday was rather uneventful and just involved more relaxing. That night I wasn’t keen to go out because I still had a sour taste in my mouth from the night before. So while everyone else was turning up, I was Skyping home. Saturday I tried my very best to walk to the Tesco and got dismally lost. I was alone and my phone didn’t work and it was hella hot. I gave up after 45 minutes and made my way back to the resort. Once there I was informed that there was a lot of drama what went down the night before. Sara and I went for coffee so she could fill me in on everything. After hearing everything I was not keen on joining them for the fourth night at Zoe’s and opted for a night in, again. Its not that I don’t enjoy going out and having fun, I just like to know that when I do, I’m with people who won’t leave me for a good portion of the night, especially not when it’s a foreign country with people from here, there and everywhere. Plus, we had our second excursion the next day so I wasn’t amped to risk missing it because I’d overslept.

The old age home

Me being blessed

The Stitch water gun that caught my eye

My hybrid water gun

A treat on the way to the festivities

Songkran!

My first time on a tuk tuk

Simone and I, ready for a water war

Say cheese!

Thanks for reading!
Happy wandering,
Centaine xx

First excursion

Excursion 1

The first Saturday in Thailand looked to be a promising one. The plan involved elephant trekking, white water rafting and tubing. We all met outside the resort foyer and eagerly awaited the songthaews (bakkies that have benches on the inside for people to sit on) to fetch us and take us to the first destination. The first stop was at a river with a natural slide. I was nervous at first but so keen to give it a go. I went down and it was such a rush. I almost lost my contacts a few times but still had a blast. It was a bit disappointing that only a few of us from the group were going down the slide but it had helped me find my adventure buddies who I was sticking to for the day (Tristan and Zanru - one of the guys who helped wake me up the first morning).

Next up was white river rafting. Now it was a rather dry time of the year so the river was quite low and the rafting involved a lot of bumping into rocks. There was also a moment where I almost fell out the raft (Thanks to Tristan who’s reflexes made him quick enough to catch me.) It was a pretty incredible experience because it led me to seeing even more of the Thai lifestyle. All along the river there were families in the river and children who were eager to splash us. The experience was once in a lifetime.

The rest of the time in the songthaews Tristan and I made sure we were riding on the roof because it wasn’t illegal out of the city area and the views were insane. I had a blast, even though I almost got taken out by a couple trees.

After we reached the end of the rafting we grabbed some tubes and it was time for that leg of the adventure. With the river being so low we encountered some painful bumps on the behind. And walking in the river was painful due to all the little rocks but we still had a good time. Next up was elephant trekking.

The first half of the group got to the elephant trekking and were to get going. For some reason I opted to go on an elephant with Sara and ended up sitting on the back so I didn’t really get to see much of what was going on in front of me. I did really enjoy it even though it felt like I was going to fall off quite a few times. Next up we got to wash the elephants in the river. I had so much fun and the elephants were absolutely adorable and loved the attention. There was a photographer there taking pictures of all the people doing the elephant trekking and we could buy the photos if we wanted or put them on an SD card if we had one on us. Sara and I decided to spit the cost and buy the photos. Definitely worth it.

The ride home was a bit tedious and by the time we got back to the resort we were all exhausted and eager for a swim. I will be quite honest in saying my shyness kicked in a little when it came to going outside for a swim. Sara wasn’t interested and so that left me to go venture out by myself. But Tristan and my roommate and a few other guys I had made friends with were there so it wasn’t so bad.

The orchid farm was our first stop.

The view from the songthaew.

The natural slide.

Us getting spashed by the locals.

Honestly one of my favourite pictures to date. This little boy was so excited to get in on the fun.

Washing elephants in the river.

That’s about it for the first excursion day.

Thanks for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx