Time flies in Thailand

by Stephanie Dodd – Thailand GapBreak 2008

The weekend we wanted to go to the Golden Triangle but it didn't happen because we had to do a visa run! We went to Mae Sai, the town on the Thai side of the Thai/Myanmar[Burma] border and then crossed over for a bit. On the other side there are markets where every thing is really cheap and you can buy stuff that's illegal in Thailand such as playing cards. We bought some DVDs and stuff.. It was certainly strange for me to stand in that country because I did a lot of research on the polical state of Burma in Year 11 at school. Trust me, it's far from pretty. Well the political side of things anyway. It was quite an odd feeling.

After that we headed to Mae Salong, a town settled by Chinese anti-communists who feld the 1949 Revolution. It's a town built up on a mountain ridge and the ride up there was absolutely amazing. By complete fluke it turned out that we drove up just as the sun was setting which made for beautiful scenery in amongst the mountains. ] It was lovely up there and very calm and quiet. Also quite cold! The place we stayed at turned out to be a bit dodgy, but it made for a few laughs looking back on it. On the Sunday we trekked up 718 to the Wat [Temple] at the top of the mountain. It was AMAZING up there and definitely worth the climb. We all took plenty of photos and took in the view. Then we got silly by taking photos using the self-timer setting on our cameras. Very funny.

Then another week volunteering when we finished the last English camp for the scholarship kids. Last Wednesday night we had a party to celebrate the end of the camp. It was fun and at the end a few of the girls wouldn't stop hugging us. I felt very special to have made such a different and to have had such an impact on their lives. A few of them have come back this week to help with the camp we're currently running for younger kids.

Last weekend Paul [our in-country agent] took us to the Golden Triangle for the day. The first stop was at a monkey cave where we fed monkeys and laughed at them and stufff. Then visited the Hall of Opium and had a crash history lesson in opium and the trade and wars over the plant/drug involving Britain, China and Siam [Thailand's former name]. It was very interesting and I learnt a lot. Then had lunch sitting on Thailand whilst looking at Burma and Laos! And got in a speed boat [don't worry Mum I was wearing a life jacket] on the Mekong and went to some markets in Laos! After that we headed back to Chiang Rai just to chill out.

This week we started the new camp, as mentioned earlier! There are about 24 kids aged 10-13 with varying english skills. Although, I have been teaching Maths! And enjoying it. They kids are understanding what I'm teaching, but the boys can get very restless and disruptive. They mainly just want to climb trees and play soccer... But that's to be expected. We're all getting pretty tired from the work we're doing so when this camp finishes [next Friday] we'll all be relieved! But then school starts again so hello to being busy again!

I'm having a great time and not missing home all that much [sorry Mum/Dad/Kate/Claire/Mischa/Darren]. And today is exactly 3 months until I'm home! wow! So far it's been a really fantastic experience and I'm learning so much about Thailand, teaching, myself and other people.