Greetings from Chiang Rai! Thought I'd just give you a quick (not really) update on what I've been doing in the last couple of days.
For the people that don't know, I'm spending six weeks with a Thai NGO located in the town of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, right near the border near Burma. They rely on volunteers who come from all around the world to teach english, japanese, help on issues such as human trafficking, drug abuse, child labour and abuse etc. They also help on rural projects such as building houses, walls, storehouses, schools, making bricks etc in the hill tribes on the border. So pretty much for the next six weeks, I'll be teaching english to primary school kids, teenagers, adults, factory workers, other volunteers from overseas and monks which is going to be a really cool experience!
I havent started teaching yet but I have helped out doing some little projects like creating and paitning some jigsaw puzzles for kids in the local schools - very theraputic and I feel sorry for the kids that have to try and solve puzzles with my terrible paintings!!
From Thursday - Saturday a group of about eight volunteers went on a homestay where we go to live in a village and experience in the living conditions in the hill tribes. We drove to a town called Phu Chi Fah which a little touristy village about three hours away from Chiang Rai. We stayed in a guest house that night and all had to sleep in one giant day bed (with 8 people it can get a wee bit cosy!) We also got to eat some really great food - accompanied by some local Whisky infused with herbs and a lot of wood! We might have had a few too many shots but it was all good fun! We got up at 4:30am the next morning to go for a massive walk up a giant hill to a check out to watch the fog sea over Laos and watch the sun rise. There would have been about 500 tourists and there were just four westerners - case of spot the australian to the extreme! The view was well worth the trek, crowds, extreme cold and the very early start!! After we went drove to our village homestay in Pa-tang. It was a real eye opener to see a lot of peoples living conditions and how they can make do with so very little - it really made me appreciate all the stuff we have in Australia. In the afternoon I went for a walk around the village by myself and I got talking to this American woman who was visiting her brother in the village. She brought me up to her house, I sat and drank tea in their house which was really nice - it's amazing how giving people are here! After that she told me I had to go up to her brothers roadside resturant and have afternoon tea with her - he made me the most amazing pad thai! It was a very cool detour! The house I stayed in was very nice and modern compared to the other houses in the village. We also went to the White Temple in Chiang Rai yesterday afternoon which was absolutely amazing.
I think the highlight of the trip so far has been when a couple of us went for a walk around the village of Pa-tang and we came across four boys playing a game of soccer. They lost their ball so we ran after and got it for them then somehow we got playing this massive game of soccer. We started kicking around then more and more kids got involved - kids went and told their friends and eventually we had about 20 kids playing us in a game of soccer - it was really really cool. It was a real shame when we had to leave as we were having such a great time!
We've also been spending a lot of time in the town of Chiang Rai. We go into town in a taxi that holds like 15 people and they even let people sit on the roof, so another dude and I did that over a very bumpy road at high speeds - so so so dangerous but great fun! In the town we go to get massages, look around the markets, eat the local cuisine of bamboo worms and grasshoppers (surprinsingly delicious!!) whilst drinking local Thai beer!
I start teaching tomorrow - I'll be teaching ICT to a special education class all day which will be really challenging!
I could write on for ages and I really want to tell everyone what we've been doing but I'd be here for ages! I hope all you are all well and all is going well in Sydtown!
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