Kayaks, Songthaews & Automobiles…

A long weekend has just finished, my legs ache, I’m tired, and I am sunburnt. However, I also had fun, learnt a lot more about the Rain Tree Foundation, saw a lot more of country, and may have fallen in love…with Thailand!

A lot of the weekend was spent on the road or in a river!

First we travelled from Chiang Mai, to Mai Sarieng (200km south west), stopping off to create some fruit baskets as gifts…and later for lunch! The plan was to go to Mai Sarieng, and to visit some of the Childrens Homes in the area - to help form some links in the area and to see if there was anything the Rain Tree Foundation could learn from how these homes are run. Also, all the volunteers were meeting here, for a bit of rest, relaxation…and work.

I won’t write a report about each of the childrens home visits…but I will summarise the highlights!

Firstly, for some reason, I was delegated the job of giving the fruit basket gifts to each of the Children homes owners, which sounds easy enough, sure, but maybe I put too much pressure on myself, as I was panicking that I would; give the gift to soon, give the gift to the wrong person, drop the gift (fruit is heavy!), but my biggest concern was how to ‘wai’ when carrying a fruit basket in one hand! I think I did OK, although I wished I had dressed for the occasion…

The second home we visited, was very small, but very well run – the kids put on a little performance for us, and sang us a song! Ralf talked to the kids, and it was clear he was in his element when doing this. One of the kids, whilst younger, had been at one of the children projects that the Rain Tree Foundation runs, and it was good to see that since he graduated from the Rain Tree Foundations project, he was now doing well elsewhere!

We also had to introduce ourselves, firstly, I don’t think they understood what ‘accountant’ was…as Ralfs translation looked very much like an imaginary abacus! I also said I liked football…they wanted to know which team I supported, and I am ashamed to say I lied, as I said ‘Manchester United’…not my beloved AFC Bournemouth - I figured this would be easier, but I have been riddled with guilt ever since. As we left, I was asked if I wanted to play soccer the next day…I panicked again, and pointed to my knee to feign an injury  - as we wouldn’t have been around for KO and I only had walking boots with me (not to mention I’m rubbish!).

The next day, the plan was to go kayaking along the Yuam River, approx 30km from the Burmese border! However, there was a parade/carnival in the town in the morning, and this was delayed, so we went to visit the remaining children’s homes.

Once we got around to kayaking it was very enjoyable - the scenery was amazing, and just how I had imagined rural Asia – I did keep expecting to hear Ride of the Valkyries and the sound of helicopters though! As a Man, I decided I didn’t need to put any suntan lotion on, this was a mistake. I did jump out of my kayak at one point and go for a paddle swim, this wasn’t a mistake, as it was lovely!

We then travelled back to Chiang Mai, via Menachorn and through the mountains - we had to go to Hot Coffee to speak to some of the children who had been misbehaving, and I was given the task of clearing a bees nest! We then had one more stop to make in Mae Chaem, where we got caught up in a big ‘Cotton’ festival was taking place!  The journey took about 6 hours in total, and was tiring, but was compensated by the beautiful Thai countryside! The journey also gave us plenty of time to talk about the Rain Tree Foundation and its plans.

With 6 days remaining, and the last two weekends being spent up in the Mountains (which I wouldn’t change)…my Chiang Mai bucket list hadn’t progressed much. However, I had one free Sunday left, and I planned to use it! The mission – Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, this mission was successfully completed, and I think you’ll agree, it’s pretty spectacular (I definitely didn’t get sunburnt again)…

All the volunteers were in Chiang Mai, so we all met up in the late afternoon sun, and went to the Sunday Walking Street, which was very busy and had lots of stalls (and food), I used this time to buy some friends and family some pointless gifts that they will probably don’t want, and definately won’t use, it also turns out that my ‘bartering’ skills are not very good!

I had been on my feet all day by this time, and it was getting late, so wanted to get back to my guesthouse, as per usual, the Songthaew accepted to take us back to the guesthouse (I showed them the address on the guesthouse’s ‘business card’), but then had to stop, make lots of phone calls and ask a petrol pump assistant where it was. If he had asked me, I could have told him (by which I mean, I could have pointed a lot!).

Anyway, after a long enjoyable weekend my last weekend in Thailand was over. I feel like I’ve just got to the stage where I feel quite comfortable with the country, the people and the Rain Tree Foundation, but annoyingly I only have a week left, and feel like I have a lot left to do…I think my plans to spend a few days on a sandy beach relaxing at the end of the placement  may have to be on hold for another holiday!