FRIDAY 2nd AUGUST (Taken from group diary written by Christian)

After a relatively good night's sleep, although Lily was obviously feeling the effects of some kind of sickness, everyone had breakfast and got ready for a journey, in the rain, to our next destination. The team got into 2 trucks and headed off along a very muddy track. The journey was great fun as the muddy roads were so bad that we were closer to skiing than driving.
We stopped off at an elephant training camp where I saw one crazy customised 4WD vehicle. But the main attraction was the elephants and the show was really good. After the show the team had the opportunity to feed a mother and baby elephant with sugar cane and bananas.
We left the park and headed for a huge lake, about an hour's drive. The team had lunch on the elevated cafe overlooking the beautiful lake, and we came acroos some huge flies, about the size of frogs. Everyyone moved away from them when someone knocked them off the ceiling!!
We said goodbye to Jon, Michelle and Nicky, who were off to Chiang Mai for JOn's visit to the hospital. He needed something removed form just below his armpit and he was due for an operation that evening.
Everyone else took two-man kayaks for a 5km paddle to a raft in an idylic and peaceful location. This was our home for the night, and the night was spent enjoying the food, music and the bar, which was very well used.
Everyone went to bed late and tried to get some slepp for the next day of paddling.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 8:53 AM

THURSDAY 1st AUGUST (Taken from group diary written by Christian)

Hiking was the main objective for the day. A full day of backpacking, five hours plus, to another village where we would stay, was a challenge for most people. The hiking was made more arduous dues to the full packs we had to carry today. We started off well at a moderate pace, trekking through forest jungle areas, along barely visible paths. There were a couple of atery paths which gave some of the team problems, with Chris managing to fall over crossing one stream and smackoing his jaw hard oto soe rocks. Nobody laughed as it looked so painful but Chris quickly brushed himself off, changed his t-shirt, and carried on without a word. Just another event in the jungle.
We had a lunch break at a small, remote village, where a guy posed for some photographs on his elephant, which at the time was bathing in the river. Some of the team still had some energy and joined a couple of the villages playing a weird kind of volley-football. Soon it was tie to head on for te afternnon section of the trek. Everybody seemed okay but it was clear thirty minutes from the end that the day had caught up on everyone.
We finally made it to the village we were to stay in, where we had a shower - if you could call it that - and rested. Dinner and some talking followed and soon it was time for bed.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 8:42 AM

THURSDAY 1st AUGUST (Taken from group diary written by Christian)
posted by Sean Bettinson at 8:34 AM

WEDNESDAY 31st JULY (Taken form group diary written by Sam).

A lazy start to the day was followed by some adventurous rafting. We were met by three bamboo rafts, made that morning, and set off down the river for a two hour journey. The river was surrounded by the jungle and fields, and a one time some 'grazing' elephants. To begin with we contented ourdelves with steering and some mild racing. Soon the competitive spirit took over and boarding parties were organised.Boats, blood and profanities were exchanged unti a very tired and sorry looking team dragged themselves form the water and back into trucks to return us to base camp. At base camp we were met by Samantha, Jin and Nicky after a successful visit to Chiang Mai.
An hour or so bus journey took us to lunch for where the group walked to see some caves (more to put in here later).

From there another hour drive took us to our next remote jungle village for the night. We were housed in what can only be described as a chicken coup - the path to which was lined with local women selling - or trying to sell - their handicrafts. Resting was followed by dinner, followed by chat, followed by an early bed time.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 3:51 PM

TUESDAY 30th JULY (Taken form group diary written by Sam).

We began the day looking across the valley at the village we were to have lunch at. A stunning walk ensued as we walked a path around the sides of the surrounding mountains, instead of going down and then up the steep sides. We would emerge from a light canopy to an amazing view across rivers, jungle, and remote villages with the morning sun shinning above it all.
Lunch was in another village facing across the valley, but from the other side this time. A tasty meal of noodle soup was had and then we moved off to walk back to our base camp.
After a long day and difficult descent, we stopped as a waterfall for much needed cooling down. Some rather humorous river walking followed as several team members ended up butt first in the water. Shortly before we joined the track that led back to base camp, we walked through another much smaller, but very beautiful, valley - this one very sparsely populated and dominated by small fields and grassland. Absolutley amazing scenery.
We arrived back at vase camp only to say goodbye to Nicky, Samantha and Jon for the night, since they were going to the hospital in Chiang Mai for Samantha to be checker over. They didn't miss much that night. We were all exhausted.For dinner we were once again confronted with a glass noodle soup - luckily this time supplemented by rice. The looks on the faces of the team as they vainlytried to satisfy their hunger were both painful and hilarious to watch. Sleep was agin split between the hut and hammocks.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 3:39 PM

MONDAY 29th JULY (Taken form group diary written by Sam).

Michelles' 17th birthday and the team woke to an early breakfast of fried eggs and toast before beginning our first trek. Until lunch the majority of the walk was uphill, with packs. The humidity and intenisty of the treks was something that we had not expected. By lunch the team was on quite a low after Samantha stumbled and doslocated her shoulder and injuring her wrist. She had to trek nearly two hours back to base camp with Sean, Michelle, and a guide, before getting transport to a local hospital.
Lunch was in what seemed like a deserted village - populated only by dogs looking for a fight with the dog accompanying us (nicknamed BBQ). Tan, our guide for the week, and a very funny guy, always joked about what we were going to eat that night. He was a terrific cook but there always seemed to be one less dogs around after our meals!!
The terrain after lunch remained mostly uphill and by the time we began the short descent to our jungle village for the night most of the team were feeling pretty knackered. The heat during the day was astounding with sweat pouring of us constantly. None of the team had sweated as much of this in their lives before.
We started to set up camp in a very comfortable hut overlooking some amazing scenery. Some of the team were just dropping off to sleep when we were told to move huts because a bigger group needed ours. I was part of the proud group that manged to get lost between the two huts, less than 500 metres away. Our new accommadation was a much dingier and darker hut but with a much better view. While waiting for dinner, Samantha, Michelle and Sean returned with Samantha having a plaster cast on her wrist and a shoulder sling. They had a hair-raising journey in a 4x4 to reach us high in the mountains.
Dinner was had, jokes were told - again- mozzie nets were pulled off the wall (Christian and Chris) and then bed was found by all.

Michelle adds below how her birthday played out:
'Samantha, Sean and I were at the hospital for a couple of hours. Samantha had x-rays taken of her shoulder and wrist to be told that it was just a sprain. But this wasn't correct as we later found out once Trouble went for a second opinion in Chiang Mai a couple of days later. We had to get transport to join the group again and Min, a very funny Thai guide who spoke English, who had been with us the whole time at the hospital, organised a 4x4 to drive us up to the village to meet the rest of the group that evening. It had been raining so the dusty tracks up to the village were now muddy. We were getting thrown about in the back of the 4x4, holding on for dear life. Sean looked like he was about to have a heart attack (Sean adds that he was only concerned for the welfare of Samanath and Michelle!!), while Samantha attempted to eat a bag of rice - unsuccessfully. All in all a good trip came out of a potentailly bad situation. It would be a birthday I'll never forget.'
posted by Sean Bettinson at 3:16 PM

SUNDAY 28th JULY (Taken form group diary written by Sam).

The vast majority of the team were up at 9.30 fro breakfast - yes, at the Scottish cafe - while two late risers (Christian and I) eventually emerged at about 11am. The group had time to kill unti we were picked up at 1pm to be taken to our first base camp for our trekking phase. After an hour and a half of bouncing around in the back of two open trucks, we arrived at a very picturesque, and well equipped, camp. We had nothing esle to do taht day bar re-packing, exploring the surroundings - and a very rickety bridge - but Dave and myself did manage to find time to go swimming in the river, only 50 metres from our camp, while being throttled by Laurence with the throw line. We needed to make sure our kit was ready for our trekking the next day and also put up our hammocks.
Dinner was a much appreciated spaghetti bolognaise. A couple of hours of Doug's verbal games then followed - including the train game, Bamg! Bang!, Mrs Smith and several others. Most of the team elected to spend the night in their hammocks - under mozzie nets - while others slept in the camps wodden hut. The view from the hammocks wsa absolutley stunning. Mountains and rice fields surrounded us and we all went to be excited about the adventures which were to follow in the next few days. Oh yea, Dave, by now suffering from some poor stomach bug, ended up going to the toilet about 9 times in the day and night. He was suffering but he never gave up on any of the arduous trekking that we had to do that week.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 3:09 PM

SATURDAY 27th JULY (Taken form group diary written by Sam).

The day started on our fantastic overnight bus fro Udon Thani to Chiang Mai. The bus was just as hellish this morning as it was last night. From Chiang Mai station we took open backed buses to a very nice guest house. Rooms were decided, and many decided to catch up on the sleep they felt they missed on the overnight bus. David took advantage of the sit down toilets (a unique experience for us all in Thailand - squatting the norm), and Sean and Lily hired a moped to explore more of the city. Throughout the day the group split up after a western style brunch at a Scottish cafe, run by a very friendly Scotsman - doesn't make much sense but, hey, the food was good! All home made, from cookies, to banana pancakes, to chocolate milkshakes to toasted sandwiches.
Since it was a rest day the group took the opportunity to send emails, call home, shop or just relax. Dinner was at a pretty poor pizza restaurant (we were trying to take advantage of having meals which didn't consist of just rice or our favourite glass noodles!!) - in this writer's esteemd opinion, after which some of the team returned to the guesthouse while the rest went to visit Chiang Mai's night bazaar. From there we went on to a decidedly dodgy bar until quite late at night. From there it was off to bed.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 2:59 PM

FRIDAY 26th JULY (Taken word for word from group diary written by Laurence).

Got to our school this morning to find that we were going to a nearby primary school to teach English. We were taken there and given a class each at this school that we had never been to before, so facing a group of 30-40 11 year olds was quite daunting. We all had to try and communicate and get across some understanding of our language. However little their previous knowledge of the English language, and our little teaching experience, the children still tried their best to learn, and they had so much respect for you it made the whole expereince very special. Two hours went by and the teaching began to get harder as the children became a little restless, so I attempted to get the class to sing a few verses of Old MacDonald. Samantha, Michelle and Doug came to my rescue, as I screwed up the song, and we managed to get the whole class singing.We had a tour around the school, and the Headmaster showed extreme pride when he showed us around the school grounds, showing us the banana trees and ponds that he gets the pupils to grow and maintain.
Soon it was time to head back to our original school where we put the finishing touches to our paintings. Then we were invited to play in a football match, with sides mixed with teachers, us and the pupils, infront of most of the school watching.Harry, Michelle, Sam and I (Laurence) stayed back to complete our painting but the football math went well. Christian, Sean and one of the pupils scored to make the final score 2-1, but everyone had fun, even though it was roasting!
After the game the pictures were put into the main hall. Sam and David painted an amazing sunset, Chris and Samantha did an impressivewaterfall, while Sean, Lily and Joe completed a painting which included the Thailand and English flag tied together, and a hand shake. Nicky made sure her painting included everyone's hand prints, both of the team and some of the pupils inthe school. The main painting, by Harry, Christian and myself, was of the two countries, painted in the colours of their flags, plus the hand prints of every team member.
We then had a farewell ceremony in the maoin hall. We were sat at the front, with all the pupils seated on the floor in front of us. It was mayhem. Another awesome, and emotional, experience. One of teh local dignitaries prayed for us, whilst the children screamed and waved at us. The scene was breathtaking. We all had 'good luck' cotton strings tied to our wrists and we then moved to the staff room to receive our certificates. We were all getting very emotional now and needed to leave before we embarrassed ourselves with tears.
We loaded our bags into an open roofed taxi (more like a truck) and waved goodbye to the pupils and staff as we pulled out of the school.Seeing the pupils in the distance I was feeling down, not because I will miss them (although we all will very much) but because what is held in their future is a lot less than ours. They will have a much harder life than I and the rest of the team will ever experience.
We made our way to Udon Thani station, at first in silence, but we soon picked up the jokes. We were due to get an overnight bus to Chiang Mai, and so headed for the bus station. We had to wait a while inthe heat for the bus, but a local bar and rugby on the concourse kept us busy. When we boarded the bus for our 12 hour drive to our next phase, beginning at 7.30 in that evening, we were shocked to find the condition of our mode of transport. Our 'dinner' consisted of some sort of 'sponge' cake filled with a peculiar concoction, and the seats, with no seat belts, were rickety to say the least. Those that managed to fall asleep manage to miss the erratic and speedy course the driver took through the Thailand countryside. Hills and bends seemed to not exist on his route but they certainly did in reality!!
posted by Sean Bettinson at 2:45 PM

THURSDAY 25th JULY (Taken word for word from group diary written by Laurence).

Today is the second day of the national holiday and so tere is no school again, and all our host families have planned a day of sightseeing. My (Laurence) family started the day off at an archealogical dig which contained pots, necklesses and ear rings from a 1000 year old Thai village. From there I was taken to the nicest restaurant yet in Thailand, where each table had its own hut on a lake, with a karaoke machine, which I decided to keep well away from. But my host and her sister, and her 5 year old twin daughters, had an obsession with the machine, which was fine since I was not forced into any duets!!
After the restaurant we took a four hour drive up to Nong Khai, which bordered the communist country of Laos. There I saw Wat Phru That Bang Phaun (Spelling?), a huge garden with Indian-style stupa, with up to 30 foot statues. It was a stunning sight. After spending time here I went to see the Friendship Bridge, crossing the river Khong which also marks most of the border between Thailand and Laos. Since itwas reaching the end of the day, the sun was setting, and red and purple colours were smeered across the sky, making the view of the bridge incredible.
We made the four hour journey back home to have dinner, where I came across Sam, also having dinner in the same restaurant. We swapped stories of each others' adventures that day, and soon Joe pulled up outside onthe moped he borrowed from his host. He tried to explain us something but he seemed to be overwhelmed with excitement. Finally we found out that he had scored with a buff Thai girl, living next door to him. Well, well, well, we thought. Someone has come to be the group's Romeo. But later we found out that 'she' was actually a lady boy, looking for an English husband so that she could get a visa!! Hmmmmmm.
We found out the next day that evryone elso in the team had a similar day to me. Visiting the similar places but perhaps in a different order. Sean, Harry and Jon visited a market as well, with Lily, Nicky and Christian going to the same place sightly earlier. Itwas a very long day for everyone so another early night was the best option for most.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 1:38 PM

WEDNESDAY 24th JULY (written in an internet cafe in Chumphon. Adapted from group diary written by Harry).

Wednesday and Thursday was a two day holiday as it was a religious festival. Some of the team woke in their hosts' houses at about 6 or 7am. The reason for such an early rise was that some of the team were taken to Burapawun (spelling?) Temple for a service, which started at 6am, which ended at 9am. David woke up at about 7am, Christian was wakened at 5am!! (for a run with his host apparently!!), while Laurence got up at about 6.30am. I (Harry) arrived at the temple at about 8am and found it crammed full of people, all on their knees or sitting on the floor, legs not pointing to the dozen monks on the raised platform at the front (disrespectful apparently - bloody uncomfotable truly!), with the monks positioned behind huge pots. Everyone bought food and at the end of all the sermones it was offered to the Buddhist monks. The monks filled their pots with the food - hmmmm!! - and we had photographs taken in front of them.
I met Sean, Jon, Laurence and Doug at the Temple, with their host families, whilst the others inthe team were probably allowed to sleep in (or spied on when changing - eh Sam?? Hee hee). Our knees were killing after just 15 minutes, but some pf the locals were there for nearly three hours!! After the ceremony we went outside with our host familes and ate ourselves. We were offered banana-coconut flavoured rice wrapped in banana leaves. We were also offered some of the left over food surplus to the needs of the monks, but we declined most of it as te rice seemed to have been touched by about ten different people and the spices were too hot.
Next we all went to the school and metthe rest of the team. All the team arrievd except Samantha and Michelle who were preparing for preparing for the days big event - the parade through town. We didn't know exactly what they were doing but we were soon to find out. Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued with their paintings started yesterday and practiced some Thai dancing - which we were supposed to be performing inthe parade later in the day. We received more paints and continued. Soon we were changing into special blue shirts, handed to us by the school, which we were to wear for the parade. We walked out of the school gates and made our way to the centre of town, less than 10 minutes away. As we turned into one of the main streets we were hit by the noise and festivities of the parade, the crowd and the whole atmosphere of the ocassion. As we walked along the road, with the parade moving towards us, we suddenly noticed two faces we recognised - just!! - clothed in some fantastic Thai costumes and with make up which made them both quite stunning - and leading the whole parade!!! A very special honour. So that's where Michelle and Samantha had been for the last few hours. We later found out that some of the school teachers took them away and spent ages preparing them for this unique and priviledges position in the parade. The rest of us watched the parade go by but were soon told to join the back of our school's section - who were dancing the routine we had been practising for the last couple of days. We danced, to the amusement of the hundreds of people lining the streets, down the streets for over an hour. It was truly amazing to be part of something so special, and to be encouraged by all the spectators on route. The temperature, according to BOF's technology, rose to 40 degrees. Our hosts were great in providing us water and, for Lily, an umbrella for protection from the sun. We followed rows of dancers and jeeps, carrying monstrous stereos, and joined in the fun to extremely loud music. We eventually arrived at the town's main square, where all the performers and spectators gathered, where a big stand awaited all the town's dignitaries and VIPs - which to our amazement included us. Speeches were made and more photos were taken before it was time for us to meander back to our homes. Some of the team managed to meet up in restaurants later in the evening, but most had meals at home, developing conversation and their knowledge of the Thai culture and language. Some of the group meet up at a temple for a candle procesion later in the evening, and everyone went to bed feeling tired but enthralled to have been such an important part of a very special day. An extremely full day which none of us will forget.
posted by Sean Bettinson at 10:20 AM