North Eastern Trip

I was excited to go on this trip for several reasons: I get to travel to two different countries, i get to meet the boy from South Africa, and I get to meet with my international family!!! On Monday, December 22, I headed to the Bangkok train station. There I meet with the three other kids in my area, Flora from America, Caroline from Denmark, and Kenny from Taiwan. There we waited for the rest of the southern kids to arrive by train. At noon, we all left by bus and headed for the Thai Cambodia border. I had fun catching up with everyone. We also stopped by a market. I didn’t buy anything though. We spent the night in Thailand. The next day we rode over to the office, and walked to Cambodia. Cambodia and Thailand are very similar in weather, food, and culture, however you can see a lot more poverty. children on the streets tried to sell you anything they could, and tried to play with your heart strings. it worked with some students. It was very difficult to not give them what they wanted. and if you made eye contact with them, then it was even more difficult to not buy anything. But, if anything good comes out of children not going to school, and instead learning trying to make money b/c their parents can’t, the kids learn a lot of languages. I talked to one boy who knew a little Chinese, Korean, English, Japanese, Thai, and Khmer, as well as some songs in other languages. I think that it is very cool. 

In the van driving to Siem Reap.

One of the rotarians told me to take a picture with a license plate.
Why not?

Scott played a game with the children in a floating school

When we got to Cambodia, we traveled to Siem Reap. There we went to a floating village at the Tonle Sap lake, went to an art factory, and went swimming at the pool in the hotel. The next day was Christmas eve. We traveled to Angkor Wat temple, went to the tomb from Indiana Jones tomb raider, as well as some other ruins. It was very interesting. That night we had dinner with a traditional Cambodian dance, and celebrated Christmas. We had a secret santa. It was very fun, a nd brought us closer together. 

Painting on silk at the art factory

More from the art factory

Denting patterns into tin

Wood carving

Selfie before Angkor Wat!!

Angkor Wat ft. Carolina

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

View from Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat ft. Raul

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

part of the the tomb raider temple

Christmas!!! ft Maia and Kelly

The next day, Christmas, We went back to Laos, but to get there, we had to go through Thailand. I was in three different countries, in one day!!! Laos is very different from Thailand. There is hardly any tourism at all, and there are no commercial stores. Christmas day night, we arrived at a resort late. The next day we left to visit a village. This village was very small and had virtually no money. I found that that there was about 20 people living in one house, witch was about the size of a one car garage. It was all very dirty, there were dogs everywhere, and pigs, and it was all very unsanitary. But, the thing is, they were all happy. Going to that village helped me realized, that you don’t need everything in the world to be happy. As long as you can appreciate what you have, then you have everything. 

Going to Laos!!!

The falls ft. Alex and Kenny

After the village, we had lunch at some water falls. It was amazing!! We climbed up to the top of the falls, and it was even more stunning. After lunch we went to the hotel. That night we had our language test. I feel like I did good, but then again, my hopes were not high. 

The view from the hotel

Another view

Selfie while going to Pukadung

The next day we went back to Thailand. We drove all day, and arrived at the base of Pukadung. That night we prepared for the hike. Pukadung is a mountain. We spent four nights. 
The hike up was hell in some places, and others not bad. I had fun. I walked up with Daiki from Japan, Risa from Japan, and Scott from South Africa. We stopped a little on the way, and the view got progressively better. Once we all got to the camp site, we took a shower(with a bucket of water) and relaxed. That night, it got cold. Maybe it wasn’t that cold, and I was just used to the heat, but I was very cold. The next day we went bike riding!! We rode all over the mount. It was so fun, and the view was great. We also watched the sun set. That was not very impressive, but I think we didn’t give it enough time. That night we all spent time together just talking, and relaxing. That was nice. The next day we started the day off by going to see the sunset. It too was not very impressive, but it was impressive to see the fog lift off of the city below. Later we walked around some of the trails that you can't go on by bike. We picked up trash along the way. We walked to falls all around the top of the mountain. The falls were very cool. The next day we started the decent. I walked with Daiki and Kenny from Taiwan. I had fun talking with them. along the way we picked up trash. It was slow going, but still just as tough as going up. When we finished, I was so happy!!!

View at the third stop( there were 4 in total)

Pine trees!!!!

Shade!!

On the top

The view

Am I scaring you yet mom?

Sunset(this looks better then I remember....) 

Sun rise 

One chilly morning at breakfast ft. Alex

Come back in a few days to catch up on my past month.


~FRS

Ocean world

Last Saturday I went to a concert. It was put on my my school in celabration of my schools birthday. The band the brought in is  very famous. A lot of people in the working class like the band. My host dad told me that at every concert there was a fight( 'because you know how drunk people are'). So, I was a little nervous to go, and my family even more so. But after lots of plans conserving my safety were made, I was aloud to go with my friends. I had to much fun. There was no fight, the concert was high secerity. I danced with my friends untill the night was done. I don't have a picture of all of us b/c they haven't sent it too me.....

The band

I went to school the next week, making cake and spending time with my family. Yesterday I went to ocean world with my family. The ocean world was at central(central is what they call shopping malls) in the middle of Bangkok. 

I had fun

I am getting ready for my next trip with rotary. I leave in the 22 and come back on the 2. I am very excited to see my exchange family. I miss the oodles and oodles. 

~FRS

Water park

So about a wek ago I got invited to go to a water park. I said yes(of corse, duh). This water park was supposed to officially open on December 1st, but I was going a day early. I was super excited. But on Friday before the water park, I went with my rotary club to a school about 45 miners away from my town. The school only had about 400 students from grades k-9. This school was not very nice, an had lacked a library. Then my rotary club came along and build this school one(a library). My club and a club in Taiwan had got togeather some money to build 3 library's for three schools in need. This was the second library. It was a nice library too. 

I woke up on Sunday, ready for the water park. I was so excited.  I will jut show some pictures. That will explane it all. 

I mean, just look at the size of that thing

And I went on it. Twice. It was a ton of fun. 

At the bar/pool. I had a mango smoothie. 

At the wave pool

Thank you so much for taking me!! I had a blast!

Also, here is a random sunset

~FRS

Thai Boys

Sure there are plenty of other things for me to tell, but this is a subject that needs to be discussed. It was not something that I was expecting when I came to Thailand. 

Everyone here's about how Thai girls are always looking for a foreign husband/boyfriend. My uncle who went to Thailand for a little while even had a Thai girlfriend. People tell you that they giggle at the foreign boys as they walk by, and so I expected the other inbound boys to get a lot of attention. One of them has a Thai girlfriend too. I never expected Thai boys to oggle over a foreign girl, especially when Janique told me(and my fellow inbounds) that the Thai boys wern't that interested. I was lied to. They are just as interested in the foreign girls as the Thai girls are interested in foreign boys. Sometimes it is fine. It's not like they giggle when I walk by or anything. But they do say hello(very loudly in some cases) and it can be very intimidating. I find it really funny though because they are so shy around me. Sometimes they will come up and give me candy or something, but mostly it's the girls or other guys trying to get him to speak to me. It is rather humorous. 

Enough of that... This week has been a little busy. On Saturday, I went with some people from my school to an event(not sure what it was about) and I freezes in Thai traditional clothing and made some snacks. Thes are made about of beans and then the batter is smoked, and then you role the batter into small fruits and color them. They are realy good. 

 

Then on Tuesday I sloped school to go to the anniversary of my host grandad's death. He died 7 years ago. We had monks come and pray and bless everyone. 

I don't know what is on he agenda for next week...

~FRS

Loy Kratong

On the 8th was the Loy Krathong festival. Loy means to float. Krathong is a little raft made out of banana leafs or bread. I went tithe festival with EQ's baby sitter and the wemon who work at my host moms coffee shop. I got a Krathong and let I float down the river. When you let it float, you make a wish. 

I also lit a lantern and let if float away into the sky. 

On Sunday I went to the rotary outbound orientation of my host district. I met some rebounds. They were really nice. All guys. One who went the the us, two who went to Brazil, and one who went to Japan. I went and had breakfast with them.  

On Monday I made some flowers and a bouquet. On Tuesday I made cake. And on Wednesday we made cake again.

Tuesday cake. My friend and I made it together, and I let her take it home cause she did all they work. 

I am really happy about this cake, cause I frosted it all by myself!! You have no clue how happy I am about it!!

 Tuesday was my host dad's birthday so we went out to dinner. When we got home we found a dog stuck in our fence. We got him out with any problems, and I saw him the next day, as happy as a clam. 

So that was my week. Sorry about the late post. 

~FRS

Week Back to School

I went back to school on Monday. The class that I was with last semester has work training this week(like an internship) so I joined a different class. They are all 17 or 18 but they speak a little more English. I am excited to spend more time with them. 

There is also a festival going on in my city. I'm not exactly sure what it is about, but the temle in my city has lights all over it and there are shops everywhere. I went to it on Halloween. I

I also fed Kenny for the first time. 

Have a great week everyone!!!

~FRS