Last Day....

I wasn't able to post this yesterday as we went from activities straight to the train and didn't have internet until we returned to school.

Up again early for breakfast. After breakfast we all had to get our bags out of our rooms and check out of the hotel. We couldn't believe it was our last day! 

Back in the vans we got, and off to Mae Sa Craft Village to paint our umbrellas. The craft village is located in a beautiful resort in the hills surrounding Chiang Mai city. 

We got our instructions, chose our umbrella colours and got down to the challenging (for some of us) and exciting task of being creative. We were given some paper to sketch our ideas before drawing our final design onto our umbrellas. 

Once we had our designs on the umbrellas in pencil, it was time to start painting. There were a couple of people there with us to help us choose and mix colours and teach us some drawing technique. There is so much creativity in our group!

After we'd all finished, we left our umbrellas to be packed up and went up to the restaurant for lunch. 

Some of us still had money burning a hole in our pockets so we got our umbrellas and headed to a souvenir shop where we bought all sorts of goodies to take home with us. Then back to the train station and back to Bangkok.

Our train actually got in early!!! So we were able to catch the free for Thai people train back to Sattahip. 

I think it's safe to say that a great time was had by all!

Now to get through the last week of school....

Chiang Mai Adventure Day!

After a much much needed good night's sleep, we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to face our day of excitement!

We told everyone to be ready for breakfast at 7.30am.

Breakfast was buffet style and there  seemed to be something for everyone. 

Our first stop was elephant riding. Some people had stubborn elephants, some had speedy elephants. Fabio even got to ride on the elephant's head! 

After our somewhat bumpy ride through jungle and river, we headed to the local school to donate supplies and visit. The school we saw has 550 students, most of whom are hilltribe children from the surrounding mountains. About 200 of them live there as boarders because their villages are so remote there is no way they could come and go everyday. School, boarding and food are free for the students. After a bit of a walk around, our kids joined in an impromptu football match with the local children.

Everyone was STARVING after running around, so we waved goodbye and drove on down the road for lunch.

Ha! I just had show that last photo of everyone keeping busy after lunch.... gaming! Who needs friendly conversation, right?

After lunch we went to a Karen village and learnt about some hilltribe customs. There was an old lady weaving cotton and our guide, Khun Tik, explained how they get all their colours naturally. Some of us bought some souvenirs in the village.

Then we went on a long hike through the jungle and down some steep stairs to Mae Wang waterfall. It was beautiful and we were si hit but we weren't allowed to swim because there was too much water. We could only dip our feet in the rock pools.

Our final and most exciting activity of the day was bamboo rafting. We'd all been told to bring extra clothes to change into. And boy did we need them! What an exciting journey! Granted, the water was only knee deep most of the time, but we had rapids, rocks, ants, a few water snakes, student raft drivers (our students got to steer!).... unfortunately I don't have pictures of any of it as we all left our bags in the vans. There's just this one pre-raft shot...

After rafting we came back to the hotel and had some free time. Then we went for dinner at a restaurant on the river. We also had a cake to celebrate Rida and Inez's birthdays.

What an exhausting day! Can't believe tomorrow is our last day in Chiang Mai. Arts and crafts day here we come!

Chiang Mai 2014!

Lessons learnt so far:

1. Train travel is slow and sometimes painful.

2. We need to better manage our batteries.

3. When out of electronic devices to play with, we WON'T die, melt, disintegrate, spontaneously combust... we might just remember how to play using our imaginations.

4. Showers are good. Clean is good.

5. Sleep is good! 

Today was Culture Day. We visited Doi Suthep temple and learned some very interesting things about the temple and its history. In the evening we went to a Khantoke dinner and ate traditional Northern Thai food like nam prik num, nam prik ong and gaeng heng-lay. Then we watched cultural performances and dances from the different regions of Thailand. We even got to join in for the last one!

We're exhausted! 

Tomorrow is Adventure Day! Can't wait to see what happens :-) 

Here are a few pictures of us so far...