1st Rotary Trip

These past two weeks have been filled with driving around Thailand. Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel with another exchange student’s host family down to Rayong and Koh Samed.  This trip was actually a thank you trip for the workers that work at their gas station.  They planned for a day at the beach on the Saturday of that weekend. We took a boat over to an island called Koh Samed; it is a huge tourist destination as it houses quite a few resorts and a national park.  There were beautiful beaches there with beautiful white sand and clear warm water that we got to play in.  The funniest part of this day is that Thailand has a love for uniforms and looking the same, that expands past school and jobs.  That day we had to wear bright pink shirts which identified what group we were with and made us look like a team.  It was quite a sight to see about 20 or so Thai people then three foreigners all wearing the same t-shirt and going around in a big group.  It was a great weekend travelling in true Thai fashion turning a five hour trip into a 12 hour one with all the stops they like to make for temples and food, as well as having karaoke in their version of a party night. After this weekend it was off on my first Rotary trip of the year!

This trip was to Phukradung National Park, it is a mountain and we climbed it!  Frist off all 36 exchange students met up at the bottom of the mountain and got to know each other. The following day we hiked to the top, once there we were all mesmerized by the absolutely beautiful views from the top of the mountain.  The top of Phukradung is a plateau, so you can walk for kilometers and experience the wonderful views of the surrounding mountains and the natural beauty of the plentiful waterfalls and bountiful forest.  The second day we went to the famous cliff that Phukradung is known for, with a rock that juts out over the edge, it is a sheer cliff to the bottom, so our Youth Exchange coordinator who was with us did not like us going to close to the edge!  That evening and the following morning we were able to see the sunset and sunrise.  Those were both very picturesque events and it was actually cool once the sun went down so it was a nice change from the heat every single day.  Along with gallivanting around the top of the mountain, we also had to “run” away from the leeches as they liked to hide in the wet grass and latch on to your ankles, there were only mall leeches though that looked like black worms but they seemed to be everywhere.  The most common phrase this past week was “ I've been leeched” as some people would freak out and others would just calmly pull them off, I was lucky enough to only get them on my shoes, thank goodness.  After an amazing few days on the top of the mountain with no showers or freezing cold ones in the waterfalls, we came down the mountain and had to say goodbye to all the exchange students as we made our way back to our respective cities! This trip was amazing and we go off on our second one in only three weeks!