Days 1-7 | Days
8-14 | Days
15-21
Arrival Day!
Day 1: July 14
Author: n/a
Location: Bangkok
Students woke up early, put their toothbrushes in the suitcase and made their
way to Bangkok. Students arrive and go straight to hotel to catch up of sleep
before starting the journey.
Grand Place and grand tour!
Day 2: July 15
Author: Abby
Location: Grand Palace, Bangkok
Today we woke up around 8:00 and had breakfast, then took taxis to the Grand
Palace. We took a tour and some people tried Buddist prayer. It was really
amazing. We walked to lunch at the boat pier and took a boat tour after lunch.
The boat dropped us off at Wat Po and a lof us when to get massages, sooo nice!
Then we took tuk tuks to Khao San for shopping and dinner. We made out way
back to the hotel and were introduced to the squeeze. What a day! We are all
so excited to get some sleep!! See you tomorrow!
Duang Prateep Center
Day 3: July 16
Author: Ashley
Location: Bangkok
Today was our introduction to Klong Toey and the DPF. We spent the morning playing
games/ competing with the Klong Toey kindergarteners. The kids were adorably
energetic; climbing over everyone and shouting to be picked up and twirled. The
kids walked on coconuts, dressed up in bunny ears, and rolled tires while the
Red team boys cheered on form the sides. Eventually the games disintegrated into
chicken fights between the Klong Toey kids riding on top of the Lifeworks group.
The energy of the kids definitely made up for the jetlag and three hours of sleep.
After the kids were herded up for lunch, we brought them food. We even went as
far as to help them eat. Once we had distributed hats to all the kids (our gift
to them), we went across the street from the kindergarten to the Klong Toey community
center for our lunch. Mrs. Monwarin (foreign group coordinator) led us through
the slums for a short tour. We saw some of the kindergarteners the DPF works
with. Back at the community center a former professor of sociology whose name
no one could pronounce (he kindly told us to call him Victor) explained the problems
facing the inhabitants of Klong Toey and the failures of the Thai government
in helping the slums. Two brief videos taught us about the history of the DPF
and the tsunami crisis. The serious discussion about the poverty and substandard
conditions of the slums was a major departure from the morning’s fun and
games. We were able to visit the homes of several Klong Toey children. Last year
Lifeworks Thailand had visited the home of a boy named Maruay (which in Thai
means to be rich) and this time we returned to talk with his grandmother and
sister. Both Maruay and his sister are sponsored through the DPF and go to local
schools. But the grandmother worries that she will soon lose her house when the
government moves in to tear it down. Her story was exactly as the movie portrayed
it. She lived in the slums but had no right to the land she had built her house
on. So even though all her money and livelihood were wrapped up in the one piece
of land she had no defense against the decision of the port authority and the
government. For the first day we have already seen so many different sides of
life in Klong Toey. It’s hard to deal with the happy smiles of the children
and the unbelievable poverty at once. Having seen them having fun at school like
any other child, it seems impossible to picture them among the garbage of the
slums.
Wedding!
Day 4: July 17
Author: Lydia
Location: Kanchanaburi, New Life Project for Girls
It wasn’t an incredibly sunny day and we experienced light showers later
on in the day. After a yummy breakfast, we boarded the DPF buses to take us to
Kanchanaburi. The trip was fairly uneventful, lasting approx. three hours. In
our bus, we had Alexis’s beautiful music hooked up to the TV speakers.
We saw some elephants too. The other bus had no such luck. When we arrived at
the New Life Project we were greeted by the wonderful children who led is by
the hand to a spot at the table and pinned a flower corsage onto our shirts.
It was an extremely loving and beautiful gesture. Senator Pradeep joined
us shortly and we were honored by her presence for a delicious lunch. Then we
were led to our wonderful house that is absolutely band new. There are three
young boys staying with us in the house for security which is really sweet. Downstairs
in our beautiful accommodations we brought out the bracelet string and started
making bracelets with some of the girls and boys. Razmig and Jesse got into an
intense soccer game and we just chilled with Jack Johnson. Then we met with Pradeep
for a meeting on the DPF and learned more info about the project. She is truly
a remarkable woman who has extraordinary drive and ambition. Then the children
came and actually picked us to be their partners. They led us all around the
center and it made for interesting experiences trying to communicate with them.
A couple of us went fishing while others played soccer, tennis, and basically
ran around the playground. Lotsa fun!! Then we gave them all small wooden airplanes
which allowed for much amusement. They were truly grateful to receive any gifts
and extra love. Some of the stories the Senator told us about the children were
horrifying and allowed us to appreciate even more the refuge that she and the
foundation have provided for these children. We were also given a great opportunity
to attend a local wedding. It was a fascinating experience with wonderful unique
food and some skeptical dancing. We were definitely the odd ones there as every
eye seemed to be faced at us. We arrived back at our humble abode for some relaxing
pillow time under the stars and some wonderful talks. A truly fun day was had
by all I believe.
waterfall!
Day 5: July 18
Author: Connor
Location: Kanchanaburi
Today was another hot and humid day but still very beautiful. We woke up at 5:30
this morning and got right into our day by joining the kids for their daily aerobics.
We spent about an hour doing these activities and having a running competition.
We then helped our children with their daily chores which consisted of things
like watering the plants, feeding the goats. sweeping etc. We then had a very
yummy breakfast and had a little free time. Soon after, we continued our busy
day by helping the children fertilize and clean the palm trees. It was hard work
but very fun. We then made Kratongs with the children which was very entertaining
and fun. We decorated the Kratongs with banana leaves, flowers and candles. They
were all very beautiful. We then had a lunch of fried chicken. After lunch we
went to a waterfall with with 10 lucky children who were chosen based on their
good behavior. We played with them in the water and walked around the area with
them. We spent a few hours there and we came back at dinner time. We ate another
yummy meal. After dinner we watched the children perform skits and dances which
was very entertaining and fun. We also played a few fun games. After that was
done we took our Kratongs out ot the water where we watched the Kratong ceremony.
Overall the day was absolutely amazing and I think the children had as much fun
as we did.
shoppping!
Day 6: July 19
Author: Jessica
Location: Kanchanaburi
It heated up today-lots of sun. After breakfast we headed out to the River Kwai.
We crossed the river on the new bridge, which was really high uo and a little
scary. Before we went to the River Kwai we went to a cemetery for the POW’s
who died building th e”death railroad”. There was some fortune telling
in the museum afterwards. We then crowded into the buses which was hotter than
an oven. We had a lunch of rice and eggs. After lunch we made soap. It involved
chopping up a huge pile of lemon grass and grinding nut shells. We added lemon
grass perfume to make the soap set faster. We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow.
Tonight we prepared dinner. We chopped pineapple and onions then grilled them
with marinated chicken. When the children returned from school, we watched a
movie they all seemed to love. We BBQ’d the chicken with the help of our
kids. They always seem to know what’s going on. It was delicious. The evening
by far was our best night so far. We went and played games with the kids. We
made bracelets, painted faces, and drew. After dancing and running around crazy
we watched a performance by the kids. Afterwards it was our turn. We all danced
behind Alexis while he sang the song he wrote about Thailand. We had to say goodbye
to the kids after, and it was bittersweet. I never thought I could get attached
to someone in three days especially if I couldn’t speak the language. I’ll
miss my kid, it’s been awesome!!
Elephants!
Day 7: July 20
Author: Kim
Location: Kanchanaburi
After waking up, we said our final goodbyes to the kids. Sadly, not all of them
were there. Everyone felt a mix of emotions. We then ate breakfast, after which
we packed and cleaned up our rooms. Everyone knew they would miss the kids but
everyone was ready to move onto the tsunami area. Before leaving New Life, we
said goodbye to the staff and thanked them for everything they did for us. We
then drove to an elephant camp owned by Teak’s uncle which was so much
fun. On the way we saw lots of monkeys but we couldn’t look at them for
very long. Since they came up to the window and we thought they were going to
grab us through the open window. When we got to the elephant camp, we paired
up and sat on seats that were mounted to the elephants. The elephants walked
around for a while and we enjoyed the bumpy ride. It was especially fun when
the elephants entered the water and we got to see them do different things with
their trunks, like drinking the water, shooting it into the air and making a
kind of squealing noise. When the ride was over, we went to a show where we saw
two elephants doing different tricks, like hopping and walking on two feet. Some
of us fed them which was a unique experience and some lay on the ground while
our elephant massaged them. After the show, we drove to a nearby restaurant where
we had an amazing meal and saw a train come by on the death railway. After a
little bit of shopping, we boarded the vans in order to drive to the train station
a couple of hours away. We got there early so everyone was happy to use the internet.
We then got on the train in order to go to the tsunami area, Khao Lak and then
had a drive to the Lodge. It was a pretty long day but still fun like always.
Days 1-7 | Days 8-14 | Days 15-21
