16/1/09 to 31/1/09

Landed in Bangkok at 6 in the morning. Waited for my airport transfer to my hotel for about 20 mins. After stepping out of the airport the first thing i noticed was how misty/smoggy it was. The sun came up through the buildings as we were driving, was really pretty. It took a while to check in since the Thai ladies couldnt match Lizzie, as it said on the booking, to Elizabeth as it says on my passport. I was sooo excited when i finally got to my room, double bed, TV, aircon and private bathroom with a bath. I have been lacking these luxuries in hostels for a long time! I went down to reception at 9 to meet the other Real Gap volunteers. Our guide sorted us out with a boat ride along the river to some of the residential areas of bangkok, really interesting to see their houses built on stilts in the water and the only access it by boat. We tried our first fried banana, it was so good! We got off the boat straight into a market, very crazy and the smells were so strong that you could tell what was on the next stand before you could see it. Next it was on to my first temple, Wat Pho. Stunning! One of the girls and I were interviewed and filmed(!) by some thai children doing a project about tourism. The afternoon and evening was spent on Khao San road. In the day time it is jam packed with street stalls and tourists haggling and in the evening it is just the same but with bars and clubs pumping out tunes! Really good night out with the other real gap volunteers. On sunday we were transfered to Singburi where i stayed in the Twin House guest house for the 2 weeks I was at the orphanage. Really nice place with two bars just across the road, but other than that nothing else to do in the evenings. On monday morning I got on the bus with about 15 other orphanage volunteers some of which had been there a few weeks already. There were 5 of us starting at the same time Rosa, Riannon, Ameile, Erica and me. It was a long 45 minute drive, I had not brought my ipod with me, I learnt my lesson and remebered it every day after that! John the coordinatior showed us around and what we could do, he also showed us what a difference previous volunteers have done and how much better it is now for the kids!! We got stuck into the construction straight away and everyone showed us how to do it. 1 bag of cement, 10 buckets of sand, 10 buckets of stones give it a good mix and then add 5 buckets of water....easy! We were mixing cement to make a paved area where the kids can eat their meals rather than just finding any old spot around the school. In the 2 weeks I was there we managed to pave quite a large area and to knock down an old toilet block. It was quite hard work in the heat but you coud take it at whatever pace you liked. Lunch was at 12 at a nearby thai cafe where they prepared whatever we wanted. The meals were amazing and it was good to have some meat becuase at the twin house all the meals were vegetarian with tofu. After lunch we would stay for another hour and a half. Over the 2 weeks I did a mixture of cementing, painting (the walls around the playground), teaching and just entertaining the children. It was so relaxed you could do whatever you felt like that day which was great! There were about 150 children there from about age 5 to 15 and they were all lovely. Whenever you walked past they would smile, put their hands together and say 'sawadee ka', the thai greeting. In the second week, Riannon and i spent a lot of time in classroom 2 which never seemed to have a teacher so we tried to entertain and teach them as best we could without a thai translator. It was really great just spending time with them, trying to talk to them and watching them draw (they were absolutly amazing at drawing and I have so many that they have given me!!!!) Head, shoulders, knees and toes was a favourite and a bit of hokey cokey now and again. One of the guys did a whip around and we managed to raise some money for new toilet doors since they were all broken.
A lot of the other volunteers were finishing their programmes at the same time as I was having been there a few more weeks than i had, so on the last friday we used the left over money from the toilet doors to trow the kids a party! We bought heaps of food including crisps, chicken, fish, sandwiches (jam, cheese or peanut butter expertly made by us) and hundreds of balloons. Jodie and Rosie organised a massive game of pass the parcel with 4 going round at the same time with about 60 kids. We had a huge water fight before lunch and the children made sure we were soaked to the skin before they comtemplated stopping throwing water bombs and tipping buckets over us! It was soo nice to see them all excited and queing up for lunch which we set up down by the river. There was more fun and games after they had munched their way through all the food. It was such a nice way to end the two weeks and I was sad when we had to get on the trucks and leave. (tears did make and apearance lol!)