Friday - SCHOOL TRIP

Today was a school trip for years 4, 5 and 6. However, because all the teachers needed to go (more like wanted to go), even the nursery teachers - the rest of the school was closed. They day started when we all had to meet at 5:30am - way too early and pitch black! Nevertheless, the kids had been at school since 4:45, all of them way too excited! The school had booked a "Chiang Mai - Tha Ton" bus but we were going in the opposite direction to Chiang Rai! We went over some mountains and the clouds were settled in the valleys so it looked like the other mountains were floating. It was stunning and the kids were amazed by it! The drive was about 3 hours (much longer than most of the kids had ever been before) and then we arrived at Wat Rong Khun, also known as the "White Temple". Before you get to the temple there was water with koi fish and goldfish in. Then, the first part of the temple has lots of skulls and disturbing images which is supposed to represent the final conflict of lord Buddha's own demons before he obtained enlightenment. We then passed over a bridge where the scene suddenly changes and there are small mirrors stuck to the structure. This part is supposed to represents purity and peace. Inside the actual temple there are painting on the walls of things that have destroyed the peace and morality of our world. For example, a plane crashing into the Twin Towers, Bin Laden, George Bush and then movie characters such as Spiderman, Ben 10, avatar, etc. It was really quite breathtaking. The place was stunning! Even the toilets are in a beautiful golden building, and you had to swap your shoes for slippers to go to the toilet so that it would be kept clean! When Wat Rong Khun is completed it will be Ajarn Chalermchai's symbol of dedication to his country, his religion and his present king. He has sacrificed the better part of his life designing, paying for and building the temple. Hopefully, the photos will explain it a bit better and if you want to know more have a look at: http://www.thaizer.com/tourist-attractions/white-temple-chiang-rai-wat-rong-khun/

Back on the bus the P1 teacher and Gone were asking us about the English monarchy and British movie stars. Then two of the teachers cracked open a Singha Beer…casual! It was only 11:30am! We arrived at Monkey cave which was amazing. We didn't actually go into any caves but there were loads of monkeys and baby ones! They were so cute! One was up a tree and did a wee which almost landed on Mel! Haha! They also had fish which were spectacular! They were huge! And a few crocodiles which were kind of gross and scary! Some of the kids bought bananas or fish food and fed the animals. There was a little temple there which was nice. Following that we went for lunch at a noodle restaurant where one of the teachers kept refilling Mels glass with Singha. We then moved onto Mae Sai, which is the most Northern part of Thailand. There was a massive market there which was different to all the other ones we'd been too. They had everything! And it was a lot cheaper and a lot of it had come over the boarder - the Burmese boarder immigration was in the middle of the market! All the kids had bought food from the market for their families - it was so sweet! Then it was back to the bus to Sanpakha. On our way back we were treated to Thai karaoke. They were quite good but the music videos were shocking! And some of the teachers were rather merry so we had to have an extra toilet stop at the resort on the way! Not like any school trip we had been on before. But it was a brilliant day!