Photo of the Week

I haven’t taken to many, so most of my photo’s of the week will be older ones from Thailand.

This one is a picture of a dialect car park in Khon Kaen, the bottom floor filled in with water. The car park also looked as though it was home for some people, and we often saw people fishing of the edge into the very dirty looking water, I just hope someone helps them find God…

Image as taken
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Thailand 07

I want to share one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I went to Thailand to help in Orphanages.

We flew out of Adelaide on Monday the 9^th at 9:00, and arrived in Bangkok at 7:00pm local time (about 10:30 in SA). Arriving in the Bangkok Airport is an experience in itself, as the new airport is the sixth biggest airport in world. After finally making our way out of the airport we travelled by minivan (at speeds of up to 140km/h!) to our hotel. After initially settling in to our rooms we went and walked the streets of Bangkok and exchanged some money.

The next day was spent shopping (girl’s choice), a break for lunch and to unload goods and more shopping. The guys then headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool and the girls kept on shopping. We went out for a bit tea and did a bit more shopping. After another stop to unload goods we went for a tour of the city. We rode the Skytrain – a huge train built on tracks 3 stories above the ground, caught a shuttle boat across the river then had a Tuk-Tuk race back to the hotel. The sensible people then went to bed and the girls kept on shopping until closing time.

The following day was a long a boring one. We were all up and fed by 9:45 and spent the rest of the day in minivans travelling north to Phetchabun. A few stops and a break for lunch on the trip gave us the opportunity to experience the “squatters”. The squatters are a raised hole in the ground that you use as a toilet. By about 4:30 we had arrived at the first orphanage just as the children were finishing their chores and homework. After we had settled in we played with the children until tea. Tea was an interesting experience as all meals are served as a bowl of rice and the meat is taken from bowls in the middle of the table. Luckily, we didn’t have to learn how to eat with chopsticks; instead we used a fork as a knife and a spoon as a fork. After tea we went back to playing with the children, which was very, very, very hard work! By the end of the trip most of us had lost about 2-4kg so it must have been doing something.

The next four days were similar, we were up and organised by at least 9:00 then we did what had to be done. Various things like helping with the babies, cleaning the cars, helping to prepare lunches, ironing, doing about 900 lunches at the school, painting walls and anything else that sprang to mind.

By Sunday many of us didn’t want to leave the orphanage, me especially because of my new friend that I met – Godt. Godt was a bit of a character and grew on me the time that I was there. (He is now our sponsor child.) In the end though we packed up our gear and got back into the minivans for our travelling. On the way we stopped at a multi-million dollar farming industries factory and indulged in a five star meal. We got to taste many delicacies such as lime and garlic fish fingers, kow padt (said like cow pat – but are actually special fried rice), banana flowers, many exotic fruits and jellies, and the signature dish – FRIED SILKWORMS! (They tasted as good as they sound…blagh!) After the meal we toured the factories and got to see just how silk is made. Once again it was back into the minivans for a long travel to Khon Kaen.

Once we had arrived in Khon Kaen we settled back into our hotel and went for the trek down to the orphanage. The walk to the orphanage would have been about 500m so by the end of the trip we were all walked out. When we arrived at the orphanage we got the tour of the facilities and a brief on the work we were to be doing. We returned to the hotel for a short rest before returning for some play time with the kids. We all soon found out that these kids were a lot more accustomed to visitors as they couldn’t care less that we were there. Eventually they got used to us and by the end they were asking where we were!

The next few days were very similar; walk to the orphanage and begin working on the various jobs that had to be done, things like sanding rust off of steels beds then painting them, painting various walls, naming socks and toothbrushes and various other jobs. We would then return to the hotel for some catch-up time and head back to the orphanage for a play with the children before tea. One night whilst we were there we got the pleasure of taking some of the children out for tea. We went out to a local Korean restaurant where you cook the food yourself. Luckily the kids knew exactly what to do; they took their plates, loaded them up with allsorts of processed foods, and then simmered them in an oil & water mix that was provided. (Not many of the team enjoyed the food, but we all agreed it was definitely worth experiencing.)

Again, we were all sad to leave, but all pleased to be going home. A few of the team members were getting ill and some were developing heat rash so going home was definitely a relief. After an 8 hour drive in the minivans back to Bangkok, a few hours waiting in the airport, an 8 hour flight to Melbourne and an hour and what seemed like the shortest trip yet back to Adelaide we were finally home – pleased to be back.

The Team and the kids at the orphanage in Khon Kaen.

 

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