Articles - Miscellaneous

Thailand Trip, Part 2

Sarah Milburn and Joanna Hinchcliffe were part of a group of Rangers who travelled to Thailand this summer.  Last month Joanna told us about the first part of their stay.  This month Sarah writes about the second half of their stay.

During the second half of our trip we went on a fifteen-hour train journey to Chaing Mai. We again stayed at a Girl Guide Association of Thailand youth hostel. Our aim whilst we were there was to build a

toilet block for the Baan Nam Rin primary school. We were taken to the school for the first time on the 15th August, where we saw what their existing toilets were like and the answer wasn’t too pleasant! The

staff and children at the school were all very excited to see us, and greeted us with big smiles. The school had employed five Thai workmen to instruct and help us with our work, which was definitely a good idea as surprisingly none of us had ever mixed cement, laid bricks or plastered walls before! However working with the men proved to one of the harder aspects of the building, as they didn’t speak any English! Fortunately, they were quick learners and through body language we managed to communicate.

After seven days of extremely hard work, in Thailand’s intense weather conditions we completed our task. We had managed to build four toilets, one western with a shower and three Thai ones. And not forgetting the sceptic tank at the back of the toilet block, where Joanna and I spent quite a lot of our time. Now the tank started off as a hole dug about one metre into the ground, and they needed it to be bricked and cemented to ground level. What they didn’t mention to us was that there were more insects and flies down there than everywhere else on the site. This I unfortunately found out that night when I was covered in bites. I thoroughly enjoyed our time working at the school and it was very sad to leave the staff, children and workmen behind but, knowing that we had given the school something back for their kind hospitality was nice to know.

 Now we didn’t work the whole time that we were in Chaing Mai we managed to pack other things into our time there. Firstly Chaing Mai is famous for it’s most incredible night Bazaar, most nights we went into the centre and did lots of shopping. The atmosphere was incredible; everywhere you turned there was another stall and something else grabbing your attention. And for the last two days we stayed in pairs at some of the Thai guide’s homes. The families were lovely and showed us their homes and schools and took us sightseeing.

All in all we had a fabulous time, a ‘trip of a lifetime’ in Thailand, and we feel very privileged to have had this opportunity to go. The places we went to, the friends that we made and the experiences we have had, are things that we will never forget.

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