Thursday, 21 June
So we're at our last night at Railay Beach. Yesterday we rock climbed in the morning. I climbed two routes, and now my forearms are pretty sore. Then we hiked around for a bit to rappel from a cave. It was quite the experience just to get up there. We went to the "Hidden Beach" here and just when you think the beach dead ends...oh no, you climb up into the forest. We thought the guides were crazy, but they knew very well where they were going. After some fun times trekking up some slippery slopes, we entered a cave. It was absolutely pitch black so we had to use our flashlights to get us through. That part was my favorite though. The cave was really beautiful. You can see the cave in the picture below. Look at the rightmost mountain and above the tree line there is a black cave. That's it!
Finally we reached our destination and it was an amazing lookout onto Railay West Beach. We all rappelled, and thought our adventure was over. Little did we realize, that we had to hike back down through the jungle. It was fun, but we all are covered in mosquito bites and have some scrapes and bruises. The rest of the day we just swam in the ocean, relaxed, got a Thai massage. It was nice to take a break after such a day.
Today, we started out at about 8am and took a 2 hour boat ride out to some remote islands in Phang Nga Bay. Once there, we snorkeled around for about an hour. We saw some beautiful fish and great coral reef. We then went to another location and snorkeled around again for another hour or so. The picture is of the first snorkeling site. Despite my sunscreen efforts, being at 6 degrees North, my whole backside is completely red. The next few days I will be bathing in aloe.
Tomorrow we'll head to Ko Yao Noi on a large boat. Then we can only take a day pack and we'll sea kayak around several islands. We'll head back to Ko Yao Noi to stay with local families for the night. That will take us back to the basic accommodations we were used to before we came to Railay! It's been nice to sleep in a real bed for a few nights. After tomorrow night, we'll sea kayak to Phuket and catch a domestic flight to Chiang Mai. Don't really know what's all going on there. It's still too far in advance.
June 17th
The past two weeks I was at Moo Baan Dek ("The Children's Village" in Thai) along the Kwae Noi River near Burma. The scenery was spectacular, and I will most definitely provide pictures later. While there we visited Erawan Waterfall that has 7 tiers and some amazing swimming. The fish were biting our toes though, so we had to constantly keep swimming! See how ridiculously crystal clear the water is.
We also went to an archeaological dig where the first homo erectus was found in Thailand, and that was really cool. My favorite field trip with the kids though was when we went to Hellfire Pass. It's a part of the railroad the Japanese army made POWs and Asians build during WWII. The purpose was the create a more accessible supply route to India via Burma and Thailand. The entire railroad was supposed to be completed in 5 years, but the Japanese made these men finish in only 20 months. We walked through Hellfire Pass that was named such because the men worked 18 hours a day, so at night they lit fires to continue working. They had to manually chip through rock to create this railroad, and there were still pieces of drills and tools broken inside the rock. It was an extremely emotional experience for me. I don't think it was until that day that I realized the true impact of World War II.
Other than the field trips we took with the kids, our normal days consisted of waking up to teach class in the morning and then crafts in the afternoon. I taught 2nd grade. I have plenty of pictures of our amazing class! We were able to make bracelets. The ladies there make their own clothes, bags, etc that they sell in a gift store on site. They are some truly talented ladies. This village is a place of alternative education. The kids don't have to come to class if they don't want to, and there's a student government that meets every Friday to give out punishments to fellow students who misbehaved that week. All the kids come from truely troubled backgrounds. Most don't have parents, and if they do they are too poor to support them. Leaving yesterday was really hard. Everyone was crying. But they had a closing ceremony for us where they gave us bracelets that were previously blessed by a monk that symbolized good luck in our travels and to let us know we always have a home in Moo Baan Dek.
Now I'm starting on the "Adventure Tour" for two weeks. Yesterday was a full day of travelling, but now we're in Khao Sok National Park. It's absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! My camera memory card filled up mid-hike, so I'll have to bum pictures off other girls. This morning we tubed down the Khao Sok river and watched monkeys play. Our guide pointed out a few snakes in the trees. Lucky for us, it was raining today so the snakes were out of the water and in the trees sleeping!
We just got finished hiking in the tropical rainforest here. It was truly stunning, but most of the time I was looking at my feet. Two reasons for that: 1) it was really slippery from the rain and 2) there were leeches. I know they're harmless, but it's not very pleasant to walk around while things are sucking blood out of your feet. The guide gave us this plant halfway through to rub on our feet that smelled really bad to repel the leeches. It worked for me, others were not so lucky.
We have one more night here and then we're off the Railay Beach. There we will rock climb and then rappel into the ocean. The next day we'll go out snorkeling around small islands. Then we'll start out on a two day sea canoeing spree to another remote island and spend the night with some locals. Then we're off to Chiang Mai. From there the schedule gets a little hazy. Internet will definitely be more accessible in Chiang Mai.
It's been an amazing time. But I won't lie, I am a bit ready for a hot shower and to be able to really wash my clothes. I'm a bit smelly, but everyone tries to do the best they can. Love you all!
