Catch You At Kanchanaburi!

I am officially in Chonburi, where I'll begin classes at Kasetsart University Laboratory School tomorrow morning! Am I really going to be a teacher tomorrow?



We spent the past couple days finishing up our orientation in Kanchanaburi, where we rode elephants and bamboo rafts down the River Kwai. We stayed in a resort called the Pavillion Hotel, and it was pretty gorgeous. It felt nice to be away from the city for a while, in a place where we could really soak in some nature. Although the Pavillion hotel was pretty ritzy, it was only as manicured as a resort in Thailand could be (if you don’t understand what I mean, I offer an example of the countless geckos crawling across the hotel ceilings).


I was the first one in the pool at the resort, and I was certainly not the last. Our group essentially lived in the water, and it proved to be a small peace of heaven in all that humidity.



Tuesday was probably my favorite day, and began at the Taweechai Elephant Camp. My observations on riding an elephant can be summarized as follows: it was pretty neat, but I felt like a bit of an awkward tourist. The elephants were largely wandering around camp, but when I left I noticed one or two elephants with chains on their legs. The elephants also performed some jaw-dropping tricks (seeing an elephant playing the harmonica was probably one of the stranger experiences of this week), but I don’t think elephants were put on this earth to shoot baskets through hoops. We spent most of our elephant ride on a seat tied to the elephant’s back, but I tried sitting on his neck and found it to be kind of uncomfortable. I think the highlight of my elephant camp experience was being shoved by a baby elephant, born only 25 days ago. I couldn’t decide what side of the love/hate line our relationship fell, because he kept running towards me and pushing roughly against my legs.


My favorite experience was probably the subsequent bamboo rafting, mostly because it didn’t consist of that much rafting. Me and a few friends jumped into the river Kwai within minutes of stepping onto our raft, and didn’t regret our decision for a moment even though the water was a little murky. The cool rush of liquid soothed us in the sweaty heat, and we floated with the current just as quickly as the raft did. We spent about ten minutes with our legs on the raft, leaning back and looking at the rich green jungle pass us by. This was the Thailand I came here for. Our bamboo raft paddler was a friendly Burmese man who told me that he came to Thailand because it was the land of opportunity for himself and his family. Sounded like America for so many people.


We spent lunch and dinner eating along the river Kwai, and dinner was spent facing the “Bridge Over River Kwai,” a location about which the famous movie I have not yet seen was based. I learned a little about the bridge’s history from a friend, and what I learned was pretty moving.


Once we arrived back in Bangkok, everyone’s departure was confusing and hectic. People were being picked up by their coordinators left and right, and I missed by chance to say goodbye to several people.

Since my last post, many of the teachers bonded pretty intensely, and we all tried to spend as much time together as we could before going our separate ways. I developed a lot stronger interest in fostering relationships with other teachers than I expected, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised considering that they were also like-minded individuals interested in tackling a totally new experience. Being that we were a pretty adventurous crowd of young people, spending several days cooped up Teacher Training while the Bangkok streets awaited us proved to be difficult for some people, and our program leader had to address the issue. However, the last few days we spent relaxing, dining and riding elephants in Kachanaburi proved to be just what we needed before moving on to a position of increased cultural and locational isolation.

Now, I prepare for my first reading lesson tomorrow!

P.S. A few photos from the Prawn Volcano Restaurant in Nakhon Pathom: