Family House Chiang Rai

... the same. They also sang a few songs for us and then put a scarf on each of us. Next, we prayed for each other and blessed each other and then just hung out with the children for a while. It was really, really difficult for all of us to say goodbye. Our leaders said that this was the most difficult goodbye they have ever experienced on an outreach, so apparently it will not be this difficult every time, but I guess we will see.

... benefit in any way from your visit. Which is why a lot of visitors find the tours disappointing because they are then mobbed by villagers either begging or trying to sell either their own costumes or clothes, or trinkets they have made. Chiang Rai is one of the main towns to organise a trek and yet there is only one village in this area that has any involvement in the visits that are organised and potentially benefit from them. Often, when a tribal ...

... infinite wisdom of the thai government (and in no way helping thier tourism plight), they changed the visa from 30 days to 15 days only if arriving by land and not air!? so with the plan of spending a short time in the south and heading to the far north of the country, which i have not yet done and was wanted more than 15 days for sure, all this invaribaly changed for my itinerary! so having to think quick once arriving into the thai town satun from ...

... will go to our Second Hand Clothing project and to FreeSchools (http://www.freeschools.org/), discussed a few more things (upcoming Children's Day, program for tomorrow, pick up of some FreeSchool supporters, meeting date change for Guest house). It was just before 2pm by then and I hadn't opened my computer yet, which I felt good about. I had achieved what I needed to do and everything was set for tomorrow. The volunteers are all being looked after by ...

... place for a while but I think the photos do it better. What a great place! One of the features of the resort is the Elephant Camp which is a Sanctuary for elephants and their mahouts left jobless after the banning of logging in Thailand. As you can guess it is pretty expensive to feed an elephant so mahouts were forced to take them to towns and beg for money and food. This sanctuary operates ...

Monday 19th May Today we had to get up extremely early as we are off to the Golden Triangle/Chiang Rai direction. Our minibus came to fetch us at 7 am and there were only 6 adults on this tour which was great. Our first stop was at the Hot Springs where we had a tea/toilet break and walk around. Back into our minibus and it took some time to arrive at Chiang Sean, the Golden Triangle where the 3 countries meet ...

... for the children to attend school. Yet the tourists may think they are helping the children and their families by buying something and adding to the local economy. It is a catch-22 - as tourists, we (hopefully) want to be socially responsible. Does that mean not buying anything from children selling the silk scarves that we will buy anyway, so as to not encourage them to continue making money for their family? Is it better to buy from an elderly man or ...

... all selling the same stuff and trying to forge a living. We have been eating buffet meals three times a day lately, our stomachs are getting a working over as the cuisine is so different to what we are used to. Heaps of spices, fresh fruits, stir Fry's, rice, curries. Its been amazing seeing all the rise fields, Thailand is the largest exporter of rice in the world. Today being the 10th we visited the old Queen mothers palace and her massive garden, her house was on the ...

... something. Even so, my wife's scar wasn't pretty, but it was cheap. To some extent, you do get what you paid for. Going to an American dentist after my Thai dentist was like riding in a Cadillac after a VW beetle, but guess which one I can afford the easiest? I wouldn't advise buying into the whole Thai system of health care, though. Conceptually it can be a bit disturbing, particularly in the overemphasis on antibiotics. The EU ...

Started our treck walking the steepest hill everrrr and managed to fall over within 5 minutes!!! Realised I probs should have headed to the gym before this treck!! I looked absolutely HILARIOUS!!! i wore these horrendouus black trousers and then rolled my socks over them with white trainers....chav tastic!!! was so scared for leaches and luckily i didnt get any on me!

first stop was Huay Mae Sai waterfalls which was ...