Ben and Harriet's Thailand Adventure - Day 5

Over the past few weeks, a few members of the Gap 360 team have been jetting off to some of our epic locations in South East Asia to check out our projects and experiences. Now's the time for Ben and Harriet to conquer Thailand. They're going to be travelling around and trying all things Thai for the next two weeks so expect updates galore from the troublesome twosome!

Day 5

Ben again! Want another full low down of our Thai Adventure day?!

We left our hotel bright and early- and at 09:30 we headed off to meet the group of 36 strong Thai Adventurers to head off to Sangklaburi for our stint of volunteering. The hotel the Thailand Experience group were staying in was lovely, we met them whilst they were having breakfast on a boat house that was located on the River Kwai. Needless to say the views were amazing! Once the group had finished noshing on breakfast we all boarded the coach to take us six hours down the road to Sangkhalburi.  We had a nice 15 minute break along the way, and we also stopped off for an 1 hour 30 minutes stop at a museum called Hell fire Pass which was just amazing, great scenery etc. We arrived into Sangklaburi at around 4:30pm and unpacked our bits and bobs at the Seedan Hotel which is where all the Thai exp guys stay whilst they're in the area. Rooms were lovely with either twin or triple beds, air con and a fan, all the usuals and then the big one... FREE WIFI! We all lapped that up, that's for sure!

After the guys had checked in we all met Joe, Lucy and the rest of the Sangklaburi team and had a welcome meeting and a get to know session. This covered details about the hotel, its amenities and what we'd be advised to wear during the day and night, and a do's and dont's session which was great as none of us had been there before so it made us all feel welcome and comfortable!

That evening Sangklaburi was hosting its weekly market with live music, food stalls, clothing, street acts... so we all hung out as a group, and then had dinner in either the hotel or the local food from the street market (awesome grub). It was a long one, but it was great to bond with the entire group and settle into a nice, comfy bed! Harriet and I stayed at the volunteer house that evening, so for us it was a good opportunity to meet other volunteers (who were not on the Thai Exp but solely doing volunteering) and get involved with that side of the trip. One of the house guest house volunteers, Fred, had been out here for 6 weeks- he then went off for a month travelling around the islands and now he's back for another 2 weeks- so cool! Fred is having the best time working at our Dream House helping with the children; he's been lending a hand by painting walls, tidying up or planting vegetables that the children will be able to eventually care for and eat, and just generally caring for the children when they've needed it. The volunteer house was by no means 5* but had 4 twin bedded rooms all with mosquito nets a kitchen a sitting area, 2 toilets and a shared bathroom. We chatted for a few hours, settled down after a few beers and then rested our heads with a good nights kip!

Next stop? Our volunteering days!