Enough to do and see in Thailand!

Sawadee ka/krab!

We already started our third week in Thailand now, time flies when you're having fun! During the last two weeks we again discovered a lot more of this diverse country.
As mentioned in our previous blog, in our second weekend we went to Koh Chang, one of the amazing islands of Thailand. It was a quite long journey, after our seminar session we took off with the taxi to Mo Chit. To continue by train, followed by bus where we arrived at Trat. Where we continued with a taxi to the boat, after arrived on the island we took another taxi and finally we arrived at the destination with a pick-up truck, Cliff Cottage. All together it took us almost as long as flying from Frankfurt to Bangkok! Our cottage you can say was quite primitive, with just a bed and a mosquito net. So, this was already a good preparation for our adventure in the hill-tribe!
That evening we had a relaxing night on the lounge terrace with sea sight. The next day Nienke-Marije, Reinier, Marlon and Susan woke up at 5 o'clock to see the incredible sunrise at the pier. After the breakfast we went to the city of Bang Bao and we arranged ourselves a private boat for diving, which was fantastic! We have been diving 10 meters deep and enjoyed the sea life. Afterwards we have sailed around a cliff where we saw a lot of monkeys. Unfortunately Jonien got bad news from home that evening and therefore we left early Sunday morning to Bangkok. Overall Koh Chang was a great experience!

This school week we had class from the CBT-I with Pai, who will also be our guide in Chiang Mai and someone who called himself the 'father' of REST, which is now known as CBT-I. Regrettably it was just the four of us this week since Nienke-Marije was lying in bed with food-poisoning and Jonien went back to Holland. With the CBT-I we discussed all about the Thai culture and CBT-I. On Wednesday we had a Bangkok trip to experience some Thai culture for ourselves. We have seen several temples, the lying Buddha, the Golden Mountain, the Grand Palace and we had an interesting interview with the Empower Foundation. Afterwards we went for dinner and looked around in the Pattpong area. Happily Nienke-Marije was also able to join us on Thursdays session where we discussed our Bangkok trip.

We did not have class on Friday since we planned to go to the Elephant Festival in Surin. We left very early Friday morning, at 5.45 to go by taxi to the train-station. Luckily we made it to be there at half past 6 to get our train to Surin! At 12.15 we arrived at the train-station of Surin and we directly checked in at our hotel, which was next to the train-station. We actually expected way more of Surin, the town was not that big and touristic at all. However we amused ourselves by walking around and checking out the area where the elephant festival would be the next day. In the evening we went to a light & sound show which was a little disappointed and besides, we where very cold. We definitely noticed that Surin is way colder already in the evening than it is in Bangkok! The next day we woke up early to go to the Elephant Festival at the stadium. Luckily we could still get tickets for it, for 300 baht. We had a great place! In the middle of the stadium, second row and on the sunny side. It started at around 9 and we have seen the 300 elephants during the show. It was really great and funny as well to see what those elephants can do! They where playing football, where painting, dancing and a lot of more great tricks! At 11 o'clock the show was finished, it was definitely amazing! Further we have been walking through the town and made an elephant taxi trip! Which was also a nice experience, these elephants where just walking through the streets and among the traffic. All the Thai people in this town where staring at us and screaming 'Farang, Falang'! Seems that they almost never see western tourists! In the evening we found a great restaurant, the Farang Connection, where we ordered Wiener Schnitzels and fried potatoes with peans. Something else than rice! :)
Sunday morning we went back to Bangkok early, with the train of 07.55 hr. At 14.30 we where back in our apartments again.

Mondaymorning we have been busy with school and had a lunch at Rangsit. At 14.30 hr we where back at Sita Villa to wait for Jonien, she came back from Holland today! We had a warm welcome for her and we're happy to be with the 6 of us again!

Two weeks to go and our study-time at Rangsit University is already over. We have a lot to do these two weeks, but we're also looking forward to go to Chiang Mai! Still no problems occurred within the group, so we're doing fine! :)

La kon!

Susan, Marlon, Martine, Jonien, Nienke-Marije & Reinier