PHU KRADUNG!!!
WOW!! So about 40 exchange students in Rotary Youth Exchange in the eastern part of Thailand all went on this week long trip to the North of Thailand and hiked up this mountian and camped on top for a few nights. It was SOO amazing!!
And here it is, we stayed at the base of the mountian one night before heading up. We didn't go by this steep part, well from what I know at least, but still, it was BEATUIFUL!!
Celebrating Loy Krathong Festival at the base of the mountian. This festival is a celebration to the 'water gods' as a thank you for supplying them with water all year. So everyone goes to the nearest water source to them, river, lake, ocean, etc..then float a little 'krathong' with a lit candle and insence on it! It was SO beautiful!
Here's all the exchange students at the base of the mountian!
They had these men carry up everyone's bags! I felt so sorry for them watching them take up these incredible loads :-s
We were the first 5 kids to make it up the mountian. We also made a new record, we were the fastest to ever arrive at the summit out of all the other years of this hike with a time of 2 hours!! It was SOOO hard though, but we had alot of fun, and were even running part of the time!
We got up at 4 in the morning the next day to hike 2 kilos to watch the sunrise over the cliff, it was realyl beautiful! We were FREEZING THOUGH!!
The next day we did this 24 kilometer hike around the summit of the mountian! We got to see some pretty sweet views. Here's some of us hanging out at this sweet cliff! It was absolutely amazing, we were really scared looking down though, it was SOO steep!!
HAHA! So we all hung out at camp the next day to just relax. Some people played a soccer game. Instead of playing, a few of us dressed up absolutely crazy and made up cheers for them!! It was a blast! Here's us 4 girls and Peter Prapart-president of rotary in Thailand!!
Hiking back down the next day. Funny this sign warns us about Elephants, and we hadn't seen one the entire trip!
The bus ride home. We were STILL freezing!! We pulled out all of our warm clothes because they always have the AC on FULL blast in all the buses!! Wish I could put up all my pictures on here for you to see, but i honestly have hundreds!! It was an incredible trip though, and was realyl great to meet all of the other exchange students, we all really got along well and made some really close friends!
And here it is, we stayed at the base of the mountian one night before heading up. We didn't go by this steep part, well from what I know at least, but still, it was BEATUIFUL!!
Celebrating Loy Krathong Festival at the base of the mountian. This festival is a celebration to the 'water gods' as a thank you for supplying them with water all year. So everyone goes to the nearest water source to them, river, lake, ocean, etc..then float a little 'krathong' with a lit candle and insence on it! It was SO beautiful!
Here's all the exchange students at the base of the mountian!
They had these men carry up everyone's bags! I felt so sorry for them watching them take up these incredible loads :-s
We were the first 5 kids to make it up the mountian. We also made a new record, we were the fastest to ever arrive at the summit out of all the other years of this hike with a time of 2 hours!! It was SOOO hard though, but we had alot of fun, and were even running part of the time!
We got up at 4 in the morning the next day to hike 2 kilos to watch the sunrise over the cliff, it was realyl beautiful! We were FREEZING THOUGH!!
The next day we did this 24 kilometer hike around the summit of the mountian! We got to see some pretty sweet views. Here's some of us hanging out at this sweet cliff! It was absolutely amazing, we were really scared looking down though, it was SOO steep!!
HAHA! So we all hung out at camp the next day to just relax. Some people played a soccer game. Instead of playing, a few of us dressed up absolutely crazy and made up cheers for them!! It was a blast! Here's us 4 girls and Peter Prapart-president of rotary in Thailand!!
Hiking back down the next day. Funny this sign warns us about Elephants, and we hadn't seen one the entire trip!
The bus ride home. We were STILL freezing!! We pulled out all of our warm clothes because they always have the AC on FULL blast in all the buses!! Wish I could put up all my pictures on here for you to see, but i honestly have hundreds!! It was an incredible trip though, and was realyl great to meet all of the other exchange students, we all really got along well and made some really close friends!
Comments
Anyways, today I went cross-country skiing (for me it was the first time ever on skies) with your Mom and Dad and it was just awesome. Wish you'd be here but if I were you I wouldn't want to go back home, either. I mean, looking at your pictures just makes me feel like you're having the best time ever and your year over there is gonna have a big impact on your later life. Look at me: I'm so addicted to this country that I'm gonna come back for college and stay here!
Anyways, till then I have to learn so many more things outdoors - just like today. Had loads of fun!!!!! :-)
Alright, gotta go - my flight to Germany is leaving tomorrow... Hopefully I'm going to miss it. Enjoy Thailand!
Love & miss ya,
Tina
P.s.: Don't you miss the snow?
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Mom