any of you guys get to go on these teacher breaks?? this was my second such trip with the thai teachers..
our school went last week for a 4 day trip north to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai with a visit into Myanmar on the agenda.. the trip was funded by thesaban (local gvmnt) and indeed some of the government officials joined us on the trip including the mayor, director of edu., and the clerk of the municipality among others... in all there was 100app thai teachers, 3 farang and about 15 gov officials...
Day 1.... we left bang bua thong at midnight on friday 1st and travelled overnight to a dam somewhere 6 hours north of BKK.. we arrived at the dam and proceeded onto a row of 3 huge open houseboat type barges and were towed upriver for app 450Klms... 24 hours on the barges but it was a party all the way..
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Day 2.... we arrived somewhere not far from Chiang Mai at about 7am the following day.. boarded the buses again and headed for Chiang Rai, had lunch then on to Mae Sai, the border town into Myanmar.. all the thais went over the border but we (the 3 farang) declined.. it would have cost us 1000bht for re-entry + 1000bht (i think) for myanmar visa.. for 2 hours shopping????? no thanks.. we found a nice wee kareoke bar with a fine selection of burmese, laos and thai girls who were only too pleased to entertain us for a couple of hours early afternoon.. (i mean singing and pouring our drinks you filthy minded lot)... then it was off to the 'golden triangle' for dinner and watch the sunset... beautiful it was... booked into our hotel in Chiang Rai and then it was up to us to do as we please... needless to say we did..
Day 3.... this was the first day of 'official' business... on with the decent clothes and off to a government school in Chiang Rai... (see separate thread about government schools.. i'll add a couple of pics to that thread...).. after that we went on down to Chiang Mai stopping at another market on the way... they love shopping don't they???.. finally got to our hotel in CM and had dinner... then free time again and we.......
Day 4... last day and it's off to another school this time in Lampang.... (again see the other thread).. this day would be a very long day as we were travelling south all day with various tops on the way.. we went to an ancient temple near Lampang after we left the school... quite a bit of history attached to this particular temple.. an interesting place...
anyway... this was an excellent trip which i believe helped relationships between the farang and the thai teachers, admin and local government at our school and within the municipality....
enough talk.. some pics from day1
getting oiled in a local kareoke bar before boarding the bus...
all aboard..
arrival at the dam... (6.30am app)
pictures on the boat... we passed through some beautiful countryside...
approaching somewhere near CM.... sunrise 6.30ish...
days 2, 3 and 4 pics shortly.......
rury
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Day 2.. (sunday) getting off the boats...
the market at Mae Sai....
the 'golden triangle' at sunset....
our hotel... a decent bed tonight after 1 night on the bus and 1 night on a barge...
where we watched the rugby.. they even let me put up a flag...
Rob in the womb...
i think we ended up in there after the rugby... memories a bit vague...
Day 3.... (monday)...
official business....
anyone recognise anyone??
our hotel in Chiang Mai.... you can just see the night club we went to at night.. full of farang wimmen it was... this hotel was close to the CM night bazaar.. very nice..
Day 4... (last day)
an assortment of hangovers at 6am... doohhhh..
the second school we visited..
and some shots of the old temple...
a Lampang pic... cute kids....
the rest of the day is a blur... sitting on the bus all day half asleep, toilet and cig break every 2 hours and 2 food stops... got back to bang bua thong at about 9pm.. i'll post some of the better pics further along the line... enough for now... enjoy..