Everyone in the open room is a member of a preservation club, the club is an environmental group and they go on trips to jungles and national parks 3 or 4 times a year, P'Joke invited us to come on their next trip to Phu Hin Rong Kla National Park.
We left the open room at 8pm on Oct 4th, all the students got into the back of a van and we got a lift with P'Mon to the train station.
We got to the station at about 8:30 and had to wait until 10pm for the train.
P'Dat gave everyone a little chat before we got on the train, just explaining where we were going and what we would be doing.
It was an 8 hour journey on the train, and it was pretty hard to get to sleep so we kept ourselves entertained with a bit of hang man, and some star watching out of the doors.
We arrived at 6am as the sun was coming up, we had an hour to wait before we had to get a van to the national park so we had a little walk and found a market to get some food.
The skinned frogs, fried rats, els and pigs faces weren't too appatising first thing in the morning! so we settled for some fried rice.
We got on the back of these vans and thought we were going straight to the national park but we stopped at a temple first, which holds one of the most famous buddhas in thailand.
It was a beautiful day, blue sky all around and ridiculously hot!
It took 5 hours from the temple to get to phu hin rong kla, it was a windy mission up some steep roads crammed in the back of a van.
When we arrived we were greeted by the open room crew who had gone the day before us to set up the activities and get a grasp of the area.
(The Beautiful P'Game)
We set our bags down and got straight into some activities, we sat out the first lot of activities as we couldn't understand what everyone was saying! but it was all good, we enjoyed watching and walking around the park.
After the days fun was over, everyone got some tasty food and had a few hours free time then it was bed and an early start the next day.
Up at 6am and out of the camp by 7am we set off on a little walk to a view point over the clouds.
couple of standard tourist photos on the way.
We found out the area was the old headquarters of the communist party in thailand and had only been open to the public for the last few years.
The view point was called Lan Hin Teak, it was also called Blood Shed Area, it was where most of the fighting took place between the Communists and Thai Government, there was a memorial to the soldiers who had died during the fighting and everyone paid their respects as they walked past.
We had to cross a few bridges over some massive holes in the rock, underneath we could hear a river, there's a couple of waterfalls in the national park but we didn't have time to go and see them as they are quite deep into the jungle.
P'Um was the first to get to the cliff, and it was a breathtaking view, thick jungle merged with a sea of clouds, epic.
We took our time to take in the view, sat for about an hour or so just enjoying the quiet and the amazing view, it was the first time either of us had seen a view like this with the clouds below us.
We went back to get some food, and headed back out to a small farming village deep in the mountains to plant some tree's with school kids to help stop landslides destroying the roads and and buildings.
We got to the village sitting on the back of 3 pick ups along some windy mountain roads.
We had gone from being above the clouds to being in a thick fog, and the rain clouds were moving in on us.
As soon as we had unloaded the plants the rain started, and it was a monsoon! but it wasn't an issue everyone just got on with it, it was one of the most uplifting things we've ever done, we felt pretty satisfied with ourselves.
It was alot of fun as well, there was much joking about and laughs while we were planting the trees, we did this for most of the afternoon, a very enjoyable experience and something we both want to do again while we're here.
Once all the tree's we're planted and the rain had subsided we set off back to our camp stopping off to have a light lunch on the way.
We we're sleeping in cabins which slept 15 of us and there were 3 cabins between all of us.
The next morning we got up early to pack and get some food and set off for the train station, not before a quick group photo of everyone.
During our time at phu hin rong kla we played a game which involved picking a persons name out of a hat and then they become your buddy for the weekend, which means you have to look after them without them knowing and make sure they are okay over the weekend, it was alot of fun, everyone receiving random gifts from a toothpick or tissue after you'd eaten to some sardines in tomato sauce for dinner, or a can of coke or chocolate bar etc etc.
The thing we found out at the end though, if your buddy finds out its you they get to paint your face up! and if you can't guess who was your buddy they can paint your face up as well!
well......
We found out the train was nearly 6 hours delayed so everyone thought this would be a good excuse for a relaxed drink..
P'Um took my camera for a walk and ended the weekend nicely with this photo.
Overall we had an amazing time, met some great people and did some good deeds.
Peace & Love
Gilb&Deac
