After D.C. I barely had a chance to calm down or even rest because just 2 weeks later we departed on our Amazing Thailand North & Northeastern Bus Trip!!! At 6:30 on April 7th, 70 Y.E’s (Inbounds & Outbounds) gathered to begin a journey that would introduce us to new things and really give us a lot of time to do our final bonding…for this was our last ‘real’ Rotary event where we would get to see each other as a group. In all honesty, the Bus Trip was not what we expected…reports indicate that it was far less exciting than last year. But not to worry, we all decided to make the most of it and complain later. They gave us a “Getting to know you” theme and that’s where the passage at the top comes from, and they also put us in groups so we would interact with everyone. In all during the 10 days we spent at least 65% of our time on the buses, travelling about 2,924 kilometers…and of course visiting GAS STATIONS! The sad part was that we didn’t have any “real” tour guides. I mean yeah, we had some people there from the tour company who talked for hours on end…but they did not tell us anything about the places we were going to or the provinces that we were passing through. I am sure that some of us missed the “HEY GUYS lady” from the last Bus Trip. Therefore nobody knew anything, so all I have to really look back at is my schedule that I received before the trip. 

Anyway, DAY ONE, we saw a Police Dog Show like the ones they always have in the Bahamas. It was pretty cool and I can tell you that everyone thought they would die over the next 10 days because of how hot it was. After traveling from Bangkok to Nakorn Rajasima we stayed at a Dam in Kon Kaen. That evening, the people of the hotel had a special “Bai Sri Su Kwan” ceremony. I really like this kind of ceremony because although it is not religious it really represents Thai culture. There was chanting and singing and we each had a lit candle to show that our light would continue to burn throughout the trip. At the end, they tied a string around everyone’s wrist (just like at RYLA in October) that would give us good luck throughout the trip…CHOK DEE NA KA!!! To complete the evening we played treasure hunt…in the dark! It was ok since most of the Thai kids were really enthusiastic about it so we didn’t have to do anything really. Might I also add that my group completed the hunt first…yah! 

Onto DAY TWO, from Kon Kaen we went to Petchaboon and then to Pitsanulok where we stayed at a Resort that belonged to a local Rotarian…again in the middle of nowhere. Nothing really happened on this day except we saw the electricity plant of the hotel we stayed in the night before. That wasn’t necessarily fun. DAY THREE wasn’t that much better. We drove all day through Pitansulok, Utaradit and Lampang provinces and of course we saw…GAS STATIONS!!! In the late afternoon we boarded a “houseboat” (nothing like what my grandfather used to live on back in the Bahamas) and we went to an island where we spent the night. Now I come from and island and I know the difference between an island and a rock. This was definitely a rock. That night there was nothing to do since we had very little electricity so our night ended fairly early. By the way, some people had tents and others stayed in wooden boxes…I slept outside on a log in a sleeping bag. 

However, DAY FOUR was a little bit better and the conditions of our trip were looking up a bit. I guess you could say that we began to see a little of what our money had paid for. In Lampang we visited the Thai Elephant Reservation Center…chaang, chaang, chaang!!… and saw the elephants do all sorts of tricks from painting to playing “the Chaang (elephant) song” on Thai instruments. We also got to feed and ride on the elephants and take photos with them. Then we drove to Chaing Mai where we stopped at the Monkey Training Center. Awwww, them little animals are soooo cute. Yeah, except one stole my watch and then threw it in the pond…ha! Yeah it was just to show that some monkeys like water and they can swim. The monkeys also did tricks like riding a bike and playing basketball and also solving math problems. 

Sorry but this issue has to be continued…. Look out for Part 2 in a few days!