For many years the girls have been dreaming about going to the beach. Many of them had never seen the beach and the sea. From Chiang Rai it means a drive of at least 14 hours and therefore this was quite an undertaking which needs planning. But after a long time the girls’ dream has become a reality.
On April 19th we got into a big coach in order to get off 14 hours later in Bangkok where we were going to spend the night. There we met a colleague’s good friend who had also worked for our organisation some years ago. She is familiar with our house and everything we do there. She provided us with a place to sleep and as an extra we also met one of our former residents there, a woman of 34 years old now. She was so happy to see us all, especially the house mothers she still knew from her time with us. She and her husband cooked a meal for all of us, a group of about 40 people.
The following morning we visited the science museum, which was very nice. After that we drove for another three hours to the beach. We arrived just in time for dinner and a quick dive into the sea before dark. Along the way we picked up another old-resident. She is 28 now and she stayed with us for two days and enjoyed seeing the mothers who raised her.
The next day we visited a sea aquarium which was very special, because now we were near the sea. We went swimming right after visiting the sea aquarium and played in the sand. That night we had a dinner dedicated to seafood specialties which everybody loved very much as they don’t get this type of food every day. After dinner we went for a walk on the beach and back to the coach. Fully satisfied we went back to our accommodation.
Next, a visit to a big park with botanical gardens, dinosaurs, real elephants and English and French gardens was on the program. It was a shame the weather was extremely hot, but that did not take away any of the fun. For Thai people taking pictures and selfies is very important and this was a particularly nice location for it. There was also a big dance show about the different cultures in traditional costume as well as a show with elephants.
That afternoon we had another surprise. One of our colleague’s old schoolfriend and her husband live nearby our accommodation and the two women had not seen each other for thirty years. She and her husband insisted on taking us to KFC for a meal and an ice cream. After dinner many went back to the beach for a walk or a bit of fun, it was too dark to go swimming unfortunately.
On our last day we sailed to an island nearby. Oh, it was so beautiful there with turquoise water and sand which was almost white. First we went for a swim and many of us went for a banana boat ride. The boat was pulled along by a very fast jet ski. It threw people off on purpose so they had a hard time climbing back on it.
We took another boat to a location where we could snorkel and play on the slides. Tired, but hugely satisfied we came back to prepare ourselves for departure. This was easily the best day of the week.
Early in the evening two sisters had a big surprise when they had a visit from their mother and their grandmother who live close to where we were staying. As we normally live too far away for them to visit this was a special occasion after a long time. What a wonderful bonus on such a lovely day.
Early that night we left to go home. A large part of the journey was spent sleeping or singing karaoke loudly. Some covered their ears, but most girls loved it.
It was a wonderful trip which everybody enjoyed a lot. On behalf of the girls and staff we would like to thank everybody who contributed in making this trip possible.
Click here for more pictures of our trip, in the photo folder “Beach holiday 2023”.
