Thank You!

Good Afternoon Everyone:

Our Flying High in Chiangmai trip returned last night safe and sound. Thanks parents for being there to take the students home. I think they were tired, but happy and definitely glad to see you.

I want to thank all of the students on our trip. You all did an amazing job and I know you made new friends and learned things about each other. We also hope you learned more about yourself and what you are capable of. We tried to give you activities that allowed you to work as a team and lead if you wanted to. There was mutual respect in the group which was great to see. We introduced you to aspects of Northern Thai culture and managed to have a lot of fun and some laughs along the way. So thank you for being wonderful individuals.

I want to thank Mr. Hunt and Ms. Emilie who took great care of you and offered encouragement and advice when you needed it. They also ate chicken and rice three times a day for six days like you and slept on the ground and on the floor like you. I am sure you all are managing to have some of your favorite foods today. Shington's generous Krispy Kreme purchase and sharing on our arrival day soon became a distant memory.

I have posted all of my photos on the link that you can find in the upper right side of this blogging page.  There are lots of zip lining videos there too. Please enjoy and download the ones you like. I think Li Hong, Aming, Tech and Shington also took photos and I hope they will upload them to the photo link to share the memories of our week together.

Aming has volunteered to put together the 2 -minute video that will eventually be shared with all of Secondary at assembly. Go Aming!

This was my last Week Without Walls trip at ISPP and you all made it very special.

Thanks,

Mr. Barry

Day 5 - The last day

After our days of thrilling and entertaining adventures around Chiang Mai, today started off with a warm farewell to our homestay residence. The Thai mothers who hosted us created a heartwarming and cozy atmosphere that made us feel like we were at home. 

We are incredibly grateful for their efforts of serving us food, changing our bedsheets and taking care of us for the past few days. For our group in particular (Tecahavoan, Dararith, Keita, Mac, Shington and Batuan), we learned that our homestay mothers weaved cotton for a living and donated their products to nearby pagodas. We were given a rare opportunity to experiment with this cotton weaving process and were delighted to witness the efforts involved with this style of crafts. To give insight into this process, the cotton is weaved with a wooden wheel which moulds the cotton into an elongated strand of string. These strands of strings are served and crafted into products such as clothes, bags, wallets and towels. Despite the time and effort involved, these products are relatively cheap in price. To show our sincerest gratitude, we decided to purchase some as souvenirs that we can recall memories from. In addition to this, we also feasted on traditional Thai cuisine like fried chicked with sticky rice which left an everlasting taste of joy. 

Upon leaving our home-stays, four crimson trucks arrive to bring us to a nearby forest area for our bridge building activity. On the way, the trucks passed by plains of crops and mountainous terrain.  Even though the road was quite bumpy, the incredible view and chilly air made up for it. Once we arrived at our destination, we were introduced to several CMRCA members. They presented us with various team building exercises so that we were prepared when we build our bridge. An example of this includes "pipeline", where we constructed a truck using pipes so that a golf ball can fall into a cup. 

This activity taught us three important themes such as concentration, communication and coordination. Once theses activities ended, we were briefed on how to construct the bridge. We learned that this bridge in particular contained several mechanics. These included ropes, pulleys, hooks and many more. My group's responsibility was the knot system in which we had to tie knots to secure our bridge. Personally, I struggled with this procedure because I tend to overthink things. I learned to think simple and tie the knot in an easy way that even younger kids could understand. 

After the CMRCA's demonstration ended we build our own bridge. It was a very time consuming process and working in the blazing hot sun definitely strained us. However, once the bridge was finished, everyone enjoyed crossing it. Finally we all went back to Chiang Mai Eco Resort for our final sleep in the trip. We are all looking forward to reuniting with our family and friends back home. 

The trip has been a blast and one that most of us will never forget. 

Techavoan (Gr 10)

Day 4 - Ziplining

Today we went ziplining and it was a very enjoyable experience for all. The first line was not so terrifying but as we went through the course, it got higher and more scary. The ziplining experience was amazing it should be a must for everyone to try. It was most people's first time doing it, but even the people who had ziplined before freak out a little, but were also impressed. 

We became friends with the "sky ranger" in charge of the ziplining and he even had a nick name, "Mr Potato". The sky ranger told us that some of the cables for the zip lines were 800m long. In the end, we all enjoyed ziplining, but the scariest part was still to come, as we had to drop down 30 meters to get down from the course. 

After zip lining, we all had a very nice lunch of garlic fried chicken, morning glory, papaya salad and chicken soup. We then explored a village on the mountain where they made assam leave pillows and learned about the culture of the village. 

At last, we got back to our homestay for some rest in the afternoon. It was a great day! Enjoy some photos below.

Jacky, Arthur and Arhya

Day 3 - Rafting!

We woke in the morning and it was terribly cold - Freezing! After we got used to the cold, we went and had our showers and then packed our bags. We also packed up our sleeping bags and mattresses and were ready for the day. We assembled at the meetings point and walked to breakfast where we all ate fired rice, eggs and chicken. The food was delicious. We then got into a van to go to the rafting spot.  

It took about 45 minutes to get to the place where we were going to learn the basics of rafting (See videos below). When we arrived, we were told to change into our clothes and water shoes. Then we gathered to meet our white water rafting instructor, Mr Bu. His name translated into English is Crab. He taught us how to hold a paddle properly and showed us how to move the paddle going forward and backward and told us some commands associated with the movements. We were also told about the dangers of whitewater rafting and how to make sure we weren't in those situations. We went outside to do some tests on boats with the team to practice what we learnt.

Before we did the tests on land, we got fitted with helmets and life jackets and did a safety check called the "buddy check". After the tests, we got into the vans again and drove down to the river. Near the river, we assembled out teams and got into the boats with our paddles. We were on the river and noticed that the water was very cold, yet is was still comfortable.

During the ride, we saw a lot of trees on the right side and many rocks in the river. The first ride was quite thrilling and made our arms ache. The sun was ideally warm and balanced well with the cold water of the river. The rapids were bumpy and strong, but were fun because the currents were very fast. Some boats got stuck because of the currents but it was still fun during those times. We went under the bridge and knew that was when the thrill and excitement and fun was over.  That was the end of ride one.

We were told that ride two was going to be tougher and more dangerous and we were pumped for that. Ride two had more sudden drops and faster currents which made four people fall out of their boats. Luckily, no one got injured. During ride two, we saw beautiful green leaves on trees, rocks that glittered when the sun hit them, people eating in houses and great big elephants eating by the river. The rapids this time were faster and made a lot of us wet. 

As we saw the last bridge and heard the whistle, we knew that was the end of an amazing day. 

Day 3 - Some Videos for you

Hello, We are having some technical difficulties writing the actual blog post - It should be up soon. In the mean time, please enjoy these videos of our day yesterday.

Day 2 - Cycling

Students woke early today to get ready for another full day of activities. None of the students took a shower because the water was about 10 degrees and the weather was about the same. It was so cold we could breathe out a little smoke!

We had a very good chicken and rice dish for breakfast (tasted just like KFC) and then drove about 20 minutes to our base camp for the cycling trip. We first started by practicing cycling and then we cycled up and down mountains and on various types of roads. We cycled for about 3 hours and then stopped for some lunch, which was Chiang Mai noodle curry. It was amazing! (the cycling and the curry).

We then came back to camp and cooked our own pasta and ended the night sitting around the camp fire. 

Jaky and Keita

 

Day 1 - Travel Day

This year’s week without walls trip kicked off rather pleasantly, with smiling, enthusiastic faces showing up at the airport at 9:00 am. 

After flying for 45 minutes, we stopped at Bangkok for a quick lunch break, resulting in a subway queue stretching as long as a tennis court. Despite the long line, it was worth waiting for. Additionally, one strong brave boy called Mr. Shington Sin bought doughnuts for the entire travel group. 

Following this, we got on our next plane to transit to Chiang Lai, and after an hour of flying, we finally met our trip guides. After introducing ourselves, we arrived at the eco resort, we settled in and had dinner. Our dinner menu was steamed rice with sweet chicken and some stir fried vegetables as well as curry. For dessert, we ate the doughnuts that Shington had provided for us. 

A few brave students named Dararith, Sophia, Aming, and Mac had volunteered to write the first blog post with the pressure of setting the bar for other students. 

Here is a short poem we wrote: 

Everyone is so wonderful 
Loving people everywhere 
Practicing the Thai language 
Making new friends 
Earning everyone’s trust