Infield course in Thailand

Two Thai girls. The one on the left is in a official school uniform.

A lot of skyscrapers in Bangkok

During our Hald practice period abroad we have a infield course. This usually takes place in the middle of the practice period, which would mean around Christmas. Because Hald students go to a lot of different places, its hard to get all the infield courses in at the perfect time, so the courses are spread out in December and Januar. We ended up having our course in the end of Januar. Since we are only two people in Serbia, it would be quite expensive and tiering to arrange a separate infield course for us. To save some money, we end up with having our infield course in Thailand together with the Hald students in Thailand and Laos.

Along a channel in Bangkok

Mr. McDonald saying hey the Thai way.

The view from my Hotel room

Some Thai food on the street. Thai food is really delicious.

Stray dogs are crawling in the streets in Thailand.

We figured out that when we went to Asia anyway, we might as well do an extra week of vacation, so we decided to go for two weeks. We came to Bangkok in the evening Tuesday 22.January after a long flight and some hours in Zürich (we even had enough time to visit the city for a little bit). We spent two and a half days in Bangkok, visiting the Hald girls working there and visiting their place of work, eating brilliant Thai food and trying out Thai massage.

At Home of Praise, one of the places the Thai girls work.

Emmanuel school, another place of work for the Thai team.

Me watching some kids

A dramatic mood at Home of Praise (place of work of the Thai team) when the building was sprayed with bug repellent spray.

Thursday late evening, the journey went on. We were planning to go to Laos to pay a visit to our friends there and spend some time with them. But this would all prove not to be without some complications. The plan was to take the night train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, a city close to the Lao border.

45 minutes before the train left the platform, we arrived at the station. I was a little bit worried about this journey, Thai people are very short and I'm pretty tall and my guess was that most beds on the train would be very short. Because of this reason the plan was to get some 1-class coupe tickets with decent sized beds. Anyway, at the station we were told buy a tourist assistant that 2nd class with bed and air condition would be most suitable, but when he was helping us to buy tickets he suddenly told us:
- Too bad! No more beds left! Only 2nd class with chairs and fan! Too bad, no air condition! Do you still want to go?
We decided to go for the tickets that was left. We had a very interesting journey, a Buddhist monk was sitting on the seat in front of us and the atmosphere was amazing. And I actually managed to sleep a little bit during the 12 hour journey. Our only problem was that during the night our wagon became really freezing. We left our jackets in Bangkok, thinking that we wouldn't need them for a while. But we survived even though we were really cold the next morning.

A kid Stine was playing with on the train

The train doors were open during the trip

In the middle of the night on the train. We were very awake, especially Stine who has a heart for sleeping everywhere at anytime and situation (more info in next blog post).

Monks crossing the Lao border

Stine on a Lao Tuk Tuk with Bjarte in the background.

And me on the same Tuk Tuk

Ingvild riding here el-scooter

Some rice fields in Laos.

Salom, trying to digest a frog.

A classic Vientiane Tuk Tuk.

How many people can go on one small scooter?

From a service in the Evangelical church of Laos

One of the girls attending the service.

We got to visit some well projects funded by NMS and Norad. These are some of the kids, which now have clean water.

A monk-kid living in a Buddhist monastery close to the well.

This guy was sitting next to the well

New fresh water

Me and Salom (last years Hald student from Laos) at a well.

1.000 000 Kip. Lao money, equals about 450 kr or 50 Euro

A monk peeking true a keyhole in a monastery.

We had four brilliant days in Laos and Monday midday we traveled back to Thailand, but this time most of the journey went by airplane.

The next four days we spend in Hua Hin (a tourist city along the coast). Here we had some classes and different activities at our infield course.

Karin riding an elephant

Monika and Inger Johanne, two teachers at Hald.

Miriam and Bjarte, two fellow Hald students

The city of Hua Hin.

You might recognize this guy, his name is Buddha and his very tall.

Some monkeys we got to see.

Don't put your head out the window warning at the train station.

Fresh fruit at the marked in Hua Hin

Before we left back to Bangkok Friday night, me and Karin rented to motorbikes and went for a little bit of sightseeing on our own. Karin was very brave who dared to drive motorbike for the first time ever, and that was in the crazy streets of Thailand!Karin on her scooter.

And me on mine.

Smoking monk

We found a pineapple field! With farmer included! And he gave us two fresh pineapples which I gave to Karin.

We spent the last three days in Bangkok. We got to do some shopping and tourist activities, including Grand Palace, boat trip, China Town and more. I noticed three things which are all over Bangkok; stray dogs, food and seven eleven. No matter where you go in Bangkok you will always find these three things.

Monk buying pirate movies in China Town.

Sign on public toilet.

Thai candy at the marked.

Floating marked in Bangkok

Nationalistic people. How many flags can you see?

From the boat trip at the river.

Guards at the Grand Palace

Gold covered buildings at the Grand Palace.

Our guide at the Palace was using my Thai name Chang (Elephant) all the time. And usually really loud when I was stuck taking some picture.

Bangkok by night (view from the Thai teams room)

All together I had two great weeks in Asia. It was great meeting friends there and the food was just fantastic! Its some of the best food I've ever eaten.