Day 8 begun with the first sleep in of the trip, as many of us woke up at 8:00 in the morning! We met the girls at the kitchen at 9:30 and we carried lunch up to the bus with them. The bus ride was entertaining as the boys played many games with the girls from the blue sky home. After 15 minutes we arrived at the Mon bridge for a day on the water. We entered the house boat and everyone settled in, Elijah even managed to catch some shut-eye before we arrived at the sunken temple.
As we traveled further into the river many played games such as snakes and ladders, uno, connect 4 as well as games taught by the girls.
As we walked around the temple, we gazed in its glory and took a group photo with all of the girls. As we climbed back onto the house boat, lunch was passed around and everyone enjoyed the meal of rice, eggs, noodles and a delicious tomato and chicken stew.
As we finished our meal we came to a stop, deep into the depths of the river, it was Luis and Charlie who lead the charge into the water. They were followed by the rest of the boys accompanied by the girls, some of which were more eager than others, at which point Rohan took the opportunity to have a nap. The swim left the boys exhausted, so to freshen up watermelons were handed out which the boys ate in the water despite its depth.
After swimming the boat headed back to land and everybody played some more games, one of which was an intense Uno game with Ethan, Sam, and Justin involving one of the girls copping a 24 card pick up!
Much like yesterday everybody was exhausted on the ride back due to the intense fun had during the day. After getting back from the lake Luis and Liam played guitar with the kids while Engles took a quick nap, and Charlie, Sam, Justin, Diji and Ethan spent time with the girls in the classroom.
At 6:00 we all had dinner, and enjoyed delicious rice, crackers and Pad Thai. Soon after dinner we all settled down and the boys were taught a cultural Thai song, and although at first we struggled to get the words right, in the end we preformed an absolute banger.
We then taught the girls “Riptide”, and even though there were some tricky words for the girls to learn, they all sung it beautifully by the end. From this, we were able to see the community and togetherness developed through the symbolism of music. This unity in song represented the relationships that have been built throughout the trip so far. By 9:00 we all sat down for reflection and Mr Winberg challenged everyone to beat him at a game of Connect Four. By the end of the day the boys were all knackered so we hit the sack early to be prepared for a working day tomorrow.
St Bede's Thailand Outreach July 2019 