สุขสันต์วันเกิด Liam – Off to Bangkok

On the last Friday, we collected our belongings and loaded the buses before wandering down to the multi-purpose centre for a morning school assembly where we would be farewelled by the entire school community for the final time. As the rain poured again outside, so did the tears from Sherine’s eyes (and everyone else’s). Br Matthew formally farewelled us, before the entire school community of some 500 students, 20 staff and the brothers, all joined together to sing Happy Birthday to Liam. Then each member of the school lined up and hugged us individually, with some giving us roses, bracelets, cards and other gifts as gratitude. If it was an episode of The Bachelor, Liam was the clear winner with a haul of over half a dozen roses (most likely because he was the birthday boy!)

We then set off on the bus towards Bangkok. The silence in each of the buses said it all as each of us handled the varied emotions of leaving what had become such a special place, full of life changing memories. We were all mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted from the experience as well.

To break up the 6 hour drive, we had a few planned (and a few unplanned) stops along the way. The first being to pull over as a few of the boys (I won’t name names) required ‘sick bags’ to deal with the winding roads on the way out of Sangkhlaburi. Our first planned stop, however, was at the ‘Hellfire Pass’, a famous part of the infamous Burma-Thai Railway, a site where many Australian prisoners of war were sent by the Japanese to dig and clear mountainous terrain for the railway. There was a museum outlining the horrendous conditions that the prisoners faced whilst working in this place, and many did not survive. It was another confronting experience, with some of the boys realising that many of those involved were not much older than them at time.

We then stopped at the Bridge Over The River Kwai which Sally pointed out was famous for a 1957 movie (she honestly knows everything). With many tourists wandering about, Mr Winberg was flattered when asked by a lady to pose with her in a photo. The boys were trying to play matchmaker by falsely advertising Mr Winberg as single, despite trying to get invites to his wedding only minutes earlier!

At around 9:30pm, approximately 12 hours after setting off from Sangkhlaburi, we finally arrived at the La Salle school in Bangkok, home to 5000 students, several stray dogs, two inebriated security guards, an ostrich, and several chickens. The teachers were almost too tired to even tell the boys to just go to bed, but they got the hint.

Pictures to come.