The Loyola Bangkok program is defined by a 7 day trip taken to northern Thailand called, "the trek". When you ask anyone who has come to Bangkok to study abroad what their favorite part about their time in Thailand was almost everyone says the trek. Every year for as long as the Bangkok program has been running at Loyola (about 20 years), the entire group goes to Chiang Mai in the north and treks in the jungle of Thailand. I can say without a doubt that the past 8 days have been some of the most fullfiling and amazing days of my entire time abroad.
With absolutely no break and relaxation after Vietnam and Myanmar, all 38 of us and Father Kelly got on a bus that was going to be taking us to Chiang Mai (about a 13 hour bus ride). Knowing we would all hate our lives going for 13 hours straight, we made stops along the way. Our first stop was Bang-Pa In, the summer royal palace of King Rama V, one of the many kings of Thailand. We all got the opportunity to walk around the palace and enjoy the weather. Walking around the grounds in the middle of October felt more like the middle of July. The palace and gardens were absolutely gorgeous, and really well taken care of. Bang-Pa In is the mini-Versialles of Thailand.
After walking around the palace, we got back on the bus and took it about 2 hours to Sukhothai. Sukhothai is one of the ancient kingdoms in Thailand. We arrived in the late afternoon to our hotel for the night. The hotel turned out to be a resort (shout out to Father Kelly for hooking us up). We got to swim around in the pool, and that night we had cocktails at a wine bar and an amazing dinner(it was a buffet, and I ate everything!).
The next day we all woke up and went to the Sukothai Historical Park where we all rented bikes and biked around the ruins. The bikes were old and rickety, but made the whole experience more fun and entertaining. Sukhothai is one of the ancient kingdoms and former capital cities in Thailand and has tons of ruins and temples that have been designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ruins reminded me of Angkor Wat but on a much smaller scale. After biking around we all got back on the bus and went another 4 hours to finally arrive in Chiang Mai. We settled into our hostel (a little different then the resort the night before...), and went exploring Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is a city in northern Thailand that over the past few years has become a popular place for tourists to visit. We arrived on Sunday and got to walk around a night market and get dinner. Chiang Mai is a busy city, but also quiet. It has a completely different feel then Bangkok. A fun part of the culture in Chiang Mai is that there are no taxis in the city, and the entire "old city" is enclosed by a moat.
On Monday, we all woke up and took a trip to Wat Doi Suthep. The wat is located on a big mountain just outside of Chiang Mai. We walked all around the wat, and took lots of pictures. It was an interesting experience being there since I had just visited the Schwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. Doi Suthep felt like a miniature Schwedagon. We then headed to the umbrella factory in Chiang Mai. The umbrella factory is a small outdoor museum that shows you how umbrellas are made. Not all of us went, but it was a fun little side trip to see another part of Chiang Mai.
We arrived back to the hostel and wanted to go explore more of the city. Inspired by Sukhothai, Kristy, Carissa and I decided to rent a bike and bike the city. With a map in our hand and a coffee shop to go to (thanks to Father Kelly), we set out on what turned out to be quite the adventure. With cars, songtaos, and motorbikes, the streets were busy, and riding a bike in them was interesting. After riding along the main road (highway) that parallels the moat, we arrived at a park to look at our map and realize we had ended up at the entire opposite end of the city. We had only biked for about 30 minutes and we had basically gone around the entire old city of Chiang Mai. Finally figuring out where we were going, we arrived at Fern Forrest Cafe, a cafe tucked away in the city that was absolutely adorable. I got iced coffee and apple pie with vanilla ice cream to remind me of the fall weather back at home (that I have been missing). The crazy biking adventure turned out to be totally worth it, and we got to see a ton of the city, and yet again, it was another rickety, old bike.
Knowing we had a meeting about the upcoming trek, we rushed back to the bike shop to make the meeting. We arrived at the meeting on Monday night all anxiously awaiting to hear more about the trek, and more importantly, which group we were going to be in. The 38 of us were separated into 3 "tribes" that we were going to spend the next 4 days trekking with. The anticipation and speculation around which trek group everyone was going to be in was crazy. After being separated into our groups, we all went to a Muay Thai fight that same night.
The fight was a fun experince. The main event was an American vs a Thai boxer. To say the least, the 38 of us really got the American going. All of us were screaming the entire time. I didnt think I would like the Muay Thai fight, but it turned out to be a ton of fun, and something that I needed to do since I am in Thailand, and Muay Thai is so traditionally Thai.
The next day we woke up, and found out who are leaders for the trek were going to be. Along with the 11 other students in my tribe, we were led by Spencer (a Teach for Thailand teacher) and Cole (an ex Teach for Thailand teacher who now lives and works in Bangkok). We also had two Thai trek guides, Sammy and Oh La La (yes, that's his name) who were absolutely amazing. The 16 of us made up the "Karen Tribe" and we all spent the next 3 days trekking together. All of us were nervous, but excited. In typical Father Kelly fashion, we were all told nothing about what to expect or what we were going to be doing, just a lot of trekking and hiking mountains.
The trek officially started on Tuesday the 20th. We all got into a songtao that took us to a orchid garden where we got to walk around and then to a market. At the market, Spencer and Cole bought a ton of fireworks that they were going to set off along the trail basically to keep our minds off the hills we were climbing and how much we were all sweating.
Eventually we were dropped off at the side of the woods where we got out, and started our trek. The first day we trekked about 8 km to eventually reach the village where we were going to stay for the night. The village was filled with animals everywhere, and in the afternoon, we got to play soccer with the boys in the village. That night we ate an amazing homemade dinner (like all the food I ate over the 4 days) and played some games that the trek leader came up with. I also got to try snake that the family we were staying with had cooked and were going to make into a soup. It turned out to taste like really dry chicken. That night we all got to know each other more, and heard ghost stories about ABAC and C Building from Cole.
The next day we were awoken by roosters and started another day of trekking. We trekked for about 2 hours to be met by elephants. All of us knew that riding elephants was part of the trek, and when we finally saw them, all of us got excited. It was a pretty cool experience, and just being on one was awesome. I couldn't leave Thailand without riding an elephant, so I was pretty pumped. We then arrived at the second village. The village was right along a river where we all got to put on bathing suits and swim around. The kids in the village also went into the water and played with us. All of the girls in my group banned together and taught the little girls to play chicken, and they showed us how you could climb a rock and jump into the water. They were all so cute, and totally fearless. After swimming, we all "showered" and had dinner. That night was by far the best night of the trek. The family we were staying with and the little girls taught us how to dance and we all sang about elephants together in Thai (or at least attempted to). We then played games that the village people had come up with.
The next day, we found out that the first 4 hours of trekking wasn't trekking, it was rafting down the river near the village on a bamboo raft. We were split into 3 groups and our trek bags were placed on the raft and we floated on. It was a fun experience, and we had some friendly competition among the rafts. All of us wanted our raft to be the fastest. We were then told that we were going to be trekking 4 km uphill, but once at the top we were going to be at the village where we were staying for the night. Spencer and Cole told us that the 4 km uphill were the worst part of the whole trek, so mentally all of us were preparing at lunch.
Together, we were able to climb the mountain. Those 4 km were definitely the hardest part of the trek, but finally making it to the top was the best feeling. Arriving at the village and looking out, you actually felt like you were on top of the world. On Thursday night, all three of the trek groups came together and celebrated what we had accomplished. We all stayed in the same village and ate dinner, danced by the fire pit, and played games against the other tribes. It was such a bonding experience, and when all of us finally were reunited, it was like a high school reunion all of us were so excited to see each other.
The next day I woke up to see the sunrise. Since we were so high up, clouds had formed below us overnight. You felt like you were in the sky.
All of us then had breakfast and started our last official day of trekking. All 38+ of us climbed down the mountain and went swimming in waterfalls at the bottom of the mountain. We then trekked a little bit farther to go white water rafting. Everything we got to do was such an experience, and a memory I will never forget.
That night we all arrived back in Chiang Mai, exhausted, ready to collapse, and completely covered in dirt. On Saturday, we all went to a Jesuit retreat house in Chiang Mai to reflect on the experience and our time abroad so far. It was a good way to wrap up the trek and really take in everything we had done and gone through. On Saturday night, all of us went out to a nice dinner where we had a cocktail cruise before dinner. The entire trek was sunny and hot, but the moment we went outside in our party clothes, it started to rain. Saturday night was the last hurrah of the trek.
Sunday morning was the official end to the trek. All of us woke up early and got on a plane to go back to Bangkok. After almost 3 weeks of travel, I am exhausted but feel so lucky to be experiencing the things I am.
What makes the trek so special is that it incorporates every reason of why people come to Thailand for study abroad. The experience of trekking the Thai jungle and staying in villages in remote areas in northern Thailand is an experience you don't get in Europe. Riding rafts down rivers, riding elephants through the jungle, and seeing what it is like to live in a village is an experience like no other. All of us survived 4 days without electricity, any real running water, and a normal toilet to use. Not everyone I know could survive that, but that is why the trek is so special and unique to Thailand.
I came back to ABAC having eaten snake, bug bites all down my legs, caluses on my heels, a cut on my finger, the ability to take cold bucket showers, use squatters, and a shattered iPhone screen, and I wouldn't change a single thing about it.
The trek is almost like the Christmas of the Bangkok program. Everyone comes to Thailand looking forward to and anticipating the trek. I can now say that I did it and survived. I fly back to the US in less then 2 months. That is actually crazy.
Love
xoxo
K
Shout out to my trek group, Karen for life.
Sam Chemali, Emily Cocco, Courtney Rhodes, Kate Spence, Brittney Powers, Kristy Donohue, Mark Massaro, Bob Anderson, Nick Bahr, Brian McAvey, Jeremy Stephenson, and to the leaders, Spencer DiGiorgio, and Cole Pennington, we have a bond that no one can fully understand.
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