On Thursday we went hiking up a huge mountain at Khao Chamao National Park. The mountain was very steep and there was not a very good path. We had to climb over huge boulders and lots of tree roots. But it was so worth it when we got to the waterfall! There is this large pond on the mountain about 2/3 the way up and there is a big waterfall that runs into it. At first everybody was scared to jump in. Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you that the whole pond is filled with thousands of big and small fish, the biggest being a little bigger than a foot and the smalllest were about an inch. The boys were the bravest and hopped in first then a couple of girls got in then I got in with my friends Eun Ji, Reshmi, Arianne, Sarah K and Sarah M. I was soooo scared, and when I jumped in I think I fell on a fish because we all did canon balls at the same time and I don't think the fish really knew what we were about to do that or else they probaly would have moved. But after a while everybody got in even my teacher Mrs. Knudsen. Some people even had their clothes on! My friends and I all tried to dunk the boys but that didn't turn out so well. We all tried to get as close to the waterfall as possible but nobody could because the current coming off it was to strong and too hard to get near. The pond was super deep over 12 feet deep and boy was that water cold!!! The fish in the pond felt so wierd and slimy. On the way down from the waterfall I saw a huge lizard at least a foot long. It was cool to see it in its natural habitat. I am very happy that we did not see any snakes, I was a little worried about that.
Then after that we went to this Thai womens little shop and got to do tye dye. We at first had a plain white t-shirt and then we folded it a certain way and then we got chopped up bamboo sticks (any size) around a cm thick and up to 10 cm long. And what we did was we got two bamboo sticks and then we put them on each side of the shirt and then we got rubber bands and tied them together(this will make a very cool pattern). After we had done that all over the shirt the women took it and put it in boiling water with a natural brownish tanish color from bamboo and other natural plants. Then we let it sit for about 20 min in the water. After that was done we took it out. The women and other workers there had taken big buckets out with different soaps and chemicals to keep the tye dye in place so it wouldn't wash out. Then the last step was taking off all the bamboo sticks and rubber bands. Then it was complete. My tye dye shirt is the brownish tanish color with white circles all over it (from the bamboo sticks). It turned out pretty cool!
Let me tell you a little bit about the food there was. The first day (Wednesday) I had octopus, shrimp and fish fried rice and oyster and shrimp soup. The food was good even though I picked out all the seafood. Then for dinner that night we had somthing really good....fried chicken and pork. Then for breakfast each day we had toast, scrambled eggs and mini hotdogs. And just for your information hotdogs do not go well to eat right after you wake up. Another meal I had was KFC (we stopped at The Big C) That is a big mall in Pattaya.
In the middle of both nights it was kind of scary. There are a whole bunch of stray dogs at the place we're staying and in the middle of the night I think there was a dog fight or somthing because me and my friend Sarah both woke up and started screaming we were so scared! My friend was also scared that there was a dead lady that haunts people there. ( gossip from the seventh graders who did the same trip last year). Also was afraid of ghosts. She kept me up all night. Then she finally asked me if she could sleep with me because there is a window above her bed. So I said alright you can sleep here if you'll actually sleep. This was at like 3 in the morning. The next day we were kind of tired. But all the kids were happy when we were told that today we get to see our parents and go home.
This trip will always be somthing that I remember and definitely a place to go back with the family and vacation at. I am looking forward for the next school field trip!!!
