UPPER SCHOOL TRIP - BUILDING GLOBAL CITIZENS

Samui's Open Gates School sponsors an annual trip for their upper school students. This year, twenty-two children were able to take advantage of this rewarding camping adventure to Kanchanaburi, Erawan National Park, for a week filled with exciting activities that would enhance their classroom learning in history, physical science, astronomy, physical education and more.

Three of the upper school teachers joined the students and then loaded the two school buses on March 21, ferried under the full moon to Donsak and began the long journey north. After the singing, chatting and joking ceased, sleepy silence ensued.

Before noon the next day, all of the tents were pitched, the sleeping bags unrolled and the adventure on the banks of the River Kwai officially began. Nature walks, familiarization treks, swimming at the lower water falls, bicycling the camp grounds, bonding with classmates and informal football games filled the remainder of the first day.

The next morning, everyone hiked the adjacent mountain, studying the seven-tiered waterfalls for water content, the nibbling fish and rock formations, and then enjoyed the refreshing cool falls, swinging from vines and plunging into natural pools from rock slides and cliffs.

Climbing hundreds of steep stairs on a nearby mountain in the afternoon led to a huge, pitch dark cave at the summit with stalactites, stalagmites, bats and natural water formations. The long day ended with getting some needed sleep in the tent village.

The next day began with a visit to the historical Death Railway where POWs had been tortured by the Japanese to build a railway to connect Thailand to Burma. The Jeath Museum, the cemetery and seeing the Bridge on the River Kwai was a history lesson in itself.

Then off to the Tiger Temple, a 700 rai sanctuary where Buddhist Monks nurture wild animals to health and provide a safe and friendly environment.  An evening of swimming at the falls, continued student bonding and writing in their daily journals ended another fun-filled and educational day.

A before-dawn departure for Bangkok saw some very sleepy campers slump into slumber for the five hour trip. The arrival at the Planetarium was delayed due to direction confusion, but presented many worlds to the students in the Science and Astronomy Museum, Physical Science and Health Museum and the Aquarium. Everyone then jumped onto the MRT to do two hours of shopping...and eating burgers, pizzas and other food not seen at the camp site. The miracle of congregating again  occurred and the return trip was filled with joking and singing and only interrupted by a stop at TESCO for supplies for the big BBQ for the next day.

Sadly, the adventure was coming to an end. The final day was spent at the camp site swimming at the falls, casual football, watching a professional commercial being taped and preparing for the BBQ...which included ribs, chicken, shish kabobs, baked potatoes and fruit cooked on the open fires at the camp site. After gobbling the feast, the tent village was dismantled, a home for almost a week, and packing and getting ready to return to the real world.

The overnight, fourteen hour trek south was relatively quiet, except for the grunting noises of the defective bearing on one of the buses and the challenge of keeping the drivers alert. Everything was safe and sound with the happily exhausted students floating back to their Samui Island paradise.

What an invaluable experience...surviving in the rough, getting physical and academic exposure, having the opportunity to bond with classmates not really known outside the classroom, learning about themselves outside of their safety net at home and taking full responsibility for their actions for a week; all shared by others experiencing the same.

Open Gates' motto is "Building Global Citizens", and the week long Kanchanaburi adventure is only a small part of how the school is accomplishing that goal.

Click here to see pictures from the trip!