This summer I had the chance to do some environmental conservation in Hua Hin, Thailand. This was unlike any experience I have ever had because I seldom travel outside of the UK. In fact, this was only my second time outside of the UK and first time outside of Europe! From the food to the amazing hospitality, there are many things I enjoyed about the two weeks that I spent there.
At first, the thought of travelling internationally was daunting; before my flight I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anxiety. I clearly had a lot to gain from this experience, but it was unlike anything I had done before. What was great about my adventure is that the organisation I volunteered with, The Green Lion, was very supportive and guided me through the process. They paired me with a buddy who I could contact at any time. This made my journey much more manageable. About 10 hours later, I arrived in Thailand and my adventure began in Hua Hin!
The structure of my volunteering programme meant that my time was split between cultural activities and environmental conservation. My culture week included a Thai cooking class and a Muay Thai class.
In the cooking class, we learnt how to make two dishes, but my favourite was papaya salad. We also learnt that Thai people enjoy spice; while some of us were frantically fanning our tongues, the organisers were grinning with delight as they ate another spoonful of food. During our (very) elementary Thai language class, mai pet (not spicy) quickly became a key part of our limited vocabulary. In terms of frequency, this phrase was only second to sawadee kha/khap (hello) for some! I’ll let you decide what group you think I belong to.
Later that week, I took part in a Muay Thai class (also known as Thai boxing or Thai martial art). We ran through some of the footwork needed for the offensive and defensive moves. The instructor’s kindness and humour didn’t surprise me; throughout my trip I had only encountered hospitable and welcoming people. This put my mind at ease when I didn’t adopt the correct stance or when we were reduced to pools of sweat at the end of the session. My decision to wear pink to this class was a mistake in retrospect. Overall, I think both cultural experiences were a great way to immerse myself in aspects of Thai culture during my first week.
However, most of my time in Hua Hin was spent doing the environmental conservation. Some of the activities we did included planting/preparing mangrove seeds, carrying out beach clean ups and cultivating school gardens.
I seldom visit beaches, so it was interesting to see how much of our waste gets washed ashore and hidden behind rocks. Green Lion is one of many organisations in Thailand pushing for more awareness about the impacts of littering. They added an educational element to the programme the week after my departure.
We were also involved with maintaining the gardens where vital crops are grown. I must say that this was harder than it looked. However, this was one of the more rewarding tasks because of how tangible the results were. At the end of the day, we would look upon the land which was full of weeds just hours before.
However, my favourite day was when we planted the mangrove seeds in the mangrove forest. We prepared the seeds earlier on in the week for this day. This was by far the most physical activity; we walked through the river and the water came up to my waist at certain points. There were many crabs and mosquitoes, and we had to wear socks because it was extremely muddy. Like the beach, the river is a place where rubbish can be found. After planting the mangrove seeds, we picked up what we could find.
This programme built upon the cultural activities because it enabled us to travel to the mangrove forest, various beaches, schools and national parks. As a result, we wouldn’t make it back to Hua Hin in time for lunch so we would eat out and this gave us the chance to further explore Thai cuisine. My personal favourite dish would be either Pad Thai or Pad Kra Pao!
We started the day at 8am, finished at 2pm and had the weekends off. This gave us some time to explore Hua Hin. We often visited some of the local beaches, temples and food markets but my favourite was the monkey temple. The sky was a fluorescent purple as the sun was setting and we were surrounded by monkeys. Even when we climbed 130 steps to reach the temple, they followed! It was a unique experience that I will remember forever.
I will also remember the amazing connections I was able to make during my time in Thailand. Green Lion, the organisation in charge of running the programmes, attracts people from all over the world. I made friends with people from Japan, Spain, Turkey, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. On the weekend, I travelled to Bangkok twice with them and it was a surreal experience to be in a busy city with people I had only met a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see all that the city has to offer but what we did see was amazing. We visited two temples: Wat Pho and Wat Aran alongside the Grand Palace; their designs and statues alone would’ve kept us occupied for the entire weekend! To reach Wat Pho and Aran, we had to travel by river boat which is something I’ve never done before. From there, we ran to Chinatown to quickly eat dinner before we had to say goodbye to our friend from Hong Kong.
On my last weekend in Thailand, I visited again, and we were able to find a nice live music bar to end the trip. I would do it all over again despite the chaos that unraveled when we had to navigate the metro system and find our Airbnb.
I would like to thank everyone at LEAP because without them this experience wouldn’t have been possible. This was a unique experience that tested my independence and resilience in unimaginable ways. If you get the chance to do something out of your comfort zone, to travel or to volunteer, I highly recommend it.
