2024 Key School Thailand Conservation Expedition

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Blog 4

We started our day by waking up in the village. After eating a delicious breakfast of rice, pamelo, and Milo filled coffeee we were taken to the bee educating center. Putting on the beekeeper hat made me feel safe even though the villagers were so comfortable with the bees. They showed us the honey-making process and even let us get a taste.
– Wills

After that the group visted the local monks so we could ask questions about the Buddhist practices and enjoy a 10-minute meditation. After lunch we drove to a tree sanctuary and helped plant  saplings of trees local to the area. In terms of activities, that was pretty much it for that day since we still had to drive to the Aurora Resort and unpack. Over all, everything was amazing and we’re all excited for the rest of the trip :)
– Kaelyn

Blog 3

To start off, we had breakfast at the owl house community place!! There was chicken soup with rice, and this pork and rice wraps that were absolutely delicious :-) afterwords we headed to the dam and learned about why we were building the dam in the first place ( more about that )
And then we got to the manual labor!!! We used a fireman’s ladder technique to pass stones down the line. We took the opportunity to learn small Thai words having to do with building a dam. Such as “heavy, light, two hands”. It was also a great opportunity to meet some new people that you don’t really talk to!! It was a lot more fun because there was so many people around to communicate with, I think. Around halfway through, we were fed some handmade coconut ice cream and it absolutely hit the spot, aka Yummy :-)
Yiiippppeeeeee!!
After a small break, where some of us enjoyed a quick dip in a small pool laid out for us by the village and others took advantage of the AC in our houses.
Refreshed and ready for adventure we headed to the 7-11. The 7-11 is a treasure trove of new and fun candies, drinks, and everything imaginable under the sun.
Snacks in hand we headed to the dam lookout on top of the thathungna dam. It was beautiful, we got a ton of pictures. There were these white and pink flowers falling everywhere and a beautiful sunset.
After our walk, and enjoying the reflection of the sunset, we headed back to the homestay. At the homestay LAOR (the village cook) helped us to cook our own egg fried rice. We got to choose between a variety of toppings and sauces and be in charge of a huge Wok. The food was amazing, and after our long day we were exhausted. We retired to our rooms and promptly fell asleep, another day in Thailand well spent :)
– Jane, Marina, Kyle, Adelaide

Blog 2

We woke up to the excitement of leaving the hotel, and driving to the Baan Shan Owl Homestay in Kanchanaburi, 4 hours away from Bangkok. We ate our last dinner at the hotel, say goodbye to the kind employees, and started our ride. But before we left, we all had 1 stop in mind…7-11. We walked from the hotel to the massive 7-11, stepped inside, and stared in shock of how incredible it is. Everything from drinks with flavors we’ve never had, chips with squid, chicken, and seaweed, and candy that made us decide for 15 mins on what to get. People had to get carts and filled them to the brim with snacks, it was obvious that our excitement was through the roof. We make our final purchases, probably spending 10k Baht in total.
Afterwords we headed to the vans to begin the road trip. We headed to the home stay community (a local village with houses to stay in) where we had our orientation with the OurLand program. We spoke with one of the founders of OurLand (Vijo) who explained their mission and the importance of conservation. We then ate a hearty lunch of fruit, rice, and soup.
The next activity was moving into our cabins in the village. The cabins were small but comfortable and remarkably well air-conditioned. After some downtime we made our way back into one big group for the river float. The vans took us down to the riverside  and we were instructed on how to float properly. Each student was given a life jacket to aid in floatation and we entered the river. For nearly 40 minutes we leisurely floated down the river. It was serene. Once we made it to the exit point, Vijo lead us on a small 30 minute hike through the jungle. He showed us the signs of elephant activity in the area and we learned about human elephant conflict. When we arrived to the OurLand basecamp we watched a safety video that introduced us to the OurLand Basecamp area. The OurLand resembled an outdoor pavilion and was absolutely amazing. Being that it was evening now we ate dinner and played games for some downtime. After a long and full day we made our way to the vans and headed back to the homestay for lights out.
– Austin N. Brendan F. and Jack M.

Blog 1

Prae and Bo here – we are the Walking Tree program leaders for the Key School Thailand group! Since the group arrived on Friday morning, we have been keeping busy and battling jet lag. Our first day was filled with new sites, smells and sounds for the very first time. During our orientation meeting, we learned about Thai culture, what to expect and how much fun we are going to have. We are really impressed with this group, and we can tell that everyone is going to have a great time.

During our time in Bangkok, we enjoyed our first of many Thai meals! We started with a long tail boat tour of Bangkok, which is a city of canals. For hundreds of years, Thai people have been navigating the city via water, and we had a great time seeing the sights from a boat. It’s super hot in Thailand, and we are keeping cool whenever we can. We saw our first of many temples and visited the Museum Siam where we learned all about Thai history and culture.

On day 3 we traveled to Kanchanaburi where we began our service project, building a check dam. Check dams are vital to elephant and human coexistence, as they provide valuable water sources for elephants in times of drought. The host community has welcomed us with open arms and are excited to work alongside us. Although the work is hard, we are having fun with it. Overall spirits are high, and we are having a really great time! Stay tuned for future updates.

We've arrived!

After traveling halfway across the world, the group has arrived in Bangkok! More updates and pictures to come soon.

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