Chiang Mai A Challenging Residential

A CHALLENGING RESIDENTIAL

Christina Bickford, Year 10

Year 10 Residential is definitely one to remember. As soon as we arrived at the Golden Gold Resort and Spa located in Khao Yai, the challenging journey commenced as some had to start their 8km trek to the campsite soon after their arrival. Others, including myself, spent the day working in our tribes and coming up with an identity for our group. This consisted of coming up with a chant and using bandanas and face paints. We had to perform our chants to everyone including a panel of judges. The winners of this were the “Bruddas”. We had also spent time planning our route cards which would end up helping us massively when it came to navigating the wilderness in which our walk would take place. The night ended with the movie ‘Jumanji’ and popcorn.

The next morning was a challenging one. It started off with a 5.30 am start; as it was my walking day. We ate breakfast and packed our lunch, dinner and breakfast for the rest of the day. We were given a GPS phone and were sent on a minibus for our journey to start. The whole way anticipation started to build as we seemed to be heading into nowhere and eventually, the bus came to a halt. As I picked up my massive, heavy bag it was confirmed we had reached the destination. There were grass fields on either side and nothing else to be found. The journey consisted of a mixture of all types of scenery from walking along main roads, fields, houses, forestry to even a golf course. It was hard to ignore the beauty of it all. I felt quite lucky because the weather was just perfect – not too much sun, no rain and a really nice breeze. Though we didn’t have to tackle the weather, we had to face the navigating part of the walk. We came across several intersections and, with the help of our compass and maps, we headed down the right path. After a staggering six hours, we had finally reached the end of the walk. Everyone was exhausted and couldn’t wait to reach the campsite. Just as we were near the campsite Mr Tennant introduced us to our last challenge of the day: crossing the river using a bamboo bridge.

This was quite nerve-racking as we had heavy bags on our backs but with determination, everyone made it to the other side. At the campsite, everyone chose their tent buddy and relaxed. As evening approached, we got out the Trangias and began cooking our dinner – pasta.

On Wednesday morning, there were mixed emotions, from some who were excited to embark on the journey and others who wanted nothing to do with it. But I think it was safe to say that everyone just wanted to get the walk done and over with. My group started strong at the beginning and just as our motivation was dimming, we came across eight small puppies on the side of the road. It was the best thing that could happen and within seconds everyone had cheered up. My group ended up getting lost a few times and we were last to get back to the campsite at around 2.00 pm. It was challenging to keep going after getting lost, but we didn’t let that get to us and the feeling of achievement was worth all of it. In the afternoon, we had the Fancy Thailand Activity arranged by Khru Somchok which I enjoyed. We walked through the hotel’s fruit farm and even planted our own banana tree! I found the activity very fascinating as we learnt about the different fruits that Thailand is so fortunate to have and even try them. Khru Somchok also talked about the importance of bananas in Thai culture and introduced us to five different types of bananas. In the evening we had the Quiz night, which was super interesting as we found out a few facts about the teachers.

On our last full day, we started the day with cooking Thai dishes - Pad Thai and Som Tum. I truly loved that we were able to make Thai staple dishes by ourselves and saw what was in the dish that gives it the taste that we all know. In the afternoon we headed to Scenical World. The weather was quite miserable as it was raining but the waterpark was extremely fun. We went down lots of slides and it felt like a reward for completing the walk. The night ended with the disco, which is always the perfect way to end every Residential.

On Friday, we waited for the Thursday walking group to get back from their walk and welcomed them with large smiles and congratulations for completing the hard trek. We then hopped onto the large buses and headed back to school. This trip was worthwhile and I feel extremely grateful for the opportunity that I had to learn new skills such as navigating and cooking and being able to experience the outdoors. Overall, it was a fabulous experience and one that gave the largest sense of achievement and accomplishment!