Just shocking how time past by

I can’t believe that eleven months went by already. It’s amazing how time flies when you are having a good time. I will be flying back home in two weeks, it will be nice to see again my family and my friends, they miss me and I miss them a lot.

In those amazing eleven months, as you know, besides exploring and having fun, I have been helping some local children. In Bangkok, apart from the fact that it is a unique city, there are some things that can be fixed and would make of Bangkok, an even more beautiful city: the main issue is the one concerning the poor. They live next to the tracks of the train in terrible conditions; what I did was, help those families to relocate in a more suitable and healthier location. It was a real challenge, however there is much more that can be done to get rid of this problem.

We also decided to teach the kids who can’t have access to education: it was great! The kids were really motivated, which “threw” the motivation back to us, so it was a sort of vicious circle; I was so happy to see that the kids were really interested. This was, in my opinion, a complete win-win situation: they got an education, and we got something to be motivated for, which I think it is great!

In this time I was able to discover and get to know another culture, another language, another type of food, which has no comparison to mine, it’s completely different. It has been a mind-changing experience. Thanks to this gap year, I was able to broaden my horizons and get to know a country, a culture that I wouldn’t have imagined I would be in contact for so long! This trip will remain in my memories forever; it is something I will never forget. I wanted to thank my fellow volunteers for this incredible experience and trip, and tell them that I have been so happy to be among them every step of the way. I also wanted to tell them that having spent this whole year with them exacerbates my happiness to and it blows it right out of the ballpark.

I have a feeling that this will be my last entry of this blog, so I would like to thank you all for reading my blog, and I would like to wish you a big farewell!

Iaron

P.S.: I will attach some last moment photos

At the sublime beaches of Thailand with all my fellow volunteers.

While elephant riding deep into the jungle.

 One of the last pictures I took in Bangkok.

The more modern part of Bangkok

This one is one of my favorites pictures since it shows both the ancient part of Bangkok and a boat that isn't as old as the ancient sights, but not as modern as the buildings in the modern part of the city.

This is one picture I took in the neighbourhood where I helped the families and the children to relocate themselves.

So far, so good

Thailand is by far the most amazing, exotic and breathtaking country I have ever been to. Five months have passed since my last entry, and a lot of things have happened in between. So firstly, I would like to apologise since I said I would be writing soon, and I didn’t it was due to the fact that I was so busy volunteering, sightseeing, exploring, and it wasn’t until today when I had some spare time so as to write down some lines to update my blog.

Since the last entry, we have had a magnificent time with my fellow volunteers: we have enjoyed ourselves while volunteering, adventuring and exploring (I'm attaching a couple of pictures about this on the bottom of this entry). In fact, we have gone on a three-day excursion last week which was the best thing of the trip so far. I’m attaching a map with some of the astonishing places we have been to in the three-day trip. I hope you like it!


First Sight: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/653137820373745666

Second Sight: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/653140860589834242

Third Sight: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/653143570072469506

The Floating Markets of Bangkok.

This is a photo that I took when we were having lunch, I wanted to remember the wide range of food and the colours of each food, I was really impressed by that.

This is the so called Wat Arun, one of the most iconic sights of Bangkok and of Thailand, it belongs to the more ancient part of the capital city.

My departure from Uruguay and my firsts impressions when I arrived in Thailand

Hello everyone! I have just arrived in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, where the next best, unique and unforgettable 365 days of my life will be taking place.

For starters, I have planned a full year of helping children in all sort of difficulties, sightseeing and unexpected adventures and experiences all over Thailand. It was a long time ago when the idea popped into my head, and since, I couldn’t stop thinking about it; and I just can’t believe it is happening right now.
So, you must be wondering why am I writing this blog? Well, in fact, I have decided to create this so as, when the gap year has ended, a way to remember some moments of it; and to let people know what’s my life like while I’m away in this trip as well.

When I was leaving my home town, Montevideo, I was sad and cheerful at the same time: I was leaving my daily routine, which involved seeing my friends and family everyday, and heading towards a totally different one that was the complete opposite of my regular routine. Broadly speaking, the departure was kind of hard, because I had to say goodbye to my relatives and understand that I won’t see them for the following year, however, the fact that the time of leaving had arrived, kept me “alive” per say.

Thus, I flew to Sao Paolo, then to Zurich, and afterwards, I took a fifteen-hour flight to Bangkok. I must say, it was an exhausting journey, but thanks to its length, I was able to get to know the people I would be seeing for the next moths.

Right after the plane landed in the capital city, even though I was tired after the long flight, I could feel the sensations of being in a place that was off my normal routine: it was an amazing and unique feeling.

Once we got out of the airport, me and my fellow volunteers got a short tour of the city, Bangkok: what an incredible, ancient and modern, cosmopolitan, historical and multicultural city! I have never truly seen anything like it before. Then, we were driven to the place where we were staying for this year. It was a tall building that hosted people that came from different walks of life: like Japan, United States, New Zealand, Australia, France, among others!

All in all, the beginning was more than great, I would say it was incredible, and so, it was a great way to start this once-in-a-lifetime and mind-blowing experience.

I will write soon,

So, till next “entry”!

Iaron

P.S.: I had been filming short videos of some parts of our journey from Zurich to Bangkok, and now I have make one whole video made out of all the videos I had filmed, here it is joined by some pictures I took when we were given the short tour in Bangkok, enjoy!

My short video of the journey from Zurich to Bangkok.

A picture I took while having the short tour of the city: in this picture we can see both the ancient (in the foreground) and the modern part of the city (in the background).

This is another sight we spotted while having the tour, it's the Grand Palace of Bangkok, a beautiful, colourful and unique place.