Krabi Work Camp and Ko Phi Phi

---

I volunteered for two weeks at an environmental work camp near Ao Leuk in the province of Krabi put on by an organization called Greenway. The work camp was an interesting experience, but in a very isololated location. I did meet some interesting people, who all thought I was in my mid-twenties - everyone was under 25 except me. There were four guys from S. Korea, a guy and a girl from France (but not together), two sisters from Germany, a girl from the UK and a girl from Trinidad.

Over the course of two weeks, we painted a temple for four days, taught english to school children for two days, planted trees for two days and painted signs for two days. On the weekend in between, we made a side trip to Ko Phi Phi.

The weather at this time of year is not particulalry great in this part of Thailand. It is monsoon season and it rained a lot, which put a bit of a damper on the whole thing. We were always wet at some point of the day while working - and I went through 2 bottles of mosquito repellent - those suckers really like me!!

I didn't mind the work and the accomodation wasn't horrbile - we were in a community building - there was a girls room and a boys room and two toilet facilities. We slept on the floor - but there was air conditioning. The facilities were traditional Thai - meaning squats and a bucket for a shower, but I was used to this from my last time in Thailand.

The thing I really didn't like about the project was that there was nothing to do in the evenings. We worked hard, full days, came back to camp and cooked dinner. When we got back to the camp, the men from the village came by to get drunk on Thai whiskey, while their wives looked after the children. The first night of this was fine, but it wore a little thin by day 3. I can't say I really enjoy the company of drunk men. So we took to evenings inside - reading books, playing cards and whatnot and going to bed early, trying to ingnore the noise outside.

The highlight of the camp was the side trip to Ko Phi Phi. All 11 of us made the trip. It continued to rain a lot, but we had fun with dinner and the bars on the Friday night. On Saturday we managed to fit a trip to Ko Phi Phi Leh during a break in the weather. This is where The Beach was filmed. The island and the beach were gorgeous. We chartered a long tail boat out and almost got stuck there. Were were intending to leave about 6pm, but a storm came in and we were unable to make the crossing back to Ko Phi Phi Don, which is were all the accomadation is. Just as dark was coming on, the rain abated some and our captain deemed it safe enough to dash back across. It was dark by time we got in - I dont think we had running lights either - but there wasn't much traffic. On the Sunday we went across to Long Beach for a couple of hours - and you guessed it - got stuck in the rain again. In the afternoon, we left for the return ferry to Krabi.

All in all, the experience wasn't bad - I generally like the work, but the isolation definitely gave me a trapped sensation - it was a long two weeks. I'm not sure I would do this again.

---