Photos by Esther Chung and Amanda Sangeetha Thomas
A six-hour van ride to Buriram awaited.
Excitement heightened as we boarded the vans which were, according to our Buriram tour guide Judy, karaoke vans: with faux velvet cushions and a ‘bedazzled’ ceiling.
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| Karaoke van. |
The interior of the van was enough to keep us hyper, at least for two hours. The neon cabs lessened, vegetation on the sides of the highway increased; skyscrapers gave way to modest attap-roofed houses. We were lulled to sleep by the steady rhythm of the van on the bumpy road.
A bright yellow sign on the side of a road greeted us after hours on the road.
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| Mechai Bamboo School. |
Our first stop was the Mechai Bamboo School founded by the Mechai Foundation. As its name suggests, the school was built from bamboo stilts on what used to be a mango tree swamp. Instead of paying their fees in monetary form, students of the school pay their fees by performing four hundred hours of community service and by planting four hundred trees per school year.
Although the school is still in the process of developing and growing, its reputation has reached great heights. According to one of the school directors, Mimi, there are four applicants for every seat in the school. Student selection is based on their academic and behavioral performance. What sets the Mechai Bamboo School apart from the Thai public schools is their philosophy of building successful individuals who are willing to share their success. The syllabus emphasizes instilling good community values in their students, one of which was to share. Another factor that distinguishes the school from others is its dedication to lifelong learning, in which they also provide IT training for villagers.
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| Sections of the UN Declaration of Human Rights |
Besides having a holistic education syllabus, the school provides a healthy and beautiful environment for both their students and teachers. Greenery flourishes throughout the school, with scenic manmade streams for irrigation purposes.
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| Greenery and water. |
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| Bamboo Walkway. |
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| Bamboo Gazebo |
As beautiful and appealing as the school is to prospective students and parents, it faces the problem of retaining good teachers. Teachers who started their training or taught in the school soon leave for schools in major cities where the pay is higher.
We headed to our accommodation for the night – Cabbages & Condoms Resort, Nang Rong. Also an establishment founded by the Mechai Foundation, the profit generated from the resort goes to the funding of the school, just as its sister company does – Birds & Bees Resort, Pattaya.
The resort was named thus after the concept championed by the Mechai Foundation, in which they encourage the villagers to stay and develop the rural areas instead of crowding the major cities; and also to practise birth control for a better and sustainable environment.
Dinner consisted of homegrown vegetables and poultry which was served by the side of a picturesque lake in the resort.
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| View from Cabbages and Condoms restaurant. |
A few of us went to a local delicacy store to hunt for desserts. An assortment of local delicacies for every palate was paraded before our eyes, making it difficult to resist forking out more money.
P/S: Just as the writer was typing this, a short but terrible storm occurred. What made it worse was that it was dark, the wind was howling and we were stranded in the restaurant, far away from our room. However, the show must go on so the writer stayed back till a quarter past eleven to bring you this diary entry. Cheers!
Esther Chung, 21, is a Communications and Writing major student. Married to chocolate. Last seen swooning over the poems of Edgar Allan Poe.
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