The following article was written by Cynthia and Hana G8B

For this year’s academic residential trip, the grade 8 group was off to Rayong, which is located on the eastern Thai province on the Gulf of Thailand. We had a very diverse, fun and emotional week in which some of us made new friendships before accomplishing the upcoming intense weeks of summative. Stay tuned to know more about the outstanding trip we had last week!

On Monday, we started off with an early morning and headed to the Bangphra Center in Chonburi to learn about the endangered species of slow lorises. One of the things we learned and found interesting about animals was the fact that humans think feeding them is a good idea but they are unaware of the fact that once we feed foods that are not suitable or appropriate for them, then we are not exactly helping and making their situation better.

During the week, we also visited a turtle sanctuary (located off the coast of Rayong) which is an organization held and programmed by Queen Sirikit, where we learned more about how plastic can have a large impact on the marine animals, specifically sea turtles. This is because sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfishes (which is one of their main diets), and therefore, they feed themselves with plastic that we, humans, consume and throw in the ocean.

Overall, this trip allowed us to visit different places in nature and to get in contact with activities that we can only experience in the wild. To summarize what we did during our residential trip, here is the list of the activities; snorkeling, kayaking, mountain biking, and nature trekking. We also had an opportunity to try out other activities that some of us may have never tried before!

Mountain biking was something that was definitely new for some people in our grade. It wasn’t exactly similar to the mountain biking we had in our mind, as we thought that we would have to ride over even rougher terrain. It was actually quite gentle because we rode on uncrowded roads with bumpy and stony lands at some points only. Still, we were all contented with the landscape we were able to spot, and cycling in the clear and fresh air was just indescribable. We all had different backgrounds, experience, and levels with biking. The incredible part was that even if it may have been a new activity for us, we all encouraged, laughed and supported each other to make it the best.

Another special activity which a lot of us enjoyed and have good memories of was kayaking.  Yes, you might be doing kayaking for the past couple of years but don’t you think that each year, the environment and atmosphere changes? Our kayaking took place in a lake, while we experienced it at a river in the previous year. This made the activity very special and different as we were able to kayak with calmness and relaxation. Also, the staffs prepared some exciting yet challenging tasks that we could only be able to try in a lake, such as standing at the edge of our kayak and many more.

To conclude, this was a very memorable, enthusiastic, and emotional trip for most of us. We really wanted it to last longer but we’re glad that we made some great memories in the span of 5 days. Our experience was great overall, and hopefully, this article has motivated the next group of 8th graders to get excited about their following residential trip and have fun as much as we did!