Top Volunteer Projects in Thailand

I’ve never been so close to those amazingly gigantic creatures, so close that I could feel their snuffling; elephants’ trunks are like huge pipes, but more flexible and powerful. Muscles in their trunks make it easier for them to twirl and tear the leaves on the banana trees at once before chewing. Those pipes can also be used to storage water as they always put their trunks inside their mouths after sucking water that could fill out half of their trunks.
During my homestay in Surin village, I was able to take care of Bank, a pregnant 18years old elephant. Because of her pregnancy, her emotion was a little bit unstable and she probably did not like the water very much (cause she was pretty restless and kept hitting the ground with her trunk before going inside the river). I help the Mahoo(owner of the elephant) scrub his elephant; sometimes owners asked us volunteers to climb up elephants' backs, and that was the time when I felt extremely insecure but exhilarating! Why? Because what elephants would do was pretty inestimable, lean to one side and dump us into the river? Diving to wet us dummies on their backs?... Who knows? At this point, here's a tip: do not ride on a male elephant if you are not prepared to dive all the time, because they are like whales, excellant swimmers!!! They go up and down, without giving you time to breathe...My roomate was dare to ride on a male elephant, and that fascinated and frightened her pretty much..haha.
Taking elephants to a shower was just one of the fabulous experiences I had during my stay in Surin village. There are other wonderful experiences to, like going to the local market (which I love the most because the dim-sum and fruits there were extremely delicious and cheap), going to a circut, and so on..
In all, I would never forget my stay there~

My time with GoEco and the Bamboo Project was a great success. In fact,GoEco’s partnership with the Bamboo Prjocet should be considered as a win-win situation for all participants.

My trip began with a wonderful day of sightseeing in Bangkok – with lots of different impressions and first insights into the Thai culture. This day was topped with a great night out exploring the famous Koh San Road in Bangkok.

On the next day and night we had a fun bus and ferry trip to Koh Samui, where finally my work at the Beach and Build Project has begun. The weather has been hot and rainy at the same time. In fact, the conditions have been changing a lot and the work at the school has been challenging as well.

How did we face these challenges?

Well, we continued the work at the school with a big Smile, a huge portion of Fun, a mixture of Flexibility & Creativity and a Positive Way of Thinking.

That’s the Thai Way, Fellows!

Indeed, the Thai culture has to be loved. No matter what, Thai always stay calm, smile and find a solution. This is definitely something the Western Culture should adapt.

I have had competitive table tennis sessions, I have met wonderful people, I have had interesting conversations with different types of people, I have made great friends, I have seen beautiful beaches, I have swum with pigs and local kids and I have eaten tons of spicy food.

Simply put, Unique Experience & Great Times!

The experience as a whole was amazing. I loved helping the children and it truly changed me as a person. It is a fairly independent volunteering experience so for people who need a strict guidance, it might be lacking.

We would get to the orphanage early every day and our supervisor, Pi Won, would tell us about the major things that HAD to go done (vs. the things that we could choose to do or not) and then we would split up among ourselves and go about our day.

I felt completelly safe the entire time I was there. The Greenway house is incredibly welcoming and our supervisor, Phil, helped us in any way he could. For instance, if we wanted to travel outside of Sing Buri, Phil would find us the safest and best priced ways to go. We also all had his number in case of emergencies. Considering that I was a 20 year old American woman traveling by myself, I think the fact that I felt very safe at Greenway, says a lot .

The only thing I did not like about my experience was that once we got back around 5 p.m, there was not a lot to do. Some days, trips to the mall or other places would be planned but most days, we just played cards. It is definitely good to have some downtime but Greenway is located in a part of town where there are not a lot of things to do in case you get bored of cards.

Overall, I would recommend this trip to anyone.