When I was landing in Bangkok, the pilot said over the speaker "Welcome home", man did I feel it.

I traveled to Thailand in October of 2003 to do volunteer work with a group called Greenway. I found this information from a network Internet site called Volunteers for Peace. I was able to choose from various different countries and times of year as well as types of work camps. so through research I chose Thailand.

When I arrived in Bangkok at 12:45 am I had no place to go because my plane was late from Tokyo. It was too late to get a bus to the hostel which was locked for the night, so I slept in the airport for a few hours. I will admit I was really nervous about being there. I was alone I did not speak Thai, and I had serious jetlag. At about 6 am, I found a bus that took me to downtown Bangkok (45 minute bus ride). The girl who sold me my ticket was confused about where I had pointed to on my map because she put me on the wrong bus. I was about 5 miles off and now faced a new dilemma, how to get to where i was supposed to be? Have you ever heard of a thing called a tuk tuk? Me neither. It's like a golf cart but brightly colored. I finally made my way to the train station to catch a train to where I was to meet someone from Greenway. I am the only Caucasian for as far as I could see and I look over and there is a young girl reading a book. I think to myself, "Oh my God, its my ex-girlfriend," but it wasnt. She was also a volunteer waiting as I was, but she was from Normandy France. Then a young Buddhist monk in his early twenties comes and he asks our names. He was sent from Greenway. As we were waiting for others, he asked me if I had ever heard of the band " Linkin Park". I said "what?". It seems they have cable at the university and now his mind is corrupted by American television.

We were all brought to this place in the middle of nowhere, in the jungle, with no electricity, no running water, no phones, no showers, but plenty of dogs and cats running around. Bob barker would not have liked the animal control issues I had seen. At this work camp, the volunteers worked with the Thai people and the monks helping fortify the huts and surrounding areas, clearing wooded areas, cutting up firewood for boiling our drinking water, making candles so we could see at night, fighting off the evil forces of the dark "mosquitos", teaching english, and working with the disabled, homeless and orphans. I loved it. The pilot was right, I was home.

Also during my stay i was taken to some historical points of interest such as:

The bridge on the river Kwai
The Kanchanaburi war cemetery for allied forces World War II
The main pagoda, Bangkok with the teeth of buddha on display
The kings palace
Many many temples including the ruins from the 1600's

There were so many other places that I cannot even describe.
Here are just a few photos of my experience in Thailand.It was beautiful and I look forward to returning.