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Mono is a 12 year old Mae La student in grade 6 who is the daughter of one of the teachers in the village. She isn’t the top of the grades in the class and sometimes gets a little bit distracted, but she is always the most excited about class and is respectful and well behaved....

In August, we welcomed the first Challenges Abroad group to our partner village, Mae La. The group of six were in the village for a week to renovate an old classroom to be used as a Library/Computer room, painting the school’s canteen as well as teaching English, Art and Sport...

The Siam district is one of the most fun to stay around in the whole of Bangkok. Packed full of malls and BTS stations, it’s only a stone’s throw away from most places in the city. So to begin my day, I decided to stumble around some tourist attractions. Starting off by eating at...

Last week I wrote a blog about Emma and Sophie, two media volunteers staying with me in Mae La village teaching photography and film making to the children for two weeks. In just one week it has been amazing to see how quickly the students have taken to using the cameras and how...

This week I have had the pleasure of welcoming Emma and Sophie, two new media volunteers into my school and home in Mae La, a remote Hill-Tribe Village in Northern Thailand to teach the students photography and film making. The students and school don’t have any computers,...

January 1st this year I was working for a bank and studying Finance & Economics part time having never left Australia before. After signing up for a Challenges Abroad trip to Thailand I was nervous about leaving my comfort zone with a group of uni students who I had not known...

Elephants have always played an important role in Thai culture and society. Yet in recent years, the use of elephants in tourist camps has become more and more common due to an increase in tourism. We offer volunteers the opportunity to dedicate some time to elephant conservation...

While in Mae-La village I have gotten to understand and experience much of the culture. The culture belongs to the Karen tribe. During the course of my stay I have witnessed a Karen funeral, a wedding, various customs, and home life in the village. As an outsider looking into the...

As 2013 drew to a close, Instagram (the photo-sharing app) released a blog listing its Top 10 ‘most checked-in’ locations of the year. Standing atop the podium, Number 1 in the world, was the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. In fact, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport...