GVI Thailand

I had a spectacular time volunteering in Thailand with GVI. I had many incredible experiences with incredible people. On our last day in Thailand with GVI we visited one of the many stunning viewpoints. Our guide told us that it was one of the finest viewpoints in all of Phuket. This was definitely true and it certainly was one of the best landscapes I have ever seen in my life. The weather was absolutely perfect too, the sun was shining, with practically no clouds in the sky. For me, it was a moment I wish I could live in forever. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and so soon afterwards, we headed off to visit a temple, known as ‘Dragon Temple’ It consisted of a collection of many Buddhist buildings, all of which were highly decorated and very beautiful. The biggest and most impressive of these was a tower which rose to about 30-40 metres in height and had several floors. Standing up on the balcony, we were afforded spectacular views of the whole complex and the mountains beyond. The next place we visited was known as the ‘Big Buddha’ and rightly so! It was an incredibly large concrete statue of the Buddha stationed at the top of a flight of steps which themselves were on top of a large hill which had a magnificent view onto the valleys below. At the top, there was some serene religious music playing. My favourite part was the golden hearts made of aluminium which were hanging everywhere. The were hanging from trees, on carts and sheds, fences and lines which were hung especially to accommodate them. Each one had a message written on it and as I looked, I could see a vast number of different languages, from French to Chinese, German to Russian, Spanish to Thai, English and a whole host of others which I couldn’t understand! This final experience, amongst so many others, made my time in Thailand so incredibly enjoyable. I would thoroughly recommend GVI as a volunteer organisation as the experiences they provided me with were simply incredible.