DAY ONE:

Nakonsithammarat - Kuala Lumpur

DAY TWO:

Kuala Lumpur - Johur Bahru

DAY THREE:

 Johur Bahru - Singapore

DAY FOUR:

Singapore - Kuala Lumpur

DAY FIVE:

Kuala Lumpur - Genting Highlands

DAY SIX:

Genting Highlands - Nakonsithammarat  (and bed)

DAY ONE 1/10/06

THE DRIVE TO KUALA LUMPUR

  Each year, Kanlayaneesithammarat's Mattayom 3 EP students have a week long 'English Camp'. This year (2006) was no different when 59 students and a handful of teachers headed south towards Malaysia and Singapore.

  The trip began with everyone meeting up in the EP Building at around 2am on a Sunday morning. Some students had arrived earlier and either watched movies, used the computer lab or just chatted with their friends. Our departure had been scheduled for 02:30 allowing us plenty of time to change coaches and reach the Malaysian border in time for it's opening at 06:00. The coaches arrived on time and we loaded all of our luggage and boarded for the trip to Hatyai, where we would transfer vehicles. At around 2:45, the coaches pulled away and started the drive to Hatyai.

  On the way to Hatyai, we went over our trip, played games and sang songs. The time passed quickly and we arrived in Hatyai some two and a half hours later. Our Malaysian coaches were already waiting for us and we all transferred to these two coaches that were to take us all the way to Singapore and back again.

  A short drive from Hatyai is the Thai/Malaysian border. Here we went through the Thai immigration - for most students the first time they'd been abroad - and then re-boarded the coaches for the short drive to the Malaysian immigration offices. Malaysian law states that no luggage is allowed to stay on the coaches, so we had to get all of our things and 'walk' through the checkpoint. With no problems and all of our passports stamped, we once again boarded the coaches and began our journey south through Malaysia. Some of us had been up the whole night and naturally we were quite tired so we slept.

  The first stop we had was for lunch at a Chinese restaurant just outside Ipo, half way to our destination of Kuala Lumpur. After our lunch we got onto the coaches and continued with our journey towards Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. We arrived in KL, as Kuala Lumpur is also known and our first stop was outside the Petronas Twin Towers. Here we were given freetime to take photos and do some shopping as well. There is a large shopping mall underneath the towers full of all kinds of shops so for some of us it was really interesting ... if a little expensive. We bought souveniers and other things to take home to our families. We then all met up and crossed the road and went to another Chinese restaurant and had our lunches. Once we had eaten, we went to the National Monument and the King of Malaysia's palace. We took lots of photos and then headed to our hotel, The Grand Continental and relaxed.

DAY TWO 2/10/06

KUALA LUMPUR - JOHUR BARU

  Another busy day ahead so we were all woke early, showered and had breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. Once we'd finished eating we all met up and boarded our coaches to carry on with our journey. Our first stop of the day was the ultra modern city of Putraya Jaya, some 30 km's from KL. This area has been designed to offer companies and embassies etc a cleaner place to build their offices with extremely modern amenities. The Prime Minister of Malaysia has his offices here and there is also a huge mosque capable of housing more than 20,000 people. We had a lot of time here to look around, have some snacks, take pictures and also do a little shopping.

  Soon we were back aboard our coaches and heading south again. Kilometre after kilometre we drove and as the evening set we arrived at our hotel for the night, the beautiful Zon Hotel in Johur Baru. We checked in and relaxed for the evening knowing that in the morning we would be going into Singapore itself.

DAY THREE 3/10/06

JOHUR BARU - SINGAPORE

  We were woken with early morning calls as we had to leave for Singapore early today. We showered and had breakfast before boarding our coaches for the short drive to Singapore. The first place that we stopped at was the Malaysian/Singaporean border crossing. We had our passports stamped and then continued into Singapore itself. Orchard Road, the world famous shopping district was our next stop. Here we changed money and did some shopping ... not much, because Singapore was very expensive. After an hour or so, we again got on the coaches and headed for Sentosa, the resort island located just off Singapore. This place was great fun because there were so many exciting things to do. We went to a 4D movie, underwater world , butterfly land and many other places too. The day on Sentosa finished with a fantastic laser show featuring Kiki, a laser mouse. We did a lot of walking today so we were all quite tired. After our time on Sentosa, we boarded our coaches again and made the short trip to the Lion City Hotel where we were spending the night. We showered and slept.

DAY FOUR 4/10/06

SINGAPORE - KUALA LUMPUR

  We were once again woken with early morning calls because today we were going back to KL. Once we'd eaten we got onto our coaches and headed towards the symbol of Singapore, the Merlion. We took many photos and saw a basketball player who looked like our teacher Ajarn Geordie. When we'd finished at the Merlion, we set off for the causeway to enter Malaysia. We went through the passport control again and then were driven back up to KL stopping for lunch on the way. When we got to KL, did a little sightseeing and then we checked into the Grand Continental again and relaxed for the night.

DAY FIVE 5/10/06

KUALA LUMPUR - GENTING HIGHLANDS

  Another early morning! Once we'd all had our showers and eaten our breakfasts, we once again boarded our coaches for the short journey to Fairview International School. We have visited this school before and over the years Fairview has become a highlight of our 3 Nations Study trips. As usual, Fairview gave us a very warm welcome and after being given a quick tour and shown a presentation, there were a couple of interschool football and basketball matches. Kanlayanee were well beaten in every game but good fun was certainly had by all involved. Afterwards we had some snacks and then the Kanlayanee students used their friendship pages in their campbooks to swap information and e-mail addresses with some of the Fairview students.

  Soon it was time to go and after our goodbyes, we again got on our coaches and continued our journey to the famous Genting Highlands. The drive up to Genting takes you up winding roads and through some beautiful scenery too. Our destination ... nearly. We stopped at the cable car station at the bottom of the hill as we were taking the cable car up to the resort itself which is situated at the top of a big mountain and is some 2000 metres above sea level.

 We had to go in groups up in the cable car and after half an hour we were all at the top of the mountain and we checked into the hotel. Once we had all checked in and put our bags in the rooms we were given freetime to enjoy the facilities available. We all headed to the theme park and all of us tried all of the rides, ate snacks and generally enjoyed ourselves. The rides were really exciting and by the end of the day we were all so tired form the afternoon's enjoyment. We had dinner in the evening and were given more freetime to do what we wanted ... most of us were so tired that we went straight to sleep.

 DAY SIX 6/10/06

GENTING HIGHLANDS - NAKHONSITHAMMARAT

  Today was the final day of our three nations trip and once again we were up early for our breakfasts. We knew we had a long coach trip so we all ate well. After our breakfasts we had a head count to make sure everyone was there and we boarded two buses which were to take us down the hill to our coaches. Back on our coaches and we set off for home. Our first stop on the trip was just a few kilometres from Genting. It was a shop that sold nothing but chocolate, yum yum! Some of us bought some chocolates either to eat ourselves or as gifts for our families. We then set off for the long drive home. At Ipoh, we stopped for some lunch, in the same restaurant that we ate in on the way south. With full stomachs we set off again for the Thai Malaysian border. On the coach we played some games, sang songs and had a game of bingo too. Just before the border there's a duty free shop which we stopped at allowing us to time to buy gifts etc for our families. Soon we were at the border again and with fresh stamps in our passports we were once again back in Thailand. We drove up to Hadyai where we said goodbye to our Malaysian drivers and swapped coaches for the 3 hour drive back to Nakhonsithammarat. We arrived back at school late in the night and were all pleased to see our families again and sleep in our own beds.