How I spent my December school vacation in Hatayi, Thailand-2011

Last December, my family visited Thailand and my son wrote a short account of his travel. He wants me to publish his account in my blog. So what he wrote is as follows;

I was amazingly looking for the December vacation with great joy because we had planned to go to Thailand. My father works there. At first, we flew by Cathay pacific which left Katunayake international airport at 2.15a.m.

on 12^th of December, 2011 and landed at Swrnabhumi airport at 6.15 local time in Bangkok. I took some photos at the airport.  

At Swarnaboomi air port, bangkok

As were flying, I noticed that our plane was flying over the clouds. At a distance, I saw beautiful patterns of clouds through the window. They looked like cotton wools. When our plane was reaching Bangkok, I saw small buildings with tiny vehicles moving along the highways.

After a half an hour we were in the Bangkok airport. The airport was full of passengers who were busy running here and there checking times for their destinations. We also quickly went to the domestic terminal to check into our plane. We traveled by Air Asia from Bangkok to Hatyai. It took us one hour and fifteen minutes. Although it was not as big as Cathay pacific, it had all other facilities. Our destination was at Prince of Songkla University.

On the first day we went to a big department store. There I played a car game and bought many things from there. Next day we went to a temple named Thankwan hill. Before we went to the top of the hill, I saw a lot of monkeys wandering around at the bottom of the hill and I took a photo of two monkeys who were sitting on a wall by the road.

                   Two monkeys sitting on a wall at the bottom of Thankuwan Hill in Songkla

To reach the top of the hill, we had to go by a cable car. The cable car took about 5 minutes to reach the top. At a time, around 15 people can travel in the cable car. When it reached the top of the hill, I could see a beautiful view of the Songkla city. To one side, there is a lake called Songkla Lake and on the other, Andaman Sea dotted with many islands.

                       A panoramic view of Songkla city from the top of the Thankuwan Hill

As we came to the top we could see a vast area of Songkla city. Later, we went to the beach. It is known as ‘Samila’. We were taken there by a professor called Premin who works at the Faculty of Liberal Arts. He was accompanied by his wife who is also a government servant.

   On the top of Thankuwan Hill, from left, Dr. Premin’s Wife, my mother, me, and Dr. Premin

There is a statue of a mermaid on Samaila beach. Since the statute of mermaid is very famous, most tourists either local or foreign, who visit Samila beach never forget to take a photo with the mermaid as a memorial. On the day of our visit to Samila beach, the weather was not favorable because it was raining and the sea was little rough so there were a few people on the beach.

                                     The statue of Mermaid on Samila Beach, Songkla

However, I played on the beach for a short time. While I was playing, one of my slippers was drifted away by the waves of the sea, I jumped into the sea to get my slipper but I could not catch it since it was again drifted away by another wave. I held a stone because I felt that I too was being drifted away by a wave. Just then my father quickly came to me and got me out of the water. At that time, I was very afraid because the waves were little strong. My shorts and T-shirt got wet so we bought a new pair of shorts and a T-shirt to wear.

                 The place I was playing when a wave took one of my slippers into the sea

Around 4pm, we came back to our apartment in the University.

Another day when I was going to a department store with my mother and father, I saw an epiphyte plant that grows in tree. An epiphyte is a plant that normally grows on another plant for support. It is not parasitic, but uses the host plant for support only.  Epiphytes can be found in many different environments all over the world, but many of the most beautiful come from the tropic rain forests.  Here epiphytic plants can be found high up in the tree canopy, growing from branches, rooting in pockets of humus, decaying leaves or other organic matter. 

Many different plant families contain epiphytic members, and they are not always found growing epiphytically.  For instance many epiphytes can be found growing on rocks or even in soil, anywhere where the conditions are suitable in fact.  Epiphytes are often found growing in shady conditions, under tree canopies and so on and these are usually adapted to relatively low light levels and many therefore can make good houseplants.  The cactus family for instance contains many epiphytic members and here the stems have become flattened and leaf-like, the spines have been very much reduced and many have become popular in the home such as the Christmas Cacti, Easter Cacti and the Orchid Cacti (epicacti or epiphyllums).

                 An epiphyte plant that grows in a tree near Songklanagarind Hospital

After my December vacation was over, my mother and I returned to Sri Lanka.