Field Studies Thailand

Overview

From ancient Buddhist temples to mountain villages to rocky coasts of white sand beaches, Field Studies Thailand offers the chance to get to know, and then fall in love with, one of Southeast Asia’s most fascinating countries.

Our month in Thailand begins in Bangkok, a modern bustling metropolis. There, we’ll work with native-speaker instructors to learn some basic Thai and develop a working understanding of the country’s geography, history and culture. Outside of class we’ll explore the city’s lively neighborhoods, see its impressive sights and visit its famed Buddhist temples. After four days in Bangkok, we’ll head north to the province of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s center for outdoor adventures and cultural exploration nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. Our group will stay in simple and friendly guesthouse accommodations, serving as our base for the next two weeks. We’ll go trekking for multiple days in the mountains among hill-tribe villages, take Thai cooking classes and visit the monasteries that dot the countryside. Our group will also volunteer in an elephant sanctuary, taking care of these magnificent animals and learning about their history in Thailand. After Chiang Mai, we’ll head south, stopping along the way to explore the ancient ruins of Sukhothai, see wildlife at Khao Sok National Park and hike to picturesque waterfalls off the beaten path.

We’ll spend our last few days of the trip in the beach paradise of Krabi. There, we’ll take three days of rock climbing lessons with professional guides near the impressive limestone crags of Railay Beach and reflect on our time spent together.

Highlights

• Explore Bangkok & Chiang Mai
• Go trekking, visit temples & take Thai cooking classes
• Care for elephants in a nature preserve
• See the ancient Sukhothai ruins
• Rock climb at Railay Beach

Grade

For students completing grades 9-12 in June 2012

Call us (413-458-9672) to check on current availability

Challenge Level

5 (1-10, 1 is easiest)

Start and End Location

Starts and ends in New York City at JFK Airport

This program will have a group flight flight to and from Bangkok, Thailand, operated by Cathay Pacific Airways.

Accommodations

Coming soon.

Dates and Fees

4 weeks

Friday, June 22 to Saturday, July 21

$6795 (airfare not included)

Please note: Overland has arranged a group flight for this trip. Families are responsible for the group flight airfare of $1600.

Itinerary

Day 1: Our group will meet at the JFK airport by 9pm to prep for our group flight over to Bangkok. We'll get to know each other, meet the leaders and learn about the trip. We'll then fly out late at night.

Days 2: We'll lose 12 hours because of the time zone difference and also spend about 22 hours traveling on our two flights (through Hong Kong) so our second day is all travel. We'll make up lost time on the flight home though!

Day 3: Our flight lands around 10:30am in Bangkok. We'll shuttle over to our accommodations at a hostel, freshen up, and then grab lunch. We'll spend the afternoon walking around the city and letting ourselves adjust to the new time zone, the hot climate and the fascinating culture around us.

Days 4-6: For the next three days, we'll spend each morning taking basic Thai language classes at a language school in Bangkok. Lessons will be taught by native-speaker instructors from PRO Language and be focused on common Thai greetings and expressions as well as basic sentence structure. During the afternoons, we'll do a walking tour of the city seeing temples like Wat Pho, go on a easy guided bicycle ride along the river that carves around the metropolis, and learn more about the issues now facing Thailand such as its recent political movements, the future of the monarchy and flooding in late 2011. On our last day in Bangkok, we'll take an overnight sleeper train north to Chiang Mai.

Day 7: Our group will arrive in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city, in the early morning after our overnight train. We'll shuttle to our guesthouse accommodations inside the old walled city, explore our surroudings and then head out to see Doi Suthep and go on a short temple tour in the afternoon. Our guide from SpiceRoads will show us historical monuments, impressive wats within the city and busy street markets. We'll sample local food and learn about the history of Chiang Mai, stopping often on the easy two-hour ride designed to give us some exercise after the long train ride and also orient us to the old city.

Days 8-10: For the next three days, we'll meet up with professional guides from CMRCA and go hiking through the mountains in the jungle outside Chiang Mai. Hiking several hours a day, we'll get a break from the busy city and breathe the open air in the dense forests. We'll stay in hill tribe villages for both nights and learn about their culture and how they're adapting to a modernized Thailand while also retaining a core of their own traditions. We'll help the villagers with their chores and tasks when we're in camp and have discussions with our guides about the future of agriculture in Thailand, its logging history and about the different types of hill tribes.

Days 11-17: After a good night's sleep in our guesthouse, we'll shuttle north of the city to Elephant Nature Park, where we'll be spending the next seven days volunteering. At this award-winning sanctuary, we'll spend our days helping the full-time staff and mahouts take care of the 36 elephants at the park. Our projects will vary based on what's needed, but we'll help with food preparation, bathing, park conservation and medical care of the herd. We'll stay at rustic indoor accommodations right at the park so we can spend as much time as possible near the elephants. When not working, we'll learn more about the history of the elephant, Lek's mission and about the future of a species now dependent on tourism since logging was banned in Thailand.

Day 18: After shuttling back in town, we'll spend the whole day at the renowed Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. Located outside of town on a beautiful campus, we'll learn how to cook six different Thai dishes from the professional chefs. Before each course, we'll watch one of the chefs cook it in a classroom before making it ourselves in an open-air facility. Our group will get one-on-one instruction from the master chefs and their assistants and also get to sample each of the dishes we create. After a long day of cooking (and eating), we'll head back to Chiang Mai for our final night in the city.

Days 19-20: We'll wake up early and get packed up to start our travels south. We'll be traveling a few hours via private busses down to Sukhothai Historical Park, one of Thailand's ancient capitals. Along the way, we'll stop at Lamphun to see a 1000 year-old temple and also in Sri Stachanalai to see some ruins there. We'll arrive in Sukhothai and check into our guesthouse accommodations and maybe have time for an evening visit to the temples in town for dinner. The next day, we'll rise before the sun to see the ancient wats and ruins before any other crowds arrive. We'll either walk or rent bicycles as we go from ruin to ruin learning about each one. After a day of exploration, we'll head back to our guesthouse to relax before a travel day.

Days 21-22: Our group will fly from Sukhothai down to Surat Thani through Bangkok on two domestic flights. Upon arrival, we'll be shuttled to accommodations on the outskirts of town. The next day we'll wake up and spend a well-earned day at the beach on the eastern coast.

Days 23-25: The next day, we'll van west to Khao Sok National Park. We'll spend two nights in this rainforest, which is older than the Amazon. We'll explore on foot and also by kayak on one of the lakes with our professional guides. In the park, we'll hope to catch glimpses of some of the most diverse wildlife in the world, including gibbons, tapirs, elephants and even tigers. After two nights at the park, we'll van west to Phuket, making sure to stop at the Tsunami Memorial at Baan Nam Khem from the 2004 tsunami that ravaged Indonesia and part of Thailand's Andaman coastline. Upon arrival in Phuket, we'll take a long-tailed boat across to Railay Beach, gliding past the enormous limestone crags that jut out of the ocean. Once at Railay, we'll enjoy the ethereal sunset from West Railay beach.

Days 26-28: For the next three days, we'll rock climb with professional guides from Hot Rock Climbing School on the limestone cliffs that protrude from the jungle at Railay Beach. We'll learn how to belay and rappel as we safely climb a variety of the many bolted routes in the area. Our local guides will help us gain confidence and strength as we try different rock walls each day on the beach. Each evening, we'll relax by the beach, swim and play games. On our last day in Railay, we'll take a long-tailed boat ride to Krabi town and enjoy a final dinner as we look back on an amazing month in Thailand.

Days 29-30: Our group will wake up early and bus to Krabi airport where we'll take a domestic flight together back to Bangkok. We'll then board a Friday evening flight to head back home to the United States, arriving the next morning back at JFK.

Trip Details

Service Hours

Students will receive a minimum of 30 hours of community service for this program.

A Note on Food Allergies and Restrictions

Unlike most Overland trips, our groups will be eating out more often than normal instead of cooking for ourselves. This doesn't mean we'll be going to restaurants per se but rather that we'll be going to evening markets to eat among Thai people. Thai food is delicious but often contains peanuts, cashews, fish sauces, shellfish or is cooked in a wok that has frequent contact with these ingredients. If you are allergic to nuts or fish this may not be the trip for you. We'll often be with guides who speak fluent Thai but othertimes we'll be just with our leaders, who will have basic Thai but won't be able to communicate as easily about the aforementioned food allergies. Vegetarians should be fine since plenty of Thai dishes do not have meat. It would be difficult, however, to guarantee that all meals would be free from contact with meat or a meat-based broth during preparation.

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Before You Go

• Enrollment Forms
• Expectations, Cell Phones & Electronics
• Prepare & Pack
• Travel Information
• Mail Stops
• Helpful Reminders

Apply Now

Thank You for Choosing Overland!

HOW TO APPLY

You have two choices. You can apply online with a credit card by clicking the link below.

Apply Online

Or you can download the 2012 Overland Application as a PDF (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Then mail your completed one-page application and $795 deposit check to:

Overland
P.O. Box 31
Williamstown, MA 01267

For overnight mail via UPS or FedEx, please use our street address:

Overland
63 Spring Street
Williamstown, MA 01267

Applications are reviewed in the order in which they arrive at our office and we cannot hold spots over the phone.

WHEN TO APPLY

We receive our first applications in September; there is a steady flow all fall and then most programs fill in January and February. Some programs fill earlier; and others may have space available until later in the spring. Please call our office (413-458-9672) to check on availability.

WHEN WE RECEIVE YOUR APPLICATION

If your first choice is available, you will receive a phone call and an email containing our Enrollment Forms. If your first choice is not available, we will call you to confirm that your second choice is acceptable. If neither your first choice nor your second choices are available, we will call you to discuss options.

PAYMENTS & REFUNDS

A deposit of $795 is due with your application. Full payment is due on March 1st. For applications received after March 1st, full payment is due within 30 days of receipt of our confirmation email. Please note:

• If your child’s program choices are not available, your deposit will be returned in full.
• We do not accept credit cards for the final balance, only for the deposit of $795.
• If, upon our review of your child’s Enrollment Forms, the offer of a spot is withdrawn by Overland, a full refund of all payments to Overland will be made.
• If, at any point in the admissions process we determine that you have provided incomplete, misleading or false statements, we will withdraw the offer of admission and no refund of any payments to Overland will be made.
• If you withdraw your child before March 1st (notice of the withdrawal must be made in writing), $295 of the deposit is refundable.
• If you withdraw your child after March 1st, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever (including, but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, summer school, security concerns or any other reason).
• If your child leaves a program after it starts, there are no refunds for any reason whatsoever, including, but not limited to: voluntary withdrawal, illness or injury, dismissal by Overland (due to discipline, behavior, lack of fitness or motivation, etc.), security concerns or any other reason. Any costs incurred by Overland related to an early departure are the sole responsibility of the parents.

WAITING LISTS

We will notify all waitlisted applicants of their status in April.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

ADMISSIONS

No other organization is more committed to putting together great groups of good students—students who are positive, enthusiastic, motivated, eager and considerate. To do this, over the course of the spring we ask the parents of every enrolled student to provide us with important information about their child including a detailed school reference and information from a physician on the student’s physical condition and medical history. In addition, every student completes a personal statement and our expectations and rules form. If, as a result of this process, we have concerns about one of our enrolled students, we will contact the parents and make an appropriate decision about the student’s participation. If the offer of a spot on a trip or program is withdrawn by Overland a full refund of all payments to Overland will be made.

EXPECTATIONS

Our programs are wholesome, structured experiences with strong leadership and high expectations of students’ behavior. Overland students are expected to be enthusiastic, positive, motivated, helpful and supportive of each other. Overland students understand that smoking, using any tobacco product, drinking alcohol or using any drugs (other than prescribed medications) is strictly prohibited. In addition, our students are expected to adhere to our no phone calls and no electronics policies.

COMMUNICATIONS

OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU: We are committed to providing extraordinary support to the parents our students; to that end; the Overland office is staffed from 8am to 10pm seven days a week during the summer (after office hours our answering service provides emergency coverage). Our leaders in the field are in touch with our office regularly; they carry cell phones and/or satellite phones.

NO PHONE CALLS: Overland's programs offer the opportunity to strengthen independence and self-reliance. To maximize these benefits, we do not permit phone calls to or from our students (except in the case of an emergency). All students who fly to their Overland program will call home on arrival (using a leader's cell phone) to confirm that they have arrived safely. At trip end, students who fly home will call home (with their leaders' assistance) from the airport before departure.

EMERGENCIES: Parents can be assured that when it is important that a student talk with his or her parents, we will make sure that they are in touch as soon as possible.

CELL PHONES: Cell phones are not permitted on any Overland program. We understand why some parents would like their children to carry a cell phone with them on their flights to/from their Overland program. If you feel like it is necessary to send your son or daughter with a phone, we recommend that you purchase an inexpensive prepaid cell phone. Experience has shown us that despite taking precautions, a significant number of the cell phone we collect will be lost, damaged or stolen. Therefore, we take no responsibility whatsoever for phones brought by students and collected by our leaders at the start of a program.

NO PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

We do not permit personal electronics on our programs except for cameras. Students should not bring electronics with them on their flights. Electronics brought by students will be mailed home upon arrival at the student's expense.

MEALS

Each group buys, prepares and eats all of its meals together. The students, with their leaders' supervision, prepare all meals. While food is always plentiful and nutritious, meals reflect the limitations of group cooking and the students' preparation skills. While it is not possible for us to provide separate meals for vegetarians, vegetarians can expect to eat the same meals as the rest of the group but they can have the meat portion withheld. It is impossible for us to accommodate vegan or kosher diets.

FOOD ALLERGIES: If your child has a food allergy, please contact our office (413-458-9672) to discuss an appropriate placement as some of our programs are better equipped to handle food allergies than others.

REFERENCES

Please call or e-mail us at references@overlandsummers.com us for a list of references in your area or for a specific program.

OVERLAND GROUPS

We run multiple sections of most programs and take great care in putting together groups. Please see each program description for age and grade requirements. In the case of multiple groups, the groups will be further divided by adjacent grades.

TRAVELING WITH A FRIEND

We encourage students to come on their own. Traveling with one friend, however, is permitted (we do not accept groups of three). We will allow no more than two friend pairs per group, and these slots will be allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. We will not consider a request to travel with a friend until both applications and deposits are received. If you would like to travel with a friend, please write his or her name on the application.

PREPARING & PACKING

Comprehensive pre-program information and packing lists are available on our website. On each program page, click "Before You Go" and then "Prepare & Pack".

TRAVELING TO & FROM YOUR PROGRAM

Each program description provides start and end locations; families are responsible for making travel arrangements to and from these locations. Overland’s leaders will be on hand at the arrival and departure airports to provide supervision and assistance.

ADDITIONAL COSTS

Transportation to and from the start and end locations, spending money and personal gear are not included in the program fee. Overland provides group gear; students provide all personal equipment including bicycles, backpacks and sleeping bags. Students on bicycle touring trips in New England and Nova Scotia can rent bicycles and panniers from Overland.

ACCREDITATION & LICENSING

Overland is fully accredited by the nationally-recognized American Camp Association—a distinction earned by few of our peers. The ACA accreditation process reviews our overall program quality and our maintenance of over 300 safety standards. In addition, Overland is licensed by the Williamstown, Massachusetts, Board of Health and complies with 105 CMR 430.000 Chapter IV.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

We recommend that all Overland families opt in to our travel insurance program since after March 1 all payments to Overland are non-refundable for any reason whatsoever (prior to March 1, $295 of the $795 deposit is refundable). For complete information about the travel insurance please go to: www.tripmate.com/wpF434B.

FINANCIAL AID

In 2011, Overland awarded over $95,000 in financial aid (an increase of over 45% from 2010). Awards range from $500 to $2,500 and generally cover between 10% and 50% of the program fee (excluding equipment and transportation costs). Visit our financial aid page to learn more.

WE’RE HERE TO HELP

Please don’t hesitate to contact us: 413-458-9672.