Song and Dance in Songkhla - Part 1

Rotjana the Director of BTNC is also well known in Thailand and beyond as the leader  of the Nithan Caravan Puppet Theatre. Rotjana was invited to run a puppeteering conference for preschool teachers in Songkhla in October. And so it came to pass that in the first week of the school holidays the truck and the van were packed up with 15 -20 kids, assorted adults including the farang volunteers from NZ, puppets and food….. but not necessarily in that order.

The drive from Takua Pa on the Andaman coast to Songkhla on the Gulf of Thailand coast is about 500 kms and took most of the day. This included plenty of food stops (7/11 truly is global company, and apparently doing well in Thailand thank you very much). Lunch was in the grounds of a Wat just south of Krabi. We got a little bit lost around Hat Yai (for all you map followers) but eventually arrived around 6pm at Leela Resort, the conference venue, on the coast about 50 kms south of Songkhla city.

We found that we were staying at Leela (in a cabin) but everyone else was not! They were staying 50kms away back near Songkhla itself, being accommodated and fed by the family of a staff member. First night we dined with a couple of Rotjana's friends from Bangkok, ex school teachers who were helping here run the conference and various conference staff including the Director of the Community College putting on the conference. Below is the beach at dusk from the dining area.