Team Building in Nakhon Nayok

Team Building is taken very seriously in Thailand. As are all group activities. Group outings should ideally BE organized activities. Non of this 'standing around in a bar’ shite. An industry of small 'resorts' exists all over the country to welcome in corporate warriors for a weekend of outings, karaoke and drinking (obviously, we have that in common). 

Our team-mate Carolina (Lead Hangover Improvement Process Engineer) invited us up to her actual co-workers resort in Nakhon Nayok, just south of Khao Yai national park. We settled in among the actual retreat guests and were spoiled rotten by Khun Phu, the namesake of the Phu Iyara resort.

The rafting began calmly enough, on a very peaceful river. The banks were dotted with families enjoying the long weekend and cool water. But the bucolic scene soon turned sinister as they turned on the intruders with a well-coordinated aquatic attack! We were inundated from both sides with buckets of water, and fought back as valiantly as we could considering our limited weaponry and compromised position. Jessica found her calling as a warship commander and was later informed that she had been roaring for a solid 20 minutes. 

Once the danger was past, Khun Phu made some important business calls and we relaxed into the sunset..grateful to our captain who did literally all the work of actually rafting. 

In our short 3 days we also rode ATVs and lept bravely off khlong bridges. We snubbed our nose at the unfiltered pool in the daytime only to throw ourselves in headfirst after a few drinks. We did our best rally impersonation in the Khao Yai park in between waterfall hikes and wildlife sightings. We drank a lot of Sangsom. 

The ATV circuit was far too short for our liking so after a few phone calls, we got the go-ahead for a second round - loosely organized ATV parks in the Thai wilderness can be surprisingly bureaucratic. This time we went with more oomph and double the dust. It's a sexy contouring look.