On Friday 8th January 1999, on the eve of National Children's Day, Leonardo paid a visit to Phuket Special School on the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. Leo met the students, gave them food and handed out presents to them. His arrival at the Phuket school was reportedly greeted with uncontrolled screaming from girls and women teachers.

It was apparently Leonardo's idea to visit this school. He already knew that Saturday was going to be Children's Day and so after rehearsals on Friday afternoon he spoke to some members of the Thai team. He told the Thai co-ordinator that he remembered what it was like to be a child and asked for them to organise a surprise visit to a local school. Everything was done in such a rush that the Phuket Special School in Talang District, Phuket, was given less than an hours notice.

Leonardo arrived in a white van. It was only then that an announcement to the students was made over the speakers. Many of the students were familiar with Leonardo as they had seen Titanic many times. Tables were set up with large pots of Thai food. Leonardo then helped serve the food to the students and was said to be very friendly with them. Afterwards he gave the students some ice cream as well as some other presents such as dolls. "He is very friendly," said student Lalita. "He has a good heart and didn't act like a movie star."

National Children's Day

On the second Saturday of January every year the Thai people celebrate Children's Day by taking their children out to have fun. Many local authorities organise special events and other places of interest usually let children in for half price or even for free on this day.

Children are considered as the most valuable resource of the country. There is a Thai saying that goes, "Children are the future of the nation. If the children are intelligent, the country will be prosperous." To help stimulate children to be aware of their significant role in the country, the National Children's Day was held for the first time on the first Monday of October 1955 and continued like this until 1963. Then it was changed to the second Saturday of January.

The following reports were written by students at our school describing what they did on Children's Day this year:

Wichaya (a twelve year old girl): "On Children's Day, I went to Ancient City with my friends. My father drove the car for us around the park. We saw lots of interesting Thai buildings. There was a waterfall with a lot of rocks. I climbed on the rocks with my friends and took a lot of pictures. We ate lunch at the floating market. I ate noodles with beef. It tasted so good. We went home at about 3.00 p.m. I didn't want to go home. I liked it there so much. I want to go there again."

Chonticha (a twelve year old girl): "On Children's Day, I went to the Crocodile Farm. It was free for children. I went with my mother, sisters and my aunt. I watched the Elephant Show and the Wrestling Crocodile Show. After that I looked at the crocodiles and the other animals and ate some food. We then sat on a train around the Crocodile Farm."

Rewadee (a twelve year old girl): "In the morning I went to the town hall with my family. The weather was very hot. There were many children playing games. Next we went by bus to the Navy Academy. We went on a big boat and watched a dog show. It was fun."

You can learn more about the places our students visited on Children's Day by going to our extensive web site called Welcome to Samut Prakarn.

Schools in Thailand

With the spread of internet throughout the world it has become so much easier for people to learn about different cultures without ever having to leave the comfort of their living rooms. Thailand is certainly not behind in this ever advancing new technology. Many schools throughout the kingdom are connected to the internet and already have established web sites in both Thai and English. At Thai Students On-Line we have put together a list of all of the schools and colleges in Thailand that have produced a homepage in English. You can go and visit it now at Thai Schools On-Line.

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"Personally, I find the Thai people to be extremely friendly and polite, and very welcoming to foreigners." (DiCaprio in his second statement to the press 5/Feb/99)