The first week

So before we begin with the flashbacks to a better time, we begin with super fun (probably quite dull) real life news that is; drum roll please... I got a job! It’s only a temp job but there is a possibility of staying on after the contract ends and it’s just a few minutes’ walk up the canal. Yup. Up the canal! Love saying that. Today I graduated. Finally! Was a good day and had a lot of fun and I’m glad it’s all over. Don’t get me wrong I had a blast, but it was a lot of hard work.


So today’s blog is about the first week of school. It’s a mix of teaching, fun stuff and side projects as well as a new roomy who couldn’t stop talking about how much she doesn’t like to share with people. Fun times ahead. So this blog really takes us from Tuesday to Friday morning of the first week.

So I get some help with the teaching and I have my lessons plans based on what they already know and the school wants us to teach. With the oldest group we go for basic ‘I like’ and ‘I do not like’ sentences. With the middle group we did some words and the youngest group we did shapes. This was what most of the first week was geared towards with the teaching, expanding and reinforcing these basic things with a variety of games and activities that help with this. I enjoyed the teaching but looking back now and re-reading the diaries I was defiantly held back a bit by there being another volunteer there. It wasn’t specifically who it was, I think if I was working and teaching with anyone else I would look back and say the same thing. With someone always there to fall back on I was never really going to have (as said in friends) ‘the fear’. Though for the first week at least I was happy with this and it was probably needed while I still found my feet.

After a couple of days the other volunteer (Vanessa) moved into the room with me. She had been staying with one of the teachers, but after some discussion it was decided that I looked to sad on my own (no idea why) and needed more company. So on the day she moved in the room was split in half, one of the three beds removed and a divider put up. A new fan was brought in, as well as a kettle and a fridge. Finally it was all cleaned completely by two of the students. The nights varied, mostly ended up eating at the local places, though some nights we were taken further away from the village into the town and ate at proper restaurants.

We spent the week designing a board on the wall. And by we, I really mean Vanessa dictated and I just agreed. I’ve never really done anything that a display before and I was happy to go along with it. It all seemed like good ideas. It wasn’t actually put up until the next week, so I’ll talk about it in that blog.

Foundation day. Fun day. Got up in the morning as normal, but at around 8am we come out and there is a pick-up truck style cab in the playground and all of the 5/6 boys are getting in. We were off on a trip. We went to another school where there were big events to celebrate the foundation of Thailand. While everything was still being set up we were invited into the office of the director. Several other directors and other teachers were there and we talked and read over a speech written in English that was actually very good. We were brought tea and cake-biscuit things and the woman bringing them was bowing to us. Not in the Japanese style bow and return bow, but in a ‘need to keep my head lower than yours the entire time I’m in the same room as you’ kind of way. It was actually uncomfortable, especially considering I’m not a real teacher and all that kind of malarkey. We spoke with an English teacher for a while, who taught me some new phrases. Then we watched a giant play, performed by students from the school. I’ll post links to the pictures at the bottom of this. But they were fighting each other with real swords, throwing each other across concrete pavements and it all looked insane! It was also all in Thai and I don’t really know anything about Thai history other then they were never colonised. I thought that the rough looking people who had kidnapped, murdered and at one point raped these women who seemed to be just happily working in a paddy field were the baddies... right? Then the well dressed totally badass looking stealthy ninja dudes who tried to rescue the prisoners were the goodies... right? Well the fighting went on for a good ten fifteen minutes with the ninjas getting picked off slowly until there were just two or three left. With a final hurrah they were all killed off. The winners were the bad guys. I was confused. I thought more ninjas would come and avenge everyone. But nope. It was the end and we went back to the school. On the way back we stopped off at a restaurant on stilts and ate the most amazing rice.

Check out the photo's at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb

First day of school

Monday 22nd November

I'd been told to be ready to start at 8, so I set my alarm for 6.30 with a view to getting up, showering, shaving and seeing if there was any breakfast at any of the stalls down the road.

But at 6 I get woken up by knocks on the door and calls of "Nick!" from the same guy who took me to breakfast yesterday. He was there to take me to breakfast again. It was pretty much the same as yesterday with a greater variety of meats. It was very good... but I made a big mistake... asking what it was. There followed a great discussion over the correct English word (I managed to ask with my Thai dictionary). Eventually one of the women went "Ahhhhh" and pointed at one of the stray dogs in the street. Grand.

Breakfast over and I return to school at about 6.45. I go into my room and gather my things for a shower and the dreaded shave. I head out of my room about five minutes later and there are already kids in the school! Before 7!! How mad! So I just felt it was not appropriate to get a shower now. Ah well.

So we open up the morning activities. Some music, the school bands, flags and prayers. Then we go straight into what will turn out to be one of the most difficult things I could imagine. My timetable said I had kindergärtners for an hour. So I decided to do some ABC songs, counting and singing. Five minutes later I ran out of things to do. I am so traumatised by this experience I actually remember very little, except after about half an hour giving up. Playtime for the next half hour... which was much more fun.

Then I had a 1 hour break. I was already pretty much prepared for the rest of the day, my plan was pretty simple to be honest, just to get to know what the kids already knew. Simple, but will make life easier. In my break I had a blast on what turned out to be an awful computer... freezing and crashing every ten minutes. In my break I got handed a sheet with 'what to teach' for each class. Turns out kindergartners were half an hour teaching and half an hour playing... so didn't go too badly in the end!

Turned out 3/4 knew everything on the list, so nope, need to come up with new things for them and reinforce what they already know. Lunch time passed quickly, ate soup and rice, so really wasn't actually that great since I don't like soup! Then, stupidly, played football in the stunning heat of the middle of the day.

More lessons and it turned out 5/6 knew what they were supposed to be taught. They seem really good and know more then was on the list. I think these guys will be the most fun. Then the final lesson of the day was 1/2. Wow was this difficult. Long story short they were getting out of control. Right as it started getting almost totally mad the other volunteer arrived with Suvanna and a few others. Suvanna took over the class and taught it for the rest of the lesson.

The day ended and we headed off for dinner with all the teachers and volunteer people. I ate a lot of strange things including frog... which was actually really good. The night ended with the new volunteer heading off to stay with one of the teachers, so I still get to keep my own room! Yay!

Went pretty much straight to sleep and had nothing really planned for the morning.

Check out the pictures at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb

Don't throw fireworks!

More job hunting, CV's sent out and all of that jazz. No luck so far. Need to really kick it up a notch during the week. Yesterday signed up to monster and a few others… will do some searching on that today. Never had to really look for a job before haha! Ah well, it will eventually happen... it better eventually happen.

So we pick up the story on Sunday, the day of a festival and my first day at the school, though not teaching.


Sunday 21st November

Last night I was given some sandals because I didn't bring any myself. Because I'm clever like that. They gave me the largest sandals they had at the school... at least three sizes too small. So that was nice. Had to put them on when I got up to go to the bathroom and get a shower. All of the bugs in the room from the night before seemed to be gone... at one point the teachers left the door open and it let a lot of them in. But this morning they all seem to be gone. I think the lizard I am sharing with may have got them all. Sweet.

So I got up and had a look around the school and took some pictures. I went back to my room to unpack and sort out my cloths and everything. But after just fifteen minutes or so there was a knock on my door. I opened it and it was this random guy. He tried talking to me and did some eating actions. No idea what he was saying though. Then he called someone and handed me the phone. It was someone who spoke English, no idea who. I'm assuming a teacher! They said that this guy was going to take me for breakfast. Ace. So we walked out of the school and down the road. First 'shop' we stopped at I got a bottle of Fanta. Except it wasn't a bottle. It was poured into a plastic bag filled with ice... very strange!

The second stall was where I got some food. They cooked me rice, egg, sausages and other assorted meats. Wasn't too bad. The sausages were ridiculously hot though and left my tongue burning for hours. Everyone there was really friendly though and I met a girl who I think goes to the school. She knew some English, was able to tell me the names of all the food I was eating, which I was impressed by. Whether I should be impressed by that I don't know! But hey! At no point was I charged for any of the food!

I got back to my room and it wasn't even 9am! Early start to the day. At about 9.30 another person knocked on my door. This guy was much younger, I'd say early to mid 20's. He spoke much better English. He told me about the festival I'd heard a lot about the day before and said he was going to take me out with one of his friends to it tonight. He said he'd pick me up at 12 for lunch too.

So I spent the morning unpacking and sorting and then had a little walk around the village. Everyone said hello to me and I practiced my suwadee cup and cob-coon cup. Very nice. Then the director came and showed me how to get to the various markets and shops and stuff. We were in the car and they seemed like at least three or more miles away! But I guess I'll have the time to walk there on an evening, just not the morning.

He dropped me at Ben's house. He wanted me to help him with his English, so I did, and he helped me with some Thai. We then got the car to the city. We bought some floats for the festival tonight, I got some sandals!! Needed sandals! We grabbed lunch as a sushi bar and then we came home. I grabbed another shower... the heat here is insane! It really takes it out of you. This may be a struggle, but it's getting to winter so it may also get cooler. I had a lie down for a couple of hours to recover and wait.

After a few hours I got up and got a drink… though all the drinks are warm! Ben’s brother picked me up early and I went to his house for dinner. Chicken and rice. Have a feeling this is going to be a large part of my diet for the next few months. We drove to the festival… just me and Ben, and met his friend out there. It was rammed and everyone had floats and candles and all sorts of stuff. Ben got some mini-fireworks and we headed to the river. There was a floating dock there and people were getting on and one side and off on the other. I set my float off after trying to light the candles about seven times. I watched it float down the river but was hurried up and on and off by the security. We headed up the bridge overlooking the river and the various giant floats. There were people swimming in the river, I won’t call them crazy because it’s not like it was going to be very cold. Some people put money on their floats and the swimmers pinch it. On the bridge there were loads of people with fireworks. They seemed to be throwing them over the bridge and letting them explode in the water. I must have asked Ben ten times, do I throw this fire work? With actions and everything. He told me yes every single time. I don’t know who was a bigger fool. Him probably, for the three errors he made, giving me fireworks, lighting them and telling me to throw it. All I did was fail to notice that my firework was clearly rocket shaped. Oh well. I threw it into the river.
“Nooooooooo!” Came from Ben, far too late for anything to be done about it. Floating in the water the fireworks began to go off. The rockets fired off in random directions, at the people in the water, the people on the river bank and the people setting off their floats. I felt awful, but I also couldn’t stop laughing.

We left pretty quickly and made our way to another party with dancing and drinking and all sorts of merry things. No fireworks luckily. By the time it was over I was exhausted and I went home and crashed into bed, not even a little bit ready for my first day of school the next morning.

Check out the pictures at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb

Day Two

So first of all, boring-ish life. Job hunting so far isn’t going great. Though I haven’t yet been rejected… everywhere but 2 places I’ve called (so like… 7 or 8) have said the positions were filled like a month ago! So there is the jobcentre being totally useless. Why is it on the list of ‘available jobs today’? Sending my CV off to a few more offices today, looking at Birmingham and Coventry now that there is NOTHING in Stratford. Maybe I should move in with my brother! Be closer to a bigger job market.

Anyhow, boring news there over, heading out to Banbury today to have a catch up and pub lunch with Mr. Rowley. Looking forward to that probably more then I should be. Not just the pub lunch (but yes… pub lunch! Thank you! It’s been too long!) but also Banbury. I think it’s just that I really like to travel.

Now back to the time when I used to have adventures, akin to those of Indiana Jones (fighting monkeys, falling into rivers ext… though not discovering alien life… pft!)



Saturday 20th November 2010

Long day! Got up, did my induction and quickly jumped online while we waited for another volunteer to arrive. She did and we all went out for breakfast (at like midday but whatever!). I had duck and noodles, oh my god it was good, and then went to the shops to pick up any last minute supplies. I got shampoo. In my eternal wisdom, I’d forgotten mine! Chris (the guy who did my induction) took me on a boat ride down the river… something (the one that goes through Bangkok). I was shocked to realize that this boat wasn’t like a tourist ‘see Bangkok from the river’ type of service. It was a normal ‘bus up the river’ service. As a result (maybe…) it was dirt cheap. Did an hour and a half on the boat for 15Baht (30p!). When it came to the ‘stops’ it never did, it just slowed down and people had to jump on and off making it pretty interesting to watch! We got off at a market and it suddenly started chucking it down. So we got some food undercover, but still managed to get soaked as we went on the hunt for a cab. Apparently we wanted to go to the sky train. We ended up getting a tut-tut there. The guy driving it called me Wayne Rooney. We got the train, then the underground, then a cab back to the house. Once we arrived the other volunteer had decided she didn’t want to do it anymore. After a lot of messing around we drove the coach station. I got a coach to… here! Nearly got off at the wrong stop but the driver stopped me. The director picked me up and took me for some grub. There were of course squids legs in the rice… lovely. After food I was taken to the school and met with warm greetings from several other teachers. I took a cold shower, then failed to sort out the mossy net and went to bed!

Check out the pictures at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb

Back to the Beginning

So I as I said in previous posts, I had kept a written diary. I was writing it instead of blogging because for the first few days (and what I thought could be the first month... oh god!) I had no internet. And when my phone died after I came back from Japan I managed to loose that diary me and the guys had been working on every night.

Anyway, time has come when I am no longer doing interesting things. I hate being unemployed, I don't know how people just are fine with being on the doll and doing nothing with their lives, I mean really. Trying to do something each day, yesterday, a trip into Birmingham to meet Lingard and sort myself out a new phone. Today, unfreeze my gym membership and go to the gym and maybe even go for a swim.

So here is something more interesting, my first diary entry from my first night in Thailand. Can you guys let me know if you like this; as I realise it's old stuff and I don't know if you really care about what happened two months ago! Anyhow...

Friday 19th November

Left Ben's (Angwin) house thirty six hours ago now. First flight was good, no real problems and my own double seat set allowing me to kinda lye down. Decent food (no, I'm not being sarcastic) and some good films too. In Abu Dhabi there was free internet, but they had rubbish metal keyboards that you had to punch the keys to get them to type anything. But also free wifi so I could use my phone. Here I had a 9 hour wait for my plane. Arrived at midnight and everything was closed, so couldn't get any food or anything. After a few hours of walking around I eventually found some recliner-type chairs and got some sleep. Only maybe two hours worth.

Finally got on the second plane and the guy sitting next to me was a complete bastard who smelt worse then me. He had his legs sticking out and when people tripped over them he yelled at them, then when a woman reclined in front of him he yelled at her. It may have been a shorter flight, but it felt a hell of a lot longer. After getting off the plane there was a massive queue to get through passport control, took over an hour.

Met Chris and drove to the volunteer house. Took a much needed shower and went for dinner. It cost 30 Baht, or about 60p. Was a good dinner too. Was a small portion though, not sure if all portions are this size, if they are, may loose some weight!

Check out the pictures at;
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=263416&id=620438469&l=16a606d7eb

Bangkok

A long, long bus journey back to Bangkok which wasn’t too bad. Ended up sitting next to a girl who was half Japanese and half American, who gave me advice on the Japan stuff, and about Japan and Tokyo in general. Wasn’t a bad journey at all really. I arrive in Bangkok at about 5am, say goodbye to Lisa and tried to avoid harassment from the cab drivers shouting “where you go?” I was down the road to a quieter spot and a different cab rank and have the address of the volunteer house written down in Thai. The cab driver tells me he doesn’t know where the place is, but he can take me to the area for 600 Baht. I have no idea how much the cab should cost, but I have a figure of maybe 200 at most. I say no and decided to try my luck either with another cab, who might even know where the place is, or just, some other way.

I start walking around, everywhere was closed, or open and not letting me in. Everyone I met were just horrible really compared to how people had been in the village, in Saraburi, Chiang Mai and everywhere else I had been. As I was crossing a road I even got hit by a bus, it caught my bag and pushed me sideways and I fell over. I was not liking Bangkok. After about 3 hours, at just after 7am I find an internet café. I send emails to the volunteer house but get no reply and eventually decide to maybe try and get a bus.

I went to a bus station that had conductors there and showed the address, asking in Thai which bus I needed to get, the woman told me, in Thai, and I thought I heard the number 70. I wrote it down on the paper and she said yes. She vaguely pointed in the direction to walk and I headed out. A very nice dude stopped me and gave me more detailed directions, and before I knew it I was running with my massive bag for the bus, across a very busy road. I got on and showed the conductor my address. She told me she would tell me when to get off.

The journey was long, very long, some two and a half hours. Saw a lot of the city though. I was liking the city more and more. Eventually she told me to get off, and when I tried to pay she said “no, no pay”. Sound. So I began walking, asking random people for help once I got into the maze of suburban streets. After about an hour of walking around, that should have only taken about 10 minutes, I found the house.

I got debriefed, met another volunteer who was about to head out and showered. Less than twenty minutes at the house before I left. We dropped the volunteer off in a van at the bus station to the school she was going too and proceeded to a big shopping mall. There I was left alone, with instructions to get a yellow open cab and get off outside the house. After a few hours at the mall I was exhausted and decided to head back for some rest. I jumped on a yellow open cab and after four hours found myself back at the mall, no recognizing a thing and finding the driver totally unhelpful. So I got another bus into the city to find some internet and a way to get in touch with the house since I didn’t have anything but my wallet on me. I met up with some other people from the UK in a guesthouse and spent the evening and night in the lounge just chilling. It wasn’t until very late that I got a reply from my email saying I was lost.

The house agreed to just send my bag to the airport and I’d head there myself separately. It was at this point about 3am and I had a good three hours to get to the airport. I decided to leave the area where I would be ripped off for a cab and head instead to somewhere less touristy. I walked for about an hour eastwards and got to a big bus terminal. I asked the conductors if there were any busses nearby, soon, that could take me to the airport (mostly in Thai… oh yea!). They said no, but to wait. So I waited. They made several phone calls, then told me to sit down for 10 minutes. After ten minutes a lorry arrived and the conductor said “he is going near airport, he take you most of way and drop you by cab to take you rest of way.” So I got in the lorry, chatted with the guy, then got a cab. Met my bag at the airport and headed over the check-in.

Bangkok is hot. Even at night, it’s hot. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. I didn’t want to be in shorts and a T-shirt here. But check in was only open for another 10 minutes. So in the queue I got out my trousers, jumper, socks and shoes and just got changed right there. A lot of dodgy looks. But was worth it since yea, it’s freezing here!


I am beyond tired, so I will do a short one tomorrow about my flights, which were not too bad, but uncomfortable. The woman didn’t bump me to first class like I asked, she lied saying it was full even though it wasn’t (not that I was going to pay obviously, but I’ve heard it works so worth a shot!)

Chiang Mai

So I got up and headed off to the guesthouse I booked for the night before. They had kept my room (well bed). I checked out of JJ and into DIVA (lol at the name). I didn't have a room, I have a bed in the dorm. Felt a little dubious about it to be honest. But maybe I'll meet people I thought. Booked my VIP 700 baht recliner massage chairs bus back to Bangkok for Tuesday night. That is going to be sweet.

Had a wonder round the area and found the best sign ever; "Internet massage". No need for further comments. Went back to the guesthouse for a shower and booked a trek for tomorrow.

Headed back out with an idea of where I'm going; mostly some Wats. There were some stunning buildings. Also got a foot massage and pedicure. Very nice. Came back to the guesthouse where I met some people. A nice group, and after a few hours of chatting we grabbed some food and headed out for a brew.

The brew was at the top of a building, sky roof thing, was amazing and got some great pictures. A little expensive tho, like a quid for a whiskey. Then spent the night wondering around a night market. Got a few trinkets, including all of us getting sketches of ourselves. They were all hilarious but mine was considered the best. It is a cracking drawing... its just not a drawing of me. Its me if I was in my 50's. Very funny.

On the way back there were darth vadar impressions, Mark said "Elly, I am your father." and she replied "I don't think that's possible." I said "Elly, my picture is your father." Good times haha.

Tomorrow I'm up at 7am to get breakfast before I am picked up for the trek at 8. Its already 1am and I really need to go to sleep!

7am alarm wakes me up. Climb out of bed, get a shower and head out for breakfast. Get a pancake and french toast. Was very good. I miss western breakfasts! Head back and waited for my ride for the trek.

So I get picked up and head out. We pick up some more people and have a group of 9. First we go to a... flower garden with butterflies. Got some good pictures but was a little dull. Very few butterflies. Then to the elephants. Much better elephant ride than in Kanchanaburi. Even got to feed it. Was class.

Then we headed onwards to the village with the long necked people, who wear the rings to elongate their necks. I missed half the story behind why, so I'll look it up online later. The village itself was stunning though. Set in a perfect jungle mountain back drop with leaves for tiles on the roofs and buffaloes lounging in the water.

Next was a long ass trek through a jungle to a waterfall. Dripping with sweat as it took about an hour and a half. After finally arriving I was at first impressed. The waterfall was big. But the pool wasn't deep like the last one. Came up to about the knees. I went in though. Got out and dried and put on my change of cloths (oh yes... prepared). Then trekked all the way back.

Got in the bus/van and went to the rafting. Was white water rafting and because it wasn't the rainy season there were only a few rapid moments. The instructor was very funny though. He kept making jokes about crocodiles and what to do when they attack. Saying things like its his first day because the last guy was eaten yesterday. He then splashed everyone in the raft. My new cloths got soaked. Got a good picture of me moments before I nearly fell out the boat. After the rubber raft we got onto some bamboo rafts. On the bamboo rafts the instructor made them sink very low, up to out waists and said "No sinking, no fun!".

I spent the hour and a half drive home in my towel since I had no dry cloths anymore. And it wasn't inside a van, it was basically sitting in the back of a pick-up truck. So I got cold. My feet really hurt since a lot of walking had to be done barefoot. They were numb and I was drained of energy.

On the drive back everyone was talking about going for a massage and I thought "two in two days? A bit much... maybe I will pass...". Then I got to my guesthouse! I walk in, in my towel, still soaked, and the woman who ran it said "Nick! You want a massage? Don't forget you get one free massage."

God has been watching over me on this trip. I grabbed a hot shower and headed straight over. Was the same place I went the day before. I got two of them, they were doing a foot each because they remembered me. I was a happy bunny. Technically got 2 hours worth of work out of them.

I got a pizza for dinner, was pretty good. And an early night tonight. Booked a cooking course that starts at 8.30 tomorrow. Another early morning!

Fall out of bed. My bed is the top bunk. It hurt. Good wake up call though. After feeling like a complete fool I get ready for the day. I realise that I'm infact checking out before the cooking thing at 8.30 and its 8.15 so I jump to packing and getting ready.

Ten minutes to pack up and I'm ready to check out. I come out of the room with a warm greeting of "don't worry, we can sort all that out later, after you finish cooking we can do everything then." Well I rushed for nothing.

I get picked up and taken to the course. Get to cook 6 dishes and make a curry paste. We went to a local market and got shown what all the ingredients were and stuff. I asked the woman (in Thai) leading it if she could recommend some dried chillies. Had a conversation in Thai that went something like;

Instructor; You speak Thai? (son-ta-maa Thai)
Me; No, I know a little. (mai, nik noy)
What kind of chillies do you want? Spicy? (prik roop baep? pet ron?)
Yes, spicy chillies please (chai, prik pet cup)
You like spicy food? (ahh han prik pet chen?)
No my friend likes. I like little spice (mai, mit pet ron. chan chen nik noy)
(arrive at a stand) The small chillies are very spicy. (prik nik noy pet ron cha pour)
Thank you. How much is a bag? (kob corn cup, tao rai?)
Two baht. (song baht)
Two baht?? Two?? 2?? Wow. Thank you. (song baht??? song?? Two? Wao. Cob corn cup)

Oh yes. I am very happy with that. Later when she asked me if I was full (imm) I was able to say no, I'm comfortable (my, spi spi). And then at the end of the day when she asked me if I enjoyed the food I was able to say the food was really good, but now I am very full (meuwan gan arroy mak mak, chan imm). Not bad for knowing nothing 2 months ago.

So on with the cooking. Firstly, we cooked noodles, I chose pad thai, was actually very good I was very happy with it. Then we did appetizers, I did a spring roll. Was again, very nice. Then we made curry pastes. Had a break and did some big cooking. Did a soup, I did a coconut soup. Then we did a stir fry, I did a chicken and cashew nut stir fry. Then desert, banana in coconut milk. Then, finally, the curry.

Ate the feast, it was all so dam tasty and well worth the 10 quid it cost. Got a recipe book free too and headed back to the guesthouse. Just before I left was able to say thank you, thank you for helping with the chillies, nice to meet you and goodbye (cob-corn-cup, cob corn gaan chuay prik cup, dj-maa suwadee cup).

Back at the guesthouse I checked out, had a final wonder around and chilled while waiting for the bus to Bangkok, picking me up from the guesthouse.

Internet Massage

So I got up and headed off to the guesthouse I booked for the night before. They had kept my room (well bed). I checked out of JJ and into DIVA (lol at the name). I didn't have a room, I have a bed in the dorm. Felt a little dubious about it to be honest. But maybe I'll meet people I thought. Booked my VIP 700 baht recliner massage chairs bus back to bangkok for Tuesday night. That is going to be sweet.

Had a wonder round the area and found the best sign ever; "Internet massage". No need for further comments. Went back to the guesthouse for a shower and booked a trek for tomorrow.

Headed back out with an idea of where I'm going; mostly some Wats. There were some stunning buildings. Also got a foot massage and pedacure. Very nice. Came back to the guesthouse where I met some people. A nice group, and after a few hours of chatting we grabbed some food and headed out for a brew.

The brew was at the top of a building, sky roof thing, was amazing and got some great pictures. A little expensive tho, like a quid for a whiskey. Then spent the night wondering around a night market. Got a few trinkets, including all of us getting sketches of ourselves. They were all halarious but mine was considered the best. It is a cracking drawing... its just not a drawing of me. Its me if I was in my 50's. Very funny.

On the way back there were darth vadar impressions, Mark said "Elly, I am your father." and she replied "I don't think that's possible." I said "Elly, my picture is your father." Good times haha.

Tomorrow I'm up at 7am to get breakfast before I am picked up for the trek at 8. Its alredy 1am and I really need to go to sleep!

The Best Laid Plans

What days have been.

Great send off. School was a non-uniform day, so I dressed down too. Wore my new Thai shirt and jeans. Began with saying goodbye in morning... assembly I guess you would call it. Then there were big preperations. I'll post the pics up when I get home. As a sending off, to make sure I have good luck and saftey on my travels there was like a 'mass' harvest festival type thing. The monks from the temple came and kids and teachers and family all donated food. It will be redistrubuted to the poorest in the area.

Then there was a present exchange, every kid brought in a present and names were drawn from a hat and gifts were exchanged. I gave my last big bottle of fanta and 200Baht.

I haven't unwrapped mine yet. Saving it for the train to Chiang Mai since I think it is some kind of food.

Then lunch. Duck. Oh yes, probably my favorite meat. Was so good. Along with ice cream. Then it was time for some playing, in the play area and just around school for the rest of the afternoon. I got some 400 pictures haha. Going to miss this place.

School ended suddenly, none of the usual lining up that normaly goes with it. My plan was pretty simple; go to Chiang Mai then come back to Saraburi for the 'English Camp' that was being set up. However I was informed the english camp was no longer on as there were not enough volunteers comming that week. I thought tho it would still be nice to come back and see everyone a final time... plus I could leave all my stuff here and not have to lug it around Chiang Mai.

So I packed up my bag and got a lift to Lopburi, to get the train. The train was delayed, each time it was just one more hour. Until 5 hours late it was cancelled. II had to wait for the morning train. I knuckle down to get a kip. Not sure what time it was, but I woke up to find a monkey rumaging through my bag!!! It stole what little food I had left and ran off when I sat up quickly, realising what was going on. I spent the rest of the night wide awake!

When it arrived though it wasn't too bad, seats were not amazing but luckily it was air con, which eventually turned the whole train cold. The journey, plaged with delays, was supposed to be 9 hours, 10.30am to 7.30pm. I didn't arrive in Chiang Mai until 10pm. The guesthouse I'd booked, and had been unable to inform on my latness, was locked up and I trolled the streets to find another.

Eventually finding one open with a room, I settled down. 300 baht for the night. Not really ouch in the wider scheme of things, 6 quid a night, but 3 times more then I was hoping to be paying!

Its too late to bother with anything, I am beyond tired and ache all over. I need to head back to the train station to book my ticket home because the ticket office was closed tonight.

Hopefuly I'll post this tonight... if this place has internet (just had a shower and am chillin as I write this).

Today was a good day, just a long and tiring one. If you know me, you know I love to be on any kind of long journey. I'm just feeling the effects haha. But no, fun times will be had here. The temperature is cool and it was even raining. Something that has only happened once before in my 2 months here! I like it already! Haha.

I'm an idiot

Pretty happy with the response to the first entry there. The most common comment I got was "why the hell didn't you start this earlier?" Well, put simply, I'm an idiot. However, silver lining, I'm not a total idiot and I learnt after loosing all my diaries from Japan after my phone waved a little white flag before I could save them to another source, to have hard copies of things like a diary.

So I've actually been writing in a book a diary. So when I get home, when I'm not really doing anything amazingly interesting, I'll type it up and post it on here. So should keep this thing lively until the next travel experience, whatever and wherever that may be.

Couple of people asked what was chapter one and two. That's me being kinda artsy-fartsy. This blog is going to chronicle what I hope will be an amazing few years, at least 2, with Japan not ending until the middle of 2012 (if I get the Japan job and if I survive 2012 of course... side note on that, I'm expecting one hell of a party if the world doesn't end in 2012). Chapter one was my life before my transplant, major mile stone in my life where I stopped being a massive twat and became just a standard twat. Chapter two, life after my transplant, a pretty rocking 8 years I must admit. Now chapter three, since many of my friends said "it’s just a new chapter your life".


Now let's do away with all that hopeless romance and do-it-to-it. Let's get this party started.

So it was a pretty standard day at school. Finishing on a bit of fun with some games, a bit of bingo with all the words we have done over the 2 months.

After school I went to get my hair cut and have a shave. 50 baht for a hair cut and a shave. That's about a quid. And the guy did a dam fine job. If I lived here, a trip to the barbers every other day would defiantly be something I would treat myself to.

Was waiting a while though, there were 4 policemen in there too. Ended up just chatting to them with my phrase book, was actually kinda funny. Then one asked me if I had my passport (you are supposed to carry it on you at all times) and when I said no he cuffed me to the barbers chairs. He then pulled out a truncheon and burst out laughing. They all laughed and after about 2 minutes of wetting themselves he un-cuffed me.

Then the meal. Oh this was posh. Private room with karaoke! I got steak. Okay. I got 2 steaks. Did a lot of singing, brought out the classics. They had Kenny Rodgers - The Gambler, omg yes, and even got in Summer Lovin from Grease. Ended on a high with 'I want it that way'. Copious amount of alcohol were consumed and it was just a class night.

About half way through the director gave a speech. Luckily the girl who spoke dam near fluent English was there from yesterday (sweeeeet) and she translated for me. Then I was asked to give a speech. Then I received presents! I got a badass Thai shirt, pink, for good health. Got a giant towel cloth thing that apparently has multiple uses. I'm going to have fun with it lol. And I got some Thai candy and a badass keychain that is far to big to be an actual keychain.

Everyone was there, all the teachers, their family, husbands and wives, a couple of kids. The army guy, the guy who took me with his family out on new years and Praew, with her boyfriend. Who seems like a nice enough guy. But you know those people who before you've even met them you have decided you don't like them. I felt kinda bad about that. The only way he could have won me over was really to have dueted with me on 'summer lovin'. No one dueted with me on summer lovin.


So a grand end to it all really. Tomorrow there is no teaching, its just a big 'have fun playing games with the kids' day. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm writing this tonight (last night) and posting it tomorrow morning (now lol) so as I can go over it a bit more than the first post(or even just at all).

So suwadee-cup. Until next time.

Start on a Wednesday

Something new for 2011, a blog.

So I thought I'd start a blog... a week before I leave Thailand. There has been so much I've wanted to tell people about and on facebook its just, 1 maybe 2 updates a day are enough without being a bit of a looser.
So although there is only 1 week left, its gonna be a good week. I have 2 more days of school, big dinner tomorrow night, and heading to Chiang Mai on Friday via a sleeper train. Back to Saraburi and the school on Tuesday for an English camp and then Thursday, home.

Going to head out on another adventure in a few months... if I get a job and some money. So things will liven up with that. And then with luck we will have Japan. So this should be pretty good.

So let's begin with today. And before I do, I'm on my mobile with no spell checker and a broken space bar. There will be errors.

First of all, I love Wednesdays here. 8.30, like every day, kindergartners. Very hard, but very fun. On a normal Wednesday I have the rest of the morning off, with an hour off in the afternoon. That's really a good day in anyones book. Then 5/6, who are great, followed by 3/4 who are my favorites. Not that I have favorites. But I do. And its 3/4.

But today was different. The kindergartner teacher wasn't in. So I was asked to cover until she got in... an extra hour with them. I love them don't get me wrong, but they are 4 and 5 years old. It's difficult. And when you aren't prepared, it's insain.

Then the director took me to tesco. I was out off food and nearly out of money. And my phone was messed up. No idea why. So we drove to tesco at about 10.30 where I went to the mobile phone stand thing. Dialed a number and just put it to the womans ear. She started talking to another woman. I handed over 50Baht, and after some computer/sim wizadry, my phone was working. With credit. Got cash and food, and then went to hospital.

The tesco is far from the school, but next to the hospital. The director was going for an anual check up so it was just good timing. I sat down in the waiting room and the nurse instantly told me to stand up and follow her. She wasn't having me wait in the waiting room! No! It's too hot! Come to the nurses station room that has air con, sit on the sofas and talk with all these Thai nurses. (Side note... Thai nurses... thank you god. Thank you.) Half an hour later I leave with an email address.

Driving out of the hospital we notice its 11.45 and into lunch time. So we go to a resturant for lunch. A stilted building on the side of a jungly river. Now... Thai people talk to strangers. Just randomly. And the director started talking to this woman who was there with her daughter. Then the woman and her daughter got up and came and sat with us. Turned out her daughter could speak dam near fluent English and had just finished university. We exchanged emails and phone numbers then the director invited the daughter to the meal tomorrow night. Can't complain really. I don't think they like people being single here... director said to me "You... skin very white! She like!" Lol.

Then after we finished the girl insisted on paying for my dinner. The great irony of that was she was wearing a t-shirt that said 'no money, no girl'. I didn't point that out.

So back to school. 5/6 straight away, do some basic sentenses. Then 3/4. Ahhh 3/4. New words. Very basic sentenses with the new words and tie it off with a wordsearch which include all the old and new words. A nice peaceful end to the day.

Couple of good emails today as well. Got my Chiang Mai room reserved... 100Baht a night. HAHAHAHAHA! God I love this country. Also a confirmation that my gown for graduation has been sucessfuly moved to January. However still no word on if my place at graduation was booked... so we will have to see about that!

Then this evening. Pizza with Ben. Ahhh. He failed. He got a small pizza, got half way through and asked for a doggy bag. I on the other hand ate all of my large, with room for cake tonight that the director got me for new year.


So if you read this (obviously you did or you wouldn't be reading this), let me know what you think with a comment! Gonna try and keep this up to date as much as possible if people like it.