Nakhon Nayok

So for this weekend I decided I wanted to do some kind of water sport thing, rafting, kayaking, canoeing... something! I did a bit of reading around and decided to go to Nakhon Nayok. It's only about 100km from Bangkok so I could do it as a day trip since accommodation there is pretty expensive and there isn't really enough to do for a full weekend.

After finding out the various buses and talking with some people, I made my very simple plan of 'show up and see what's what'. I don't like complicated plans. I find trying to stick to them too stressful. So Saturday morning I got up nice and early, jumped on the 69 to Mochit, one of the major bus stations in Bangkok and got a Van to Nakhon Nayok.

Well, I got off after about an hour and a half at the bus station in the town. The station was tiny. There were no cab points, non of the tourists I'd read about that flock from Bangkok to here for weekends. It was empty. I went up to the ticket office, tried my hand at some Thai that failed miserably, totally lost my confidence and just started trying to mime 'river'. It's more difficult then you'd think. A sudden panic went right through me as I started to worry I was just in completely the wrong place.

Eventually they found someone who spoke English and they found me a cab that would take up further up, about 10k, to where the river was. This was probably the oldest car I've ever been in in my life. It stalled every thirty seconds, but the guy smoothly kept it going. From driving around I could tell you need a car, or a charted bus or something to get around, all the spots seem to be about five miles from each other.

But eventually we found a place. Rafting was out of the question, I was kind hoping I could do what I did the last time and find something that has a lot of people who are in one's or two's and form a group. But not here. Here you come in your group. So we found a Kayaking place. I was a little nervous, I've only ever done Kayaking on smooth, completely flat and non flowing lakes. Not rapids. It was a two seater (I don't know the definition specific differences between the two, it was smaller than what I call a canoe, so I'm sticking with a two man Kayak) and I went with an instructor. It was 7km down river with a drop off and pick up. Cost about ten quid.

My instructor doesn't look very impressed

The rapids were fun, and I could handle them, at no point did I nearly flip the boat or fall in and I think on my own I could handle it. It was only a level two, I reckon I could do level three easily. The first couple of kilometers were very rapid, then it slowed down to a slow flowing river, then rapid again for the final stretch. It was over surprisingly quickly. Not sure how long it actually lasted, but I remember thinking, 7km isn't very long.

My back was killing me though and I was exhausted. Probably couldn't have done much more anyway. On the drive back the guy who ran it asked me what I was doing next.

"I don't know. Eat lunch."

"Where?"

"I don't know, where is good?"

"You can eat with us."

He also invited me bird watching, it was another thing his little company offered.

So we went back and I ate with him, his girlfriend and the instructor. After lunch he dropped me at one of the national parks. There I did a little treking up the river and waterfall, but didn't go out too far. I was shattered. Instead I bought some ice and a big drink of Fanta, found a quiet bench, had a lye down and fell asleep.

The view

Fanta and a bag of ice

I woke up just in time to be picked up for bird watching. I prepared my camera with my telescopic lens while we drove several miles off the main road, through small towns with all sorts of houses scattered around. My telescopic camera lens paled in comparison with this guys telescope. Not sure what the actual zoom distance was, but it was easily ten times greater then my 200mm. Birds I couldn't even see with my eyes they were so far away took up the whole view. Some of the birds were very strange looking, some had two tails and were so brightly colored.

Watching for birds

View down the telescope

I can capture flowers... not the birds

On the lookout

The sun began to set and we headed back to the main road after about two hours. From there he flagged a van down and told them where I was heading. There was no extra charge from him for the food, the driving around or the two hours of birdwatching. People here are just so friendly. I was in the van for about fifteen minutes when we stopped. The driver turned to me and told me to get in the other van that was at the side of the road. He refused to let me pay for the trip down. I thanked him, jumped out, and got in the other van. The first driver told the new driver where I was heading.

We got to 'future park' after about an hour and a half. It was a major bus and van terminus with a huge mall. I grabbed some food before trying to get back to Nonthaburi. I managed to find someone who could tell me which bus to get, and when I got of that bus, I knew exactly where I was. My glaring problem is that I don't know the names of places. I know when to get off, I just don't know what they are called. I had the name of the place I needed to get the next bus to written down, in Thai.

I jumped on the 69, which was rammed with people, and got my change and paper out. The ticket woman refused to look at my paper, and got very angry and just walked off. A couple of people quickly rushed over to me and asked me where I was going. I showed them the paper, and they said "before the bridge?" "yes, I know the stop, I just don't know the name." They told the ticket woman, who still just shook her head and waved her hand.

I was really, really shocked by this. Since I've been here, everyone has been so helpful, total strangers are more then happy to help as much as they can and no one has ever not helped or gotten angry in anyway. The other Thai people on the bus seemed really surprised too. Eventually I got a ticket, and jumped off just outside my apartment. I grabbed a quick drink downstairs, took a bath and went to bed. I was very, very tired. It had been a long but really good day.

I spent Sunday recovering, working on lesson plans for the week and had two swims. One in the middle of the afternoon when a swim outside on the roof is just heaven, and another in the early evening, without the sun beating down on me. I also decided to try and make sure I'm not in the situation I was in before, and downstairs I asked about the names of the various places and what I say on buses to get home.

I'm picking up the odd word here and there, but not as much as I did before. To be honest I haven't been trying like I said I would before, I learn something but I forget it later in the day. So from this week on I'm starting to make a real effort in learning more things.

Teaching

So it's the end of my second full day of teaching. Wow. This is something else! My last school, the class sizes were about twenty, with one being about thirty. There were a total of four classes (including kindergarten), with each of the normal classes containing two year groups with between ten and fifteen students from each. So classes were 5/6 (for year five and year six) and I taught each class four times a week. Here the school is massive. The class sizes are about thirty per class, and each year has two classes. Some of the classes There are a twelve elementary classes plus three kindergarten classes. Fifteen different classes. So sadly, I don't get to teach each class very much, just one lesson a week. Obviously this time I'm here for much longer, but in six months I'll only get 24 hours with each of them. So I feel a lot of pressure to make sure each lesson with them is the best that I can deliver, there just isn't time to have a lesson that just doesn't work.

So who have I taught so far? Well I've been introduced and done some teaching with every year group (but not every class) and those early lessons were to work out what I needed to do with that year group. So this week we kicked straight into actual teaching. Monday I had both the year six classes and today I had both the year two classes. Massive contrast. Obviously. The year sixes are so incredible. One thing I'm struggling to work out how to deal with, and I guess it's a problem faced by 'the school system' in every country in every subject, is their abilities really do vary. There are a clear two or three in both classes that are incredibly bright and I think they must have some kind of home or private addition tutoring and support. The rest are about on par with the sixes from my last school. All (but one guy) really work their asses off though, and I don't mind when they can't do something if I can see they are really trying.

With these guys I've noticed my ability to do something on the fly, to just come up with something if a plan hadn't worked and I needed to think of something new, or if we just whizzed through the plan, is getting much better.

For example in a conversation we were reading through the phrase 'I don't know' came up. They didn't know what it meant. I hadn't prepared for this (the book with the conversation had been given to me only an hour before the lesson, so my original plan went out of the window). So I put up on the board 5+5=? They started calling out "Ten!" I said "Yes! Ten! I know!" and wrote 'I know' next to the equals sign. We did a few more really simple maths, 2+2 3x3 and for each one wrote the answer as 'I know.' Then I wrote 1,784x922=? They looked blank. A lot of "ums" and they didn't know. So I said "I don't know!" and wrote that as the answer, with don't underlined. They all got it straight away.

They are a lot of fun, the work hard and pay attention. It's a joy to work with them.

The two's. Oh god. Just. Oh god. Crazy, completely hyper, insist on jumping on their desks until the fall over. Can't play games with them because there are too many and not all want to play or will play, they get distracted seriously easily if they aren't being literally watched over. This by the way is actually about half of them. The other half to be fair are little angels, they follow my instructions, they try and repeat what i'm saying. They play the games and are happy to wait for it to be their turn. But when it's a class of thirty four, and seventeen of them are little monsters, it's really hard to work with those who actually want to work. A huge part of me just wants to take those that want to work and try and listen downstairs into another class room, leaving the crazies to be crazy. But I know they are too young to understand it, too young to have any real discipline. But it just makes the whole thing harder. Tuesdays will be really trying days, since them and kindergartens are my only classes.

I'm thinking of going away this weekend and I'm trying to come up with a plan. Thinking water sports sort of thing, there is rafting, canoeing and kayaking available really close to where I am, I can get a bus for just a couple of quid. I think it would be a day thing because accommodation up there is pretty expensive. I'm trying to find out if I need to book any rafting/kayaking/canoeing in advance or can just show up on the day. There isn't much information available, and what is has been repeated on most of the websites. So we'll just have to see.

A busted laptop

So my laptop finally just completely gave up on me. I took it in to an Asus repair centre and they fixed it pretty sharpish. I finally got it back and I have lots to update so this is going to be a flying tour. For more details I will be updating this post with links to vlogs and photo albums.

So we begin with my long, 5 day weekend. On Friday I spent the day checking out the local area, the local village because I've only really seen it in the evening and at night so far, so I did some exploring and then spent most of the afternoon at the shop that one of the people I know works in with her family.

The entrance from the main road to the local 'village'

On Saturday I headed out and around the local area, checking out the market near the school in more detail. It was huge and took a good couple of hours to walk all around. I went further afield past the market and found some malls with cinemas within walking distance of the school.

On Sunday I took my laptop in. I went to get it checked and get a repair quote for the insurance. But they told me it was in waranty and there was an official repair centre nearby. We took a van over there and I dropped it off. It turned into an all day thing and we didn't get back until eight in the evening.

Monday rolled around and I went into Bangkok. I got the Mazda Bus to the main port, and got a boat into the city. I love boats, and it only cost 17 Baht, 34p, and took about half an hour. I looked around a few markets and temples. At one of the temples I started talking to someone who told me that this was a national holiday to promote tourism. A load of temples and other sights were free and there was a special deal on government Tuk-tuks. They drove you around to all the places but the government paid for them, so it only cost 20baht (40p) for however long you used it. So I visited several places, including a very tall Buddha, a lucky Buddha and a central Wat that was just stunning. By the time I got home my feet were killing me, I was so exhusted and fell asleep around nine o'clock. I was going to be getting up early to head to the local temple to see the monks and give food and flowers. But at eleven I got a phone call that woke me. People were heading to Fun Park after temple and they invited me along. I said I'd love to, but I didn't get back to sleep until 2am!

Tuesday I got up nice and early and headed to the village. I had my food and flowers ready to give, and partook in the ceremony. It was incredible busy but I found it really interesting. Afterwards we piled into a truck and headed off to 'Siam Land'. It was a theme park and a water park. It was a lot of fun, we swam for about three hours and then headed into the theme park. After just 1 ride on a roller coaster I remembered how old I am and felt very ill. It's a far cry from the days when nothing made me feel ill at a theme park!


After that weekend school started again and I started teaching some real classes. I had a lot of fun teaching them, especially as always the older groups. But the younger groups will be very difficult, but I like a good challenge. This weekend is going to be thrown open to try and create some lesson plans, both short and long term with specific goals for each class.

As great as it is to have my laptop back, they replaced the hard drive and reinstalled windows - a Thai version of windows, so I can't read everything and all the internet it automatically in Thai too. So not sure how difficult this will be in the future!! Eak! So going to see about running a windows update to change it all to English!

Catching up

So as most of you know, I found both an apartment and a job. I’m in Nonthaburi, which is basically a part of Bangkok. If you have seen the vlog about it yet, check it out here; ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_VAs44gi1I ).

I love this place and I really feel at home. The area is great too, there are plenty of places to go out and eat, some good shops and plenty going on. I went out and bought a few home comforts, like bedding and my fridge is now stacked with plenty of water and fruit.

On Sunday night I went out looking for somewhere to eat, and walked past a family eating their dinner. They started talking to me, asking me where I was from and practising their English. When they asked me where I was going I just said I was looking for somewhere to eat, and insisted I joined them. I sat down and ate. They were very friendly and chatty.

Just before the night ended they pointed out an elephant. I couldn’t see it myself, but I headed on down the road and there it was, just walking down the street on the opposite side! It was walking towards the family and where I had been eating, I followed it, filming it and trying to take pictures. The family called it over, and over it came. We all started feeding it and it was so much fun!

The next morning was the first day of school. I arrived nice and early and went through the market to find something to eat for breakfast. I had some fish, rice and fruit and a watermelon slush puppy type thing. At school it turned out it was the first day for everyone as it was a new year.

I spent the whole day working with the kindergarteners. Some of them were very upset to be left by their parents for the first time.

It turned out it was just a half day for the students, but the teachers stayed until four. All this week is half days. Not too bad really.

Over the next couple of days I continued to work with the kindergartners but I have been slowly introduced to the other classes for 15/20 minutes at a time. In the evenings I’ve been exploring the area a bit more each night and trying to fix my broken laptop. I think it’s a hardware problem as well as a software problem because it doesn’t boot properly and I have to run the boot options to get it to start.

For dinners I buy in food at the market near school. It’s so cheap and I can get enough food for a dinner, plus something for a small snack later in the evening, with drinks for about £1.

My laptop has been playing up really badly lately, if you haven't got me on facebook and haven't seen the pictures, here's a link (putting them on here is too difficult with my laptop at the moment!)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150186617733470.328195.620438469&l=a1a79b35e1

Details

This blog is a little out of step with the vlog now, I didn’t think that would happen I thought it would be the other way around. So as I come to write this, I’m trying to work out just how much detail to go into. Now that I’m settled in I have the time to put one of these up every two or three days and with that, I would like to know what people would and wouldn’t read.

I think it’s a fine balance between enough detail to actually make it interesting, and too much detail making it too long. When we are talking two or three days worth of information the volume will vary a bit, but I imagine just as a summary being about a page, or 500-700 words. If I went into more detail, probably between double and triple that.

I’m not just doing this because I enjoy writing and it’s also just a great way to keep note of everything that has happened, but I do get a lot of satisfaction from replies and comments and seeing how many people read this thing daily and I want to get it right for you. So what do you think? How much information should I include that won’t put you off for one reason or another? Comments on the blog itself would be appreciated so others can see your response!

It’s morning now and tonight I will put up a new, updated blog and hopefully get it in line with the vlog! Cheers for all the support!

Settling In

At about 1 in the morning I was woken by very sudden, very heavy rain. It quickly turned into a storm that lasted several hours. The thunder never seemed to stop, it just got quieter for a bit, before another massive “boom!” I tried to get back to sleep, I nodded on and off with the storm waking me up each time there was a loud bang for the next three hours.

I was woken at about half nine and was told that I would be meeting one of the directors today. At around midday they decided to take me into the school, but the director never came. I met another teacher there, and stayed with her and Suvanna’s daughters and another student. We went around the area and to the mall.

In the mall we went to the cinema to watch what I thought was going to be a comedy, but it turned out to be some kind of horror film. Really weird, people died and their ghosts would drive others to kill each other and then they would haunt the rest of the villagers. Was very jumpy but not scary.

Prices were so cheap. It’s about 50 Baht to the pound, a ticket cost 30 baht and a combo deal, two large drinks and a large popcorn, cost 55 baht. After the cinema we left the mall and headed back to the neighbourhood. I was told to go to the Wat and get some pictures of the river. Some of them came out really nicely. Then I headed back to the internet cafe to get a hold of some documents and send for some for the schools tomorrow. After a blast online I headed back home, we chilled and watched TV.




Three people live in this house. It’s really small, I really don’t know where everyone sleeps and feel a little bad as they have given me my own room. But it’s Suvanna’s daughter who lives here with her two daughters. I can’t begin to describe how friendly they are. I am writing this blog as we watch TV and they do homework, I’m helping them with their English spelling (I’m probably not the best person for that!!) and I’m going to shower and head to bed soon since it will be a much earlier day tomorrow.

Over the last couple of day’s we’ve been out into the surrounding provinces to looks at schools and rooms. The schools have all be really nice, but the rooms have all had some kind of problem. They are also in really isolated areas. As much as I was fine with the small village last time, this time I want to be near the action, to be able to move around without needed to get someone to drive me, and all the places we’ve looked at have just been like that.

The walkway to one of the rooms

Yesterday evening we headed back to Bangkok and looked at one of the schools nearby, about a 10 minute bus journey away from the suburb I’m staying in now. It was a great school and we had a good talk. They offered me a job there and then, and I said I’d love to but first I need to check for a room.


Side note: For those who don't know I've started filming vlogs, my first two are up and I'm working on the next couple. I won't be putting updates on this when they go up, but you can subscribe to my channel here;
http://www.youtube.com/user/CorduroyO8

Travelling Woes

So yesterday (Sunday May 1st) I left my home for London, a jumping block for Thailand. Those of you who followed me on Twitter and Facebook would have read about the entire motorway coming to a halt. It was frustrating! We were there for some two hours. Thanks to the internet on my phone and not being in to bad of a black spot I was able to get the latest news on what was going on from the BBC.

I'm hoping this is all the delays I will suffer on my journey. Anyhow, here are the pictures from that event. People just chilling on the motorway.

At first people were not sure what was going on

The queue stretched back for miles and miles

This is a smooth opportunist!

You shall not pass!!

Motorcyclists would speed past, thinking they could just ride on. But they too were stopped