tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7414070612274236482024-02-20T05:08:33.240-08:00Chapter ThreeNickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-8753574687000223952011-06-27T03:35:00.001-07:002011-06-27T03:41:43.999-07:00Goodbye Blogger!!To be fair you served me well when I set you up in the beginning. Just on my mobile in my tiny room in Saraburi some seven months ago. But needs must as they say, it's time to move on. I've been having a few problems with Blogger and I've been contemplating moving on for sometime now.<div><br /></div><div>Well. I finally have! This will be my last Blogger post, but the blog isn't over... far from it. You can now find me at; <a href="http://nickschapterthree.wordpress.com/">http://nickschapterthree.wordpress.com/</a> on WordPress. Check out the latest post (<a href="http://nickschapterthree.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/welcome-to-wordpress/">http://nickschapterthree.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/welcome-to-wordpress/</a>) and all the archived posts will be available there as well. Trying to get an idea of where to take the blog in the coming months and how best to keep all my activities together in one place... is it in the blog? Head on over to WordPress and let me know what you think.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-66473849335641950612011-06-26T16:15:00.000-07:002011-06-26T16:22:23.369-07:00Me, now in HD<div style="text-align: justify;">So all my vlogs up to this point have been kinda low quality and that's just because I've been working on a little netbook, all the software I've used that allows me to work in HD has just crashed my laptop either while editing or while compiling. But I finally found something that works, and so the rest of my vlogs should be in HD from this point on! Happy times!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RJ8ByZcOP3k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Don't forget there is a link to my channel with all my other episodes on the sidebar</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-72589243017132809952011-06-23T20:31:00.000-07:002011-06-25T05:14:42.444-07:00School Prayers<div style="text-align: justify;">I couldn't tell you what this was for exactly, sometime to do with it being a celebration for teachers, praying for and thanking teachers. Whatever it was exactly, there were some stunning flowers and it was all pretty good fun. The whole day had a relaxed (even more then usual) atmosphere about it (although maybe that's because I only had to teach the youngest kindergärtner group for 20 minutes then it was several hours break and class 5 followed by class 6).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the crowds gathered. The stage had been built. The flowers were ready. The bell started ringing and I was asked to take lots of photo's because the main school camera hadn't been brought for some reason. Luckily I had spare batteries, a fresh memory card and my battery charger.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FwPRVMX4zx8/TgQL_6zKGqI/AAAAAAAABcg/CrSDutiykiw/s1600/271072_10150226215633470_620438469_7262441_5598015_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FwPRVMX4zx8/TgQL_6zKGqI/AAAAAAAABcg/CrSDutiykiw/s400/271072_10150226215633470_620438469_7262441_5598015_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621631427608713890" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yX3zd2pXvZ4/TgQMAPlJ5wI/AAAAAAAABcw/_pBznyolLx0/s1600/264412_10150226219908470_620438469_7262516_492028_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yX3zd2pXvZ4/TgQMAPlJ5wI/AAAAAAAABcw/_pBznyolLx0/s400/264412_10150226219908470_620438469_7262516_492028_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621631433187124994" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aB_EJKnmBFE/TgQMAPbxKFI/AAAAAAAABco/vHVleJLFVzQ/s1600/255777_10150226215403470_620438469_7262440_6872964_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aB_EJKnmBFE/TgQMAPbxKFI/AAAAAAAABco/vHVleJLFVzQ/s400/255777_10150226215403470_620438469_7262440_6872964_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621631433147754578" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then it all began, prayers were said and songs were sung. The first row of kids moved up, handing their offerings and saying their prayers. After four or five more rows, a monk arrived, one I hadn't seen before (we have a fair few monks visit the school, giving morning assemblies and teaching classes). He led some more prayers and talked for a bit before some of the teachers made offerings to him.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was more singing and the playground began to empty. Normal lessons started up, about half an hour late, but most of the kids actually went around handing out their flowers and making more prayers for individual teachers for the next hour. Over the rest of the morning more photo's were taken and in the afternoon it was very chilled. The kids practiced a play, but it was all cut short and people went inside when it started raining.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150226213893470.341398.620438469&l=201aa3dec1">The entire album can be found here</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/CorduroyO8?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/cST5DZ48qx4">And the Vlog will be up this evening</a></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-85834030178737191692011-06-21T18:29:00.000-07:002011-06-22T05:43:58.452-07:00An evening of architecture<div style="text-align: justify;">Yesterday I got invited out to an opening of an architecture exhibit. Many of Mai's friends study it and their work was going on display at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. I finished work a little earlier then usual (around 3:45) and headed home. I got showered, changed and grabbed a bit of food before heading back out. I was going to meet her at the National Stadium BTS Station.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So I jumped on the 134. It was right at the beginning of rush hour. The journey should take, with no traffic, about twenty minutes, maybe half an hour. Last night it took two hours. Somewhere I heard or read that Bangkok is the most congested city in Asia, it's not hard to see why. There are a lot of huge road work projects, building highways above the city to alleviate the problems, but just how much of an effect they will have isn't really known. The city has a great public transport system with it's buses and vans. People here don't walk very far, just to the nearest bus station. The pavements aren't really pedestrian friendly in a lot of areas and buses are so cheap is makes sense to hop on a bus that's going to cost 3p to get a mile down the road.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I finally got the Mochit BTS, the 'end of the line' or 'beginning of the line' station, depending on how you look at it. I got the sky train to Siam, where I changed over to the next line, and rode it just a single stop of National Stadium. Like everywhere at that time of day,the train was rammed with people. Both of them. I got of the train, went through the barrier and called Mai. Again a fair bit of "Erm I am.... I don't know, I'm by a big red sign that say's 'Tokto'. Okay I'm downstairs and by a giant head!" we eventually found each other. I was a few hours late, but the exhibit hadn't opened yet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0mYW_Rl_p6k/TgFRHL-R-DI/AAAAAAAABb4/HdtEpVFdMks/s1600/DSC02008.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0mYW_Rl_p6k/TgFRHL-R-DI/AAAAAAAABb4/HdtEpVFdMks/s400/DSC02008.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620862993850038322" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>A busy BTS station</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When it did open, I had a look around, got some free food that was insanely spicy and then just did what I enjoy doing when I'm out in Thailand, talked to people. Of the three hours or so I was there, I spent maybe half an hour looking around. The rest of the time I was just chatting with people, showing off my three Thai phrases, then after they say they speak "a little English" it turns out they are damn near fluent and have better grammar then the majority of people who went to my old secondary school (This isn't that difficult. The 8 year olds I'm teaching how to ask and answer questions have better grammar then the majority of people who went to my old secondary school).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JfV0IOFMXpg/TgFRHeCt2aI/AAAAAAAABcA/lnemXHXmfZA/s1600/DSC02010.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JfV0IOFMXpg/TgFRHeCt2aI/AAAAAAAABcA/lnemXHXmfZA/s400/DSC02010.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620862998700480930" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The name of the exhibit</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_31WPdi0bjw/TgFRHv7kiNI/AAAAAAAABcI/tM6ytEa_OZU/s1600/DSC02019.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px; " src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_31WPdi0bjw/TgFRHv7kiNI/AAAAAAAABcI/tM6ytEa_OZU/s400/DSC02019.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620863003502348498" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I didn't touch a drop</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Um2_BcSn9EA/TgFRH8Hm1LI/AAAAAAAABcQ/peCQVodEWww/s1600/DSC02021.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Um2_BcSn9EA/TgFRH8Hm1LI/AAAAAAAABcQ/peCQVodEWww/s400/DSC02021.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620863006774056114" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>One of the people I was talking to, but I can't remember her name :/</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKMBVb-s638/TgFRISMANpI/AAAAAAAABcY/7EoOWui-Dhc/s1600/DSC02027.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKMBVb-s638/TgFRISMANpI/AAAAAAAABcY/7EoOWui-Dhc/s400/DSC02027.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620863012698076818" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Honest to god I didn't touch a drop!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I passed on the FREE alcohol. Very proud of myself for that. Stuck with water thank you very much. The evening ended very suddenly with the security moving people out to close the place, and I jumped back on the various trains and buses and got home in about forty minutes (as appose to two and a half hours it took to get there).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Check out the vlog for this here; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzdBwZhM3-M">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzdBwZhM3-M</a></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-41730410794216186492011-06-15T22:47:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:04:40.970-07:00And suddenly it clicked<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/PICZ_057.jpg/350px-PICZ_057.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 263px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/PICZ_057.jpg/350px-PICZ_057.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I've been trying to my hardest to learn more Thai. When I first arrived I picked up a couple new words, I got numbers down, but then I stalled. Try as I did, nothing really stuck. I carried with me a piece of paper that can only be described as 'well loved' that includes many phrases, as well as what to say on buses, boats and cabs. I went out yesterday evening and came back at the height of rush hour. The area itself wasn't too busy and the roads were not jammed. Waiting for the bus home I realised I didn't have my paper. The one with what to say. Dammit. What do I say again? Something 'glow' or 'glaw'? The 134 pulled up. It was rammed. Completely rammed. I got on though and leaned against the edge of the open door. It was too crowded to close the door. The ticket person squeezed through and asked me where I was going.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It just came to me, no idea where from, no idea how I remembered, suddenly it was there. "Sa pan pra nang Glowe" "Sip et Baht." I pulld my change out of my pocket and picket out two fives and a one. I handed to it her. "Cob-coon-ka".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since then, I'm remembering more and more. Words and phrases I've only ever heard once or twice I'm just remembering straight away. Today one of the teachers felt ill, I offered to get him some more water, he said "No, no, Thank you." I replied 'Mai Ben Rai." Wait. What? What... does that mean again, I don't know why I said it. It just... felt right. Oh it means 'never mind' and is used for 'you're welcome' and 'no worries'. This morning it started raining, I knew 'fon-took'. I've been told that word once or twice before.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Maybe my brain is starting to re-wire itself for the new language. Here's hoping!</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-29075729840064487392011-06-12T18:24:00.000-07:002011-06-12T20:10:42.846-07:00Weekend<div style="text-align: justify;">So we roll on to another new week. My timetable's being changed with the 6's being spread out across the week, rather then on Monday morning, leaving me with all of Monday morning free now. I thought maybe it's about time I update this 'ol thing again. But with what? Well, what did I do at the weekend?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For some reason, writing an entire post about going out on the lash feels, well, childish. Reading through previous posts I haven't had a problem with that in the past, and I don't have a problem updating my facebook and twitter to say the same even now. So not sure why I now feel differently. But none the less, I'll put up some pictures (all stolen because I didn't have my camera) and just talk about the weekend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So I went out Friday night. I met up with Mai at Siam BTS after realising that we were both the wrong side of the station, both crossing to the other side, calling each other saying "I'm here now" and then just bumping into each other in the middle. We went to meet some of her friends in a cafe where they were finishing some work. I'd met some before, and some were new. After a bit of time there, we got a cab to the Khao San Road, met up with a few other people and headed to a bar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-156RqIYAFjQ/TfV36ZLJBbI/AAAAAAAABbU/dNB38N5Q8Ok/s1600/milkshake.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-156RqIYAFjQ/TfV36ZLJBbI/AAAAAAAABbU/dNB38N5Q8Ok/s400/milkshake.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617527955288294834" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Chocolate slush puppy</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a great night. I met a lot more people my own age, some spoke really good English, some spoke some and some spoke non. All in all it was a good night. Yea, I got pretty drunk. At one point I spent twenty minutes explaining that these were "CHIPS!!!!! Not french fries. I'm neither French, nor America. I'm English. And those are CHIPS!!!". Pretty soon after this I decided I really needed to go home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PP_wAhzWZ-Y/TfV4CFz0doI/AAAAAAAABbc/yfsD_VxuzOo/s1600/whiskey.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PP_wAhzWZ-Y/TfV4CFz0doI/AAAAAAAABbc/yfsD_VxuzOo/s400/whiskey.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617528087529158274" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Not sure how I got so lashed</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xf42hnpW6EY/TfV4LDebhpI/AAAAAAAABbk/2fecoNbdgPc/s1600/bar.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xf42hnpW6EY/TfV4LDebhpI/AAAAAAAABbk/2fecoNbdgPc/s400/bar.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617528241521395346" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>At the bar</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At this juncture come the paragraph I've re-written four or five times. While out I met a girl (Tongta), talked a lot and exchanged emails and phone numbers. When I left I had Bum put me in a cab home. I woke up the next morning to a text from Tongta saying that today I should probably rest and drink lots of water. I can only imagine what state I must have been in. We've been texting quiet a bit since.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zeKjC7dLrIg/TfV4T4JpK4I/AAAAAAAABbs/RQf-JPlWXGs/s1600/On%2Bthe%2Bright.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zeKjC7dLrIg/TfV4T4JpK4I/AAAAAAAABbs/RQf-JPlWXGs/s400/On%2Bthe%2Bright.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5617528393100241794" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Bum on the left, Tongta on the right</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Needless to say Saturday I spent recovering. In the afternoon I got a bus to McDonald's and OH MY GOD it was good. I also bought some bedding. Failed at that kinda badly. Spent the evening downstairs in the shop talking with people there. On Sunday morning I cleared my room and in the afternoon people came over with some food. We all went swimming and it was a lot of fun. I headed out in the early evening just to the shops to buy some supplies for the week and had an early night.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-11749332327776236202011-06-08T23:14:00.001-07:002011-06-08T23:53:15.211-07:00Sick Days and Normal Days<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I haven't posted anything for more then a week now. On Sunday I was going to write about a meal out and a afternoon/evening/night out at Jatujak market. But when Sunday rolled around I was sick, a bad stomach bug. I spent the day in bed and went into school for the morning on Monday, but ended up going home after teaching one lesson. I took the next day off, and went back to school on Wednesday. I'm feeling better, but still a little iffy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J6N5VN_gWzU/TfBs1W-UEHI/AAAAAAAABbM/89nufI-ZniU/s1600/253630_10150210973143470_620438469_7129677_5205291_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J6N5VN_gWzU/TfBs1W-UEHI/AAAAAAAABbM/89nufI-ZniU/s400/253630_10150210973143470_620438469_7129677_5205291_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616108399286816882" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Officer at Jatujak market, someone's got to police these mean streets</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So for this post, I wanted to talk about my weekday routine (when not sick).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At 5:30am my alarm goes off, and by 5:45 I've crawled out of bed for a shower. I'm out of the door by 6:30 and get the little Mazda bus to school. For the first couple of weeks I'd been getting it outside my appartment. The problem was most of them are full, and I could wait twenty minutes for a bus with just a single space. I've since been walking up to the next stop, where fresh, empty buses arrive. There is a massive push to get on, and not many people are happy to sit on the edge. This doesn't bother me, and I kinda like it. You get a real breeze because it's already between 30 and 33 degrees by that time, and I'm wearing trousers and a shirt. The bus takes about 20 minutes and costs 6 Baht (12p).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Before I get into school, I'll grab something (normally something small) for breakfast. I get this from either the market next to the school or some of the food stalls that line the streets surrounding the school. Breakfast will set me back between 10 and 20 Baht (20-40p). I sign in at school around 7:00am. I was asked to stand outside and greet people from 7:15 but this has come to an end, a few days I was told I didn't have to, so instead I went up to the top floors to talk with the 6's. It was decided that this was a far better use of my time in the morning so now that's what I do for about 45 minutes every morning. Just talk with the 6's, they practice some English and they really enjoy teaching me Thai.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At 7:45 the bell goes and everyone lines up for assembly in the playground. The flag is raised and the national anthem (I'm assuming it's the national anthem) is sung. Prayers are made and depending on the day, various talks are given, or monks come and more prayers are given, or I'm handed the microphone and I do a little dance like the hokey cokey, heads shoulders knees and toes or something kinda similar. Sadly the playground is too small to give each student enough space to teach them all Thriller.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ChL57bBhIY/TfBsVfPRWFI/AAAAAAAABa8/XBlmSoScvJg/s1600/249921_10150210963438470_620438469_7129509_2062789_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ChL57bBhIY/TfBsVfPRWFI/AAAAAAAABa8/XBlmSoScvJg/s400/249921_10150210963438470_620438469_7129509_2062789_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616107851749611602" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Raising the flag in the rain</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first lesson starts at 8:30. The number of lessons I teach each day varies between 2 and 5 (out of 6 slots). When I'm not teaching, I'm in the 'staff room', an air conditioned room with computers and internet. Here I print out lesson resources and make plans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lunch time starts at 11:30 and lasts one hour. I'll always eat at least some of the food on offer. Sometimes I head out to get an real fruit slush-puppy from the market and then head upstairs where both 6's and both 5's are generally in one room watching a film or doing something and just talk with some of them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At 13:30 lessons begin again until 15:30. At 15:30 I will generally spend time with all the kids around the playground for about half an hour or so. Some days I chat with one of the other teachers who speaks really good English. The time I leave really varies day to day, sometimes around 16:00 and sometimes as late as 17:00, just depending on what's going on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBEnDZtsU-U/TfBskYrjksI/AAAAAAAABbE/OnH04ceUVM0/s1600/247801_10150210967793470_620438469_7129602_3260529_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sBEnDZtsU-U/TfBskYrjksI/AAAAAAAABbE/OnH04ceUVM0/s400/247801_10150210967793470_620438469_7129602_3260529_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616108107687236290" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Play time</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After school I head into the market to get grub. A drink and dinner, depending on what it is (western or Thai, with western being more expensive) costs between 50 and 100 baht (1 and 2 quid). I'll normally spend about 50-20 minutes in the market before heading to the Mazda bus stop and heading home. I never wait for the mazda bus back. There are lines and lines of them, and they wait until they are full (they hold between 9 and 12 people (the possible extra three depend on how many people sit in the front and how many people are willing to sit on the edge and outside)) and set off.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm normally home no later then 18:00. Whatever time I get home, I almost straight away get changed into my swimming stuff and head up to the 19th. I swim every evening for about an hour. There is very rarely other people there. In two weeks of swimming every night, only twice was someone else there and both times they left before me.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What I do on an evening varies. Sometime I head out, to look around the various malls and mall-markets or just go downstairs to the shop, there are a fair few people there and some of them speak good English. It's a nice place to relax and have a beer. I don't go to bed late, a 5:30 alarm insures that! I'm normally asleep well before 23:00, normally more like 22:00.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So that's my average day. I'll try and keep on top of this blog more often, but i definitely don't have the time I did last time I was here to post something new every two or three days! But when I do, I'll try and make sure it will be worth checking out! Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to check out the vlogs! A new batch is on the way soon.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-17423679525512510692011-05-28T18:40:00.000-07:002011-05-30T19:32:41.090-07:00Nakhon NayokSo 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.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BmyqQh2p4Q/TeRRclC-3RI/AAAAAAAABaw/wG71HMbaTnY/s1600/C1530105.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BmyqQh2p4Q/TeRRclC-3RI/AAAAAAAABaw/wG71HMbaTnY/s400/C1530105.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612700587033287954" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>My instructor doesn't look very impressed</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I don't know. Eat lunch."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Where?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I don't know, where is good?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"You can eat with us."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also invited me bird watching, it was another thing his little company offered.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aaFpCBxegjc/TeRRcQFLwUI/AAAAAAAABao/s7q0HIP48nA/s1600/DSC01534.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aaFpCBxegjc/TeRRcQFLwUI/AAAAAAAABao/s7q0HIP48nA/s400/DSC01534.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612700581405376834" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The view</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pfiYGIwcjjI/TeRQA3EkedI/AAAAAAAABag/5w3YohPeHcU/s1600/DSC01537.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pfiYGIwcjjI/TeRQA3EkedI/AAAAAAAABag/5w3YohPeHcU/s400/DSC01537.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612699011323820498" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XefR5syruw4/TeRQApcHjpI/AAAAAAAABaY/JgQcbYzQV4c/s1600/DSC01560.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XefR5syruw4/TeRQApcHjpI/AAAAAAAABaY/JgQcbYzQV4c/s400/DSC01560.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612699007664492178" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Fanta and a bag of ice</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bpL5wmGtdms/TeRQAZe4sPI/AAAAAAAABaQ/u0Il8IssF00/s1600/DSC01616.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bpL5wmGtdms/TeRQAZe4sPI/AAAAAAAABaQ/u0Il8IssF00/s400/DSC01616.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612699003381133554" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Watching for birds</i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VzprlVjjamY/TeRO8DjdG1I/AAAAAAAABaI/Z5U_ha-lxSE/s1600/DSC01632.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VzprlVjjamY/TeRO8DjdG1I/AAAAAAAABaI/Z5U_ha-lxSE/s400/DSC01632.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612697829263612754" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>View down the telescope</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91TFvrKlWj8/TeRO7wvOWsI/AAAAAAAABaA/HU5GpH_wbv8/s1600/DSC01640.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91TFvrKlWj8/TeRO7wvOWsI/AAAAAAAABaA/HU5GpH_wbv8/s400/DSC01640.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612697824212703938" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I can capture flowers... not the birds</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v1hBOLe4kiQ/TeRO7isMePI/AAAAAAAABZ4/Evmj-776Lyk/s1600/DSC01668.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-v1hBOLe4kiQ/TeRO7isMePI/AAAAAAAABZ4/Evmj-776Lyk/s400/DSC01668.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612697820441901298" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>On the lookout</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-89665672016904079972011-05-23T06:21:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:07:18.059-07:00Teaching<a href="http://www.piffe.com/funimages/blackboard.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.piffe.com/funimages/blackboard.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are a lot of fun, the work hard and pay attention. It's a joy to work with them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-88903053993589191002011-05-21T01:02:00.000-07:002011-05-21T01:50:04.436-07:00A busted laptopSo 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5W0TxEKRcSA/Tdd60DfjWLI/AAAAAAAABZI/Yz7nSVzc13Y/s1600/DSC00503.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5W0TxEKRcSA/Tdd60DfjWLI/AAAAAAAABZI/Yz7nSVzc13Y/s400/DSC00503.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609086895622674610"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The entrance from the main road to the local 'village'</i></div><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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!Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-47445442468296716652011-05-11T04:49:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:11:41.164-07:00Catching up<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ef0ssnxZREc/TggC8EerU5I/AAAAAAAABc4/ZGthRwFUpm8/s1600/228075_10150186620168470_620438469_6921495_1584744_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ef0ssnxZREc/TggC8EerU5I/AAAAAAAABc4/ZGthRwFUpm8/s320/228075_10150186620168470_620438469_6921495_1584744_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622747365789881234" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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 ).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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!)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150186617733470.328195.620438469&l=a1a79b35e1</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-1761686633874837152011-05-09T16:53:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:09:59.828-07:00Details<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wo8iGf18zKk/TcV7L9PXSUI/AAAAAAAAADI/6bXv1_c2xNI/s1600/Ithinkblogging.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 322px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wo8iGf18zKk/TcV7L9PXSUI/AAAAAAAAADI/6bXv1_c2xNI/s1600/Ithinkblogging.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><br />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.<br /><br />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!<br /><br />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!Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-35056682820554045462011-05-07T19:55:00.000-07:002011-05-07T20:57:52.253-07:00Settling InAt 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJw7wEaYL_Y/TcYTy13gviI/AAAAAAAABYg/6hNamxYGt0c/s1600/%2528101%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oJw7wEaYL_Y/TcYTy13gviI/AAAAAAAABYg/6hNamxYGt0c/s400/%2528101%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604188550483459618" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dgelr-7EkuU/TcYTykOrfeI/AAAAAAAABYY/hCPXnGf3W-E/s1600/%2528102%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dgelr-7EkuU/TcYTykOrfeI/AAAAAAAABYY/hCPXnGf3W-E/s400/%2528102%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604188545748794850" /></a><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LeUlwy8vlOc/TcYTyb08GbI/AAAAAAAABYQ/VVEh2mSQ0jc/s1600/%2528105%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LeUlwy8vlOc/TcYTyb08GbI/AAAAAAAABYQ/VVEh2mSQ0jc/s400/%2528105%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604188543493347762" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y31PpB5b2lc/TcYTyIctYsI/AAAAAAAABYI/A9jQw8F5UG8/s1600/%2528106%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y31PpB5b2lc/TcYTyIctYsI/AAAAAAAABYI/A9jQw8F5UG8/s400/%2528106%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604188538291446466" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U80jXWeJNAw/TcYTx-tresI/AAAAAAAABYA/9lo5JEPsbpg/s1600/%2528107%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U80jXWeJNAw/TcYTx-tresI/AAAAAAAABYA/9lo5JEPsbpg/s400/%2528107%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604188535678270146" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The walkway to one of the rooms</i></div><div><br />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.<br /><br /><br />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;<br />http://www.youtube.com/user/CorduroyO8<br /></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-64681215667262258432011-05-02T07:14:00.000-07:002011-05-02T07:34:05.352-07:00Travelling Woes<div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">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.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DOaQnkgeKSc/Tb6-k8jQeeI/AAAAAAAABWQ/9t-CsexKdaU/s1600/DSC00101.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DOaQnkgeKSc/Tb6-k8jQeeI/AAAAAAAABWQ/9t-CsexKdaU/s400/DSC00101.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602124528434051554" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>At first people were not sure what was going on</i></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qVK0y7WfW2U/Tb6-lDGMBWI/AAAAAAAABWY/787vocYccFE/s1600/DSC00114.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qVK0y7WfW2U/Tb6-lDGMBWI/AAAAAAAABWY/787vocYccFE/s400/DSC00114.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602124530191172962" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The queue stretched back for miles and miles</i></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6mzGvNK8TPo/Tb6-lr1_ALI/AAAAAAAABWg/lm8nNUsFCLY/s1600/DSC00119.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6mzGvNK8TPo/Tb6-lr1_ALI/AAAAAAAABWg/lm8nNUsFCLY/s400/DSC00119.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602124541129064626" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>This is a smooth opportunist!</i></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Ppb3UaUEvA/Tb6-l9wpf2I/AAAAAAAABWo/gK-grL0e63c/s1600/DSC00129.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Ppb3UaUEvA/Tb6-l9wpf2I/AAAAAAAABWo/gK-grL0e63c/s400/DSC00129.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602124545938521954" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>You shall not pass!!</i></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WhqzS9UjB4U/Tb6-mLHYI4I/AAAAAAAABWw/EJRVJqg8Qu8/s1600/DSC00132.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WhqzS9UjB4U/Tb6-mLHYI4I/AAAAAAAABWw/EJRVJqg8Qu8/s400/DSC00132.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602124549523514242" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Motorcyclists would speed past, thinking they could just ride on. But they too were stopped</i></div><div><br /></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-84913971298125294542011-04-24T11:04:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:13:14.176-07:00My Thailand Bucket List<a href="http://www.unfspinnaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Nashville-Bucket-List.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 320px;" src="http://www.unfspinnaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Nashville-Bucket-List.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I’ve decided to write a bucket list for my return trip to Thailand. There was so much I didn’t get to do last time I was there, and still so much I did do. I’m going for a much longer stretch this time around and there is a lot I want to make sure I do this time. In this post I’m going to give a little info about each thing, and they’ll be a standalone page that I shall tick off as I do them.<br /><br />So I present... the list! (its just in alphabetical order)<br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><b>Build and release some lanterns</b><br /><br />At new years, heading back home, we passed a group of people who were releasing lanterns. I had seen them before during the festival the second night I was there, but this was the first time I’d seen them since, and just a couple of weeks before I’m due to go home. When I had first seen them I remember thinking that I wanted to build and release some, but as time went on I just forgot about until New Years.<br /><br /><b>Go canoeing in the sea around Ao-Phang-Nga<br /></b><br />I love boats. I love being on the water. I loved the little canoeing and kayaking I’ve done. Ao-Phang-Nga has some amazingly beautiful scenery and apparently the best way to see it is by canoe.<br /><br /><b>Go scuba-diving</b><br /><br />Some of my friends at university did it, and it’s always something I’ve wanted to try. There are a lot of places that offer it, so I don’t mind where I do it.<br /><br /><b>Go snorkeling</b><br /><br />I enjoy swimming, after my transplant I found it was one of the best forms of exercise I could get because it didn’t leave me with muscle cramping. I have never done real snorkeling before and always wanted to give it a try. Like the scuba-diving, I don’t mind where I do it.<br /><br /><b>Go White-Water Rafting during the rainy season<br /></b><br />I went last time, but there was very little ‘rapid’-ness to be honest. When it was, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. But I want to go when it’s better and that’s during the rainy season.<br /><br /><b>Learn enough Thai to haggle</b><br /><br />I picked up a lot last time I was there and I didn’t really put any effort into learning it. This time I want to learn a lot. And the benchmark I’m setting myself is haggling, specifically over cab prices. If I can pull that off I’ll be fine!<br /><br /><b>Learn to ride a motor bike</b><br /><br />It’s always been a thing I’ve kind of wanted to do, never enough to really pursue it though. I never learnt to drive, everywhere I’ve lived (except Stratford) has had great public transport and I just haven’t needed to, or been able to afford it. But in Thailand I want to learn to ride so I can have some real freedom out there.<br /><br /><b>See Pee Ta Khon (if it's on when I'm there)</b><br /><br />This is actually a series of festivals held between March and July. The dates vary each year so I will look into it more when I get there. But it looks and sounds like a lot of fun.<br /><br /><b>Travel around Ang Thong National Marine Park<br /></b><br />This archipelago of some 40 islands has some amazing scenery and wildlife. It’s pretty cheap and there is just so much to see. Here I can see crab eating monkeys, dolphins, whales, iguanas, turtles and some series snakes like pythons and cobras. There are also some great beaches and coral reefs I would love to see.<br /><br /><b>Visit The Grand Palace</b><br /><br />I actually missed this last time. It’s high on any list of places to see and the photos of it do look very impressive. In Thailand they are very big on the Royal Family, they are not just highly respected but it is an offense to slur in anyway against the king, or step on money because you are stepping on the kings face. Construction on the palace began more than 300 years ago when King Rama the first moved the capital of country to Bangkok.<br /><br /><b>Visit the National Museum in Bangkok</b><br /><br />This is the main museum of a series of national museums across the country. It’s more than 100 years old and features exhibits some 10-12 thousand years old.<br /><br /><b>Visit Tiger Temple</b><br /><br />This was really high on my list last time, I just didn’t get a chance to go. I won’t miss it this time. The place has an interesting history. I’ve done my research and although there has been criticism laid against the place I personally think that overall it is for a really good cause and well worth it.<br />Tiger temple isn’t the only place in the country that does this, and to be honest I’d be happy to visit any of them.<br /><br /><b>Visit Wat Phu Tok</b><br /><br />This temple is built in, on and around a sand-stone outcrop. It offers some amazing views because it is an amazing 200 meters up and is a place I really want to experience. Though I will really have to get over my fear of heights because the way up is wobbly, wooden stairs built onto the side of the outcrop.<br /><br /><br /><br /><i><b>Other countries and cities</b></i><br /><br />There are a series of other countries and major cities I want to visit while I'm out there. I'll be close and earning and would love to try and get off for long weekends away to the following;<br /><br /><b>Cambodia<br /><br />Hong Kong<br /><br />Laos<br /><br />Singapore<br /><br />Vietnam</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div><div>So there we have it! When my time in Thailand comes to an end I'll return to this and see how much I've managed to tick of, and hopefully we'll have blogs, videos and pictures from each one. If you think I'm missing something, let me know in a comment below!</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-64887158069576675092011-04-24T08:16:00.000-07:002011-04-24T09:20:36.756-07:00The final daysWe have reached the end of the road. This is the final post before we are back up-to-date. It's taken a long time. But we are finally there. So let's pick up where we left off.<br /><br /><br />"Nick!!" They were all shouting. I'm looking around at all the part guests, but I just don't recognise anyone. Then I hear a voice I recognise, one of the teachers.<br /><br />"Nick!! Welcome to my home!"<br /><br />I'm introduced to all the members of her extended family. There are a lot of people here. There was a big gift exchange, the same as at the school before. Everyone brings a gift of some kind and their name is put in a hat. When names are pulled out they exchange their gifts with whoever they are matched with.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KVgdetge7Co/TbRMnAQb5DI/AAAAAAAABVY/mNdSk4cKwqU/s1600/IMG_7296.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KVgdetge7Co/TbRMnAQb5DI/AAAAAAAABVY/mNdSk4cKwqU/s400/IMG_7296.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599184469695915058" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xN6xeNOX6SI/TbRMm3q0YGI/AAAAAAAABVQ/8aHO_Uanaew/s1600/IMG_7300.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xN6xeNOX6SI/TbRMm3q0YGI/AAAAAAAABVQ/8aHO_Uanaew/s400/IMG_7300.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599184467390652514" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>In the exchange I won a big pack of bottles of pop. Excellent!</i></div><div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xfve6p3-5sY/TbRMmict2kI/AAAAAAAABVI/FQCWLdypN1I/s1600/IMG_7302.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xfve6p3-5sY/TbRMmict2kI/AAAAAAAABVI/FQCWLdypN1I/s400/IMG_7302.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599184461694360130" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G_aaQYDJvEQ/TbRMmjj0BlI/AAAAAAAABVA/uHi-ZBTZYnw/s1600/IMG_7310.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G_aaQYDJvEQ/TbRMmjj0BlI/AAAAAAAABVA/uHi-ZBTZYnw/s400/IMG_7310.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599184461992560210" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h763cJnY6LM/TbRMmfld9TI/AAAAAAAABU4/sz5wh5IYTWA/s1600/IMG_7334.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h763cJnY6LM/TbRMmfld9TI/AAAAAAAABU4/sz5wh5IYTWA/s400/IMG_7334.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599184460925760818" /></a><br /><br />There is a hell of a lot of food and whiskey going down and even though I am really tired, I wake up very quickly and get into it. There is more karaoke and what not going on and all in all it was a good night.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3D_EAr_U3t0/TbRMCxgzQeI/AAAAAAAABUw/yyqwqo-6_0g/s1600/IMG_7341.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3D_EAr_U3t0/TbRMCxgzQeI/AAAAAAAABUw/yyqwqo-6_0g/s400/IMG_7341.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183847262732770" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vy8WToVW6l8/TbRLuDmHJEI/AAAAAAAABUo/jb3_FjDYcr0/s1600/IMG_7344.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vy8WToVW6l8/TbRLuDmHJEI/AAAAAAAABUo/jb3_FjDYcr0/s400/IMG_7344.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183491339592770" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQEf4HPgULg/TbRLt-FunZI/AAAAAAAABUg/ArMt248GaG4/s1600/IMG_7346.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iQEf4HPgULg/TbRLt-FunZI/AAAAAAAABUg/ArMt248GaG4/s400/IMG_7346.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183489861590418" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Osifp-xRU0Q/TbRLtj0ZrlI/AAAAAAAABUY/hKY9Z7DIbzI/s1600/IMG_7349.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Osifp-xRU0Q/TbRLtj0ZrlI/AAAAAAAABUY/hKY9Z7DIbzI/s400/IMG_7349.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183482809593426" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TY7rRVt2d1k/TbRLtRxpWNI/AAAAAAAABUQ/d7VW3AQ4XB0/s1600/IMG_7353.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TY7rRVt2d1k/TbRLtRxpWNI/AAAAAAAABUQ/d7VW3AQ4XB0/s400/IMG_7353.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183477966198994" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHfYCysNx7w/TbRLtZNNxbI/AAAAAAAABUI/2nN9U_Nuews/s1600/IMG_7359.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IHfYCysNx7w/TbRLtZNNxbI/AAAAAAAABUI/2nN9U_Nuews/s400/IMG_7359.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599183479960880562" /></a><br />On the walk home I was escorted, keep me safe from the dogs, that had to be shouted at to stay away. I hate all the dogs out here. I sleep very, very well. As always.<br /><br /><br />The next day I head out with the dad and children from next door again. We spend the day travelling all over the place, visiting various temples and markets and some more extended family.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YM6Mg9CLh1U/TbRK0iI9ivI/AAAAAAAABUA/qGxOCKsUzmw/s1600/IMG_7363.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YM6Mg9CLh1U/TbRK0iI9ivI/AAAAAAAABUA/qGxOCKsUzmw/s400/IMG_7363.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599182503106415346" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2cokjcEq1A/TbRK0fE_teI/AAAAAAAABT4/w_hqOynbY28/s1600/IMG_7366.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2cokjcEq1A/TbRK0fE_teI/AAAAAAAABT4/w_hqOynbY28/s400/IMG_7366.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599182502284473826" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9PzHXl0fZqk/TbRKRwiNHlI/AAAAAAAABTw/VkX8WDSkZv0/s1600/IMG_7369.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9PzHXl0fZqk/TbRKRwiNHlI/AAAAAAAABTw/VkX8WDSkZv0/s400/IMG_7369.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181905674968658" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4HEp-fCaGWs/TbRKRqzXXUI/AAAAAAAABTo/4utKFqMDqPo/s1600/IMG_7374.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4HEp-fCaGWs/TbRKRqzXXUI/AAAAAAAABTo/4utKFqMDqPo/s400/IMG_7374.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181904136330562" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BO6EaFPW_jw/TbRKRSS3HPI/AAAAAAAABTg/fOWC0V3ownI/s1600/IMG_7380.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BO6EaFPW_jw/TbRKRSS3HPI/AAAAAAAABTg/fOWC0V3ownI/s400/IMG_7380.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181897557548274" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1s3fXQ99Wk/TbRKRIy_KII/AAAAAAAABTY/Ibb59Nkg3hA/s1600/IMG_7384.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1s3fXQ99Wk/TbRKRIy_KII/AAAAAAAABTY/Ibb59Nkg3hA/s400/IMG_7384.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181895007938690" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5kHAFhKpaB4/TbRKREOia0I/AAAAAAAABTQ/p7O1pv1G6xM/s1600/IMG_7395.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5kHAFhKpaB4/TbRKREOia0I/AAAAAAAABTQ/p7O1pv1G6xM/s400/IMG_7395.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599181893781318466" /></a><br />Once the day was over we went back to the village, I spent the last hour of light playing badminton and once the sun went down I went inside to work on the final lesson plans for the week.<br /><br /><br /><br />We are now fully up-to-date. I'll be putting up a couple of update posts, but we are ready to dive straight into the next adventure, as I leave in just over a week. I'll talk about the podcast, new travel videos, a possible new blog/website and be putting up my bucket list for the next six months. So there is a lot to look forward to in this build up!</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-10922411755367752692011-04-22T11:28:00.000-07:002011-04-22T12:39:59.875-07:00New Years DaySo let's try and put last night behind me. It's a new day. Up nice and early with my alarm going of at 5am. I had to be ready to leave at six, and I always take a bit of time getting up. Another cold shower, dressed, check batteries are charged up, yup. Bag has everything I need. Okay, I'm ready to go.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqU7fL6JP-8/TbHYvxnd0LI/AAAAAAAABTE/BMlJDeGr02E/s1600/%25281%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqU7fL6JP-8/TbHYvxnd0LI/AAAAAAAABTE/BMlJDeGr02E/s400/%25281%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598494127082557618" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>My view in the morning as I left the house</i></div><div><br />I'm not sure what to expect today. I'm going to a floating market with the family next door. I've met the two parents, they've served me dinner and breakfast a fair few times, the dad is a well respected man amongst the teachers and on an evening I've played badminton with their kids. Though neither of them go to the school, they play there most nights.<br /><br />The teachers have been very protective of me my entire time here, with certain people who have offered me invites I've been told not to because they are not safe people or people to be trusted. They have helped arrange this day away so I'm looking forward to it and don't feel any anxiety at all.<br /><br />At six o'clock I head on over. There is a minibus outside the house, and the family are getting ready. We leave about fifteen minutes later, but are only on the road for about ten minutes before we stop and pull up down a side road. Some of the people get out. We wait around for maybe half an hour. A lot of people arrive, all family members. There are a mix of people, cousins, brothers, sisters and kids. We head out and there are no more stops until we arrive at the market.<br /><br />The whole place was stunning. There were a variety of temples all over. They taught me how to pray, and what to do when I went into the temples, what order to do things, where to get the gold leaves, how to hold incense so I didn't burn my hands... and technically I didn't. Though I did manage to burn my hair as I bowed!<br /><br />After the temples we went to the market. We walked through a normal, covered market and the suddenly found ourselves at the river. The boats were beautiful, and there were so many of them. We bought some fruit, I must have tried some eight or nine types that I'd never even seen before. Most of it was very nice. We explored some more, and then stopped and had some breakfast. They bought me everything and refused to let me pay for anything.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbjr4Qd54_M/TbHYjmzkrEI/AAAAAAAABS8/8HQHwtseoys/s1600/%25282%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbjr4Qd54_M/TbHYjmzkrEI/AAAAAAAABS8/8HQHwtseoys/s400/%25282%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493918022118466" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbPV5eLyJIA/TbHYi4ECRAI/AAAAAAAABS0/eMZRBAv8JsA/s1600/%25283%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pbPV5eLyJIA/TbHYi4ECRAI/AAAAAAAABS0/eMZRBAv8JsA/s400/%25283%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493905474700290" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-srCAJ7EN6vY/TbHYiVol5UI/AAAAAAAABSs/EQil0fI2rFI/s1600/%25284%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-srCAJ7EN6vY/TbHYiVol5UI/AAAAAAAABSs/EQil0fI2rFI/s400/%25284%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493896232789314" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mw-zz7_hkQw/TbHYh70b7GI/AAAAAAAABSk/wRbyVBkdYQg/s1600/%25285%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mw-zz7_hkQw/TbHYh70b7GI/AAAAAAAABSk/wRbyVBkdYQg/s400/%25285%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493889303145570" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lNAPVlbQY-I/TbHYhi_5OBI/AAAAAAAABSc/wLaupoog3rs/s1600/%25286%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lNAPVlbQY-I/TbHYhi_5OBI/AAAAAAAABSc/wLaupoog3rs/s400/%25286%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493882640316434" /></a><br />We all met up again and took a boat trip. It left the market and we went down various side rivers that led to traditional stilted houses with people who lived on the river.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DES2NjGauHg/TbHYQGQ1ZuI/AAAAAAAABSU/X0Qavgy-pyA/s1600/%25287%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DES2NjGauHg/TbHYQGQ1ZuI/AAAAAAAABSU/X0Qavgy-pyA/s400/%25287%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493582868965090" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nHOPgUZid08/TbHYKp-WXaI/AAAAAAAABSM/N3GsAuEr9E4/s1600/%25289%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nHOPgUZid08/TbHYKp-WXaI/AAAAAAAABSM/N3GsAuEr9E4/s400/%25289%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493489375894946" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jmAUKPtEA28/TbHYKapezAI/AAAAAAAABSE/t-3LmeFenjE/s1600/%252810%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jmAUKPtEA28/TbHYKapezAI/AAAAAAAABSE/t-3LmeFenjE/s400/%252810%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493485261835266" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJGmtOPXeZs/TbHYKA1P7OI/AAAAAAAABR8/GdvdpXHNijA/s1600/%252811%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JJGmtOPXeZs/TbHYKA1P7OI/AAAAAAAABR8/GdvdpXHNijA/s400/%252811%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493478331870434" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XcbnvA6Xp4k/TbHYJvpJoZI/AAAAAAAABR0/vulx8PvYmPM/s1600/%252812%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XcbnvA6Xp4k/TbHYJvpJoZI/AAAAAAAABR0/vulx8PvYmPM/s400/%252812%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493473717723538" /></a><br />Once the river trip was over we explored the grounds nearby. One of the mothers bought me a new t-shirt because she was buying her daughters some.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HdsnrzWkFxA/TbHXzXpqFqI/AAAAAAAABRs/gMGumZQKeao/s1600/%252813%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HdsnrzWkFxA/TbHXzXpqFqI/AAAAAAAABRs/gMGumZQKeao/s400/%252813%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493089320277666" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ix3b0bsRD8/TbHXzPbsOqI/AAAAAAAABRk/aZM6r8oC60A/s1600/%252814%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Ix3b0bsRD8/TbHXzPbsOqI/AAAAAAAABRk/aZM6r8oC60A/s400/%252814%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598493087114214050" /></a><br />The final place we visited was a cultural heritage museum. There were many parts where pictures were not allowed, so I only have a few from inside.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3u5BStVSfu4/TbHXmG5SAoI/AAAAAAAABRc/6FsHGPGCGbE/s1600/%252815%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3u5BStVSfu4/TbHXmG5SAoI/AAAAAAAABRc/6FsHGPGCGbE/s400/%252815%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492861484106370" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlhsJMhrRKs/TbHXlhM_PeI/AAAAAAAABRU/sCdHtZQ35P8/s1600/%252817%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dlhsJMhrRKs/TbHXlhM_PeI/AAAAAAAABRU/sCdHtZQ35P8/s400/%252817%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492851366215138" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D2XPIBxoce8/TbHXlCwQkNI/AAAAAAAABRM/TO_I6CfiA9c/s1600/%252818%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D2XPIBxoce8/TbHXlCwQkNI/AAAAAAAABRM/TO_I6CfiA9c/s400/%252818%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492843192651986" /></a><br />Everyone jumping into the car, we headed for a place to eat a late lunch / early dinner. It was a sea food restaurant. Words are not enough to describe it, only the pictures will do it justice.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9IRvJl_Rtk/TbHXPao9-5I/AAAAAAAABRE/FRPBNk0oPtQ/s1600/%252819%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x9IRvJl_Rtk/TbHXPao9-5I/AAAAAAAABRE/FRPBNk0oPtQ/s400/%252819%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492471647402898" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eU6XT63kmKY/TbHXO1s5WyI/AAAAAAAABQ8/iQIK1bIXM2Q/s1600/%252821%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eU6XT63kmKY/TbHXO1s5WyI/AAAAAAAABQ8/iQIK1bIXM2Q/s400/%252821%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492461731765026" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j0ABBSGLWj0/TbHXOWIfECI/AAAAAAAABQ0/tFAVkPt5WD4/s1600/%252822%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j0ABBSGLWj0/TbHXOWIfECI/AAAAAAAABQ0/tFAVkPt5WD4/s400/%252822%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492453257547810" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lAntfwEn50I/TbHXOG0t9fI/AAAAAAAABQs/KqlgK8uc29k/s1600/%252823%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lAntfwEn50I/TbHXOG0t9fI/AAAAAAAABQs/KqlgK8uc29k/s400/%252823%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492449148106226" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kn75KgwqDeU/TbHXN5TAeUI/AAAAAAAABQk/gL3RtyYAIzw/s1600/%252825%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kn75KgwqDeU/TbHXN5TAeUI/AAAAAAAABQk/gL3RtyYAIzw/s400/%252825%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492445517052226" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFtdVW0MOrY/TbHW5zaSIEI/AAAAAAAABQc/QbhiAIBzpYU/s1600/%252826%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MFtdVW0MOrY/TbHW5zaSIEI/AAAAAAAABQc/QbhiAIBzpYU/s400/%252826%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492100339572802" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CFWBsUPy9ow/TbHW5Tr-DkI/AAAAAAAABQU/i00G5eszzL8/s1600/%252827%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CFWBsUPy9ow/TbHW5Tr-DkI/AAAAAAAABQU/i00G5eszzL8/s400/%252827%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492091823820354" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hIft-djP4ZU/TbHW5EKJqeI/AAAAAAAABQM/rKhzwP8rmss/s1600/%252828%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hIft-djP4ZU/TbHW5EKJqeI/AAAAAAAABQM/rKhzwP8rmss/s400/%252828%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492087655442914" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z05d-MDyZgo/TbHW4xz4ZGI/AAAAAAAABQE/ON6baKVM3B8/s1600/%252829%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Z05d-MDyZgo/TbHW4xz4ZGI/AAAAAAAABQE/ON6baKVM3B8/s400/%252829%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492082730198114" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eYvgj4rAOZM/TbHW4o7C9vI/AAAAAAAABP8/AvE9JvgPCls/s1600/%252831%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eYvgj4rAOZM/TbHW4o7C9vI/AAAAAAAABP8/AvE9JvgPCls/s400/%252831%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598492080344332018" /></a><br />Sadly I lost some of that crab... or rather it was stolen... by some of those monkeys! They had staff whose job it was to stop the monkeys getting at the food, but they would climb on the roof and jump down, run across the table, or under them, and grab what they could before running off again.<br /><br />After food we visited a few more temples before the long drive home. I was finally able to get some photo's of how people travel on the roads out there.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6CxB10MdCE/TbHWdiGUjnI/AAAAAAAABP0/SotAkeBvETM/s1600/%252832%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-X6CxB10MdCE/TbHWdiGUjnI/AAAAAAAABP0/SotAkeBvETM/s400/%252832%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598491614656106098" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUPsb1Z5zMw/TbHWdHU5PCI/AAAAAAAABPs/vGSnR2SW0Zo/s1600/%252833%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uUPsb1Z5zMw/TbHWdHU5PCI/AAAAAAAABPs/vGSnR2SW0Zo/s400/%252833%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598491607469472802" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hGxOYb4a418/TbHWc4S1iQI/AAAAAAAABPk/fMDwi72Aswo/s1600/%252834%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hGxOYb4a418/TbHWc4S1iQI/AAAAAAAABPk/fMDwi72Aswo/s400/%252834%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598491603434309890" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6vnAwKH4l4c/TbHWci7oIUI/AAAAAAAABPc/tAFgJKsLHBM/s1600/%252835%2529.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6vnAwKH4l4c/TbHWci7oIUI/AAAAAAAABPc/tAFgJKsLHBM/s400/%252835%2529.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598491597699817794" /></a><br />We stopped and let people out at their houses. I was so tired, it had been a brilliant day and I had so much fun, but I couldn't be more tired! We drove straight past the school and past the neighbours house, even though all the other family members were gone. We continued up the road for about half a mile before stopping outside a house with a large party going on.<br /><br />"Nick! Party!"<br />"What?"<br /><br />"You, go party!"<br />"Erm... okay..."<br /><br />I got out the minibus and walked through the gates. There was maybe 40 people in the front of the this house, a BBQ was on the go, music was playing, it was a great atmosphere. I didn't recognise anyone. Everyone seemed to know who I was though...<br /><br />All will be explained in the next post!</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-18087617646548029082011-04-20T10:11:00.000-07:002011-04-20T11:01:38.701-07:00New Years Eve<div style="text-align: justify;">New Years Eve kicked off with a shower, a nice, cold shower. Ben picked me up early in the morning and we visited many different temples. At each one was a large meal (seriously, how did I loose weight out there?!) and whiskey. That's exactly what I need... more whiskey. There were lots of shows and celebrations throughout the day. </div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hhxYZmDzPwM/Ta8dn3PFZSI/AAAAAAAABPU/tM4l59uOsl8/s1600/IMG_7151.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hhxYZmDzPwM/Ta8dn3PFZSI/AAAAAAAABPU/tM4l59uOsl8/s400/IMG_7151.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597725432524137762" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nHepPmgrAlI/Ta8dngHbGVI/AAAAAAAABPM/vvfNvp6oDrw/s1600/IMG_7155.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nHepPmgrAlI/Ta8dngHbGVI/AAAAAAAABPM/vvfNvp6oDrw/s400/IMG_7155.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597725426317990226" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBbngsUUc6M/Ta8dnZoNrpI/AAAAAAAABPE/SSAgjlyU3aM/s1600/IMG_7156.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mBbngsUUc6M/Ta8dnZoNrpI/AAAAAAAABPE/SSAgjlyU3aM/s400/IMG_7156.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597725424576474770" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ujRhckGY2rY/Ta8dnM9giuI/AAAAAAAABO8/IPQLb5lzXS8/s1600/IMG_7160.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ujRhckGY2rY/Ta8dnM9giuI/AAAAAAAABO8/IPQLb5lzXS8/s400/IMG_7160.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597725421176130274" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In the late afternoon we headed to Saraburi, calling in at Tesco Lotus (yup... Tesco) and bought supplies for that night. We went back to Ben's and put up Christmas Lights all over the house and garden. We spent a fair few hours doing that, and then he dropped me back home. There I had ANOTHER lunch at the neighbours house, the people who had invited me out tomorrow. I headed back to my room, got a shower and had a nap.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Come about 8.30 and Ben's brother picked me up. I went to his house and lots of people were there. They made me chips and other western food for dinner/snacks. There was karaoke and all sorts going on. When it struck midnight we set off loads of fireworks and I managed not to kill anyone. Wahay!</div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qFYv_5RQaTg/Ta8dLldKMzI/AAAAAAAABO0/fCWT5FEp-_Y/s1600/IMG_7166.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qFYv_5RQaTg/Ta8dLldKMzI/AAAAAAAABO0/fCWT5FEp-_Y/s400/IMG_7166.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597724946714997554" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EgL11t-xzWA/Ta8dLRuSIwI/AAAAAAAABOs/OE2CA3xRtGU/s1600/IMG_7171.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EgL11t-xzWA/Ta8dLRuSIwI/AAAAAAAABOs/OE2CA3xRtGU/s400/IMG_7171.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597724941418111746" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eHyM0Kj9Wj4/Ta8c46tgJBI/AAAAAAAABOk/WtqFA1SVEyk/s1600/IMG_7173.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eHyM0Kj9Wj4/Ta8c46tgJBI/AAAAAAAABOk/WtqFA1SVEyk/s400/IMG_7173.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597724626003174418" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lanwq0NcN_c/Ta8c4joLPnI/AAAAAAAABOc/fIf7A6BTLhY/s1600/IMG_7175.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Lanwq0NcN_c/Ta8c4joLPnI/AAAAAAAABOc/fIf7A6BTLhY/s400/IMG_7175.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597724619806817906" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>How do you open wine when no-one has a cork screw?</i></div><div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttx6garvqdw/Ta8c4cSTbaI/AAAAAAAABOU/zQ3pbDz21Uw/s1600/IMG_7177.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ttx6garvqdw/Ta8c4cSTbaI/AAAAAAAABOU/zQ3pbDz21Uw/s400/IMG_7177.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597724617836031394" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The best laid plans...</i></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">However, as more drinking and singing went on, I stepped on a dog, who bit me. Oh god. I suddenly sobered right up remembering what I'd been told...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><i><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i>"Get bitten by any dog and go straight to a hospital. You have 24 hours."</i></span></div></i><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No blood had been drawn and I was wearing long trousers. But I was worried. There is no getting past it. There was someone there who wasn't drinking and they gave me a list to the hospital. But while in the car we got a call from someone who told me the dog had been vaccinated. So we turned the car around.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That had scuffered my mood for the rest of the night, and I headed home almost straight away after getting back to Ben's. Besides, I had to be awake at 5am and it was already 1:30, so it was probably wasn't a bad idea.</div></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-69697579061778435672011-04-18T10:31:00.001-07:002011-04-18T10:31:56.935-07:00The Day Before New Years Eve<div style="text-align: justify;">We had one full day of school after camping, that was a 'fun' day. Christmas carols and various other games. No teaching. It was a good day of school. When it ended I had a phone call from Ben saying we were going out to dinner with his friends.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He picked me up and we headed out into Saraburi. The place we went to was great, it was a buffet where you literally cook all you're own food, either by grilling or boiling. There was a massive choice of food and even ice-cream at the end. His friends were mostly people who I had met from the school on the camping trip. But there was another guy there, one of the heads of departments. A really nice guy. Even though I hadn't bought any beer, he kept topping my drink up, and then refused to let me buy a bottle, even though I must've drunk about 4 bottles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKqKSVY6ME0/Tax0uE1OyYI/AAAAAAAABNQ/FRmX-JiGQQI/s1600/IMG_7135.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKqKSVY6ME0/Tax0uE1OyYI/AAAAAAAABNQ/FRmX-JiGQQI/s400/IMG_7135.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976771834497410" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eIM0DOJNWvs/Tax0t2IwE3I/AAAAAAAABNI/bVzn-UKNK2I/s1600/IMG_7136.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eIM0DOJNWvs/Tax0t2IwE3I/AAAAAAAABNI/bVzn-UKNK2I/s400/IMG_7136.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976767889838962" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--CGMd5XSE2s/Tax0tljxfmI/AAAAAAAABNA/k5yn8X2C9MY/s1600/IMG_7138.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--CGMd5XSE2s/Tax0tljxfmI/AAAAAAAABNA/k5yn8X2C9MY/s400/IMG_7138.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976763439775330" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NP1Byr8VTs4/Tax0WHPhxrI/AAAAAAAABM4/A_peFVRhDOc/s1600/IMG_7140.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NP1Byr8VTs4/Tax0WHPhxrI/AAAAAAAABM4/A_peFVRhDOc/s400/IMG_7140.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976360164804274" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KaosIJQynyI/Tax0V4BupFI/AAAAAAAABMw/aPt5J_RrAas/s1600/IMG_7141.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KaosIJQynyI/Tax0V4BupFI/AAAAAAAABMw/aPt5J_RrAas/s400/IMG_7141.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976356080395346" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEEZ4ymoyLc/Tax0Vh2A9dI/AAAAAAAABMo/Rni1WAqQxBk/s1600/IMG_7142.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEEZ4ymoyLc/Tax0Vh2A9dI/AAAAAAAABMo/Rni1WAqQxBk/s400/IMG_7142.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596976350125684178" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afterwards we did a gift exchange, some sort of tradition in Thailand. I got a little Buddha statue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oKHqohJtExA/Tax0A9g_84I/AAAAAAAABMg/oKXhtc7nHKQ/s400/IMG_7145.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596975996776477570" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kR65OfnVCV4/Tax0AkexpjI/AAAAAAAABMY/JmhMsdZ2H4A/s400/IMG_7146.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596975990056265266" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After that we headed to the bar called 'the class room' with whiskey slush puppy type drinks. They had five measure of whiskey in each, and cost two quid each. Insane. There were eleven flavours and between a group of us we had all of them. It was a very good night.</div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-59ec77U3DL0/TaxzsF06A4I/AAAAAAAABMQ/GCVjUWkHL-w/s1600/IMG_7148.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-59ec77U3DL0/TaxzsF06A4I/AAAAAAAABMQ/GCVjUWkHL-w/s400/IMG_7148.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596975638230205314" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oc_KN0ZeDsM/Taxzrzy3-ZI/AAAAAAAABMI/ES5gFqZzEMs/s1600/IMG_7149.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oc_KN0ZeDsM/Taxzrzy3-ZI/AAAAAAAABMI/ES5gFqZzEMs/s400/IMG_7149.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596975633389844882" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tri7Om_kFDU/TaxzrXQB9WI/AAAAAAAABMA/K1Ye9sTO-us/s1600/IMG_7150.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tri7Om_kFDU/TaxzrXQB9WI/AAAAAAAABMA/K1Ye9sTO-us/s400/IMG_7150.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596975625727505762" /></a></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-66477360170791685282011-04-16T12:25:00.001-07:002011-04-16T12:25:17.735-07:00More Camping - Part 3, Thai school buses rock!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oh my god my head. Last night there was a lot of "Thai Whiskey!" and I'm feeling it this morning. Damn. Oh well! So... it's the final day of camping. But it ended very quickly. There was some final talks, didn't understand anything. There were some goodbyes and suddenly the buses are there and people are packing up! Oh! Okay! Well, goodbye! I say goodbye to the kids as they start leaving.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now onto the Thai school bus. Wow. Check out the video. This was for the three hours it took to get back to the school. Too much fun. If I wasn't this hung-over I would've liked it a lot more. Still made the most of it though!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyRIa9owihZxWi-o31T9XXNKb9YKE75jKkMcA1rABXEYferRUaJz7JLogmeCIa5Fm4KVeoeHSMQzyf4UcDYmA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We got back to the school with about two hours left of the day! They plugged my iPod into the speakers (for the first time!) and the speakers boomed across the village music to sing and dance to. And that was the end of the day and the end of the camping trip! A quality time had by all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div></div></span>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-14826632443873195682011-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:002011-04-14T12:15:52.201-07:00More Camping - Part 2, Serious amount of mud, more fire and a Hippo dance<div>Four in the morning? What was I thinking. I said I'd do it. Get up. Get up! I crawled out of bed and headed on to the field where the kids were gathering. Not a single other teacher was up. It was all the camp staff. Great. We did some exercises that were silly and fun. Then we did the run. It wasn't a really long one, maybe a kilometre. I cheekily took a break half way through to just pretend like I was rounding up the kids and making sure non were lost... on this completely straight and open path... yea. Non of them bought it.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I got showered and went back to bed. I was woken up for breakfast, and after breakfast it was back to the square. More silly dancing. More fun and games. Then the kids moved off after about an hour or so in their groups to do marches, knot making and other scout-like activities. I was placed at the knot making area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8tTd_ETBQ2g/TadDLYc4rII/AAAAAAAABLw/O6Et8I0MTNU/s1600/IMG_6828.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8tTd_ETBQ2g/TadDLYc4rII/AAAAAAAABLw/O6Et8I0MTNU/s400/IMG_6828.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514924852358274" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Formation!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kvz9T1B44dY/TadC_quBvaI/AAAAAAAABLo/ICg17Tl7qd4/s1600/IMG_6830.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kvz9T1B44dY/TadC_quBvaI/AAAAAAAABLo/ICg17Tl7qd4/s400/IMG_6830.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514723597663650" /></a></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zr0u4BcuYIg/TadC-j2ktSI/AAAAAAAABLg/kupg1diMojs/s1600/IMG_6846.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Zr0u4BcuYIg/TadC-j2ktSI/AAAAAAAABLg/kupg1diMojs/s400/IMG_6846.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514704574592290" /></a></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M6877-HLYSc/TadC9vLFPSI/AAAAAAAABLY/Ev51wpBFOls/s1600/IMG_6854.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M6877-HLYSc/TadC9vLFPSI/AAAAAAAABLY/Ev51wpBFOls/s400/IMG_6854.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514690433531170" /></a></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They cycled through so each group did every activity. Then it was lunch time. There was a TV (amazing!!) at the hut where we ate lunch. The news was on showing a football game. A fight broke out between several players and people got in to stop it. Then more people got involved, then police, then the crowed started invading the pitch. The camera concentrated on one guy, wearing normal cloths who looked like a normal guy from the crowed. He was running up and punching players. Eventually one threw him to the ground. As he landed he suddenly pulled out a gun. Everyone backed off. Then the police joined him, like they were on his side. Helped him up, and he just carried on waving it at random people. No idea what actually happened. But was very strange!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After lunch was probably the most fun ever. Muddy activities in groups. Work as a team and individuals. I was at the tyre, they had to jump up and climb through the tyre. Some of them were to short to even reach, so watching the work together was very sweet! There were lots of others that I went to to look at, and got lots of great pictures (all below).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ViNg4UJGStY/TadCb-0yGAI/AAAAAAAABLQ/PXTvjgE8Z4U/s400/IMG_6858.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514110519416834" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>My station!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wx1raky06J4/TadCba-wBAI/AAAAAAAABLI/ye3L7zIxZeY/s400/IMG_6875.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514100897547266" /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WPTNYWBLV-Y/TadCaDl80vI/AAAAAAAABLA/RRJl8mTwJ0g/s1600/IMG_6884.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WPTNYWBLV-Y/TadCaDl80vI/AAAAAAAABLA/RRJl8mTwJ0g/s400/IMG_6884.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514077439644402" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>My favourite station...</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sq9IGO0eLys/TadCZuMQZtI/AAAAAAAABK4/29TCC1N29MA/s1600/IMG_6887.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sq9IGO0eLys/TadCZuMQZtI/AAAAAAAABK4/29TCC1N29MA/s400/IMG_6887.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595514071694730962" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>...and this is why</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w9TkKngm_rU/TadCGXeE5PI/AAAAAAAABKw/a2ltzWwuC50/s1600/IMG_6897.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w9TkKngm_rU/TadCGXeE5PI/AAAAAAAABKw/a2ltzWwuC50/s400/IMG_6897.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513739177944306" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Another good one!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dKLmi6PyuYA/TadCE-z_dnI/AAAAAAAABKo/XerJG8ZytRw/s1600/IMG_6915.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dKLmi6PyuYA/TadCE-z_dnI/AAAAAAAABKo/XerJG8ZytRw/s400/IMG_6915.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513715379107442" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>No mud... but looks like a lot of fun!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4CUy4SE8oLY/TadCDmYaE8I/AAAAAAAABKg/Dvqxf7uQqs8/s1600/IMG_6919.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4CUy4SE8oLY/TadCDmYaE8I/AAAAAAAABKg/Dvqxf7uQqs8/s400/IMG_6919.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513691641091010" /></a></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlLdxwK0Ajo/TadCCvx9YnI/AAAAAAAABKY/gVgCLQPZbPI/s1600/IMG_6923.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tlLdxwK0Ajo/TadCCvx9YnI/AAAAAAAABKY/gVgCLQPZbPI/s400/IMG_6923.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513676984312434" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>More serious team work going on here</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V_T_NaL3JFw/TadCBArH8QI/AAAAAAAABKQ/X64rqhSQDmY/s1600/IMG_6927.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V_T_NaL3JFw/TadCBArH8QI/AAAAAAAABKQ/X64rqhSQDmY/s400/IMG_6927.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513647159308546" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Don't want to many people crossing at a time... it DOES go under the water!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-de3G2KCPIkY/TadBj0KzqtI/AAAAAAAABKI/FnZxAv1FW_s/s1600/IMG_6934.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-de3G2KCPIkY/TadBj0KzqtI/AAAAAAAABKI/FnZxAv1FW_s/s400/IMG_6934.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513145586330322" /></a></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K-KjqfnD-co/TadBi02vmuI/AAAAAAAABKA/aXNEjcY9uT4/s1600/IMG_6935.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K-KjqfnD-co/TadBi02vmuI/AAAAAAAABKA/aXNEjcY9uT4/s400/IMG_6935.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513128590744290" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Too much fun!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GQNVO27I9r0/TadBhkevuvI/AAAAAAAABJ4/M9Ammlwzpv8/s1600/IMG_6943.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GQNVO27I9r0/TadBhkevuvI/AAAAAAAABJ4/M9Ammlwzpv8/s400/IMG_6943.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513107015252722" /></a></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2MNtTpekag/TadBgVe2hII/AAAAAAAABJw/UtIOjRkg63c/s1600/IMG_6951.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2MNtTpekag/TadBgVe2hII/AAAAAAAABJw/UtIOjRkg63c/s400/IMG_6951.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513085809296514" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>A real team player!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0UmPhi4ojII/TadBfR0zDiI/AAAAAAAABJo/8ojB9T2yEmA/s1600/IMG_6953.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0UmPhi4ojII/TadBfR0zDiI/AAAAAAAABJo/8ojB9T2yEmA/s400/IMG_6953.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595513067647733282" /></a></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ko77OwmGXw/TadBDthYg8I/AAAAAAAABJg/_2ZsPJC0Uxw/s1600/IMG_6957.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Ko77OwmGXw/TadBDthYg8I/AAAAAAAABJg/_2ZsPJC0Uxw/s400/IMG_6957.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595512594046157762" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Lol... mud all over her face</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0izkc5c_qM/TadBDKAKoLI/AAAAAAAABJY/YRFoxXGW5r0/s1600/IMG_6965.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0izkc5c_qM/TadBDKAKoLI/AAAAAAAABJY/YRFoxXGW5r0/s400/IMG_6965.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595512584511594674" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Pandetta!! I'm not going to miss this picture opportunity! Haha</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RzH0DMyUzZA/TadBCxYtwyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/Zc78Voiaaa8/s1600/IMG_6976.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RzH0DMyUzZA/TadBCxYtwyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/Zc78Voiaaa8/s400/IMG_6976.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595512577903674146" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The mud tunnel. Most of them slipped on fell on the mud getting out...</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNBxrjFGzQI/TadBCVGHRQI/AAAAAAAABJI/mx_Uc17E-DA/s1600/IMG_7011.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JNBxrjFGzQI/TadBCVGHRQI/AAAAAAAABJI/mx_Uc17E-DA/s400/IMG_7011.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595512570309461250" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>...like this little guy</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mv4MTQnu4i0/TadBCN-1XmI/AAAAAAAABJA/THrEyCqm8Js/s1600/IMG_7012.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mv4MTQnu4i0/TadBCN-1XmI/AAAAAAAABJA/THrEyCqm8Js/s400/IMG_7012.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595512568399879778" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>No showers... just a giant bath!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Afterwards people showered, because there was a lot of mud, and then had dinner. After dinner everyone chilled out and worked on little plays and dances to do... at some point. I could not help with this, at all. I had no idea what was going on. So I did the only logical, sensible, staying out of the way thing I could do.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cEjy48Eqm5c/TadAWzmMamI/AAAAAAAABI4/n8aS_3Avf3A/s400/IMG_7018.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595511822582835810" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Why are they giving me funny looks? (other then the camera)</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I spent the next three hours chilled out on a hammock and having the kids fetch me things like my iPod, drinks, fruit ext.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDA2iWJKD3Q/TadAWWCq41I/AAAAAAAABIw/yl9IeNwaktI/s1600/IMG_7039.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDA2iWJKD3Q/TadAWWCq41I/AAAAAAAABIw/yl9IeNwaktI/s400/IMG_7039.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595511814649209682" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>It's because I couldn't be more chilled out!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The sun went down and there was a huge show put on. The camp gathered around a giant fire, special dignatory guests came and had special seats, it was all very 'big big'. The kids did their shows, did their dances...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7nP-fJYjTB0/Tac__mzvcEI/AAAAAAAABIo/YhkmWozsyrM/s1600/IMG_7065.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7nP-fJYjTB0/Tac__mzvcEI/AAAAAAAABIo/YhkmWozsyrM/s400/IMG_7065.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595511424013004866" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Fire! Dance! Funny costume!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fnJH5lEvp38/Tac__cxQccI/AAAAAAAABIg/cmPI1D9RN0E/s1600/IMG_7077.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fnJH5lEvp38/Tac__cxQccI/AAAAAAAABIg/cmPI1D9RN0E/s400/IMG_7077.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595511421318230466" /></a></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7psnXV2NB28/Tac__Gc_UOI/AAAAAAAABIY/duHTV6JeIVw/s1600/IMG_7081.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7psnXV2NB28/Tac__Gc_UOI/AAAAAAAABIY/duHTV6JeIVw/s400/IMG_7081.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595511415327641826" /></a></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And then I was called up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Me?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nick!! Hippo!"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oh great. Want to see the hippo dance? Enjoy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F7OKyBDz7Rg/Tac_dJI3qkI/AAAAAAAABIQ/GIK5HgdWVWg/s1600/IMG_7083.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F7OKyBDz7Rg/Tac_dJI3qkI/AAAAAAAABIQ/GIK5HgdWVWg/s400/IMG_7083.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595510831933008450" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Ready....</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XETD2oc6taQ/Tac_c58vaJI/AAAAAAAABII/5fGzy82J060/s1600/IMG_7084.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XETD2oc6taQ/Tac_c58vaJI/AAAAAAAABII/5fGzy82J060/s400/IMG_7084.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595510827855603858" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Boomba!</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LH2hKZKVnQY/Tac_clvL0OI/AAAAAAAABIA/Ga-KYyz28AU/s1600/IMG_7086.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LH2hKZKVnQY/Tac_clvL0OI/AAAAAAAABIA/Ga-KYyz28AU/s400/IMG_7086.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595510822430036194" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Boomba!!</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GApws0rZm30/Tac_ccgy-OI/AAAAAAAABH4/_vfkUuV44z0/s1600/IMG_7087.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GApws0rZm30/Tac_ccgy-OI/AAAAAAAABH4/_vfkUuV44z0/s400/IMG_7087.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595510819953768674" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And then a funny, slightly gay, twirl</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The night winds down, there is a lot of dancing like a fool for a long time. Kids seem to love it, can't get any of the teachers to join in so I look nice and silly. So, is that the end of the night? No. I get invited into the Directors tent, the one with like 5 directors. They are playing cards, gambling (highly illegal) and drinking. They invite me to play. A late night was had, and another 4am start is not on the 'cards' tomorrow! (Oh yea! Badass pun there!)</div></div></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-84649720407259340872011-04-11T09:37:00.000-07:002011-04-12T08:06:26.900-07:00More Camping - Part 1, Hiking, Machetes and a Burning Forest<div style="text-align: justify;">I don't know how I got my dates so badly mixed up! Between Christmas and New Year was more camping! This time with my guys. It wasn't the whole school, just class 5/6 (the oldest). I had already done a camping trip as you know, I was really looking forward to this, especially with my little guys.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My bag was packed, and I was all prepared. Everyone piled up in front of the school, ready and waiting for the bus to arrive to collect us. Only some of the teachers were joining us, and not even all at the same time. For the journey there, it was the class of kids, me, 1 teacher and one other personal who worked at the school.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was already another class of kids on the bus and along the way we picked up a third. Once we got there the set-up was similar to the last camp, with a large square where the kids all gathered and listened to various rules and instructions. But there was a lot more fun going on... fun I would be dragged into.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vRybPKIcAQk/TaRpRb7s3rI/AAAAAAAABHA/4x4lJN20kTM/s400/IMG_6629.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594712385377853106" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The square</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So first, there was introductions from all the various teachers. I was told what to say in Thai, and then to repeat it in English. So I said, in both languages, "my name is Nick, and I teach English in Wat-Banlad school." It went well I think. Then the camper staff, who at first looked very militaristic and serious did some long talks.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d0rkIZI7ixg/TaRpRWFogOI/AAAAAAAABG4/yLyOIuXIkkQ/s400/IMG_6654.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594712383808897250" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>This was actually one of the teachers from one of the other schools. A total Badass.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then we went on a trek through the Jungle. Not all the teachers took part. Most of them unpacked in their rooms and giant tents. I just dumped my bag in mine. I was sharing a double room with Mr. S, the director at my school. It wasn't as luxurious as the last place, but I had a soft bed and hot water. So I was very happy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6zAqUjuTQVo/TaRpREr7WyI/AAAAAAAABGw/HYf-wUF8w8c/s400/IMG_6657.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594712379137678114" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the trek one girl got far too hot, probably sun-stroke of some kind, so some of the teachers stayed back and helped carry her through to the road. I was with this group, with the main leader of the camp. We started talking, initially he looked scary but he spoke good English and was actually a really nice, funny guy.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HYpzNFx5NsQ/TaRodm4mV_I/AAAAAAAABGo/TlyDxj5dFxw/s400/IMG_6668.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594711494964434930" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the road another group of teachers picked up the girl in a pick-up truck and we walked the long way back. It was right out in the open, in the middle of the afternoon with no shade. It took it's toll on me but I made it without collapsing and looking like a fool.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4OR4smo2xpo/TaRodcv8tOI/AAAAAAAABGg/pFQgjvF52DE/s400/IMG_6672.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594711492243797218" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Making it back I had about five big cups of water and the kids spent the next hour unpacking and getting settled. I did the same; unpacked and took a much needed shower. Afterwards Mr. S took me to meet the other directors who all shared a single large tent. We also got lunch. I'm not sure what the kids food was like, because our eating area was the other side of the camp, in a lovely stilted hut just on the edge of the jungle. It was beautiful. The lunch was always great here. They had a massive choice and even some great desserts!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TDGxdCGnIxY/TaRoc3siQII/AAAAAAAABGY/PrR5m7M-g2o/s400/IMG_6641.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594711482297368706" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The hut behind me is where we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was another gathering at the square and the camp workers put on entertainment. I got dragged up to do a hippo dance. Was actually really funny. I had no idea what I was doing, but when do I? There will be pictures in the next post of this hippo dance... funny stuff. Then the kids were put into groups and received a piece of raw chicken and large piece of some kind of Thai vegetable. Yummy. Then they all headed out to one of the fields.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Half of them climbed up the side of the jungle hill and with machetes (yes... the kids of 9-11 years old were just handed machetes on mass) and started hacking bamboo trees (is it trees? I think so) down. This was to make camp fires. They also would cut a stick down the middle and they created an amazing little holder for cooking the meat.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3U-WQlCkFgs/TaRociSYYqI/AAAAAAAABGQ/djx90aJ-z5w/s400/IMG_6738.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594711476550525602" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Into the hills to chop down some trees</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8lcmEeb3irU/TaRocfTQnCI/AAAAAAAABGI/mnRmlIJ7k80/s400/IMG_6745.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594711475748903970" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YxY3owSdeMo/TaRnAy5Pn8I/AAAAAAAABGA/2x6VBK-K7vE/s400/IMG_6752.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594709900460531650" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ztYq7Crh11c/TaRnAd1kmaI/AAAAAAAABF4/PY6vWWc9bFY/s400/IMG_6753.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594709894807984546" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LDtzrDxtcXU/TaRnANVC8FI/AAAAAAAABFw/Lz_JOtj0ufg/s400/IMG_6760.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594709890376593490" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e5SgT1WGSdU/TaRm_7T9eYI/AAAAAAAABFo/3WA5bRx7VdY/s400/IMG_6763.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594709885540202882" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Health and safety can take a back seat while this ten year old chops some stuff up!</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was a lot of smoke everywhere, my eyes went so red and started watering so I walked away from the area until most of the fires became less smoky. I moved around and got pictures of and with the various groups.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8hIQLOzRjM/TaRm_h8k8rI/AAAAAAAABFg/O9pq7uBA49Y/s400/IMG_6790.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594709878731240114" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One thing I loved about this was the groups were all mixed, so there would be only two or three kids from the same school in one group, and the groups had about twenty members. So the kids mingled a lot with each other.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was not the kids dinner, we moved on to have dinner in the hut. After dinner, there was music and other entertainment and for the most part the kids just played around until the sun set. After it set, there was a ghost walk. Half way through the silent and completely pitch black walk (we are in the middle of nowhere, no lights, it's totally dark apart from the moon and the stars) the camp leaders started setting of explosion fireworks. They just blew up. There was no screeching. They just exploded very, very loudly with different bright colours.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I had an early night, as did the director. I was getting up nice and early, at 4am to take part in the morning exercises with the kids and the morning run. What a stupid person I am.</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-50368439911654857552011-04-10T05:02:00.001-07:002011-04-10T05:19:27.908-07:00Build up to New Year<div>So in the week between the Christmas and New Year weekends there was a lot of teaching carols, like Jingle Bells. I was also invited out with various people for various things across the 4 day holiday that was coming up. So I spent the week trying to work out what I was doing with who and one what days/night. I wanted to share a collection of some of my favourite pictures of the kids in that week.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8EAhwNr8ZC4/TaGgApwq75I/AAAAAAAABFY/ABuxOtu6KzQ/s1600/IMG_6515.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8EAhwNr8ZC4/TaGgApwq75I/AAAAAAAABFY/ABuxOtu6KzQ/s400/IMG_6515.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593928145241304978" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t-t3OU8ZNao/TaGgAeJNA2I/AAAAAAAABFQ/L_1ikquLJVU/s1600/IMG_6517.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t-t3OU8ZNao/TaGgAeJNA2I/AAAAAAAABFQ/L_1ikquLJVU/s400/IMG_6517.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593928142122976098" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0QApJn192E/TaGgAK6XiFI/AAAAAAAABFI/-Ked8afU074/s1600/IMG_6522.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0QApJn192E/TaGgAK6XiFI/AAAAAAAABFI/-Ked8afU074/s400/IMG_6522.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593928136960477266" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd_-rtn8kDg/TaGf_3XXRGI/AAAAAAAABFA/e6ZJnXNTQuQ/s1600/IMG_6523.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pd_-rtn8kDg/TaGf_3XXRGI/AAAAAAAABFA/e6ZJnXNTQuQ/s400/IMG_6523.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593928131713385570" /></a><div><br /></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N8CRbCcT-o8/TaGfmFq3DsI/AAAAAAAABE4/nKfERD4RSkk/s1600/IMG_6524.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N8CRbCcT-o8/TaGfmFq3DsI/AAAAAAAABE4/nKfERD4RSkk/s400/IMG_6524.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593927688876658370" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ozj1KF3gNw/TaGfl4HwusI/AAAAAAAABEw/LfIkp7gmD9s/s1600/IMG_6526.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9ozj1KF3gNw/TaGfl4HwusI/AAAAAAAABEw/LfIkp7gmD9s/s400/IMG_6526.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593927685239782082" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fDeFE5SZsp4/TaGfld91WVI/AAAAAAAABEo/o4qgCLsATLI/s1600/IMG_6527.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fDeFE5SZsp4/TaGfld91WVI/AAAAAAAABEo/o4qgCLsATLI/s400/IMG_6527.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593927678218819922" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-jqhmXh_24/TaGfk5d_CzI/AAAAAAAABEg/lgacyoV6Nok/s1600/IMG_6538.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-jqhmXh_24/TaGfk5d_CzI/AAAAAAAABEg/lgacyoV6Nok/s400/IMG_6538.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593927668421561138" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-33KIF5rvYBA/TaGfkmcvkiI/AAAAAAAABEY/Zn143cIUfjc/s1600/IMG_6540.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-33KIF5rvYBA/TaGfkmcvkiI/AAAAAAAABEY/Zn143cIUfjc/s400/IMG_6540.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5593927663316079138" /></a>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-24894996848035781352011-04-09T06:40:00.000-07:002011-06-26T21:47:46.282-07:00Christmas!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4gsBI1ICEGc/TggLbQP6--I/AAAAAAAABew/eihIwAIZcWM/s1600/167742_489756513469_620438469_5897172_6123401_n.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4gsBI1ICEGc/TggLbQP6--I/AAAAAAAABew/eihIwAIZcWM/s320/167742_489756513469_620438469_5897172_6123401_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622756697618185186" /></a><br />It's that time already! Christmas! I'm shooting through this now, I won't have time to put up every little detail, so I'm just going to concentrate on the major events. Like Christmas. The weekend after the camping weekend from the previous post.<div><br /></div><div>Christmas eve was a Friday, and after school one of the girls who worked at there took me to her and her families and cooked up a roast dinner. It was actually really good. I ate so much that when I got home I just fell straight to sleep.</div><div><br /></div><div>Christmas day and Ben arrived early in the morning to take me out. We spent the morning in various temples, at various feasts with lots of food and booz. The food was great, as was the booz. On the way back, we stopped off to buy some stuff to decorate Ben's house with for new year. We put lights all over the place for a couple of hours, and then he took me to one of the other teachers houses. I met a few of her family members, had some more food and more booz.</div><div><br /></div><div>I went home and had a shower and got changed, had a quick rest and attempted to sober up a little. After a couple of hours several cars arrived in the school. There were all the teachers, their families, their extended families and important families in the village. I jumped into one of the cars and we drove to another school.</div><div><br /></div><div>The school was huge and had a big stage with lots of music. There was a massive feast brought to the table. A big fish dish. There was also two bottles of whiskey on the table. They made me a drink of whiskey and coke, but no one else was drinking the whiskey. They kept topping my drink up, and the fish and various accompaniments left me very full indeed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then they brought on round two.</div><div>Round two?</div><div>Wow.</div><div>Here goes...</div><div><br /></div><div>I managed... just.</div><div><br /></div><div>Round three.</div><div>Oh god.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then round four.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually we finally finished with round seven.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't get how I managed to loose so much weight, when I have posts about how I've eaten so much out there!</div><div><br /></div><div>The night, as they all seem to do in Thailand, ended suddenly with everyone getting up and ready to leave. It was only about 8 o'clock. But then Ben said "You not go home now, we go out." And the teachers said he was taking me to some night club. We grab the whiskey from the table and hide it in bags, then make off with it. Hmmm.</div><div><br /></div><div>We went into Saraburi city and to a place called A-Jacks. You bring your own bottles of spirits, hens the grabbing of the whiskey. Strange. Once inside it was obvious it was pretty dead. The place though was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It had a main stage, but was set up like a posh bar all around the dance floor.</div><div>Oh and look. Strippers. Oh hello. About five came over to us and started practising their English on me. Awkward. As it started to get busier, the tables and seats filled up and bands started doing sound checks.</div><div><br /></div><div>Throughout the night there was live 'rock' type music, and between the bands was dance music... a very strange experience. Then at about midnight, the music changed again, to something... Thai. And all the strippers started leaving the floor and the tables. Suddenly dancing poles just started appearing on the stage and around the whole club. This is a seriously surreal night. But a good one. Definitely the least 'Christmasy' Christmas I've ever had.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would later learn the reason for this is, they do Christmas and New year on the same day (because A: they don't celebrate Christmas, and B: the saying is "Merry Christmas and Happy New year!" and they think that means it's on the same day).</div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-741407061227423648.post-83010284676423089382011-04-05T13:40:00.001-07:002011-04-07T06:43:39.724-07:00Camping, round one<div>In Thailand all students are a member of the scouts, it's a huge tradition. In my school the kids came in their scout uniforms every Thursday, regardless of whether or not they had any scout activities going on.</div><div><br /></div>This would be my first of two camping trips. Firstly, I didn't realise this camping trip involved a school. I had been invited camping by Ben a few weeks ago, and gladly accepted. I had seriously no idea what to expect. I thought it would be me, him, the guy whose come out with us a few times. With a tent, out in the middle of nowhere, maybe a jungle or on the side of a mountain.<div><br /><div><div><div><div>It was in fact, Ben's school that we were going camping with, as part of the scouts. He arrived to pick me up and we drove to the school. Ben's school is a secondary school and college. He only teaches in the college and his class were all college students. All the college students came as well as the oldest year group at the secondary school. I drive to the camp with Ben.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>At the camp the kids sit down in the 'square' and there is a debriefing. They are then taken off by the camp staff to do initial 'welcome' talks. While they are in the main flag field, the teachers start checking all of the student's bags. They were looking for contraband, like cigarettes and alcohol. Once the bags were all checked, anything that was found to have something suspicious in was brought to the front. Then the teachers headed to their rooms to dump their bags. I headed off with Ben and a few others to the other side of the camp, about a mile away.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qjg7QzS5p5o/TZ23xzXnNPI/AAAAAAAABEA/wJpMK5NEJxw/s400/IMG_6427.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592828378494743794" /></div><div><div>Suddenly it changed, it went from an out door field with old fashioned climbing equipment, over growth and generally a real outdoor-camping feel, to a high end, very posh camping resort. It had out door swimming pools, quad bikes, paint-balling, abseiling, kiaking, canoeing and much more. And the room was amazing. Big, soft beds, air conditioning and hot water! And internet. This was going to be a good weekend.</div><div><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BAxFMLFMoPI/TZ23BBY9mcI/AAAAAAAABD4/92zxaOYq7f0/s400/IMG_6434.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 339px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592827540444912066" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5ew44WUCf-8/TZ23AkBMoJI/AAAAAAAABDw/fqoD5jiFF4k/s400/IMG_6439.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592827532560605330" /></div><div>For the afternoon on the first day, the Friday, they did a trek all around the camp, meeting groups of scout leaders (teachers like Ben) and had to repeating some slogans, perform some group activities and get a booked signed before moving on.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div>In the evening we ate outside, there was a huge variety of food and we were very close to a river. The camp itself was up in the mountains and a river ran straight through it. The view on the first night was amazing.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TFW5AiWDYq4/TZ2-35QlJuI/AAAAAAAABEI/JoKsNiEmH90/s1600/IMG_6501.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TFW5AiWDYq4/TZ2-35QlJuI/AAAAAAAABEI/JoKsNiEmH90/s400/IMG_6501.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592836179736471266" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Every single student in Thailand is a member of the scouts. It's a huge tradition out there and at my school every Thursday they would come into school in scout uniform, regardless of whether or no scout activities were going on.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><div>That night they had music and giant bomb fires and it was a late night making sure all the students had gone to bed. When I finally got into bed I fell straight to sleep.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>In the morning we all got up for breakfast and then had our 'activities' assigned to us. Groups of scouts moved between each activity, and they varied from individual challenges to team challenges. Before and after they began there was more scout chants to remember and some games to play. I was given a megaphone with one group, and checked to see what basic English action words they knew, like, sit down, stand up, jump, roll, ext.</div><div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DHgNMxhtomk/TZ23AWx6t7I/AAAAAAAABDo/ctB2y8fok-s/s400/IMG_6445.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592827529006856114" /></div><div>The activity I spent most of the day on was a rope line they had to walk along. But me and other teachers would kick at the rope, making it wobble back and forth, making it much more difficult. It was a lot of fun.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-710BwfSP5gA/TZ23AOSo2YI/AAAAAAAABDg/yLoc73M1_c4/s400/IMG_6462.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592827526728178050" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mMlxK5ya2vI/TZ22_-EMA6I/AAAAAAAABDY/yXKGZw6rZo4/s400/IMG_6446.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592827522372600738" /></div><div style="text-align: center;">In this picture we can see one of the teachers "attacking" one of the students with a type of Poison Ivy. Thailand once again giving the middle finger to health and safety...</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>In the afternoon I moved around to see all the activities, a few of which can be seen below...<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pOGdoC7xVVQ/TZ21emBd8jI/AAAAAAAABDQ/xPLd3ntWf1Q/s400/IMG_6467.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592825849471431218" /></div></div><div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IQDk2JrJtk0/TZ21ed6rkYI/AAAAAAAABDI/ssNvK-YDq5A/s400/IMG_6472.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592825847295480194" /></div><div><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kI01dqm1lUA/TZ21eHWG-jI/AAAAAAAABDA/VVj1znIwnR8/s400/IMG_6482.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592825841236507186" /></div><div><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gyNRSUDMMsg/TZ21dplRX2I/AAAAAAAABC4/niMc1tMLhRU/s400/IMG_6483.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592825833247039330" /></div><div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X7d2A0HFtkI/TZ21da2zYfI/AAAAAAAABCw/bszDPG9WXkA/s400/IMG_6484.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592825829294039538" /><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FaXoujBFNWM/TZ20q2lxTeI/AAAAAAAABCo/l7s1-EDMqiY/s400/IMG_6486.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592824960565464546" />Once that was over, and after dinner, there were more camp fires, more music and dancing, more fun. It was another good, but exhausting night. I again slept very well. The next day on Sunday morning there was more scout specific stuff that the teachers didn't really take much part in, it was a mass meeting all run by the staff who worked at the camp. While this was going on, I attacked the adventure-ness of the luxury part of the camp.<div><br />Paint-balling, abseiling, quad biking and then went for a swim to end the afternoon. There was no lunch, the camp started to empty and the students began to pile back into the coaches. Camp was over.<br /><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a8JOD7Cek6M/TZ20Q-T_b8I/AAAAAAAABCg/1N3V5v2WLY4/s400/IMG_6491.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592824515961778114" />I went back home with Ben. But this entire weekend had cost me nothing at all. I wanted to do something to say thanks. We were passing through an area that Ben boasted did the best steaks in Thailand.<br /><br />"I'll buy us a steak lunch."<br />"Okay!"<br /><br />It was a good steak. It really was. It was served with milk, and I think what Ben was trying to tell me, was the milk I was drinking came from the cow I was eating... if that was the case, wow! That's just so strange!<br /><br />We stopped off at some shops on the way back, and I didn't get home until the early evening. After my morning of charging around I was very tired. I had school first thing in the morning, so I had a chilled night working on lesson plans for the next few days and went to sleep nice and early.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11666690820278182275noreply@blogger.com0