Me, now in HD

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!

Don't forget there is a link to my channel with all my other episodes on the sidebar

School Prayers

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).

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.

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.

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.

The entire album can be found here

And the Vlog will be up this evening

An evening of architecture

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.

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.

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.

A busy BTS station

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).

The name of the exhibit

I didn't touch a drop

One of the people I was talking to, but I can't remember her name :/

Honest to god I didn't touch a drop!

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).

Check out the vlog for this here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzdBwZhM3-M

And suddenly it clicked

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.

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".

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.

Maybe my brain is starting to re-wire itself for the new language. Here's hoping!

Nakhon Nayok

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

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

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

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

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

My instructor doesn't look very impressed

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

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

"I don't know. Eat lunch."

"Where?"

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

"You can eat with us."

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

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

The view

Fanta and a bag of ice

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

Watching for birds

View down the telescope

I can capture flowers... not the birds

On the lookout

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

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

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

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

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

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

A busted laptop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Catching up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Settling In

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

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

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

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




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

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

The walkway to one of the rooms

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


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

Travelling Woes

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

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

At first people were not sure what was going on

The queue stretched back for miles and miles

This is a smooth opportunist!

You shall not pass!!

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

More Camping - Part 1, Hiking, Machetes and a Burning Forest

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.

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.

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.

The square

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.

This was actually one of the teachers from one of the other schools. A total Badass.

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.

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.

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.

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!

The hut behind me is where we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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.

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.

Into the hills to chop down some trees

Health and safety can take a back seat while this ten year old chops some stuff up!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Build up to New Year

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.