I think this may be my last report from Thailand! I cant believe it! Its nearly over! I think I only have 6 weeks left of teaching left after tomorrow – I must say its a scary thought!
Since I last wrote, what has happened? SO MUCH!
Im not sure if the student trip to Pattaya was mentioned last time, but in January, a few teachers and several busloads of students voyaged down south on an entirely un-educational trip! We stayed in a temple, went banana boating, saw fish in an aquarium, visited the most barbaric and cruel zoo, followed by a much nicer one and generally had a fantastic time!
Last semester ended with much rejoicing on the part of my Form 6s who had their final exams and then were off into the big wide world, but not after a last day party! There was much singing, dancing, crying, signing of books and unlike back home, here everyone gave each other blessings, in the form of bits of string tied around wrists, often with sweets attached! The small bit I attended was a riot!
Earlier, in February, it was Valentines Day. Back home its always either be single and angry or coupled and smug, in general, over here there is such a difference! All day everyone was smiling and handing out sweets and chocolates to each other, one student even gave me an heart shaped turnip! I was planning to teach a nice Valentines lesson, but unfortunately it was also exam week, so instead I just gave my first finished students a sweet. Then I got mobbed by one class, who all finished extra quick to try and get a sweetie out of me!
Writing my first test was interesting. But I managed to make it do-able, without making it too easy, and different classes struggled/found different easy bits. Stopping them all cheating was impossible though! Id got through several near identical papers, but thats how they do exams here I guess, it was the same at the end of term in Mae Sai.
After exams, it was holiday time! Starting with a week in Phuket, Phi Phi and Phang Nga with most of the teachers from school. We had a great few days, snorkeling, shopping and sightsee-ing. The teachers are such good fun!
From there my partner, Naomi, and I went on to Krabi, whilst the teachers went back home to NaKae. Krabi was one of the highlights of my two months off. We spent our days making friends and boating off to see Railay Lagoon, monitor and monkey spotting, hot springing and even a 1,200 step trek up a hill to see a temple, with stunning views. Nothing compared to where Im from, but still pretty astounding!
From Krabi, we snaked our way back up north, catching in another 2 hill top temples at Prachuap Khiri Khan and Petburi; a fantastic night market; a specialist orchid market on the Burmese border; and even a market based on a railway line which had to be moved twice a day when trains came! That was amazing to see!
When we reached Bangkok, we met a friend of mine over for a two-week visit. It was so nice to see someone from back home and Naomi and I had planned a fantastic trip for him: Koh Tao, Kanchanaburi then Chiang Mai. There was a slight flaw in this: the floods. You mayve seen on the news that Southern Thailand was devastated by floods. At that time we were on Koh Tao. We were stuck there for a week! We got in one day of snorkeling, which was fantastic! We saw so much. We also got one day of waiting to be evacuated, being constantly told not to worry, wed get on the massive navy ship waiting in the bay, only to be sent back to our guesthouses at 6pm, 12 hours after wed arrived! 5days in all spent socializing and reading and getting soaking wet in the monsoon rains! I must say over the winter here, Id missed rain quite a lot. After that week I was thankful for anywhere dry!
We did get to Kanchanaburi and spent some time at the war museum, looking at the bridge on the river Kwae (Kwai is a misspelling) and then we went and had some fun at Seven Steps Waterfall! A stunning and delightfully cold series of falls, filled with many nibbly fish and surrounded by picnic stealing monkeys!
Here Naomi and I split up, and she went to spend Thai New Year back in NaKae, whilst I took Tom my second friend to visit, up to Laos for their version of the same festival. We spent two days getting drenched for good luck and soaking as many people as we could find! I want to bring this idea back home, although maybe not in April! It was so much fun! Also, seeing the sights of the Lao capital, such as their version of LArc De Triomphe and various temples, was amazing. It was great to be in a country where they have signs in two languages, neither of which are in English (Laos is an ex-French colony).
From Laos we went to Vietnam, going from the constant painful noise of Ha Noi to the calm jellyfish filled seas of Cat Ba Island to the historical (and Top Gear advertised) fortified city of Hué. We then headed back and when Tom left I went up to Chiang Mai, to a temple just outside the city, where I spent a week meditating. It was an unbelievable experience. Every day wake up at 4 am, breakfast at 6 am after chanting, lunch at 10.30 am after more chanting. The rest of the time was spent walking and sitting meditating. I am a rather fidgety person so it was fantastic for me! It really calmed me down. But also, by the end of it I was very much in need of physical exercise! And nicer food! On the third day of my stay, I had one of the most amazing experiences Ive had in Thailand. I was involved in a Buddhist ceremony involving everyone walking round a stupa and temple with candles, incense and lotus flowers. In the dark and the damp, the hundreds of people walking in white meditation dress lit only by the stupas fairy lights and candles, looked surreal. I was one of only a few non-Thais there and I felt so lucky that I had that chance.
Afterwards, in my last week, I visited both Chiang Mai and my old school in Mae Sai. Everyone seemed really pleased to see me and Ive been invited back before I leave!
Then it was back to NaKae to find wed been given the week off! This was rather lucky as our house needed a serious clean up! It appeared that mice and rats had taken over and the whole place was filthy! It was about 4 days before we could sleep there again, it was that bad, but now its wonderful. Were back teaching now – always good fun. My Form 6s keep not appearing as their main English teacher is on maternity leave and theyve been told they have no English lessons.
Anyway, thank you so much. I am really having a fantastic year, although I am looking forward to seeing all my family again! Its really been amazing so far.