Exploring Siam Reap

Instead of spending the day at the temple I hired a bike for $2 and went riding in search of an orphanage my friend worked at last year somewhere in town. Somehow nobody seemed to know where it was and so I just rode and see if I could find it. I did not but it was great riding around seeing much of the countryside which only minutes outside the town changes dramatically. Even on the road to the airport many of the locals where staring at me and coming over to say hello as if they had never seen a white person before. I guess most of the visitors are in buses and cars on that section of the journey.
Again the sun was very hot and in the afternoon I decided to explore the Cambodian Cultural Village. A tourist attraction which is supposed to represent all parts of Cambodia in the park. It was probably one of the worst tourist attractions I have ever paid money to visit. It seemed like nobody was there as well. I did at one point stopped to have a photo with some Cambodians who wanted a photo with me but for the rest of the time there was not much reason to stop. I did not stay long and got back on my bike and rode into town.
In the evening I wandered through the same markets I had been through before only this time I stopped for a massage from a blind person. For $5 you can get an hour long massage from a blind person. I have never had a massage before and I had my eyes closed so it did not really make a lot of difference the masseuse was blind. Except that the masseuse on the next bed kept bumping my arm. It was a good experience and I was keen for another but never got around to it.
During the day of New Years Eve I visited a floating village and the Great Lake as they called it on a tour. The afternoon tour took me on a bus to the dock where I got on a boat for a tour through the floating villages. The standard of living is probably the worst I have ever seen and locals will row their boats to your boat to try and collect money. It’s hard to know when you are there what is for the tourists and what is legitimately how they live. The boat made it to the Tonle Sap Lake and the tour guide explained its significance before turning around back to the floating village. We stopped at a crocodile and fish farm. In a small pen there must have been thirty crocodiles, they are poor living conditions even for the crocodiles. After the boat trip we stopped at a former temple which was empty except for the school children who were using it to play hide and seek. I was very impressed and it was great to be able to see a temple so close to town without the crowds. Following the tour I had dinner with a Portuguese couple before returning to my room to get ready for the New Years Eve party.

Angkor Wat

One of the main reasons for me visiting Cambodia was to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. When I was ready to go to the temple I walked the streets and found a tuk tuk. The driver introduced himself to me as Lucky, he was lucky too because he was in the right spot at the right and got my money for the day. I paid Lucky $15 for the day to drive me around. I then paid $20 US to enter the Angkor Wat park and the first stop was Angkor Wat, the largest and most crowded of the temples and I dodged the crowds to climb up, walk around to view the different sections of the temple and see some of the carvings. I must admit I know nothing about the Angkor history therefore I was seeing the temple for how it looks rather than why it was actually built or what it represents.

Lucky was waiting for me as I left the temple having spent close to two hours exploring then just minutes down the road he stopped again at Bayon. I again spent a couple of hours checking out the temple and the surrounding temples. Bayon is famous for its smiling faces. There are tour guides who tell the history of the temples for only a small fee but I decided just to wander around at my own pace and listen in on the different guides.

After Bayon and the temples of Angkor Thom Lucky dropped me at the Ta Prohm, the temple I was most excited about visiting as the trees are still growing out of the temple. I spent another hour and half walking around the temple and found the two Americans I had shared the taxi with the day before and explored with them for a while. Ta Prohm is now known as the Tomb Raider temple as they used one scene filmed next to the tree in the film. Disappointingly Lara Croft was not there on the day I visited. It was my favourite temple of the day.

When I went to find Lucky he deliberately snuck into a small restaurant and the waiters all came out. 'Your driver is in here, come sit down and eat,' it's the little games they play to make you ate at their friends shop. I was happy to play along and sat down for some lunch.

It was getting to mid afternoon and I was beginning to have had enough so I got Lucky to drop me at one more temple the Banteay Kdei, where I explored for around half an hour before getting back in the tuk and tuk and heading for town. I was anticipating on spending a couple of days at the temples although by the end of the day I was sunburnt, exhausted and had been hassled by enough young children trying to sell me things that I decided not to return.

Entering Cambodia

The train was beginning to leave from the platform as I boarded it in the morning heading for the border town of Aranya Prathet where I would enter Cambodia. The school was closed for a week over the New Year period therefore I decided to use the time to see the town of Siam Reap and Angkor Wat. The border crossing from Aranya Prathet to Poipet on the Cambodian side can be a little dodgy with scams and the locals trying to get money off you for fake visas, luckily for me I met a Dutch guy on the train who had passed the border many times. The train pulled into the station and I followed the Dutch guy into a tuk tuk and he was able to convince the driver not to stop at the fake border, which does actually look like a border crossing to the unknowing tourist like I was.

Getting into Cambodia was quite simple in the end, I walked out of Thailand past all the large Casinos. Pokies are illegal in Thailand so the border has many Casinos. Then I entered Cambodia having purchased a visa for 800 Baht. A bus collects you from the border and drops you at the bus station and as I was doing all this the Dutch guy turned around to reenter Thailand as he was only there to renew his visa. I found a couple of other friendly Americans who were keen to share a taxi to Siam Reap as it is quicker and not much more expensive than the bus. I noticed as I got in the taxi that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Cambodia than in Thailand.


Cambodia use US Dollar for any purchase over $1 US, for everything smaller they use their own currency the Riel. At least that is how it works in Siam Reap, I am not too sure about the rest of Cambodia. Having been travelling almost 9 hours I made it to Siam Reap had some lunch/ dinner with the Americans before saying goodbye and went to find a place to stay. On the opposite side of the road to Pub Street there was a guesthouse offering rooms from $3 to $20 a night. I was showed a room with a double bed, hot shower and fan but the selling point was the television was showing highlights of the cricket in Melbourne. I was sold and sat down to watch before heading out again to explore more of the town.

Christmas at school

If you asked a student at St Louis what day Christmas was they would say the 26th of December as it was the day at school this year designated to eating loads of food and sharing gifts. As I walked into school the students were carrying armfulls of food. I had no job for the day so for the first couple of hours I sat around talking to the teachers while the students were working until 10am struck and the feast began.

I made an effort to visit every one of my year 5 and year 6 classes each with tables and tables full of food. Rice dishes, chicken, cakes, donuts and many other random combinations of food. For most of the day the primary school students sit around eating and playing games. In the afternoon I went to see how the secondary students spend the day. Again the classrooms were full of food and every one of them handing me a plate as I walked in. A couple of the classrooms though were completely blacked out and the students had set up huge speakers and were dancing around all day as if it was a nightclub. I joined for a short before sneaking out the door to see what else was going on. A huge jumping castle was set up and the children were bouncing all over it. Somehow they were able to jump on it and not get sick after all the food they had been eating.

That afternoon when I returned home I was so full and exhausted a layed in bed and hardly moved for the rest of the night.

I was up again the following morning for another day of Christmas celebrations at the school. I spent the first hour of so of the day putting fish into cups as the year 5 teachers were selling small pet fish. It's quite common at fairs in Thailand for fish to be sold. There was also a small pond in a plastic container set up where the students pay 10 Baht and are giving a small stick with tissue paper stuck to the end in a ring and the students have to try catch as many fish before the tissue paper gets wet and therefore destroyed.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the school seeing everything which was going on. Every year level had a different set up games and raffles for the students to play. There was also a stage designated to dancing, one for singing and one for a fashion parade. It's something I am fairly sure you would never see at a school in Australia.

The students all left and the teachers were allowed to leave at 4pm. Thirty minutes earlier than usual in order to get home get changed and return for the teachers Christmas Party. The party took place on the edge of the river with free beer and a five course meal. Many of the teachers went on stage to perform in well rehearsed dances and karaoke. Later in the night presents were shared, I was part of the foreigner Secret Santa and received a very good Thai shirt from one of the Phillipino teachers. I can wear the shirt on Thai dress Monday. Following the Secret Santa, the Brothers handed out presents to all the teachers. I got a new pink shirt and new sport uniform.

At about 10pm we all sang 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' before a firework display and as soon as the fireworks were done everybody left in a hurry. I continued on to a pub in Chachoengsao with some of the other teachers as a five day Christmas celebration came to an end.

It's Christmas, it's Christmas Day

For the second time in three years I was celebrating Christmas overseas away from my family. For the first time though I was celebrating in a country where Christmas is not
celebrated and not a public holiday. Luckily Christmas Day fell on a Sunday which meant everybody had the day off work. Most likely I would have had the day off work anyway as I teach at a Catholic School. The Thais go about their daily routine as if it was any other day. I saw this for myself as I walked the streets early in the morning. It was just the same as any other Sunday.

I was invited to spend the day with a few of the foreign teachers at one of my co teachers houses. She wanted people around to remind her it was Christmas Day as she lives with her Thai faincees and his family. As we celebrated Christmas inside around the Christmas tree the Thai family celebrated a sixteenth birthday. Thailand is very much a Buddhist nation therefore Christmas does not play a major part in there lives.

The day was spent eating more food, opening more presents and playing pass the parcel. Fun times although by early in the evening I was exhausted and got a lift home before going to sleep before 9pm.

Twas the day before Christmas

Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, roast vegetables and plenty of whisky. Christmas Eve in Chachoengsao for me was spent eating loads of delicious food, drinking loads of whisky and playing hours and hours of Mario Kart on the Wii. I spent the afternoon and evening at a friends house and enjoyed Christmas Eve together complete with a Christmas quiz and even a Secret Santa. I recieved an 'Ultraman' pillow which is now on my bed.
It was a great way to celebrate Christmas with my new friends in Chachoengsao

A Christmas Carol

On Christmas Eve Eve I was invited to join a crew of falangs who were gathering together to sing Christmas carols on the banks of the river in Chachoengsao. I joined them thinking it would be a good laugh and bring a bit of Christmas cheer to the locals. The river bank was full of people all posing for photos by the large Christmas tree and other decorations. As we gathered together with our Christmas hats on to begin singing a crowd of close to 200 formed around us all watching and listening and looking confused as to what we were trying to do. What we were trying to do was sing Christmas carols and raise a bit of money for flood relief. The longer we sang the more the crowd dispersed which was not a good sign. All in all though we had fun, made a bit of money for the flood relief and made a good story for all the Thais who probably went to tell their friends about the crazy white people singing by the river.

A falang story

This is an example of why it is fun being a falang (white foreigner) in Chachoengsao:

The other night as I returned home from dinner I was stopped by a Thai guy I met the other week at a thanksgiving party. The guy was working in his comic book libraray shop and I went in had a chat with him for about ten minutes before saying goodbye to leave. As I said goodbye he offered me an ice cream from the freezer he had at the front of his shop. I accepted and stood eating the ice cream. Because the falang (me) was eating ice cream the hairdresser next door came out for one and so too did the person whose hair she was cutting. Then the three street vendors beside stopping cooking and came over to have an ice cream with me. It really is like being a celebrity sometimes and just for being white.
My friend whose shop I was at the front of then insisted he ride me home on his motorbike even though it was only a three minute walk so I climbed on the back of the bike and he drove me to my door. I returned the following night for an ice cream.

A long weekend in Mae Hong Song

'Neung, sorng, sahm,' its one, two, three in Thai and whenever Thais take photos they count it out before they take a photo.
Photo next to a tree, photo next to a sign, photo next to a river, photo eating food. I spent the whole weekend on my trip to the north of Thailand posing for photos. I was on a tour in a van in the Mae Hong Son region in far North West corner of Thailand, almost on the border of Myanmar. I had booked the tour through a teacher at the school who told me the trip was going to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
Turned out the trip was not going to either of those places but I had a great weekend exploring a part of Thailand I never thought I would get too. Mae Hong Son is actually famous for being so difficult to get to. The road which from the outskirts of Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son has 1864 curves. There are t-shirts and all sorts of gifts with 1864 on it. I slept for most of the drive as we left school at 8pm and drove through the night.
The trip stopped a couple of times at a river, pine forest and cave and as I said plenty of photos were taken. For basically the whole trip I did not know where our next stop would be and on the first day ended up at the Kayan long necked tribe. The women had the coils around their necks which depress their collarbone and rib cage to make their necks look long. The women are refugees of Burma and the town is now a tourist attraction. Being a falang I had to pay 250 Baht to get in while the Thais all got in for free.
The first night we stopped at Mae Hong Song and I spent the night exploring the night market before drinking whisky with the van drivers and some of the other people on the tour. The van driver must have been awake for twenty hours in a row had a few hours sleep before getting back in the bus again.

The second day of the trip was spent visiting temples. I am fairly sure you cannot take a tour in Thailand without visiting a temple. We also stopped at a couple of lookouts again for a photo shot at one point I was offered a free coffee if I posed for a photo with the Thai girl who was serving. I was more than happy to pose. Lunch stop was in Pai and at the end of the day we were again in Pai. I still did not know where the tour was going. Luckily there was a Thai teacher on the bus who was a very good translator and order food for me so I ate something other than chicken and rice.

The Pai night market is extremely popular for Thais at this time of year and the town was abuzz. There was a quite a contrast between Pai in the day and Pai at night. I did not even realised we were in the same town until I saw the same signs. Another night drinking whisky beside the river followed the night market and it was a great laugh.

The final day of the tour was a long drive back to Chachoengsao through the mountains stopping briefly for food and a couple of touristy markets. We also stopped in Lampang for a quick walk through another temple. Lampang is known as horse and cart city, as you could probably guess it’s because of the horse and carts which the Thais seemed happy to pose next to for photos but not actually sit inside.

Back to Chachoengsao after three full on days of exploring some of the most magnificent parts of Thailand. I had a great time but may have to try and book again on a tour going to Chiang Mai.

Kanchanaburi

Fireworks exploding from the carriage of a train, planes flying overhead dropping fireworks onto the Bridge, boys being marched across the Bridge. I was watching the sound and light show on the Bridge over River Kwai which including a reenactment of the war, it was an extravagant display. For the most part forty five minute show was commentated in Thai but I was able to work out what was going on by what was happening around.

Kanchanaburi was the weekend stop for me for the Kings Birthday long weekend. Seven of us in total went to visit the sights of the town in the west of Thailand. Its two most famous icons being the Death Railway Bridge (The Bridge over River Kwai) and the seven steps waterfall at the Erawan national park. Our first night in town we went to the bridge to watch the light show only we arrived too late and it the show was finished. Instead we found a huge carnival/ festival similar to the one in Chachoengsao only much larger. I had a photo taken with a giant python, had my first taste of grubs and went on a large Ferris wheel.

The following day was spent at the Erawan national park and as it was the long weekend the falls were full of tourists. The seven steps refer to the seven different levels of the waterfall each with its own uniqueness. I only swam at level two and by the time I reached level five I was getting very hungry so I left everybody and made my way quickly to the six and seventh level before quickly getting back to the car park eating some food and getting on the bus back to town. The falls were magnificent and quite a highlight of my time in Thailand although there were other things to see in Kanchanaburi.

The town has a few war cemeteries and many war museums. I was able to have a good walk through the Kanchanaburi war cemetery which is full of graves of Australian, British and Dutch soldiers who died during World War II. I was also able to visit the Thailand- Burma Railway centre where I started chatting to an Austrian backpacker then went for a beer with him before returning to the guest house on the river to meet the rest of the group who were just getting back from the falls.

Nobody else was interested in going to see the light show which was probably a good thing as any viewing point around the Bridge was packed with people and throughout the show it felt like I was in a mosh pit. For me it wasn't an issue because I was a foot taller than everybody else so I was able to see clearly. At the end of the show I found the rest of the group at a pub and began a big night drinking.

For a city so busy with tourists there was not a lot happening in the bars so we found reggae bar and sat drinking for most of the night.

The following morning we returned to the Bridge to see it in the daylight before returning on a van to Bangkok and made our way back to Chachoengsao from there. It meant the end of an enjoyable weekend with a variety of exciting activities

The Kings Birthday

King Bhumibol, the King of Thailand is a highly regarded man in this country therefore his birthday is a big deal. His birthday is a national holiday and so to celebrate the school held events on the Friday prior to commemorate his birthday. All the students formed lines on the football field and offered gifts to the Monks who came to the school for the occassion. Later in the day a Catholic service was held which I attended. Church services do not make a lot of sense to me when in English, when the whole service was in Thai as it was I had no chance of knowing what was happening. A few hymns and prayers and it was done. I did have to teach one class for the day after the morning classes were cancelled due to the services.
All teachers were required to stay at the school for a candlelight ceremony after sunset which was also not too long. The fireworks at the end actually made it worth the waiting around. As soon as we were allowed to leave the school I went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate a birthday, again all you can eat for 129 Baht which was followed by a visit to the Sun.Moon pub and my first visit to Dome nightclub.

Bangkok. Good time city.

‘It’s all fun and games until somebody gets arrested. Then the party continues.’

A large night out of drinking on Khao San Road was the plan of attack for the weekend and it worked. I made my way to Bangkok early Saturday morning on the train which arrived at the main train station. From the station I needed to get to the MBK the main shopping centre so I jumped on the back of a taxi motorbike. Less than ten minutes later having riding through the middle of restaurants and peoples houses I was at the MBK and found my friends.
I was a shock to the system to see so many white people and hearing English spoken everywhere. I wasn’t sure I really liked it. Drinking seemed the better option than shopping headed to Khao San Road and started drinking. It was the start of a long night.
I was on Khao San Road to celebrate an interns birthday it also happened almost half of the 95 interns were also in Bangkok for the night to party hard. Lucky Beer was the bar of chose to relive the memories of our previous visit to the road. All was going well until one of the interns knocked a laptop off the table inside the bar and was arrested.
The police are now 30 000 Baht richer with that fee being the price they set for his release from the police station at one end of Khao San Road. It’s a dodgy place Bangkok and it was on show Saturday night. He was released and the night continued although I had no interest in going to ‘The Club’, the only club on Khao San Road so instead went to back to the hostel I had found just off the road and went to sleep.
The following day I walked up and down Khao San Road watching it slowly come back to life. Drunk men and women continued to drink while people like myself where trying to have breakfast. Throughout the morning the rest of the interns woke and stories from the night the before were shared before everybody left in opposite directions across Thailand back to where they live.

More photos of sports day

Clowning around

When I was told the school would be having a sports day I turned up to school expecting a sports day. On arrival I found hunndreds of students in elaborate costumes all wandering the school. Students dressed as pirates, mummies, princesses a couple of wedding dresses and some clowns all gathered on the basketball court to begin a parade through the streets of Chacoengsao. The parade lasted well over an hour and was followed by an opening ceremony complete with a marching band and even a torch runner who lit the couldran. The opening ceremony lasted another hour then the sports began with a running race. I was waiting for the rest of the sports to start but running is the only event of the day. The students from the parade stood in their team colours and started cheerleading which did not stop all day. In 35 degree hot sunshine the students in full costumes danced all day while some running races took place.
Hours after starting the day the races stop and the cheerleaders of the six different teams compete against each other to decide who has the best routine. The ten minute routines were all perfectly timed and the rest of the students in the stands cheer on their cheerleaders. Following the cheerleading competition there was a teacher versus teacher race which I volunteered to run in which the students all thought was hillarious being so tall against the short Thai teachers.
The Thais were quick off the mark and I was unable to catch them in the 80 metres. The race was run twice due to a false start and then they asked me to run again as part of a relay. I only signed on for the one race but was worn out after the three races.
Day one of the sports was for the high school students the following day was for the primary school students. At the very end of the high school activities the rest of the foreign teachers and I were invited to be a part of the parde only if we were at school at 6am the following morning.
The next day we got to school at 6am not knowing what we were in for. The red team had pulled out some clown costumes and informed us it was what we would be wearing in the parade. Ok, why not all for a bit of fun. I paraded the streets dressed as a clown along with many of the other foreign teachers. Where we live is right behind the school therefore all the people whose restaurants we eat at were lining the streets watching the parade pass by. I must have been in at least a thousand photos. Every student and every teacher wanted a photo with the teacher dressed as a clown. One more, one more is what we heard all morning.
Luckily the majority of the teachers don't have to do anything on sports day so I wandered around not doing anything for the day. The primary school event was the same as the high school with a few running races in between the hours and hours of cheerleading.
At the end of the day they again had a teacher versus teacher race only this time it was foreigner versus foreigner. Luckily there were no false starts because I won and was very sore at the end I am not sure I could have ran again. For the win I got to stand on the podium and got presented a medal in front of the whole school. Its now a very cool momento I hang in my room.

A tourist in my own city

Having spent almost a month touring Thailand and stopping to rest in Chachoengsao it was now time to see what the city had to offer. Therefore I spent a weekend as a tourist in my own city with the first stop being a restaurant for dinner. As we sat to eat the waiter lit the fire in the middle of our table and put a cooking plate over the top.
We had choosen without knowing an all you can eat barbeque where you help yourself to food then cook it yourself. The couple on the table next to us were trying to have a quiet meal together but ended up spending half their night helping us cook our food. We were able to work it out and had some large helpings of food. The barbeque only costs 89 Baht per person all you can eat (about $3 Australian) but if you help yourself to food then do not eat it they charge you 50 baht per piece of food.
A visit to Sun. Moon the local hangout for the farangs followed dinner which is a comfortable bar and got spot to sit and talk. Only problem is its not really local from where we live.
The following morning I got on a songtheaw (small bus) outside my apartment to find out where it went and ended up at the Wat Sothorn the main large temple in the city and the most popular tourist destinations in the city. I think the outside of the building is more impressive than the inside. The temple is surrounded by markets selling items which people leave behind in the temples as offerings.
After the visit to the temple I walked the streets passing about twenty hairdressers. If felt it was a sign I needed my haircut, I had been nervous about getting it cut as every man in Thailand has the same short back and sides army cut. I found what I thought was the most professional looking ie. Not in a kitchen and got my hair cut. The lady took me into a back room washed my hair about four times, gave me a full shoulder, head and neck message then actually cut my hair. No reason to be nervous it looked quite good.
A return visit to Sun.Moon as I was all set to experience the city nightclub I received a call to say Tim the Aussie I live with was in a hospital in Pattaya and needed his passport and insurance details. It’s a good thing we have joining rooms and I was able to get in there and tell them to him.
Sunday morning I spent a couple of hours at the Banmai Market again one of the main tourist spots in Chachoengsao before exploring many more of the markets in the city.
Monday is was back to school to begin another week.

Schools in

'Good morning teacher' the class said as one as I stood at the front. It was then when I realised I was a teacher. Following months of waiting and preparation I was now a teacher. It was also then I realised I was not at all prepared. I began with what I knew, introducing myself. 'Hello. My name is Dylan.'
'Diran,' the class replied. 'Dylan' I said again. 'Diran' the class again replied. The Thais struggle to pronounce the letter 'L' so for as long as I am in Thailand I will be 'Teacher Diran.' Each lesson a Thai teacher will be in the classroom, controlling the class, translating any English into Thai the students do not understand or doing whatever else they want. We were told we would not be teaching on the first day only observing. For the first ten minutes of my first class there was no other teacher in the room and I was hoping I was actually in the correct place. Luckily I had a ball in my bag and used it to throw around the class getting the students to introduce themselves. Each of the students have an English nick name although I am unsure whether the students were using their real names or nick names it was so difficult to understand them.
My Thai assistant arrived and I let her take the class although she had obviously not been told I was only there to observe for the day and took a while to comprehend what was going on. She did take over the class but taught a very boring and irrelevant class where the students had to translate English words into Thai from copying the board.
I decided I would teach the rest of the classes for the day. The first day of school was a Tuesday which also happened to be my busiest day of the week with six periods out of seven teaching.
At the end of the class I went back to the office and had about ten minutes to prepare a lesson plan for a class of students with no idea what level their English was. The second lesson was much more successful than the first. I asked the students 'how did you get to school this morning' and 'what did you do on the holidays.' By the final lesson I felt I actually taught a good lesson. I am teaching primary school years five and six and I discovered there is quite a difference in the two levels as to their level of English.
Day two was similar to the first spending the lessons introducing myself and getting the students to talk about themselves. In the first week of classes there was some confusion as to which classes I was teaching when. For the final class I was due to teach on my second day the class was also due to go to music but the teacher for music never turned up. I spent the whole 50 minutes standing outside the classroom with the students as my Thai assistant teacher was chatting me up and getting the students to ask me questions about myself for her own good.
Following the first couple of days I had a good feeling about teaching in Thailand so I was looking forward to the rest of the semester. I did have to go back to my place and sleep though.

Elephants and ladyboys in Surin

Thirty seconds after stepping off the bus in Surin Tim and I spotted the first elephant. The city is famous for its elephants so it was not a surprise to see one, I did not expect to see one so quickly though. The elephants are lead through the streets by handlers who try and get bystanders to pay money to feed them. The elephants are trained to take the food out of people’s hands and then bow when the bag is empty. It is cruel for the elephants to be lead around as they are but I was still impressed to see such a large animal walking the streets.
Tim and I were in Surin to catch up with the interns who were working in the city and after spending almost twelve hours on public transport to get there it was great to see some of the guys at the pub near their accommodation. The majority of the interns had begun work as most of the schools were uneffected by the floods although some of the interns still were not placed at schools. Therefore Tim and I went and spent the day with those who did not have jobs as we went to visit a waterfall.
A minivan had been organised to get everyone to the waterfall again though the driver did not know where he was going and probably stopped six or seven times along the drive to get directions. We did arrive at a waterfall, not sure its the when we had set out for or not it was difficult to know. The ten or so of us at the waterfall went exploring up and down the river to try find the best spot. At one point a snake swam past a couple of the crew and they launched out of the water. I looked around to see possibly the worlds smallest snake.
Following the day at the waterfall we began drinking. It was the night of Loi Krathong. One of the biggest festivals in Thailand, I wasn't sure where the events would be taking place and ended up missing out on the best part of the night where Thais send small boats floating down rivers. I was disappointed to miss out on the fun but continued partying and headed out to see what a night out in Surin consisted of.
The Jar Bar was the first stop to listen to some Thai raggae music and a pretty good version of some Bob Marley songs. The night then took us to the club opposite. Thai clubs are full of tables which people stand around and drink. The music is to loud to talk and the tables too close together to dance. As we entered the club the locals all offer you a drink which is usually whisky and soda water. Not the easiest drink to get down but its rude not to accept.
The club was a warm up to Speed 3 the huge club in Surin and a regular spot for the interns. The club is set up the same with tables all over the dance floor and the locals just standing around. The most memorable part of the night was spotting the ugliest looking lady boys I have ever seen, they all came to try dance with the white people but the breasts on a man with a beard are hard to look at.
The following day it was time to sit around a pool. The last week or so for me seemed to go pool, waterfall, beach, beach, pool, waterfall, pool. A pretty easy life in other words. I did leave the poolside for a couple of hours though to check out Surins festival which was in preparation for the elephant festival which was due to take place the following weekend. The festival in Surin seemed to be selling the same things as the one in Chachoengsao with the same show rides and games.
Drinking again and a return to the Jar Bar and Speed 3 was how we spent what became our final night in Surin. It was a Friday night so those who had been teaching for the week were all out drinking. It was great catching up with the friends I had made in Bangkok and hear their stories of teaching.
It was slow movements the following morning and I decided it was time to get back to Chachoengsao to prepare for school. The final day was spent walking the streets of Surin then searching for a couple of hours to find the bus station to book some tickets out of there. The overnight bus to Bangkok was much quicker than the journey there, the bus head reclining seats and gave all passengers food. I was very cold though the whole night as they pump the air condition and set the bus to 19 degrees, much cooler than the outside temperature.
I was back in Chachoengsao early Sunday morning to be ready to go into school on the Monday morning and start school on the Tuesday. Back in Chachoengsao some of the farangs were hosting a BBQ and I went along and met the majority of the farangs in the city including those I would be working with.

Festival time in Chachoengsao

Chachoengsao hosts an annual festival in the park which kicked off for real the night we returned to the city. I have no idea the reason for the festival or what it was called but the city comes out in force for the week or so of activities. Many of the stalls were set up over a week before the event was due to start and we had visited but now as it was in full swing the crowds were larger and all sorts of things were going on.
Stall holders at the festival were selling anything including popcorn, a car, a snake, a dressed up rabbit and many other crazy food items. Music was blaring out of speakers throughout the park. I went to the festival on at least four different occasions and still didn't feel like I saw everything. There were many clothing stalls selling good looking cheap clothes although none of them fitted me. There are not many six foot three Thais.

Yacht clubs and Boys town in Pattaya

Taxi drivers in Thailand don't often know where they are going and it was the case as we left Ban Phe the port where the Ko Samet ferry returns to the mainland. Tim, Karen and I were trying to get to the Royal Veruna Yacht Club in Pattaya. The taxi driver had no idea what we were talking about and I figured if we just reached the coast we would find it. Turns out Pattaya is a large city and the yacht club is hiding in a secret spot nobody really knows about. We were at the sailing club for Tim to try and sail being a keen sailer back in Perth.
The sailing club is a little oasis away from the hustle and bustle and craziness which is Pattaya. Sitting inside the club looking out over the water and the yachts I could have been anywhere in the world. Members of the club come from all over the world and while at the club Thailand seemed worlds away. Once Tim had organised a sail for the following day it was time to enter the real Pattaya.
Pattaya is world famous for its sex tourism and you do not have to look far to find evidence of it. Our first stop after the sailing club was Walking Street, the sign reads 'Walking Street- International Meeting Street.' Its full of go-go bars and nightclubs but was pretty well empty as we walked the stretch of it in the early afternoon. I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about till we reached the beach and girls were waiting on the footpath waiting to get taken away by a male. I have seen hookers before in Melbourne, San Fransisco, Paris and other parts of the world but never as obvious as here in Pattaya. It did creep me out a bit.
I was not in Pattaya for the sex, the three of us were in the city to catch up with a crew of interns who were placed at a school in Bang Lamung, which is just outside the Pattaya border. They were out on an island for the day and so we waited till they returned before we all went out to dinner. Following dinner one of the guys took us all to Boys Town. The gay section of Pattaya. If it wasn't already full on enough walking through that street was quite a shock as all the guys sit in the bars facing the street watching the passing men. I did actually think it was funny how much attention we were getting from the Thai males. The costumes though in some of the clubs stopped me well short of the door.
The following morning on the Sunday after our gay night out the Bang Lamang crew had to go into school to be introduced to the parents of the students they are teaching. Then it was time to visit a local pool. The pool is part of a hotel and patrolled by guards but the guards seem to like the girls so we were able to swim for the day without having to pay our get kicked out.
Monday morning when the teachers had to go to school again Tim, Karen and I made our way back to Chachoengsao. Pattaya is the most popular tourist destination in Thailand, it would not top my list as one of the best places in the country. I did need to see it though for myself and I may return soon to experience it again.

Paradise island, almost

A speedboat in the cover of darkness dropped us on Ko Samet to begin a couple of days and three nights of lazing around in the day and partying at night. The white sand beaches, warm water and island entertainment make it almost paradise.
Ko Samet is an island I knew nothing about before arrival, the Russians and Eastern Europeans clearly know about the island though they are everywhere. Luckily the guesthouse we were told about was away from the central beach where the majority of the speedboats land on the island. The guesthouse was nothing more than timber shacks with mosquito nets covering the beds. It was basic but cheap and a style of accomodation I wasn't sure you could still find in Thailand.
The island doesn't come to life till late afternoon and then it steps up a gear at night as the beaches are converted into bars and the fire displays begin. Boys as young as ten were demonstrating their fire twirling skills while hundreds of people watched on.
On the weekends there is also Mauy Thai (Thai Boxing) in the ring in front of the guesthouse we were staying in. I am glad I did not pay the big money to see it in Phuket, I did get a feel for what it was like and had watched enough by the fourth of fifth fight. Again boys as young as ten were in the ring fighting each other.
A couple of days was enough to relax and laze around by then I was ready to move on so I got back to the mainland Thailand on a ferry with Tim and Karen and made our way to Pattaya.