Trunking it...

Yep, I have finally fulfilled my dream of riding an elephant. Was it everything I hoped it would be? Was it the relaxing, exotic experience photos would have you believe? Hell no. When you ride a horse your bum hurts, when you ride something 5 times the size, I can't even begin to tell you what hurts! Let's face it, safety isn't exactly prime in Thailand and what you get to ride an elephant on is a perfect example. First, you have to stand on the elephant to get into the seat - bit of a weird feeling, the elephant didn't even flinch mind, and the seat is open. This is fine when you are thudding about on flat ground - the sway from side to side alone though is something, but when you start to go downhill, you have nothing to hold onto but the seat and there is nothing to hold you in. You are also pretty high up and I actually didn't enjoy it to begin with. Of course, we got the elephant who wasn't particularly in the mood to take us for a spin so he was hard to control and then once we got into the river he started eating and it took yonks to get him out of
there. Going through a river on an elephant is an experience that is for sure. There is this loud whooshing of water like two huge boats are being dragged through the water, thankfully the elephant didn't decide to spray us in any way, he was way too hungry. Eventually the elephant settled and it was a nice ride, some people were talking about having been swimming with elephants and we saw some other people doing that, but I'm not sure I'd go that far. Sitting on the back of an elephant whilst he plunges into the water with nothing to hold on to might be taking my elephant obsession a bit far and a bit dangerous, but who knows, it might still happen.
We actually stayed on the river this time. Yep, a raft room which was pretty cool. In order to get to go on an elephant ride we had to go on a guided day trip, with other people and everything. You can imagine profuse delight. Nothing makes me happier than being trundled around in a minivan with a bunch of tourists all day long. Ahh happy days. At 8am we were taken to the famous Erawan waterfalls. They are really beautiful but so much so that they almost look false. The river is a bright green colour, almost luminous and the stone is all shiny and smooth. There are seven waterfalls at various gradients up the hill and of varying heights. I felt hard going up to the top one because Mark was suffering from the heat and at the moment, I find it really cool, in fact almost cold at night. I was banned from skipping up the steps. One could say I was rubbing it in, but moi? surely not. You can swim in the river which was really nice. The fish kept biting my feet so it lost it's charm after a while.
After lunch, we rode the elephant, went on a bamboo raft down the river and then headed to the bridge over the river Kwai. The train had broken down so we couldn't go across it, obviously I was gutted, but no, they put us on a kiddy train and we went along the tracks for 5 minuits, then turned round and came right back, oh, I was rapturous with joy I couldn't contain myself. Really. Oh and this is a random picture I decided to stick in, Tuesday the 5th was the King's birthday so everyone, including myself, was out in their yellow King shirts. this is wahat it looked like on the boat we were on.
After a day like that I began to regret our previous afternoon languishing at the spa, we should have done it the other way round! Elephant riding makes you hurt in the strangest places. Last week, Mark and a couple of friends of mine went to Samet for the weekend which was fabulous and now he is down in Phi Phi due to return on Thurs for my weekend. I, however am already on holiday! Taught my last class last night, God it felt great to say "see you in 2007!" I was so unusually happy my students kept giving me funny looks. Jist thought I'd slip in a quick pic of the view from my balcony - isn't it great? On Sunday I head to Manila and can't wait! Am sure will have lots to tell. Happy Christmas to you all, hope you have a great time!

Tales from two cities (part 2)

So where was I? ah yes, water puppets. This is precisely how it sounds. Puppets in/on the water. This is supposed to be an ancient Northern Vietnamese cultural thing and a must-see. We booked tickets and off we went. It was in a small theatre with a pool of murky green water at the front with some scenery around it. It all started off with some plinky-plonky Vietnamese music and out came 'the narrator' of the story, a little wooden man with pigtails his arms sloshing about - it was all in Vietnamese I have no idea what he said. It looked weird and the puppet didn't do much and quite frankly I started to snigger. The dragon fight was cool though. The 'man playing the flute on a water buffalo' was scintillating stuff and has to be said the mating dances of the phoenix where they danced for a really long time then even produced an egg, followed by a chick was pure puppetry genius. These people stand in this murky water for hours doing this show. Apparently they are now forced to wear waders because they used to get all sorts of parasites and disease from standing in the water that long. It smells that water I can tell yo. Don't know why they don't put clear water in with food colouring rather than murky stuff from the lake, but whatever.
Vietnam was great though, and I'd go back again in a heartbeat. Upon returning from there and recovering from the shock of being back at work, I had the privilege of being invited to celebrate the Czech national day with the Czech ambassador and the 50 other Czech and Slovak people in Bangkok. I got excited by the prospect of Czech beer and indeed they had some. The woman wandering around with the drinks tray kept trying to give me red wine and looked at me funny when I insisted on having beer but I wasn't going to pass it up!
It was a very posh do, complete with Czech flag ice statues. The Ambassador and co. were all standing in a line at the entrance and you had to shake their hands and introduce yourself on the way in. Weird. There were lots of people there, many who weren't even Czech. We couldn't find the two people we knew would be there when we arrived so we thought we would try and mingle. We got some finger food and saw a guy standing on his own so we thought we would join him. He was Italian and really nice, we were having a fun conversation and eventually after about 20 minutes I decided to ask him what his job was and he replied "Oh, I am the Italian consul at the Embassy here in Bangkok" aarrgh! Should have been one of my first questions really before I started shooting the shit with him. Never mind, he was really nice and we soon found our friends and made our excuses.
Other than that the night went fairly smoothly, the Czech ambassador made a speech in which it was revealed that the current King of Cambodia actually speaks Czech as he studied ballet in Prague, as you do. After the speech we had the joyous entertainment of school children trying unsuccessfully to dance in sync to some horrendously inappropriate tune for their age. The highlight of the evening being the absolute treat that was the guy playing the Czech national anthem on wine glasses, followed of course by the Thai national anthem and then just in case you had just realised that you simply couldn't live without the whine of wine glasses we also got the King's favourite tune played to us. ahhh happy times. Hob-nobbing clearly has it's down sides! It was a nice night though. Have finally made a decision on what I will do for Christmas and I am going to the Philippines - yay! Volcanoes, natural spas, the smallest monkey in the world, mountains, beaches, can't wait. shall take lots of photos. My mate Mark arrives on Monday and I shall finally be off to fulfill my dream of riding an elephant with him so you have that to look forward to...

Tales from two cities (part 1)

I started this entry last week but it is getting so huge that I am going to have to split it.
Well aware that I'm slacking on my posts but things have been a bit busy recently. End of term always brings the deluge of tedious report writing - who is this kid I am writing about? and testing "no, I said NO cheating" and far too much paper-pushing - now where did I put that form? oh, I pushed it into the bin, must get another one. And then come the holidays - yay!
We decided to go to Vietnam this time. My grandfather was born in Hanoi so I wanted
to check the place out. I only had 5 days off work so there wasn't much time to travel but we still got a good idea of the place. Coincidentally a couple of our mates were heading out there so we met up in a Hanoi for a few days. Hanoi was everything I expected it to be and more. It is one of the best places I have been to in a long time. One major bonus was that it was a lot cooler than BKK and so it was a lot more pleasant to wander round during the day. It also actually has pavements, which makes exploring all the easier.

As you can see Hanoi is made up of higgledy piggledy houses that are really thin but really tall. They look really cool. It was nice to be in a city that had a European feel to it for a change. Of course, the French food and cakes were a great bonus!







The first day we were there we went in search of the golden tortoise. Legend has it he resides in the lake protecting some sort of sword. What did we find? A bloated, floating dead rat. At least they have a real giant, golden tortoise on display just so you know what you are looking for!



After our fruitless expedition, a sorrow healing creme caramel, off we set for my favourite conversation of the trip. We walked round the lake and on the way we happened upon a city map we thought we'd check out and see what was in the area. Soon enough along came a very happy looking guy in a light orange unifrom:

EP (excited policeman): Hello, I'm a policeman, may I help you?
Me: No, it's ok thanks we're just looking
EP: Oh, please let me help you (grin)
Me: Ok then, what is this big thing on the map, just down the road? we can't find it on the legend.
EP: Ah yes, go 300M and turn left.
Me: yes, I can see that, but WHAT is it?
EP: Yes, go straight, cross road, round corner and turn left.
Me: fabulous. What...is...it?
EP: or 300m straight and second left.
Me: excellent! Thank you so much for telling me what I had deduced from staring at the map myself, I shall now just walk 300m and turn left and answer my own question.

We found, this:

A whopping great cathedral. Haven't seen one of them in a while. Let's go in! Walk in and think to myself, hmm, nice church, erm, why is the priest holding a microphone? and what are those two people doing standing rather stoically at the top of the aisle? uh-oh. It's their wedding -out! out! out! Joy. Oh well, noone seemed too bothered and I swear the couple sitting in the front pew wearing bermuda shorts and sunhats were not part of the invited congregation. Noone stopped us from going in is all I have to say. We spent the rest of the afternoon bimbling and drinking incredibly good Vietnamese coffee - one sip will get you charged for at least 8 hours. Great stuff.

However, bimbling can sometimes be tough when you try and cross the road and are met with things like this:


this:





and this:



It's certainly interesting crossing the road and looking out onto it! But really, it doesn't feel that dangerous because as long as you walk slowly and with purpose they go round you so actually it is quite fun, though to be fair, I may have been the only person in our group that found it fun.

Was very excited to try the beer as had read in the guide book that the brewing process was introduced to them by the Czechs. Bia Hoi is a beer that you can drink on the street on little stools (they are quite fond of little stools it is like being in Kindergarten again) and it is the grand sum of 5p/10cents a pint so who wouldn't be excited to try it? It didn't quite live up to my expectations and it was bordering on a surreal experience sitting so low to the ground at a little table with what felt like giant waiters serving me. All other Vietnamese beer though was really good. At midnight the fun police come out and drive around in a van with speakers and chase people back into theirs homes before we all turn into pumpkins. People scatter about like rats and cyclo and taxi drivers scoot off only to return as soon as the police have turned their attention onto other party people around the corner.

We went to check out the Hanoi hilton. Found the sign outside quite interesting.

Well aware tha

After trying our hardest to refrain from frolicking in the prison we set off to see Uncle Ho. Unfortunately, he was on his yearly restoratative holiday in Russia so he wasn't in. We got to look at the mausoleum (I was disappointed, it has to be said, we missed him by 8 days) and also his residence. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of official looking buildings which could have been customs houses where my great-grandfather worked. I think I found it. I tried to get into the National archives but they threw me out, in fact I didn't make it far past the gate let alone get a sniff at the front door.

Halong Bay was on the list of must-see sites so we went on a day trip there. This is where a dragon carved a path through rocks in the sea. There are caves and stuff to see also. This is the place that a lot of people think of when Vietnam is mentioned. I was excited to see the boats with funny sails but they didn't have them up that day. It was super misty too so we couldn't see that much. I always get excited about these things and then spend my time grumbling. First off, I don't know if any of you have noticed but every cave looks the same! Every time, I'm like ooh cave yay! and then it's like wait a minute it looks a lot like the last one I went to. Of course, when on an organised day trip you don't get to choose who you end up with which is clearly the biggest disadvantage for me. And boy, did we meet an absolute gem of a lady.

Took us quite a while to get to the bay on a packed bus, I was starting to get a little submarine syndrome by the time we arrived. The guides seemed to be having problems locating our boat and so by the time we finally got on there and lunch was about to be served I was looking forward to a nice, quiet little boat trip and a spot of lunch with my friends.

For some reason, the boat people were insistent on having 6 people per table and so we were joined by two ladies. One from San Fran and one from Russia although she Russian claimed she was from San Fran. Russian girl asks if we are a family travelling together?!? erm, I'm with J and a gay couple - what kind of messed up family could we possibly be? Plus, she's already asked where we came from, two Americans a Welsh girl and a Czech. She then proceeded to bang on about her travels - I am really beginning to get annoyed by these people who travel for 8 months and think they know everything about the world better than you do. Not all of them are like this of course, but some really need to face facts that just whizzing through a country a week doesn't mean you know it or your observations are accurate neither does it instantly make you more worldly. When food arrived she was the only one with chopsitcks so I asked how she got them and she replied that they were for the culturally aware only. This obviously was the record scratching moment where all who know me fell deadly silent and just waited for the carnage to ensue. I mean, the gall of the woman, I've been in Asia for 3 years one of which was in Korea, admittedly I was pants at using chopsticks when I first arrived but now I am proficient. She's lucky I didn't carve a pretty little picture in her face with my chopsticks. Smoke was literally coming out of my ears but I controlled myself.

My mates don't eat fish, they just don't like it and being at sea lunch was pretty fish centric and she just spent the time going on at them about how amazing it could be that they don't like fish - erm Cz is a landlocked country and when the only fish you get is xmas carp, it can put you off. Then she further dug her grave by banging on at J about how truly amazing it was that he was from Alabama and has made it out of there, he must be the only guy from Alabama who has ever left the state, how could it be possible? Really, thinking back, I now can go 12 rounds in the ring, my trainer has recently unleashed me and I'm allowed to really hit people so it truly is a miracle she didn't at least get a slap. We all just tried not to engage in conversation, and at on point she turned round and asked "what is wrong? you all look depressed, you are on holiday you should be happy". The problem of course, was her.

anyway, this concludes the stories for this entry. In Part 2 you can look forward to water puppets, Czech embassy dinners and much, much, more.

Coo Coo

I am now beginning to ponder the disturbing correlation here. I got to Ecuador, there is an economic crisis, riots and a volcanic eruption, I go to the Czech Republic, Prague is flooded, I go to Korea, they impeach the presidet, am now in Thailand - military coup. Joy. I shall not be surprised if I am flagged next time I try and enter the country.
So it all started late Tuesday night. At midnight, I was tucking myself in when one of my mates calls and states that he was out and they closed the bar, sent them home and said we were under curfew as the military had taken over. After a bunch of expletives, I jumped to the window expecting to see chaos, tanks, murder and I saw zip. Nada. Bangkok was eerily quiet.
I turned the TV on to see a blue screen with familiar squiggly Thai writing crawling along the bottom, on other channels there were images of the King. The King visiting the poor, the King getting married, the King wiping his royal brow in the heat, the King canoeing in the jungle, you get the picture. Could you get any useful information anywhere? No. CNN and BBC were taken off the air. Even now, it is back on but they blank out anything about Thailand. How can it be that people everywhere else in the world are more informed than us?
Thankfully, they have not targeted the internet. But of course, not everyone has it at home. Bit of a confusing time really. The harsh heat and light of day offered no more information. The streets as deserted as they were at midnight the previous evening. But hey, we get the day off! Time to go to the supermarket and stock up, just as I did when the floods hit Prague, oh and have some friends over to party a little, hmmm just as I did in Prague. Getting good at this.
I am sure that as far as military coups go it is the most peaceful ever. Will see what happens.
Watch this space...

The magic 3

Bad things always happen in threes. It never rains but it pours, I am sure you are beginning to see where I am going with this.

Last week, was qutie frankly one of the most disastrous in a while. On Tuesday I took one of my classes into the computer. We have been working on their powerpoint presentations for a while and they all showed up with their flashdrives as requested to put the finishing touches on everything so that they can do their presentation next week. Get in there and the computers can't read the flashdrives, only a couple faff about for the whole time in there struggling to get anybody doing anything constructive. So frustrating and looked like a fool. Complete waste of time.
Wednesday morning, get to my favourite class and during the coffee break I got to pour hot water out of one of those electric boiler keeps-it-hot-all-the-time things and I push the button in and when I take my finger off it keeps going! I got boiling water all over the table, all over the floor. Nightmare. Thankfully my students took int heir stride, however yesterday I felt like a little school kid who isn't allowed to play with her toys anymore because she borke one already. When coffee break came they didn't let me go and make my own, virtually barred the exit and heavily insisted that they would make me coffee! I just mumbled, shuffled my feet and stared at the floor.
Following flooding a corridor with boiling water I bimbled into work to teach my Wednesday afternoon kids class. My last class of the week. Everything goes fine and 60 seconds before the end of class I am getting them to line up ready to leave and checking they have cleaned up all the sweet wrappers they think they have managed to conceal under the table and I suddenly hear cries of "teacher! Teacher!" and I turn around to see one of my kids has managed to puke all over herself and the classroom. She couldn't wait 60 seconds? Oh joy. Dragged her to the bathroom, cleaned her up. Warned the person teaching in there next that they might want find an alternate classroom. Other than all that my week was just fabulous...

The Beautiful Forehead

Apparently this is what I have. A beautiful forehead. It denotes that I couldn't possibly be over 22 according to some Thais I met last night. What are they on about? It has to be said, compliments are weird here. My students just don't seem to be able to get it quite right, things like "Oh teacher today you look beautiful" What do you mean today?
Bimble into Starbucks "Ah Miss G, you are good-looking today" what is with all this today stuff?

One of my kids comes to me at the beginning of every lesson:
"Teacher, I am beautiful, but you are more beautiful. See, an eight-year-old can get it right.

Yesterday I started a new course off-site. During the coffee break as I was fumbling around with this rather daft 'special' (this is just for you teacher) lotus-shaped porcelain weirdo tray thing capable of carrying both my coffee AND glass of water (whoever invented this incredibly useless dual-purpose wobbly thing should be shot) the students felt it necessary to come and tell me what they thought of me.
"teacher, my first impression is that you are very kindly",
"oh, thank you" wobble, wobble, please leave me alone to struggle with this contraption in peace! And of course, let's face it, I doubt "kindly" is the first word that springs to mind when people meet me. You only get that one after years of hard graft of knowing and putting up with me.

At least, noone has called me fat in a long time, I suppose I should be thankful for that one.

In other news, on Sunday I shall start learning street-fighting, and I just can't wait.

I'm off to powder my forehead...

Hols

she's on holiday again, I hear you cry! Yes I am and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I have had a week or so off because it is the end of term. J and I had our first weekend together in about 3 months and it was great. I set off for Kanchanaburi a day ahead of J and spent all of it in a spa - check it out http://www.suan-nanachaat.com - fabulous place!







These are some random ants we found outside our bungalow building a complicated dn in the tree.


Kanchanaburi is about 2 hours outside Bangkok and is where you will find the bridge over the river Kwai. It is a nice place to get out of the traffic and noise of Bangkok and chill for a bit. We didn't do much just stared at the river and relaxed it was great. Went to the bridge of course and to the museums. Looked at all the different things we can do there, going back for the Queen's brithday later in the month to do some kayaking and elephant riding. J not too pleased about the latter but I simply refuse to have lived in this country for two years and not have ridden one.

this is the view from our bungalow. We were overlooking the river and it was great until a humungous party raft disco went thumping by!















J went back to work on Monday and I swanned off to my favourite island - Samet, with a couple of the girls. Thankfully no vortexes of fire were involved this time. It was great to lounge around and eat barbecue. It was super quiet because it isn't a national holiday so there were no Thais on the island.




This is the view we had at dinner and I am sure you can see why it is my favourite island. Of course any island is good but I like Samet because it is quiet and less developed and favoured by the Thais. Not too many fat old men in speedos, although there is never total escape!












This is a cool little Buddhist shrine by the beach. You tend to find shrines and offerings all over the place. Trees are popular. I have also noticed that Buddha appears to be partial to cigars - not sure what that is all about!






This is the bridge over the river Kwai complete with train crossing it, the red dots are tourists. In thailand it is common to have a day out together and all wear the same colour t-shirt. I had to do it once, 200 of us in bright pink shirts - whale of a time. Well, that's it for now. You'll be pleased to know I start back at work on Sat and have loads of overtime as we are short staffed at the mo!

Punch me in the face!

oh, OK then. this is what my boxing instructor shouts at me regularly. Yep, you read right, I am learning to box. I know this is a scary thought for those of you who know me and get this (oh if you could only see the crazed look in my eyes) I am also going to learn Muay Thai! Isn't that just the best news you've heard all day?

I only started a couple of weeks ago but am already at the sparring stage. The first lesson I had to grab my instructor by the hair and knee him in the face! Excellent fun. If only I did it on a Friday night before I teach my teenagers rather than a Sunday night after I have spent all weekend dealing with them. Maybe that is why I punch so hard.

The entire hour and a half is peppered with things like "come on! Hit me in the face! Punch my chin! More power, good, good" and then on Sunday he randomly just threw a punch at me with no warning - hmm testing me see. Unfortunately we are not doing well (this will surprise you) at the looking mean part, we are too busy laughing. There are 5 of us girls from work and it is great. Although, Jenny was offended when he told her she hits like a girl!

Clearly, he is small and stocky, not an inch of fat on him and the energy of a bull that's just stumbled upon an electric fence. He's mean too, now we aren't allowed to stand around gossiping while others spar in the ring we have to do sit ups while we wait! Nightmare. the gloves ming though, oh my word, hours of sweaty hands in there, woah it is dreadful.

I finally have a whole 9 days holiday starting on Thursday woo hoo! But I love my boxing so much I am going to split my trips so that I can be back in BKK on Sunday to go to my lesson. Sleep easy...

Emergency rush

So, another addition quicker than last time, I am getting better. Things have been a little hectic. It was J's B'day last week so copious amounts of my time was spent deciding what to get him, I had plumped for a new mobile but spent hours in the Nokia shop wondering whether the ones I liked were a little too girly, after consulting with men, I discovered that clearly if it looks cute and is available in pink it isn't very manly. Thanks for your help guys by the way, I went for the 6230i - which meant absoutely nothing to me two weeks ago but now I feel qualified as a new consultant for Which? phone magazine.

Anyway, I took him to a Brasilian Churrascaria for dinner which was fun and meaty and on Friday we went out with various friends to a German brewhouse which is huge, sells "german beer"-as dmonstrated by Monika and "German food" has a show and the entire building is shaped like a massive keg of beer... only in Thailand...


Sorry, I almost forgot to point out that this is Maria and Hannah, simply doing what they always do...


I am currently laid up at home and climbing the walls a bit. I have an intestinal infection according to the doc, and much as I'd love to sicken you with my famous imagery, I fear you already get the picture. Going to the hospital here was a bit strange. People arrive in taxis and I can assure you that I was the only one in the emergency waiting room who looked even vaguely ill. There were only about 4 of us in there! Urgence was not a key factor that's for sure. Women were strutting around with their LV bags, the hospital had escalators and a green area -what is that all about, not to mention a shop a bakery and coffee shop and in some there are even Macdonald's! Last time I was in an emergency room in the UK there was a guy next to me trying to hold is eye in it's socket coz some nutter had hit him over the head with a baseball bat all coz the offender had thrown his fag out the window and had hit the probably by now one-eyed pedestrian in the head and he had shouted that he should be more careful. Needless to say, people around me had clearly broken stuff and/or were bleeding. There was a woman in front of me using two mobiles at the same time, one on each ear! I have GOT to get a mobile with a camera. honestly, the stuff I could take pics of on a daily basis, would shock you all.
As an aside, I can't wait till the world cup is over. I am so bored of the convoluted conversations I have with Taxi drivers, you know the Where are you from? Oh UK! England 2 Portugal 0! It wasn't till I was like oh really? that the taxi driver realised that cearly I had no idea that he was predicting and they hadn't even played yet. I took my time explaining to him in thai that I was Welsh (oooh Ryan giggs!) and therefore I don't care about the World Cup. I was rather shocked that not only did he know Ryan Giggs but he also said Millenium Stadium and Cardiff! Last time I told a taxi driver that I was Welsh he asked me if I was muslim...nuff said.

Mellow Yellow

It's the King's Jubilee - 60 years on the throne, longest standing (or should that be sitting?) monarch in the world. Personal benefits of this jubilee are a 5 day weekend. Course, most of the roads are closed in and around Bangkok so travel wasn't really an option oh and I had to work on Saturday and Sunday but I can't complain. Monday and Tuesday are official days off, J had friday off due to traffic (??!!) and about 80 percent of Thai people are wearing yellow T-shirts in the colour of the King's flag with his emblem conveniently across your heart and most have "I love the King" in big letters over it. Nice and tasteful.

It is a weird concept to see people get so into their monarchy. I usually just see them as a figurehead, but here in Thailand they really do stuff and are attributed with the majority of the success of the Kingdom. It is an offence which could carry a jail sentence to criticise the King.

Now that I am teaching adults I am finding out all sorts of things. Here are some interesting tidbits:

My teenagers have no idea who Madonna is! Seriously, they make me feel old, the other day, I was teaching them about pop groups and stuff and they had to design their own group and CD cover etc. As an intro I had the pussycat dolls on the screen and elicited what they knew about them. One Q I had was what songs do they sing? I expected them to reply Don'cha and that was that. They came out with some huge list, Stickwitu, Beep, Sway, I was quite shocked. Never heard of these songs. And no offence to the pussycat dolls but I assumed they were a one-hit wonder, let alone get as far as making a whole album!

Honestly, teaching teens is like being back at school again. I don't remember being so rude to my teachers or surly. I feel like I have to earn favour with the 'cool' group and stuff and quite frankly I just can't cope with the smug look on their faces and that fake passifying grin that makes me want to do some serious damage and make it toothless. It's not a mexican wave I get when I ask them to do the unbelievably horrifying task of picking up their pens and actually writing something, shit, it's not like their supposed to be studying or anything, it's a mexican eye-roll. No to mention the fuss when the dreaded word homework comes up. The more they complain, the more they get! They'll soon realise they aren't going to win. 2 weeks ago a group of girls thought that they could stretch a 15 minute break to 40 and looked at me like I was in the wrong and insane when they returned to find the classroom door locked. Strangely enough, they haven't been late since.

Not only am I finding out about teenage behaviour, but I am finding out some weird superstitions. You can't get your hair cut on a Wednesday, Sunday will bring you long life, Monday - happiness, Thursday - guardian angels will protect you, Friday - you'll never go in want, Saturday - you'll gain admiration. Think about that next time you make an appointment.

Bizarre.

Well, that concludes my Thai tales for now...

Into the fire...

Well, it has been a while. Time is really flying by at the moment. settling in to new job fine but seems to have taken up a bit of time. So much to learn, taking it all in baby steps etc. Moving on to the more meaty stuff...

Last weekend, was my final 'real weekend' for the next year. I started work on Saturday and my weekend becomes Thursday and Friday. The timetable God has been smiling upon me and I only work from 9-12 on Sat/Sun and only have one late evening finish so I can't complain.

Back to last weekend, I went to Koh Samet. Maria and I were so excited at 4pm at the end of class we were running around the office like a couple of schoolgirls, changing and dashing out of the door, someone even told me that I simply wasn't allowed to have fun in the office, hmmm chortle, chortle, whatever.

Fun was most certainly the name of the day. Along with Maria, I was joined by my recently acquired German friend, well, you know, I really like one, thought I'd branch out a little. The rest of the 'Bell crew' were already on the island eagerly awaiting our arrival as they had Fri off and were also ahead on the general imbibing so speed was of importance and we splashed out so to speak on a speed boat to get us over to the beach upon which friends, a bungalow and a tent were waiting.

This is the moment when someone on a loud speaker booms "let the games begin".

We trudged over a hill to arrive at the bungalow and dump our stuff and returned to join the others. All was going quite well, after a couple we made our usual trip to Silver Sands resort which has a disco and hooked up with other friends of ours. The buckets (literally buckets) of cocktails were flowing and all were having fun. A while later, I was chatting to a mate and spotted M crawling across the sand towards the sea and thought I ought to check out what was going on. She wasn't feeling too good so I sat with her and fed her some water etc. Upon getting her to return to join the group Joe joined me and said that Meine 'friend' was having a bit of an episode and claimed to have tried to throw himself into a fire!

I turned round to see him bawling with Hannah attempting to comfort him. Everybody got their turn but there was nothing doing. Jo tried the hard approach "noone cares you tried to throw yourslef into a fire, get over it", I tried to be understanding "it's ok, you didn't burn yourself everthing is fine" but nothing was doing. Meanwhile, Maria had decided that the only thing that would make her feel better was to head home. I caught her about ten metres up the beach wobbling along. We heaved everyone into a Song Taew (kind of truck transport thing), M was sat there shouting "if this thing doesn't move now I am going to puke" and D was still bawling. Turns out the truck wasn't going anywhere and we had to get out and get onto another one! Anyway, we finally fond oen that was going where we wanted and as we were buping along Tara said I should swap places with D on the edge because we were concerned he might try and lob himself off. As I got up there was an almighty pothole and I went flying into a bunch of legs and spent the rest of the trip trying tofind my flip-flops.

Just to be clear, at this point we had no idea whether we were dealing with a metaphorical fire, a bonfire or what quite frankly. It was hard to get to the bottom of the story.

By the time we got off the Song Taew and walked over the hill D seemed to be in a much better mood - if somewhat embarrassed and worried he had humiliated me - moi? so I thought we were on the home run. I left him to his tent and went for a walk along the pier with Jo and Jme.

Upon our return I heard some rather loud droning sounds and discovered it was D leaning out of the tent making these noises. There was a bunch of Thai revellers a little further down the beach from him trying to party and were looking at him a lot. Then came the blood-curdling screams across the bay. J, J and I looked at each other and clearly had decided he was best left alone! After about ten minutes the Thais had had enough and just went up to him and said "what are you doing?" seeming a little bemused.

We all went to bed and thought things would look better in the morning. At breakfast d joined us looking rather worse for wear. Let's face it a tent in this heat isn't comfortable and you get woken up at sunrise. Nothing much was said. The girls and I went for a swim, Monika and I went for a much needed massage afterwards and most of us convened for a hike to the next beach for a spot of lunch. D spent most of his time recovering. There was still the mystery about the fire.

Upon our return Hannah had been talking to him and had solved the mystery. It was not a metaphorical fire nor was it a bonfire, it was in fact, and I'm not sure how you call it, one of those fire dancer people. You know those people that have strings alight and twiddle them round a lot? One of them. clearly, the poor guy had a bit of a schock to be bulldozed mid-performance.

It appears we have photographic evidence. Monika remembered being about to take a photo of the guy when suddnely he stopped performing and put the flames out. Indeed she had pressed the button but it is all bit dark. We are working on it.

Anyway, strange things will happen. It certainly added a little spice to our weekend, although really there is quite enough in the food here. There are still patchy explanations as to why this happened, Jo is under the impression that he was trying to throw himself into a vortex to get to the other side, but that's Jo.

The question is, how on earth do you ever top that?

The green, green grass of home

For those of you who often wonder if when I say I grew up in the middle of nowhere I really did, then take a look. Here is what the area I come from looks like. I say this because J always used to say "hmmm yes I too live in the middle of nowhere" then he came to visit and said "Oh My God, you really do live in the middle of nowhere". I presume middle of nowhere in America means more than 10 mins drive from a Burger King.

Other visitors have commented on the lack of streetlights to light your path when driving own the roads (you know who you are I'm not mentioning any names) - that's what those big lights on the front of your car are for! Others merely gaze in stunned silence at the sheer ability of grass to cover things which they have never noticed before.

Tis lambing season back home and the soft bleating echoes through the valleys. Em, this is what a lamb looks like by the way - remember our conversation in the cafe. I took this pic for you - these are the kind of rewards people get when they are an avid reader.

I shall put up pics and goss of my recent trips home and to London and Prague at a later date. Was nice to catch up with everyone. Is always good for me to double check everybody really is ok and happy and stuff, sometimes things change, others don't, seeing for myself that everyone is doing ok always makes me sleep better at night. And that is about as soft and squidgy as I will get. Those of you whom I didn't get to see I shall shove on top of the pile as a priority for first visit next time I come home, which in no way suggests that you were at the bottom this time round;) if everyone could just all live within a ten mile radius of Heathrow life would be dandy.

Moving on... so I arrived back in Bangkok last Wednesday just in time for SongKran. SongKran is Buddhist New Year and is celebrated by four days of water fights. This all sounds well and good and indeed is fun for a day but the novelty wears off quickly. Apparently, this year "sexy clothes" for women were banned and there was a brief ban on water guns. Water guns are not the problem. Buckets full of ice-cold water and talc are the things that are annoying.

When I say talc this is what I mean. You are plastered and it is hard to get off. Expecially when it dries and your face cracks. Does my head in.












The most popular activity aside fron soaking foreigners is driving around in the back of a truck and throwing water at people you drive past. It is insane.














Even the policemen can't escape!














In an effort to avoid maximum soaking I spent a lot of time in taxis. I wanted to take lots of photos but even the taxis get plastered with talc so you can't see through the window. Big talcy handprints all down the window and stuff it is really funny. the security guard got me though with a water gun and a big grin on his face. Nowhere, not even your own home is safe. I realy don't mind the guns because the water dries fast but there is nothing that will make you more miserable than a squelchy backside or "ooh my shorts are nearly dry" SPLASH - cue lots of cursing. Even in taxi I took clearly other soaked people had been in before me and I would get out wondering why my bum was damp! We ordered deliver pizza and I felt so sorry for the guy. His little cap was all white and he was soaking wet, mumbling at me while he dug out the change from several ziplock food bags he had to keep it in to keep it dry! I hope he was on double time is all I can say.

We did finally go and buy a telly. Shopping centres are the only safe haven for those needing a little rest from the onslaught. The one the landlord gave us had a habi of beding the image and then swtincing itself off ramdomly ever ten minutes fro no apparent reason. the landlord wouldn't believe us that it was borken because when he switche it on it came on so he couldn't see the problem! Anyway, they are cheap here and we splashed out (pardon the pun) on a 27 incher - let's face it, who would bother with anything less? When it was delivered J was busy playing with it (the TV of course) and turned round to catch me with one leg in the box.

"you're not seriously going to get into the box are you?" he asked incedulously.

"Course I am it's huge, can't resist" I replied indignantly.

What can I say, Men play with technological stuff, women climb into boxes.




But look, it's huge! of course, if I were taller than 5ft2 then this would be a specatular photo, however, in my expert opinion you can fit in a 7ft basketball player, a couple of kittens and a fallabella pony in that box and still have room for a six-pack and a sandwich. What do you reckon? Maybe we should play that game - guess how many marbles you can fit into the box or something? hmmmm I must try that out...

New Chapter

I know it has been yonks and I apologise. Searching for a flat and a few other things have kept me all tied up - and not in a fun playful sense.

hmm, what have you missed in my enthralling life as a primary teacher? Oh yeah things like this:

hi

i just want to warn you about ic class,is u were say that on thursday is the last ic learning,but tomorrow we got a test that it's very important so we can't come tomorrow. At least we all want to let you still teaching cause, what about the next generation of prapamontree kids? they would't learn a good english with a english sound,cause when you didn't come,all prapamontree kids speak bad english with a thai sound.

bye

P.S. bad english means not a good grammar!, and i am just the one who can speak english, but just little wrong with the grammar


This is an email from one of my students. Great isn't it? I bet you can guess which one it is. IC class my the way is what they call our English class - Intensive Course, blimey you can say that again.

So, today was my last day. As you can see they had exams so we didn't even have a goodbye lesson. Hmmph. I shall have to console myself wih the memories of sports day we had recently. This was an interesting day. The morning involved the Kindergarten - poor things don't even understand what a cometition is. They had to run a slalom, and we spent the first two hours of the day watching them charge off, go round one post and then veer off into the wild blue yonder! Some of them made it to the end of the course, turned round and then just disappeared. It was hilarious. Then we spent a further hour and a half watching Kindergarten kick a ball all of two feet into a net. Highly scintillating stuff.




This is how Kindergarten tend to make their way round school. this trainesque fashion makes good of their sheep style ability to follow each other. If the one in front is following you then you just can't lose the rest - well, that's the approach the Thai teachers seem to take.















This is one of my cutest Kindergarten...














It just got better. In the afternoon it was the big kids' turn to humiliate themselves. The highlight of my day was the orange juice drinking, donut eating, banana eating, find candy hidden in a bunch of talc and eat them, blow talc off a plate relay race. Now, clearly I am not making it up, coz you have to be either insane or Thai to dream up a race like that. I had oodles of fun watching though. Great stuff.




Photographic evidence that indeed there were chairs and a crazy relay race. This is the bit where they had to find nuts of something in talc and then fish them out and eat them up. Sadly, my batteries conked out before I ahd a chance to get a good photo of them blowing talc off a plate...









Am v. excited. We found a great flat in the centre of Bangkok. It will be nice now not to have to take a taxi to work and stuff. Not be stuck in traffic. Eat what and where we want woo hoo! Finding a flat is the harder part. You basically have to pick an area you want to live in and then walk around and ask places if they ahve apartments to rent. Sod's law the last place we look at is our dream flat. We have a seperate bedroom and everything. Pool, gym, sauna - yay!





Ok, I'll stop I don't want your computer screens imbued with vomit. Can be a bugger to get out of the keys... I shall just post the pics and be on my way...

School Time

Don't be fooled by the angelic looks. Of course, a lot of these girls are some of my faves in P1, they are rarely in a mood, don't fight with the others and always try hard at English. But, there is still oodles of room for mischief.






















This is where the magic happens. My classroom. Shame the tables aren't naild to the floor. Somehow, Kindergarten manage to move them right in to withing inches of me during the class and I still have no idea how. On Friday, I turned round to discover one of my Kindergarten with a plastic bag on his head! An ill feeling really hit me to the core and I told him to take it off. He looke at me smiled and then pulled a face like he was dead. Clearly, someone had caught him doing it before and warned him of the consequences, but noone had thought to take it away from him!











This is Som Tum. A staple Thai dish. Made with grated green papaya, fish sauce, chillis and peanuts. It is delicious. They crush all the ingredents together in this big thing with a pestle and mortar. Most people have it for lunch and it is a popular cheap street food.

V-Day Blues

Woe is me, v-day and am stuck at home ill. J called to say that I probably had a lucky escape as it appears that in this country you run and around and plaster people with stickers. How romantic. What do you say to that? Thanks for making me look like a loser from Project runway where I had to make a suit out of trash? Course, am lucky I escaped said stickiness but you be damn sure that I am looking forward to seeing what the kids have done to him. Ah...every cloud...

What is it about V-day anyway? Last year, we were driving back from Chi when we had a blow-out on the highway in Kentucky and ended up stuck there for a while waiting for a trooper, nothing like truck fumes in your face to get you in the mood. The year before we were in the least romantic country on earth, well, they have black day where if you are single you have to eat black food and stuff, mmm doesn't that just make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?

The year before that we weren't long together so I boycotted it to avoid the pressure and had a rather nice evening with two of my closest female friends, which brings me to the weekend. Our sort of anniversary. I didn't quite realise it was our anniversary on Saturday until Friday evening. Who moans it's the men who forget these things man? I'm just as bad. We went down to Pattaya beach to relax. It isn't exactly the most romantic setting to be fair. It is the only place in Thailand that GIs could go to on holiday during Vietnam, and really, I doubt the image or trade there has changed much since then.

Lots of foreigners with a beautiful Thai woman. Everybody knows this goes on, it is well-known for it, but it is a different feeling caught up among it. I don't have a problem with it when it is a fit young bloke with a fit bird or an old bloke with an old Thai bird. But, I just feel weird when I see a bloke who clearly wouldn't be able to bed a moose in his home country but is spreading about the wonga for a bird half his age in Pattaya. It is made worse by the fact that they think they are kings because of the woman on their arm and they seem to forget that she isn't really there for the right reasons and doesn't necessarily look like she wants to be there. I'm sure it makes it difficult for those who do have legitimate relationships. That aside, Pattaya is the closest beach and Jomtien area is fairly quiet and family oriented and the bonus of so many tourists is cheap accomodation and decent restaurants so you can't always complain.

It was a fairly nice weekend except or the part where I woke up in horrendous pain with stomach cramps and the inevitable squits. Clearly, I was paying for getting a little carried away and buying steamed Prawns on the beach from a woman selling them from a big pot she carried around with her. Yes, yes, all the warning signs were there, she should have had a huge neon light advertising Gastroentiritis really, but you know, after a while you think you are impervious to the porcelain ache, until you take it a little too far. I'm sure it is the fact that when you first arrive in Thailand, no matter how hot you think you can take your Tabasco or whatever, your first Thai meal will blow your head off. Then you learn that in Thailand they judge the heat of the food by the amount of Chillies that they put in the food. then you realise that Thais have 8-10 Chillis in an average dish and the average Westerner can only manage 3! After a few months of training you can muster about 5 and then you think that your stomach is made of steel and you can eat anything. WRONG!

Oh well, better luck next time...

Hope you all have a good time today whever you are whatever you are doing...

CNY

I'm beginning to feel that my New Years are doomed and that travel problems are just going to be part and parcel of them in the future. It is Chinese New Year and we have yet another long weekend. You won't hear me complaining, oh no, although it would be nice if they told us more than one day in advance so that we could make proper plans and book a hotel etc, but you know, it's a school, why should they have their academic calendar prepared more than two days in advance? that's just crazy talk.

Our friends were heading off to Khao Sam Roi national park somewhere in the south. Didn't know anything about it and neither did they so we thought it would be fun to join. When they asked if I thought traffic would be bad I had a clear lapse of stupididty and said, "well, traffic is always abd in Bangkok why try and predict it?".

It wasn't until Friday morning that J reminded me the hell that was Chinese New year in Korea when a normal 30 min ride home turned into a 2 and a half hour nightmare. But, you now, there were six of us going you think one of us would have thought tha far ahead if it was going to be a problem.... mmmm.

We left school bright eyed and bushy tailed on Friday and immediately hit nauseatingly slow traffic. The greenhouse effect is awful. The air con int he car works but the sun is hitting you so hard it makes you want to puke. We had to stop off in BKK to get some things and we were an hour ahead of the other to make it to the bus station so we didn't have any worries. We even stopped off for a coffee and a snack once we got into the centre because we thought we had time to kill.

Well, not a single taxi would take us to the bus station and even tuk-tuks refused. When a tuk-tuk says no you know you are in serious doo doo. Our only option was to make it as close by public transport adn then try again for a taxi. The others were still stuck in traffic in their own taxi.

We made it to the river and tried in vain again to get a taxi. We then waited in the hugest queue ever for a boat to take us up river to get to the other side and then try and get a txi up there. Finally we were within a couple of miles from the bus station but still no taxis. The others got there and we told them to leave without us as there was no ope of us making the bus. It took us over four hours and them 3 and a half solid hours in a taxi and then there was a 5 hour bus ride ahead of them and we thought it would be best to hang out in BKK instead. We were exhausted with all that trundling around, hadn't had any dinner and were in desperate need of a beer.

We made it into Khao San road and found a nice hotel. We didn't bother shopping round too much as we just wanted to get rid of the rucksack.

We decided to check out things we hadn't seen in BKK yet. We might leave, so now is as good a time as any.

Here is the photographic evidence:

This is Wat Arun. One of the most famous Wats in Bangkok. It means temple of the dawn thus named because that is when the King showed up in BKK to turn it into the capital. It is decorated with pottery.
















Now, I've seen some signs in my time and I've ad some warnings but "don't dangle your doll" what does that mean??

















It is believed that evil spirits can only travel in straight lines. Many corridors and walkways are built in a zig zag to stop them from being able to travel.
























These monkeys also protect the temple.














Here is a classical example of life along the river in Thailand. Houses on stilts and there are always loads of clothes hanging out to dry...













Now, I have often encountered some stupid toursits, but really. They are at a national monument and not content with taking a photo of the cat they are videoing it for good measure!!!










Feel like you learned something today??

Why...

It has been a while. Apologies. Only 26 more days of teaching so the rush is on to get a solid plan into place, find a new job possibly a new country etc. Yes. yes, I know it must sound teribbly exciting to some of you but trust me, the novelty wears off after a while. If only I could just at least decide if we are going to stay here or leave then I could get into "I am leaving need to get shit done" mode or the opposite but instead we are keeping our options open so I have to think of everything from every angle. I want to make sure that the new jobs we have are as good as they can be. We made sacrifices on our priorities to be here and we resent it, we made sacrifices in Korea and we resented it. For once, I want to be 100 percent sure that the job I am doing is what we need from all possible stand points. Professional development, career advancement, adequate accomodation, local amenities, variety of lessons, schedule, school, resources, adequate pay, location the list goes on and on and on and on and on. OK you get the picture. Half the job ads don't even vaguely include any of the information we need and how do you even tell over the internet if a plce is good or not. hmmph.

Moving on before I find more questions to ask myself. My kindergarten have finally discovered my boobs. I am surprised that I got away with it for so long it has to be said. Needless to say a quick grab of the breast is not a parting gesture I am used to and don't intend getting used to, well not from my students of course. I can't seem to stop them , just when I think I have deflected one little so and so creeping in from the left another jumps up from the other side and grabs on for dear life. It's just not a good look. 4 year-olds are not supposed to be boob furniture and I'm concerned they are going to speed up the procees of gravity.

To add to their growing list of 'cute' little foybles. They now think it is hilarious to talk half English half nonsense with me:

Me: " How are you today Pattawee?"

P: " Happy Walloon"

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt he is trying to tell me what a happy little Belgian he is. I dread to think what it actually means if it has any significance in Thai. My helper (in the loosest posibble sense of the word) doesn't crease up with laughter so I think I'm fairly safe from secret abuse.

I don't know much about kids really. I learn something new every day even now, but last time I came into contact with one before I plunged headlong into teaching them, I don't recall the "why?" phase being at 9 years old. I swear my cousin hit it at about 3/4. One of my 9-year-olds is driving me round the bend. Soon the conversation in class will go like this:

AB (annoying brat) : "Teacher, why is the paper cut like this?

Me: because I'm cack-handed and try as I might I can't cut straight and who cares anyway.

AB: Teacher, why do I have to colour the picture?

Me: because I said so

AB: Teacher, why did you write that word in a different colour pen?

Me: sigh....

AB: Teacher, why can't I be on the same team as the other god English speaker?

Me: sigh....

AB: Teacher, why can't I change my team name?

Me: - huge audible kerfuffle

AB: teacher, why is there a pair of scissors in my eyes?


honestly, I just can't take it some days. There are petty children, fussy children, children who take an eternity to comlpete a sentence but this one can actually communicate! Nightmare.

Long weekend this weekend and braving 'the Thai nature'. I actually have my camera this time. So, brave yourslef for some pics.

Spinal Crack

This should come with a warning of: Don't do this at home! However, I am kind of asking you to do just that. I shall therefore do the disclaimer now and say that any injury incurred is not my fault.

I was getting my weekly Thai massage yesterday and still marvel at the woman balancing on my arse. Now I am not sure if I am just incredibly inflexible -although after this many I shouldn't be - or a weakling. Basically I need evidence that it is not just me who suffers in this particular position.

So, grab a partner and choose wisely. I passed a Thai woman weighing herself on one of those electric machines (why do people do that in public??) and I caught sight of her weight: 31.8 Kilos!! That's like 4 and a half stone! 60 pounds! So bear this in mind whilst choosing a partner, don't do it drunk and don't do it when you could end up in one of those dodgy 'oops I snogged him and didn't mean to situations now we need to have a little chat' I also don't claim responsibility for any situations arising...

Got someone? Good.

Lie on your front face down on a pillow and lie on something soft like a matress (this is typically where Thai massages take place) get you partner to stand on you thighs. I am not joking. Wrap you legs (calves) around your partner's calves. Wedge your legs in place using your toes. Comfy? You shouldn't be!

Now, the person on top leans forward and lands on your shoulders with their palms and simultaneously yanks forward and upwards your legs.

Does that hurt like hell? that's what I want to know.

They do this to me every time and by the time I have squinted round to check how she balances up there the yanking begins and I lose all sense of time and space.

Weird.

Literally Speaking

It came to my attention a while back that every time my kids saw a cat they pointed and said Miaow. This happens alot because here are several cats who hang around the school, they like to sleep outside my window so the kids are always trying to spy on them. It became so frequent that I started to wonder if it is indeed the word for cat in Thai.

Then a thread of consciousness started to weave it's way through the sharpened tones of the Thai language and I realised that the word for balloon was something along the lines of bombang - could this mean that some Thai words are onomatopaeic?

Then came this: J mentioned that when he was teaching his kids they were takling about movies that they had seen. One in particular was called Err-err. Some of you can see where this is going and for others it will take a while but I shall confirm any suspicions, the film is similar to I am Sam. Scary, isn't it?

Anyway, I could verify it all in a dictionary but conjecture is more fun. Let's face it this info seeps through children who can't really speak any English, so, it might not be accurate. tis an interesting thought anyway...

Tour of Shanghai

I realise I don't really put enough pics up, they convey more than words sometimes. Just got photoshop which helps reduce them, will then move on to the other large amount of pics I have that I haven't bothered to display.



Here we are outside the mansion down in the old part of Shanghai wearing about 9 layers of clothes. The bridge we're on is called the bridge of the nine dragon tails (or something like that - D's gonna kill me for not memorising it all properly) the idea is that evil spirits can only travel in straight lines. There are all the bends in the bridge to prevent evil spritis from entering the house. Lots of steps and different levels are there for the same purpose.



This is the house. Lots of rooms to meet and entertain guests. Lots of those cool curly roofs and stuff.










This is part of the garden. As I mentioned before, Chinese gardens consider rocks to be the main feature rather than flowers.











Here are the women making 'Shaolombai' which we tried - again this is an approximation of the real word! These are like dumplings but the Shangainese will emphatically deny that they are indeed the same as dumplings. They have pork inside and then some juice and are steamed in the basket. The trick is to suck out the juice first and then eat them - no mean feat when using chopsticks!




Here is some bamboo scaffolding which they favour in China. Apparently it is stronger than steel but certainly doesn't look it...















This is the most famous shopping street in Shanghai, full of neon and modern stuff. Was quite nice to walk down a pedestrian area for change.



















This is the bund. All the buildings on this side of the road were built to represent all the European arhitecture and they are all here. They were bank headquarters and fancy hotels, check out the flags on top.












This is on the other side of the river to the old buildings. The famous view of Shanghai with all the futuristic buildings. Apparently, Shanghai has more skyscrapers alone than all other places in the world put together!


So, there you have it, a glimpse of what we got up to...