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The philosopher Alain de Botton suggests that meaningful work comes from the feeling that you’ve been useful to someone’s life - “many…
Archive for July, 2009
Bangkok, Thailand>, May 15, 2009
Friday morning at 7am, I wake up and look out the window of my hotel room to see it rain! But I was pretty optimistic that the sun would come out soon.
I wake Joann after I’ve showered and change to get ready for a tour of some of the more popular temples in Bangkok. We paid for a tour of Wat Arun (across the Chao Phraya river), Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) plus the Royal Palace, or so we thought.
Forty five minutes later, we’re downstairs just in time for breakfast but it’s still raining. Fifteen minutes later, the guy from the tour office asked if we were the duo who paid for the temple tour. We say yes, and follow him to a van,or minibus, while he takes to the next street in front of 3-star hotel where our actual guide waits for us in another van with three other tourists, and we’re off to see the temples… in the rain!
Bangkok, Thailand>, Jul 31, 2009
I stayed in this hotel in March 2009 for the best part of a week…..after I had spent a few nights in some of the real low budget places around Khaosan road, and this decision was worth the extra money. Comfortable room, clean modern building, and the rooftop pool gives you a great view of the surrounding area. Brilliant place to chill out when recovering from the after effects of the night before. The noise from Khaosan road didn’t really bother me much at night as the hotel is set back a little from the main strip anyway, but centrally located for everything that Khaosan Road has to offer.(bars,shops,clubs, etc). Great cheap roadside cafes and street vendors for the budget concious. If you want to try a place a little less manic than the popular Gullivers Tavern for a night out, I would suggest the Gazebo club a few blocks up (laid back, ambient, and some great bands nightly) I intend to stay at the Khaosan Palace Hotel again when I return. Just beware of the late night streetlife of hookers and ladyboys who will be dipping your pockets given half the chance…it does happen. Like any tourist hotspots anywhere….watch your wallet and your valubles!
Ao Luk, Thailand>, Jul 31, 2009
Sawaade ka!
I have spent my first week at the GVI base camp in Ao Luk am im absolutely loving it!
Starting teaching voluntarily on Monday. I am at 4 different schools in a week. Morning starts by getting picked up at 8am by the headmaster and driven out to the school which ranges from about 10 to 20mins drive. Lessons start at 9 and finish at 3 or 4. Nobody speaks any english which was a bit worrying at first, lots of hand movements going on! The schools are very basic but everyone, staff and pupils, are very nice and welcoming! Im teaching p.1 to p.6 Was very nervous after knowing id be taking the classes on my own so alot of lesson planning has to be done beforehand! So far I have covered the alphabet, colours, numbers, shapes, body parts and feelings! I have to make my own resources - flashcards, games, songs, etc. The kids are adorable and very willing to learn! Also very polite and wellbehaved (most of the time.) Love to sing and play games so I have to be constantly energised! The food at schools is not great, flys swarming it! Always rice and meat dishes, I have become veggie since being out here its rice and green beans for me! The hygene is not good no toilet paper, flush, soap, towel just a hole - lovely! However I am here to teach and thats what I love the best 
I am staying in Ao Luk which is about 30mins away from the nearest town. Basic but beautiful. Trees everywhere and the odd house (shack) in between. My house is very nice I am sharing a small room with 8 other people but everyone comes and go’s at different times. No air con but fans everywhere. No hot water, Im loving cold showers. Thai style bath (Tab of water and bucket that u use to throw water over you). There is an outdoor solar power shower - very tropical
The people are great and the food at camp is lovely very pet (spicy.) We have had thai cooking lessons i’ll be an expert soon!
Tomorrow is Saturday so im off kayaking and then heading into Krabi town with a couple of the girls i’ve met going dancing - its been a hard week I cant wait!
Write again soon!
Bangkok, Thailand>, Jul 31, 2009
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It is the end
of July. Back home everybody is enjoying their summer holiday and stories of Italy, France,
Greece, Ireland, and
where not have arrived at me via e-mail. In Thailand it is a different story
though. Exams have been the priority of many students and there is not even a
slight trace of holiday in the near future. I too am one of those unlucky
students.
My exam roster
was pretty nice though. I had three exams in a row on consecutive days, a
break, and finally on the last day my final exam. No two exams on one day, no
conflicts, no problems. After my third exam I felt pretty tired though. I
needed a break, preferably a serene place where I could relax and prepare for my
exams in the best possible way. Alex had a similar thought. He wanted to go to
Koh Chang, one of the rare places I had already visited. Normally I would have
declined and gone somewhere else however it is an ideal location and I hadn’t
visited every beach yet. So my demand was that we would go to a new beach. White Sand Beach it became.
First day was
quiet. The ride with the bus had drained us from all the energy we had. We
walked through the town, ate, found a place to live and rested a bit. That
night we went for dinner to Paddy’s, the local Irish pub, for dinner and a
delicious Guinness to appease the taste buds!
The next day
was study day which meant lying on a chair enjoying the sun, sunglasses on,
book on my lap, and a nice cool beer… ehm, soft drink! Hahaha, you cannot study
with beer!
The day was
over before I know it and evening struck. After studying the entire day and
finishing up to chapter 3(!!) we figured we deserved a cold one. We walked to
the first beach bar we could find and ordered two bottles Singha. Several
laughs, stories and bottles later we wanted a change of scenery and decided to
leave. The bartender did not agree with that thought though. He turned 23 that
day and his big birthday party was about to commence and he wanted us to join
the celebration. Staying turned out to be a great choice. Lots of food and
drinks were put on the table, guitar was pulled from the bar, and random girls
were pulled of the beach to join the party! This guy new how to throw a party!!
Strangely
enough though, this exam preparation didn’t prove to be really fruitful… Oh
well, there is always the final to make up for the mid-terms ^^
Education is
not only about studying; it is the preparation before the period in your life
you will start working. Mr. Glen of the International Office knows this as no
other. His philosophy is that networking is equally important, something I
definitely concur. When he got an invitation for a select party at the
Millennium Hilton he immediately arranged we were invited as well. After coming
two hours fashionably late due to traffic we had a real blast. Good food, good
wine, good people. But for me the party was far from done. Kilian and I decided
to go to Koh Sang Road
for a little afterparty! A quick phone call to Alex with the word beer in it
insured that our party would consist of three people.
At Koh Sang Road we
got introduced to something I had heard of but had yet to try. See in Thailand they
think in a good way about alcohol. The bottles are bigger and the drinks are
cheap. But that
isn’t enough. The Thai think glasses are overrated. So when they drink they drink buckets full with
cocktails! Ingenious if I may add. It did have a nasty side effect though. At
the end of the night a drunk Alex had to deal with an unconscious girl and
escorted her and her friends to a tuk-tuk, drunk Kiliand just started randomly
walking without the slightest clue why, and drunk Remco lost his phone four
times and looked so fucked up he got checked for drug use… Good times!
Cheers,
Remco
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Bangkok, Thailand>, Jun 14, 2009
Today I have an important mission - to look for train tickets for 3 of us to Laos, because if I failed - the whole trip plan will ned to be re-adjusted. Another last but not least important - is that i want to make sure I can use the time wisely - therefore I woke up very early and pushed me-self to get out from the hotel. I walked outside around 7:00 Am, yes, quite abnormal thing to do - especially around Khao Sarn road with all of it’s distinct evidence from all night party a few hours before. The road was empty and lots of rubbish and garbages were collected by several officers. All the bars were closed and only a few makeshift stalls selling morning coffee and some traditional thai breakfast. Only several old people were around and to my surprise, there were some tourists still sat in some bar’s chair, holding Singha and chatted with their companies. With their bloodshot and sleepy eyes surely that their bed intheir hotel was untouched (or probably because they haven’t got any hotel room was a good excuse to spend the whole night and next morning in the bar).
I walked passby Khao Sarn Road with my main objective to find the nearesr Pier - called Phra Athit Pier. From there I planned to take the boat all the way down to the Pier near to main train station - Hualamphong. it is not so complicated to find the Pier. I met a very friendly - middle ages Singaporean who took me under his wing by explaining about the place - pier - the cheapest way to get here and there and also the invitation to join the Sunday Mass (it is true indeed that the calling happened in many ways when you didn’t expect:D). The boat was fast and not so crowded in the morning. So I just sat and took several pictures of the side of Chao Phraya River. There are several boat as a common transportations which runs every 30 mins or so- back and forth and visiting every piers.