Teaching in a Government School

I had been teaching here and there since November 2008, I was also working part-time for a language school, and then at 11:30 on the 1^st May I received a phone call inviting me to attend an interview for a full time teaching position. Two hours later I was at Wat Nuannorodit School in the district of Bangpai. The school had a nice feel to it and I immediately warmed to the Head of English and another teacher who were interviewing, I was offered the job and immediately accepted. I would be teaching IEP (Intensive English Programme) students at Mathayom 1 and 3, as well as conversational English to Mathayom 5 & 6. In total 19 lessons each of 55 minutes duration per week.

Mathayom is the equivalent to secondary or high school, the M1 students are 12-13 years old and M6, 17-18.

On the 12^th May, I arrived just before 7:30am to start my new career as a teacher in a government school. With up to 50 students to a class, I wasn't sure what to expect or how to handle it. On my first day I got things quite wrong, to be honest I was somewhat bewildered about handling a class of 50 students and being able to teach such a quantity. On the second day, I changed tack a little and gave the students a game for the last twelve or fifteen minutes of the lesson, things went much better. From then on things got better, okay I've given the odd activity that's fallen a bit flat but more often than not the activity has been a success.

Now I did say, I'm teaching IEP students and I'm also the lead teacher for Mathayom 1. My job is to teach them English as a whole, i.e. grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Imagine a wild bunch of 10-11 year olds in the UK, noisy, running around and naughty. Now my 12-13 year olds are just like that, they can be incredibly naughty, incredibly difficult to control but at least I have no need to fear them and almost all of them have a lot of respect for me as their teacher. This class has 40 students, 27 boys and 13 girls and out of each fifty-five minute lesson, I spend at least 25 minutes trying to control them. This is not a problem confined to me, other teachers all find this class exceptionally difficult to manage they have so much energy they need to release. That said I have a lot of affection for them, they seem always pleased to see me and have even asked other teachers why they can't be kind like Ajarn Peter. This means a lot, especially as I can get pretty tough with them, giving out lines, confiscating mobile phones and comic books.

My lessons to the Mathayom 3 students are based on a programme called "English for Quality of Life", that said I'm pretty much given a free reign as to what and how I teach them. These students are 14-15 years old, there are 37 in the class and a great deal better behaved than those in Mathayom 1.

Mathayom 5 of which I teach grades 1, 3, 5, 9 and 10 and Mathayom 6, all grades 1-10 have me for their conversation class. With 50 students to a class, conversation lessons aren't the easiest to give especially as Thai students habitually revert to their mother tongue at almost every given opportunity. My philosophy is to integrate as much fun as possible in the lessons whilst teaching new vocabulary and correct pronunciation. These lessons are usually activity based and range from songs to discussions to making plans.

On 1^st September there was a competition between ten schools locally. Beforehand I had been asked to coach Chanatip, a Mathayom 2 IEP student who would be entering the reading competition. I spent about 6 hours tutoring him to read well. We read from abridged versions of Oliver Twist and The Wizard of Oz. Chanatip had to learn to alter his voice each of the different characters that spoke and using stress and intonation correctly. It paid off, Chanatip came second, I was pleased. I was also given the role of quizmaster for the English quiz at Mathayom 3 level. Two of my students, nicknames Benz and Am, formed our school's team. I read out twenty questions, being very careful not to give any clues in any way to Benz and Am. After the twentieth question, the scores were counted, it was a tie between my students and a pair from another school. We started the tie-break, the first question both teams got right, same with the second. The third question resulted in two wrong answers, the nail-biting fourth question "Who was the first president of the U.S.," finally produce the result. Only one team gave the correct answer "George Washington" that team was Benz and Am from Wat Nuannorodit school, I was so proud of them.

Now it is already the end of the first term and exams are currently in progress. I can't believe how quickly these past four months have gone and how much I'm enjoying teaching. I usually arrive at school just before 7:30am and finish between 1:30 and 4:15pm, depending on my schedule for the day. I'm loving it!

Thaksin and the Red Shirts

Over a period of three weeks the Red Shirts, followers of Thaksin Shinawatra, the convicted former Prime Minister held rallies in Bangkok aimed at ousting the present incumbent of the post Mr Abhisit. They moved onto Pattaya and forced the cancellation of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summit by storming the venue holding it. Spurred on by this "victory" they returned to Bangkok and demonstrated threateningly around parts of the city. The military overpowered them on 13^th April and the next day, the leaders gave up. These people were stirred on by Thaksin a thief guilty of robbing the Thai economy for his own ends. He bribed the poor with a few Baht so they would vote for him. Many of these people have received little or no education and probably have no real understanding of politics. The educated middle class in the cities saw through Thaksin and the man fled with suitcases full of money. He flew to the UK in a Russian jet, where he bought himself Manchester City FC.

Here is a recent political timeline

2006:
Following an election in April which left Thaksin just short of an overall majority despite bribing the poor with cash to vote for him, a court later nullified the result, the following events occurred.
On 19^th September 2006, the Military staged a coup while Thaksin was away at the United Nations. He went into exile in London and used money he had made by suspicious means to buy Manchester City football club. 12 days later, a former army commander-in-chief Surayud Chulanont was sworn in as interim prime minister.

2007:

30^th May and Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved for breaking election laws. He and 110 senior party members were banned from politics for five years.
20^th August , voters endorse a new, military-drafted constitution, the 18th in 75 years.
23^rd December the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) failed to get an overall majority in a general election.

2008:

28^th January, the PPP leader Samak Sundaravej elected prime minister.
25^th May and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) otherwise referred to as the "yellow shirts" staged street protests to overthrow the "Thaksin puppet government."
31^st July, Thaksin's wife Potjaman was given a three-year jail term for tax fraud.
11^th August saw Thaksin and his wife skippng bail and escaping to London.
26^th August, thousands of PAD protesters stormed Government House in an attempt to get rid of Samak.
Soon after on 2^nd September Samak declares a state of emergency in Bangkok when one person was killed and 45 injured in clashes. One week later he was found guilty of violating constitution by hosting TV cooking shows while in office and forced to quit.
17^th September, Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law was elected prime minister by parliament.
21^st October sees the Supreme Court sentencing Thaksin to two years in jail in his abcence for breaking a conflict-of-interest law.
Bangkok's main airport was taken over by PAD protesters on 25^th November halting all flights and stranding 250,000 foreign visitors.
On the 2^nd December the Constitutional Court disbanded the PPP and banned Somchai from politics for five years. PAD protesters ended their blockade of Bangkok's two airports the following day.
15^th Dec - Opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, an Oxford-educated economist, became the third prime minister in as many months. About 200 red-shirted demonstrators block access to parliament, accusing him of being a stooge of the military.

2009:
The following is an article from the Bangkok Post on 14^th April 2009
How the red-shirt protest developed and ended

March 26: Thousands of Thaksin supporters in trademark red shirts begin rallying in Bangkok, calling on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government to resign and allow fresh elections.
They are spurred on by Thaksin Shinawatra, who starts a series of almost nightly addresses to the crowd by telephone and video link.
 
March 27: Thaksin accuses Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda, privy councillors Surayud Chulanond and Charnchai Likitjitta of being behind the 2006 military coup that toppled him.

March 28: General Surayud rejects Thaksin's claim, saying privy councillors are not involved in politics.

April 2: Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan says a mass rally planned for April 8 is aimed at pressuring Mr Abhisit, General Prem and the privy councillors to resign.

April 3: Thaksin refuses an invitation by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to negotiate with the government, and calls on his supporters to come out in force for a mass rally on April 8.

April 7: Mr Abhisit's car is attacked by red-shirts in Pattaya as he heads back to Bangkok after a cabinet meeting. Thaksin's three children and ex-wife leave Thailand.
 
April 8: More than 30,000 red-shirts rally at Government House, their main protest site.

April 9: Taxi drivers block main roads and Victory Monument, bringing the city to a halt. Mr Abhisit vows tough action against red-shirts who break the law, but no action is taken.

April 10: Thaksin's supporters, already spread out across Bangkok, launch a separate protest in the beach resort of Pattaya, where 16 Asian leaders are to meet for a major Asean-sponsored summit, with Asean chairman Thailand as the host.

April 11: Thousands of protesters storm the venue of the summit, forcing its cancellation. A state of emergency is declared as foreign leaders are evacuated - some by helicopter from the hotel roof.

April 12: A state of emergency is declared in Bangkok and surrounding areas as new anti-government demonstrations spring up. Pattaya protest leader Arisman Pongruangrong arrested in Bangkok. About 50 protesters force their way into the Interior Ministry grounds while Mr Abhisit is inside. He escapes. Thaksin says he will lead an uprising if there is a coup.

April 13: Army cracks down on protesters in Bangkok. Two people die and 123 treated for injuries in army assaults on groups of protesters and several ugly confrontations between red shirts and local people who formed neighbourhood militias.

April 14: Thousands of demonstrators who had retreated to their main camp outside Government House agree to disperse in the face of an overwhelming military operation to close down days of protests.

Government extends the three-day Songkran holiday for two more days.

___________________________________________________________

Recently, following the violent clashes in the streets of Bangkok, which left two innocent people dead, killed by the UDD, redshirts, the government cancelled Thaksin's passport and he left Dubai, where he had been staying, for an undisclosed destination in Africa. Nicaragua has stated that following an earlier meeting between Thaksin and the Nicaraguan president, it has issued the fugitive with a diplomatic passport.

The incumbent Prime Minister Mr Abhisit, seems a good man and we can only hope that he can bring the two sides together for discussions on the future of democracy in Thailand. The Thai people are wonderful and very resilient, this is the "Land of Smiles".

A meeting with friends

Things move fast, I had only known MayOm for just over 2 months, now it was 27th February and he came over with a bag of clothes and some clothes hangers, he put them in the second wardrobe. We'd agreed that he would stay at my apartment in Sathorn for 4 or 5 days a week, spending the rest of the time at home with his mother. On Saturday we took my small suitcase and took a taxi to his home where he filled his suitcase and mine, packed his laptop in its bag and together with a couple of carrier bags of papers and TOEFL course books returned to my apartment.

Now, MayOm was supposed to be improving his English and watching, in the main, English speaking TV channels and receiving lessons from me. Well the lessons lasted two weeks and the English TV somewhat less, now I'm subjected to Thai soaps on TV. The Thai's are crazy about their soaps, to the point that a crucial episode means dropping absolutely everything and I mean absolutely everything for the TV. Thai soaps remind me of the acting standards attained in that famous long departed British soap, Crossroads. One notices that many actors and presenters have a light skin tone and some have slightly European features. The Thais have as much of an obsession looking white as north Europeans do getting a tan, a dark-skin is deemed to be unfortunate as it is easily confused with peasant farmers working their paddy fields. However, back to MayOm's English and he can now understand me speaking normally; every so often I correct his pronunciation and insert prepositions into his language. It's now seven weeks since MayOm moved in and he never did go back to stay at his mother's home.

Friday 6th March, it was around 6pm and I went to the Pinnacle Hotel near the Suan Lum night bazaar to meet two friends from Torremolinos, Ed and Trevor. I was quite excited, having my first friends visiting here. They were actually spending four weeks in Pattaya and popped up to Bangkok for the weekend. I took them to Silom Soi 4 where we sat at The Balcony watching the passersby; after almost two hours, we managed to stroll across the soi, about eight steps, to the Telephone Pub and went upstairs for some food. After, we went back downstairs and parked ourselves on the terrace of the Telephone and later returned to The Balcony to enjoy a few drinks and the local views. Shortly before 11pm I decided to show Ed and Trevor something of the seedier side of Bangkok nightlife in Soi Twilight. We went into X-Men and sat directly in front of the stage. Well I like to keep my blogs clean so I won't go into detail about what we saw, though the three of us had to pop our eyes back in quite a few times. We had a couple of drinks there which I would call Spanish measures – I think the idea of them being so strong is to loosen up the punters in order that they take a piece of the merchandise away with them. It was closing in on 1am when we left, Ed and Trevor returned to the Pinnacle and me back home to MayOm.

The next evening we arranged to have dinner, Ed and Trevor, MayOm and me. MayOm chose the Pandanus Restaurant in Sathorn Soi 1 which has Thai, European and Fusion food we enjoyed over some good conversation. Afterwards we went, minus MayOm, to The Balcony in Soi 4 for some more sightseeing before finishing at 9, the name of a new disco showbar, for the show. I left Trevor and Ed there having arranged to meet them the next day for a visit to Wat Pho. Now the reason MayOm went home instead of coming with us is that he does not like Soi 4. In his opinion there are too many money boys there. I agree to a point, yes there's a lot of that type although there's also a number of decent Thais who go or work there but I respect his opinion on it.

The following morning I got up quite late, as one often does on a Sunday, of course this meant I had to hurry to get ready to visit the temple with Ed and Trevor. I met them at the Pinnacle Hotel, where they were waiting by their taxi which was to get us to Wat Pho before taking them back to Pattaya. We got through the traffic to the Wat about 1:30pm. The day was hot with sun beating down fiercely and we were all respectfully dressed in jeans rather than shorts for the visit and it didn't take very long before we were feeling the effects of the sun. Wat Pho is famous as the birthplace of Thai massage; it is one of the largest wats, covering 50 rai (20 acres). We wandered around, visiting the shrines of Buddha and walking the 46 metre length of the Reclining Buddha We passed statues Singha lions and of stone giants guarding gateways, amongst them was Marco Polo. Trevor and I got adventurous and climbed one of the Chedi to see a lovely view of the temple from a height of about 10 metres. Eventually the need to sit down and quench our thirsts became overwhelming; I'd already consumed a bottle of water I'd been carrying. We then continued around a little longer, spending almost two hours there before leaving, Ed and Trevor by taxi to Pattaya and I by ferry along the Chao Phra Ya River to home.

Monday 9th March came and I was off to the Text and Talk Academy, where I had decided to take a further course specifically aimed at Thai students including young learners. I want to teach children and the CELTA course I did in Chiang Mai never prepared me for that, also I just didn't feel confident after the course, which I was about teaching adults anyway, to go straight into paid teaching. My plan to go volunteer teaching at a primary school for six weeks from late January had been wrecked by the incompetence over the handling of my accounts by the Abbey bank which was impossible to sort out over the phone as the call centre staff both in the UK and India either lacked authority (even the managers!) or were completely ignorant and even rude. The critical problem of being able to access my funds were resolved in a matter of minutes when I called into the Beckenham branch. Now as it was mid January, I had no return ticket organised yet to Thailand and the schools would be closed from the beginning of March until late May, volunteer teaching was no longer feasible and Text and Talk guaranteed me work to follow. You might ask at this point why I did a course aimed at teaching adults then? Well my reply is simple, in that I took the CELTA course understanding it to be the Rolls Royce of TEFL/TESOL training, I also thought I that in all likelihood I would be teaching in Spain and at a language school where most students would be adult.

The course commenced with seven teachers on it, the only thing it has in common with the CELTA is the 6 hours of Teaching Practice, although even those are different more varied and probably more real world. In the final days we were down to five, two had dropped out.

On the morning of Sunday 22nd March, I took a bus down to Pattaya to meet with Ed and Trevor. On arrival at Pattaya bus station, I jumped on a motorcycle taxi to Le Cafe Royal, where they were staying, I found Ed on the patio sipping on something alcohol-free, I took a coke. Shortly after Trevor arrived with his friend Tom and took a coffee. I spent the day with them, having lunch then settling down to a beer or two at the Panorama pub. It was there that I met Oum aka James who I knew previously as a waiter at The Balcony. His head had been shaved and the hair was only just growing back, it turned out that he had been a novice monk for a short while and was now looking after a house in Pattaya owned by a Farang, keeping it secure whilst it was undergoing renovation by builders. He told me he would be returning to Bangkok in April and asked me if I could help him by giving English lessons when he got back. I told him, I don't mind meeting him for a conversation but I would have to charge for a lesson – I have decided, soft as I am, I won't give lessons for free but will charge a fee somewhat dependent upon what the student can afford. A good few beers later it was 8:30pm and time to head back to Bangkok, saying my farewells to Ed and Trevor, his friend Tom and to Oum I jumped back onto a motorcycle and commenced the return journey.

I got back home about 11pm, beating MayOm back; he had been attending a fashion show at Siam Paragon and also had done some shopping, for he returned with a selection of face care products including a whitening lotion.

Phuket, birthday weekend 2009

Peter & the birthday cake

Peter on Kata Beach

MayOm & Peter

MayOm and the big heart

MayOm and the big fish

They're alcohol free and really yummy!

Wat Chalong

Big Buddha

Lighthouse at Promthep

To Live in the Big Mango

Sunday 8^th February and the Eva Air Boeing 747 from London Heathrow lands at Suvarnabhumi Airport, 25 minutes early at 15:20 hours. However getting through Immigration could almost be comparable to arriving at the Big Apple with long slow moving queues. It was 16:45 when my passport was stamped and I was cleared through immigration, I changed some sterling, collected my luggage and took a taxi to my new home in the Sathorn district. When I arrived, MayOm was already there, in fact he'd been waiting for half an hour and he helped me up to my new home with my luggage.

The apartment is on the 5^th (top) floor on a corner at the rear of the building in a quiet soi. I am fortunate not to have any neighbours on either side and no street noise, making it a quiet place to live.

I unpacked my things, took a shower and together with MayOm, took a taxi to the Suan Lum night bazaar where I bought towels, bedding, a picture and banner for the wall, we had dinner at The Puppet Theatre Restaurant there and took a taxi back to unload the goods I had purchased before venturing out again, this time on foot to the 7-Eleven store at the end of the Soi, stocking up on essentials like water, loo roll and so on. MayOm went home just before midnight; I wouldn't be seeing him again before Friday.

It was my first night in my new home; I went to bed late and woke up early. I did more shopping that day, this time at Robinson's department store in Bang Rak where amongst other things, I bought a microwave oven.

Over the next few days, the kitchen was slowly filled with crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, a toaster and a rice cooker/steamer. I seemed able only to do scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with this equipment, I was to find out that MayOm however, could create some wonderful culinary delights using the microwave and the rice cooker/steamer.

On Friday, MayOm was supposed to come over but he had to go to dinner with friends, I was disappointed but then late that evening he phoned to say he had finished dinner and would I still like him to come over, I answered with a yes and just after midnight, he arrived with his weekend suitcase, laptop and a bouquet of 12 red roses for Valentine's Day and my birthday. I found this gesture so sweet, I can't recall the last time anyone gave me flowers yet alone anything for Valentine's.

We were up early in the morning, at 8am we left the apartment and took a taxi to the Suvarnabhumi en route for Phuket for my birthday weekend. At the airport we were delayed by 90 minutes. Being as we were in the Domestic departures lounge, the shops and restaurants were few, we took a coffee in Starbucks before going through to the gate.

At Phuket we were met by a waiting taxi-driver who took us directly to our hotel, an hour's distant, the Serene Resort in Kata Beach. We checked into the hotel and were taken to our Delux room, which had a 7 foot bed, a day bed, mini-bar, multi-channel TV and a balcony overlooking the pool. MayOm was very pleased with it. That evening we ate in the hotel restaurant, it was a buffet which included a barbeque, for dessert I had three different types of cake, now I don't usually pig out but this was my birthday. Then suddenly a cake with candles arrived and the cabaret singer starting singing Happy Birthday, I was a little embarrassed by this but at the same time quite pleased that MayOm went to the trouble of organising this for me, it was very sweet.

On the Monday, we used the services of the taxi driver who picked us up at the airport to go sightseeing around the island, now I had done all this just 4-5 months earliere but it was MayOm's first time here and anyway, I wanted to see many of the places again. We set off at 09:30, first going to Karon View Point , then onto Phromthep Cape, where there is an elephant shrine. The elephant is significant in Buddhism, having been adopted from Hinduism, where the elephant is considered to be the transport of the gods. Past the shrine exists an unusual looking lighthouse, it was opened in 1996 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of King Bhumibol. From here we went to the top of Nakkerd Hill to the Big Buddha, a white marble statue 45 metres high and 25 metres across at the base, from here there is a magnificent view over much of the island and out to the Andaman Sea. On leaving the Big Buddha, we stopped at a roadside restaurant about a third of the way down; from here we had lunch with a view, looking out over the lush green countryside to the resort of Karon and the exquisite blue sea beyond. Next we visited Wat Chalong, Phuket's most important Buddhist temple and the biggest and most ornate of Phuket's 29 Buddhist monasteries. Just inside the main hall before the image of Buddha, are cans containing what look like shaved bamboo chopsticks. I picked one up, knelt before Buddha and shook the can back and forth rhythmically until one of the sticks worked its way to the top and fell to the floor. I read the number, it was 8, then I went to the cabinet around the corner, found the paper corresponding to the number and MayOm translated it for me, it said I would get help with a job soon. Next it was shopping time and our driver dropped us of at Jung Ceylon shopping centre in Patong. We wandered around for a while before finding a clothes shop holding a 70% off clearance sale, I bought a green/white polo shirt, while Payom bought a similar shirt but with royal blue/white stripes and another very attractive polo top, with thin navy/white/mustard stripes. We then had an ice-cream fondue before strolling down the Bangla Road to the beach and on to the Mio Coffee Shop which i had frequented back in October/November 2008 before returning at about 18:30 to Kata Beach.

On Tuesday 17^th February we returned to Bangkok. MayOm came with me to my apartment but left after a couple of hours to go home, from here I will fast forward to my next big event on 28^th February, which I will write about soon.

Bangkok into 2009

I was in Krung Thep, the Big Mango or BKK if you like, for the first 12 days of the New Year. I was no longer in vacation mode, I was here to get deep inside this city's soul, to know the city I want to live in, work in, play in and love in. I wanted... no needed to integrate. There are places I want to visit, Ayuthaya, Kanchanaburi and the River Kwai Bridge, the Floating Markets, all would have to wait.

From the 2^nd to 7^th January the Om Yim Lodge where I normally stay was full, so I decided to try a different part of the city, Ratchadapisek, 3 minutes from the metro station of the same name in the northern area of central Bangkok. I wanted to know how the area felt to live in as there are a number of apartments at reasonable rents available in the area. On Saturday 3^rd, I went to the JJ weekend market, at Chatuchak, 3 stations further out on the metro. It's a huge market, so many different things, most new but some old, clothing, footwear, linen, kitchenware, bric-a-brac, household items, art, animals, food stalls, crammed together , almost merging into each other. I was there for nearly three hours and resisted buying anything, just browsing around, except for a chocolate brown Puma shoulder bag for 299 baht. Nearby to the south is Huai Khwang with a very good shopping centre, with a Robinsons department store and a Carrefour, a little further along there is also a Tesco. An equal distance to the north is Pahon Yothin, another place with excellent shopping and cinemas, however, I dedided that Ratachada is a little bit further out than I would like to be, though I wouldn't rule out Huai Khwang, which is four metro stations north of Sukhumvit.

On the 7^th January, I moved back to Om Yim to spend my last few days before flying back to London. On the 8^th January, I finally met someone I had been chatting with online for a while, Mayom or to give him his full Thai name, Narongrit Kanpech. We met at 1pm at Sala Daeng BTS and went for lunch at Fuji, a Japanese restaurant. I felt a little nervous at meeting Mayom, we had got on so well in chat, I was worried about making a hash of things. I needn't have worried, despite my awkwardness with chopsticks we survived the restaurant and after looking around the shops, where Alex bought himself a new top, we went for a foot massage along the Silom Road. I found the massage so relaxing that I dozed off for a while during it. Next we rewarded ourselves with a visit to Secret Recipe for some delicious cake and a fruit drink. Alex wanted to see the Om Yim Lodge as he was looking for somewhere for some friends to stay when they visit Bangkok. So we went back so that he could take a look the hotel's facilities.

Now Mayom is in his fourth and final year studying Travel and Tourism at University, he is doing his finals and has his thesis to complete by mid-February, so he is very busy as I head back to the UK and Spain for almost four weeks.

I had also spent time this week looking at serviced apartments for somewhere to live, I was also keeping an eye open an apartment for Alan, we had become friends in Chiang Mai and after 4 weeks in Hong Kong and China, was returning to Bangkok to work as a teacher for International House. Alan was back on late on the 8^th January and we met up on the 9^th for a coffee at Cafe Society where we caught up with each other's news. The next evening after Alan had finished teaching, we had a look at a few apartments together before having something to eat and a couple of non-alcoholic drinks at The Balcony (it was the night prior to elections in Bangkok for a new Governor, this meant there was an alcohol ban). Mayom phoned me (he was eating at the Bug and Bee) so I went to meet him, Alan came along and met with Mayom before heading off himself. I continued to chat briefly before MayOm went home, having to start work at 7am at the airport. We made arrangements to meet at the airport on Monday to say farewell prior to my flight and so I headed back to my room for an early night.

All too soon came Monday 12^th January, I jumped into the taxi at 6:45am and reached the airport within half an hour, checked in at the Gulf Air desk and waited until 8:30 to see Mayom, we had just enough time to say hello and a brief chat before I had to rush through Security and race along to the Gate, where they were already boarding the plane, I was leaving Thailand.