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.

 

The Big Mango for Happy New Year

Well today is Monday 30^th November, it is 6:30 in the evening as I write this and in another two hours I'll be back in the Big Mango ready for Happy New Year. Okay, for anyone wondering what I'm whittling about, the Big Mango is an affectionate name for Bangkok, just as the Big Apple is for New York. Happy New Year is what the Thai people call the western New Year, it is one of three they celebrate, the others being the Chinese New Year and Songkhran, which is the Thai New Year, celebrated during mid-April when the whole country has a week's holiday when people plaster each other in a paste, which has a wet talcum powder consistency, chuck buckets of water on people from above and of course set off fireworks all over the place.

I left Koh Samui at 08:20 this morning, well that's the time the ferry departed. I was supposed to be picked up by taxi or minibus from my hotel at 7am, at 7:12am a taxi pulled up and beckoned me to get in, I wave my ticket at him, with the big picture of a Lomprayah Catamaran and he said "yes yes, only one person", I responded "only one" and sat myself down comfortably in the back seat for the journey to the pier. You can imagine my surprise then, when ten minutes later we pull up at the airport. "Why are you taking me here" I enquired, "you go airport" retorted the driver, "er no, the Catamaran pier, you are supposed to take me to the Catamaran" came my reply. Anyway it transpired that he had a booking for the airport, although when he beckoned me over to his cab, I showed him my blatantly obvious boat ticket he had already got it in his head that he was going to the airport and that was that. However, as I didn't want the airport, he decided in his infinite wisdom to return me to my hotel only uttering the words "mistake, mistake". I telephoned Lomprayah and they said there was a bus leaving the airport car park in ten minutes, which I could take, I asked the girl on the phone if she could let the taxi driver know exactly where to take me and passed my phone to him to get directions. The driver then turned around and headed back to the airport and as we arrived back outside the terminal building, I said "Aren't you supposed to go to the car park for the bus", looking rather perplexed he decided to ask a Security Guard idling around, he pointed us in the direction of the car park and off yet again we went. Finally we arrived at the car park and I could see the Lomprayah bus waiting. I got out the taxi, grabbed my luggage and was asked for some payment; I merely responded by saying "no - your mistake, your mistake" and made haste for the bus.

After that nerve-wracking experience with me having visions of getting stuck in Samui, the journey has gone smoothly, well that is, apart from the rough sea we encountered on the way to the Chumporn on the mainland and for which I was glad I never had any breakfast to bring back up.

My eight days in Samui had been pretty uneventful, I wanted to watch what money I had available as I had no idea when I would get back my internet banking and access to my savings account. I was very bored, I realise now that I am not really an island person, Chaweng centre is mainly just one long road that stretches for about three kilometres and I couldn't even find a cinema to go to on the days it rained. So no more about Samui, I'll continue you this, probably tomorrow from the Manohra Hotel in the Big Mango.

Now it's the following morning and it feels so good to be back here, city life, city people, I feel so at home! Last night I checked in at the hotel, took a refreshing shower and made my way to Silom Soi 4. After a couple of drinks at the Balcony, seeing a few familiar faces, I went next door to 9, a very smart show bar / discotheque. This is a brand new venue that only opened three weeks ago, I was there for the show and had already been there a couple of times when it first opened The show was good then, though not quite up to the standard of the Boat Bar in Phuket but this time it was something else, brilliant choreography that a top West End show could be proud of, the highlight for me was watching the acrobats descending 20 feet from the ceiling on two lengths of purple silk that reached to the floor, swinging over the heads of the customers below, somersaulting upwards downwards and crossways. Wow, what an amazing performance, polished, classy, sensual and tasteful. Then one act was something off a comedy as this rather unglamorous lady boy opened a bottle of coke in the same way as Tricky Vicky in Benidorm would, although this was done through clothing. Drinks at 9 are also very reasonable, my rum and coke was 100 Baht (2 euros). I did go to a couple of show bars in Samui – they were a joke, expensive drinks and tasteless costumes and to cap it all they were so poorly performed that only a blind person could have been choreographed them. The biggest joke for me was two guys dressed as bulls taunting the matador; I started laughing out loud before realising, whoops this is supposed to be ballet and then pretended I was really having a coughing fit.

It's New Years Eve and I'm looking forward to tonight.

The way to Samui and out

Monday 22^nd December 2008

I have spent just under ten weeks in Thailand and have three still to go before I return to Europe, all-be-it for a fleeting visit there. I have enjoyed everywhere, although Phuket took me three days to get to appreciate. My favourite place is definitely Bangkok, don't ask me why I like a city of ugly concrete and polluted with traffic, there is such something magical about it for me.

Now this morning, I'm sat at the breakfast table for 8:30am, as Mat smilingly greets me to enquire what I'd like for breakfast, "Two croissants, coffee with milk and orange juice please Mat" I said, "okay, Peter I make for you, five minutes for croissants okay" came his reply. Within two minutes breakfast was delivered to my table, Mat had even got the order correct, although he did have to go back to get the butter. Happily I enjoyed my croissants with butter and blackberry jam, washed down with the resort's wonderful fresh orange juice and two decent cups of coffee.

Olivier met me and said he would take me at 9:15am to meet the minibus taking me to Koh Samui, I made my goodbyes, put my luggage into the back of the SUV and off we went to meet the bus. We arrived at the meeting place and after a good twenty minutes the bus finally turned up. There were already nine people on board, and I took the last remaining seat as we made our way to Surat Thani for the ferry to Samui. Once in Surat Thani one person was dropped off and the minibus continued to meander through the city's street. Suddenly it stopped as the driver made a telephone call, and then we were on our way again, reversing about one hundred metres back and then turning right down this narrow backstreet. The driver then stopped, got out and summoned me to do the same as he went to the rear of the vehicle and placed my suitcases on the street. Before I could say anything the driver had got back onto the bus and drove away as a man, who I came to know as Vit, greeted me. "What's going on", I asked, "I thought the bus was taking me to the ferry". "You have to get another bus, next bus in three hours at two-thirty" said Vit "But I was told I would be in Samui at three o'clock what's going on – why so long" I countered. Vit beckoned me into this single story building with its metal shutter raised and opening the premises to the street, there was no sign outside to say what it was but inside there was a small desk with a pair of old coach seats in front where he beckoned me to sit while telling me "Your bus late, next bus to Samui at two-thirty". There was also a television blaring out and what I presumed to be Vit's family sat around it. I was having a bit of a problem with all this, firstly, I understood that Jae had booked me on a minibus to take me directly to Koh Samui; secondly I couldn't quite understand why I had been dropped off and made to wait three hours in this God-forsaken place. I ensured my luggage was securely locked inside these premises that had been disguised as a travel office and went off to a 7-eleven to get some drink. I returned about half an hour later, my luggage was still secure and intact as Vit sat me down again and tried to sell me tickets for when I depart Samui for Bangkok, I declined his offer, telling him I hadn't finalised my plans but did allow him to sell me a minibus journey to my hotel, with a company called Century, once I got to Samui. That cost me 300 Baht. I decided at this point to spend some time writing my Krabi blog, so I went to my small case, taking out my laptop before zipping up the case again without bothering to lock it because I planned to remain on the premises. I sat on the step facing the street and was about to start the laptop when Vit invited me to sit at a table outside, I tried it but the sun was too bright and so returned to the step to continue my work. After nearly two hours I'd had enough, so closed and returned my laptop to its bag which was in the small suitcase, locking it securely ready for the next leg of the journey.

At 2:30pm, I boarded a pick-up to go and meet the bus. My large suitcase went in the back and the small one stayed with me in the front. Eventually the bus came and my luggage was stowed in a space alongside the steps to up to the seating area. The bus was full; there were already couple of people standing. I stood just at the top of these steps with my luggage in my field of vision for the ninety minutes the bus took to get to the ferry. The ferryboat we were taking turned out to be an old and very basic ship and I had to carry my luggage up some steep and narrow steps to the passenger deck. I was not a happy bunny, this was not the journey I had booked and paid for, I knew somehow there was at least one more problem on this disastrous trip waiting for me. At ten past four, the ferry departed, after an uneventful ride across a calm sea we finally arrived at Koh Samui just before 6pm. The large suitcase clunked its way down the steps, I wasn't going to carry it, and I left the ferry and headed to where the minibuses and taxis were waiting. There I found the driver for Century minibuses, who took me to the bus and loaded the luggage; I breathed a sigh of relief – big mistake! After five minutes the driver asked me if I wanted to go now to my hotel in Chaweng Beach, "Yes" I replied, "bus not going" he said "have a problem, I find you something else". The something else it turned out was a songthaew, "you go free, special for you", declared the bus driver, "Not free, I've already paid 300 Baht for your minibus" came my retort. Just wanting to get to the hotel, take a shower and unwind, I took the songthaew and accepted that this was just a rip-off journey, I wasn't going to repeat again. There were six other passengers with me, one Thai, the others Scandinavian, going to a couple of destinations in Chaweng. On the way, the songthaew picked up and dropped of some other people and finally after an arduous trip, at twenty to eight that evening I was at my hotel, the Baan Rom Mai Resort.

I checked in, had to pay the total balance due and was taken to my room. Now I've stayed in better accommodation in Chiang Mai for well under half what this was costing a night, two weeks of this – I don't know if I can stand it, were my very thoughts but at least it was clean. I unpacked my clothes, took a shower and did some ironing, then went off to find something to eat. There were Italian restaurants, Japanese, Brazilian, South African, Australian, Irish, French, Indian but no Thai, except a couple of very overpriced places. I settled on an Indian restaurant, which was okay but that was all and when the bill came, I had just eaten my second most expensive meal in over two months in Thailand. I wandered around for a bit before returning to my room, it was then that I was to realise the full horror of my journey.

I decided to go online with my laptop, to my dismay there was no Wi-Fi available so I went to reception to enquire but no one was there. I didn't want to hang around so I thought I'd use my sim card modem. I went to my small case but couldn't find it, I cursed myself, thinking I must have left it behind in Krabi. After a few minutes, I decided to find my Spanish Nokia phone, which I'd been unable to use the past week as it had been out of service, couldn't find that either, I turned everything out of the case, including my laptop bag, which was stored inside it, every pocket was checked but there was nothing to be found. Nothing, nothing, I suddenly realised, hey my Bluetooth adaptor, what about my memory stick and hold on - where is my 250 gigabyte portable hard drive, I even checked the big suitcase, everything was emptied out onto the bed, linings were checked but absolutely nothing, even my comfy flip flops and my Remington beard trimmer were missing. I'd been scammed and robbed in that shit hole of a place in Surat Thani. I remembered that while my back was turned away, using my laptop, Vit suddenly came over and distracted me with some irrelevant conversation and I thought he was just being friendly when all the time my case was probably being riffled. It was midnight, too late to take any action before morning, I eventually went to sleep.

Just after 9am, I phoned Le Passe Temps to enquire if anything had been left in my room. Olivier checked with housekeeping and told me, no nothing was left behind. I then obtained from him details of the minibus company that had brought me here the previous day and went off to see the police. After a twenty minute walk, I got to the Tourist Police office, only to find it was closed and ended up going on a motorbike taxi to the office in Bo Phut.

Once here I filled in details of what had happened, gave them Vit's telephone number as well as the numbers of the bus operator and Le Passe Temps and let the police do their work. A short while later, three French girls turned up, they had made the exact same journey as me from Krabi, except they took the minibus one hour later at 10:30. I remember seeing them arrive at the office but they never stayed long before being moved on. Anyway, one of the girls had six hundred euros, her passport, iPod and iTouch taken, we compared notes and decided it was the same scam.

I've obtained police report and notified the Insurance Company, I don't expect to see my things again but the police have my mobile number and email just in case. Now I'm stuck on this god-forsaken island, a pretentious place full of hideous tourists like nowhere else I've been to in Thailand. I've booked a ticket back to Bangkok for 30^th December, I am not going anywhere near Surat Thani but instead will be taking the catamaran to Chumporn, then boarding an air-conditioned coach direct to Bangkok, where I'll arrive just after 8pm. I'll spend New Year in Bangkok – oh happy days!

As for Koh Samui, well the beaches are unpleasantly crowded, yesterday was cloudy with a couple of light showers, today, Christmas Day, it's thunder and lighting and pouring with rain. I detect not a jot of sincerity in the Thais here and the prices are extortionate, maybe I'm being cynical, maybe I don't like islands – Mauritius and Mykonos being the exceptions. Take me to Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, ah Bangkok, but just get me out of here!

Krabi Pictorial

Arriving at Hong Island

Hong Island Beach

Hong Island Trip - Fellow Travellers

Hong Island Trip - Captain Ron

Hong Island - Passageway to Lagoon

Hong Island Lagoon

Tiger Cave - Mother & Child

Tiger Cave- Macaque eating

River at Krabi

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Lagoon

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Mangrove Swamp 1

Krabi - Kayak Journey - Joe

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 1

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 2

Krabi - Sunset at Le Passe Temps 3

Krabi

Monday 15^th December 2008

The alarm went off at 8am; I got up, showered and packed before going downstairs for an Om Yim Lodge American breakfast. Prior to departing I arranged with the manager to leave some text books for safe-keeping until my return in three weeks. I then took a taxi to Suvarnabhumi for my flight at 1:50pm to Krabi. I actually got to the airport rather early at 11:30am; this was because I had arranged to meet K, who worked for Qatar Airways. I met up him, and then checked in nice and early before going for a drink at Black Canyon Coffee. Here I was chatting with K, who had been working from 3am until half an hour before we met. He wanted to learn Spanish and asked if I could help him, offering to pay, I declined his offer, my Spanish isn't that good but I did say I would help him find the right study material and give a lesson to get him started. It was time to go to boarding; so I said farewell to K and went off in search of the gate. The Air Asia flight departed bang on time and before I knew it, it was 3pm as the wheels touched down at the tiny Krabi Airport, where a driver taking me to Le Passe Temps was holding a placard with my name on it.

Just after 4pm I arrived at Le Passe Temps and greeted by the owner Olivier and his and manager, Jae who, following the registration formalities, showed me to my bungalow, the name of which was Hippo. It was a fairly small room with its wooden floor, walls and roof, at ninety degrees to it was another little wooden building, this one housing my bathroom which was complete with a wooden bath tub. Outside was my own little terrace containing a bench seat that could snugly fit two people. Beyond were seven other bungalows with a pool situated in the centre. Between the pool and the reception / lounge, a beautiful octagonal shaped building with a central dome, was a patio where breakfast was taken. In the opposite direction was another patio atop a cliff and steps leading down to the restaurant and beach. All in all it was a very serene place in an isolated corner of the Krabi province.

I changed out of my travel clothes into something my lighter and very informal then took a look around. The first people I met were Mac and Meghan, an American couple from Seattle, who reminded me very much of Vancouver Chris when they spoke. They had arrived just a few hours earlier and told me about a boat trip being arranged for the next day and asked if I wanted to come along. A short while later I met the other guests, Peter and Ben who live in Copenhagen and have a condo in Bangkok, their friend Philip and also a guy from Switzerland who went by the name of Tom.. We introduced ourselves and Peter gave more information on the boat trip, which was around Hong Island in a national marine park, I decided to join in and go.

Dinner was at 8pm, we were joined by Olivier, his mother and Jae all sitting together on a long table. We must have sat there about three hours, finding out about each other. Mac and Meghan were spending three months in Asia before going to Kenya, where they would do volunteer work for six months on a Malaria programme in a medical centre.

The next morning, I joined the other guests at breakfast before boarding the back of a pick-up truck with six other guests, two hampers one containing water and beer, the other our lunch and our snorkelling gear. We soon arrived at the pier, where Ron our captain awaited with his wooden long boat; soon we were off on a 20 minute trip out to see beyond tiny islands of rock topped with lush green vegetation until we reached Hong Island. There we hit the beach which was already filled with other longboats parked in a row and hundreds of other people. We spent about an hour their before deciding to move on to another beach, less busy. Ron took us around Hong Island and into this beautiful lagoon before heading off to a small but almost deserted beach a few minutes away on another island. Here we spend almost four hours, enjoying our picnic lunch, sunbathing and swimming around in the warm turquoise waters, before we had to head back before nightfall. That evening a couple from France, who had just arrived, joined us for dinner.

On Wednesday, Joe, someone I'd been in contact with over the internet, offered to take me out for the day and show me around. He arrived about 45 minutes late having got lost trying to find Le Passe Temps. I boarded his bike and we set of cautiously around down the long dirt track that led to the road and on our way to visit the Tiger Cave Temple. On the way I enjoyed the stunning scenery as we passed canyons with unusual rock faces topped by masses of greenery. Eventually we arrived at the Temple, it was certainly not one of the finest I had seen, Joe in fact told me that it was more of a tourist place and not a Temple he particularly liked – I had to agree. Anyway, I lit two candles and three incense sticks before a statue of a famous Buddhist monk, who I presume to have been an Arahant (an enlightened being full of wisdom and compassion), and made my wish. Then we visited the actual cave where the tiger was found and caged, although no tiger existed there now. Outside we were met by families of Macaques, a primate commonly found in region, some were eating fruit being handed to them and I noticed several babies among them. I was then shown Krabi town, the stunning twin peaks at the entrance to the town, the shopping centre, this had to be the smallest main town I had been to in Thailand. Next we rode to Ao Nang, the largest beach resort in the area, and a Scandinavian hotspot which did nothing much for me. Eventually we returned to Au Tha Lane and Le Passe Temps, where we took some refreshment and showed Joe around. Wondering what to do the next day, Joe told me we could take a kayak out around the canyons, lagoons and mangrove swamps, I thought it seemed a good idea and so we booked it for the next afternoon at about 1pm, to coincide with high tide.

Thursday morning, Joe arrived just before 10am; we went down to the beach where after a stroll along the water's edge we sat on the sand watching the little crabs darting about. Later we rode the short distance to the pier where we took a spot of lunch before getting in our kayak. In front of us was our guide, we paddled our way across the sea towards our first canyon and before we knew it we were at a cave filled with Macaques going about their business. I noticed how easily these Macaques blended into the rock of the cave, being almost the same colour. As we continued our journey, passing caves where sea gypsies once lived, I was amazed by the sheer beauty of the place and before we knew it, we arrived at an incredibly beautiful lagoon, the turquoise water contrasted by brown stone of the tall canyons and lush green vegetation growing from them. We called out only to hear our echoes breaking the tranquillity of the location, it was amazing. We journeyed on, seemingly a thousand miles from civilisation, through more canyons, passing some wondrous caves before suddenly arriving in the swamp. Our journey was now a much slower one, pointing our kayak through the narrow and at times very shallow water, trying to avoid the roots of the mangroves on one side and the protrusions of rock at the base of the cliffs in the other. Often we had to duck beneath overhanging roots and at times we would have to push and pull our way out of them, the water here was a stagnant greyish brown. Onwards we meandered sometimes the channel widened and we would made speedy progress, then suddenly we may turn a sharp bend into a channel so narrow, we would have to use the mangrove roots to push our way along. Suddenly we saw what appeared to be a crocodile ahead in the water but as we came closer to it, we realised that this was a harmless reptile swimming its way along. We also saw birds, a most unusual dark blue in colour, the flora and fauna here were so very different to what I'm used to. Eventually we turned into the open sea and paddled across the straight back to the pier. Upon reaching land, we washed our hands and Joe bought ice cream, which was very welcome after our afternoons exercise. Back on Joe's bike, he wanted to take a look at the main pier, a two minute ride away, as we reached it a large beetle crossed the bike's path, Joe wasn't able avoid the creature and it met an earthly end under the bike's front wheel. This upset Joe, he was concerned that as well as being responsible for the creature's demise, it struggled before giving up and may have suffered some pain. I have learned that a good Buddhist holds all life dear and will not even kill a mosquito intentionally – if only other ideologies and religions could be the same, how much better this world would be. We returned to Le Passe Temps, took showers and changed our clothes and Joe stayed to dinner that evening.

Friday and Joe had to go back to work today, so I decided I would take it easy. Mac and Meghan were leaving and after making our farewells, I took a book and settled down on a sun bed at the beach. It was a well needed lazy day which included a short siesta late afternoon. My inner peace, which had been with me all day, became shattered with an email I received after dinner that night. Once again my bank was sending my card to the Brixham branch and would be available for collection in ten days. Twelve days previously when I reported the card lost, I had been promised that the new card and associated security and pin numbers would be sent to my UK registered address within five to seven days, Now five to seven days on from when everything was supposed to have been resolved, not only would I have to wait a further ten days but the card yet again was being sent somewhere it shouldn't. I tried phoning the bank but gave up after five minutes on hold – I would call them in the morning, about 1 to 2am GMT, when I knew I would get straight through to someone based in the UK. Needless to say, that night I struggled to get to sleep.

Saturday, I arose from a poor night's sleep at around 8:15 and promptly made my call to the bank. I was irate but well mannered to the person on the other end, who could not offer much apart from sending me yet another card, a complete waste of time. I asked for someone in authority to call me back. About an hour later, a manager by the name of Debbie, called and told me that she had found an obscure item on my account which forced the sending of my Visa Debit cards to Brixham, she had now rectified this and I would get my new card in about two weeks. I'll not bore you all with any further conversations with the Spanish owned bank, which continued for much of the afternoon but the upshot is that they gave me an overdraft to keep me afloat until I got all my necessary bank and security numbers and could properly access my accounts again. Upon my return to the UK, I shall not be letting the matter drop, oh no. Now today the plan had been to join with some of the other guests on a trip to some different islands; instead I rented a motorbike, droving over 120 kilometres to release some bank-related stress out of my system. After dinner that evening, Joe came over and we sat on my terrace drinking beer, looking at the stars and making small talk.

Sunday, I went to breakfast late, well 10am, Mat, the breakfast waiter (who other guests had likened to Manuel at Fawlty Towers) told me there were no croissants or baguettes left, disappointed I ordered a ham omelette instead. Perhaps I should explain myself about Mat. His real name's Mohammed, he smiled a lot and one could often here him singing away, all in all he seems a happy chap. The downside was his memory, which was akin to that of a goldfish. Sometimes we would have to ask for something three times and he would still forget. He had this habit of bringing one item, two if we were lucky and three if it was a lottery winning day, things at a time on his tray, so we would get coffee, sometimes with milk but he always had to make a return trip with the sugar, or, we'd get our croissants and baguettes but the butter would come sometime later. Guests would order pancakes and they would be delivered to other guests at a different table who would then think they were getting treated and proceeded to eat them. I liked Mat, he gave us something to talk about, we knew he meant well and there was no rush anyway, so one could afford to allow an hour for breakfast giving him time to get his act together.

At this point I will tell you that this was my last day here before departing to Koh Samui, I wished I was departing for Bangkok and maybe that is what I should have done.... ....I will tell you in the next blog, Koh Samui. Just after breakfast I received a phone call from Joe, he had left something in my room, I went there and found a Christmas card, so sweet. Peter, Ben and Philip were leaving late afternoon returning to Bangkok, where Peter and Ben would go to their condo and from where Philip would enjoy his last night before flying back to Denmark for Christmas. After lunch I was overtaken by tiredness from the previous 36 hours and had a long siesta before seeing the Danes off. I had a quiet evening, settled the bill and after dinner that night, I packed my stuff and went to bed sleeping soundly, this was the calm before the storm.

Chiang Mai Pictorial

Loy Krathong - CELTA people

Loy Krathong - Pat & Despi lighting baloon

Loy Krathong -Baloon in the air

Nugent Waterside Elephant

Doi Sutep - ringing the bells

Doi Sutep - Monks blessing

Me at Doi Sutep

Our Students

Teachers & Students

Receiving my Teacher's Scarf and Milk

Kim's Cocktail Bar

Drinks at Kim's

Return to Bangkok

Saturday 6^th December, 2008

At 10am the songthaew arrived to take eight remaining English teachers to either the airport or the city centre. Neng our driver, who had been driving us back and forth for the past four weeks, was his usual cheery self. Daniela, Sonny and I were all getting the Air Asia flight departing for Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 12:30. Daniela was to get an onward flight to Hong Kong while Sunny and I were going to Wendy House near the MBK shopping centre where we would join Dina and Nathan. That evening the four Wendy guests were joined by Alan, who had parked himself on the 28^th floor of some snazzy hotel but in an out of the way location.

Now I was supposed to go to Pattaya but at the last minute decided to stay in Bangkok instead. I could of course just spend three nights here and then journey down to Pattaya for the other six nights before Krabi but as it turned out, I stayed the entire time here.

Digressing a little, I had planned to leave it until Krabi before deciding my future but made arrangements whilst still in Chiang Mai to return to Thailand and start ten weeks voluntary teaching in Nongkhai on the border with Laos. This was to be paid for this week together with booking a flight for the return journey here. Things don't always go to plan......

Sunday 7^th December, I awoke at about 10am, put my dirty clothes in the laundry and poodled about for a while before going down to breakfast and joining Sunny. Afterwards, I went back to my room and checked my wallet before going out when I noticed that my UK Visa Debit card was missing. I searched the room, returned to the laundry where I'd been earlier but it was nowhere to be found. I called the bank in the UK, cancelled my card which at the same time caused me to lose the internet banking. I was told it would all be sorted out with a new card and all the necessary pin/security numbers sent to my registered UK address in 5 – 7 days. At the same time, I activated a Visa Electron card that I had kept and carried as a spare for this kind of emergency. I was told to try later in the day (after 9am U.K. time) to ask the banking department if I could transfer between accounts by telephone as these were exceptional circumstances. I did this and got put on hold somewhere in the Indian subcontinent for five minutes while they gave me a different number to call – the number they gave was the one I had just called them on! I tried again later only to be told I should use the internet banking services to make the transfer, I told them I could not – explaining yet again the reason why but the same message just came back "You have to use your internet banking sir"! I terminated the call, with my blood on the boil; I vowed to create merry hell with the bank when I got back to the U.K.

With all this happening, I missed joining the others to go to the Grand Palace and instead I decided to go shopping for a new wallet, the card pockets having become dangerously loose in my existing one, I did not want to risk losing anything else from it. In the Tokyu department store all gentlemen's wallets were discounted 20% in the sale, Cardin, Givenchy, Lauren and many more were on offer. Eventually I chose myself a black Ralph Lauren wallet which had some of the card pockets protected by a flap, externally it had a similar design to the one I gave to Best as a present, inside though it was quite different.

That evening the others wanted to try a Japanese restaurant, during my stay in Chiang Mai, I had been quite bad from an allergic reaction to shellfish. I therefore decided to stay clear and went to Silom Soi 4 to eat at the Balcony.

The next day, I breakfasted with Dina and Nathan before going for a stroll around the shops accompanied also by Alan and Sunny. We had lunch in this Honk Kong style cafe/restaurant, then the girls went off to get a massage back near Wendy's, while the boys decided to follow Alan to find this area where there were supposed to be some good places for an oil massage. After about 45 minutes walking, we gave up and returned to Wendy's and found a good massage place nearby. Despite it being a Thai massage, getting my body elbowed, kneed etc. I still managed to doze off and had to be woken a couple of time by the masseuse to change my position. Feeling good from the massage, Alan and I had a couple of beers with Nathan and we were later joined by Dina before disappearing in a taxi for the airport and flight home to Bangalore. That evening I took Alan and Sunny to Silom Soi 4, where I had an Indian curry, fish and chips for Alan and a Thai soup for Sunny.

Tuesday, I had firmly decided to remain in Bangkok until my week in Krabi and that morning I transferred to the Om Yim Lodge, where I had stayed before and much preferred to Wendy's and besides, it's in Silom where I liked to be at night. That evening however, I went to Nana in Sukhamvit, meeting up with Alan who by now was the last one of my teacher peers from the course who was still in Bangkok. We went for a pizza which tasted wonderful, a few days earlier in Chiang Mai; I had a mouth watering conversation about eating pizza with Despi so I sent her an SMS to tell her about it.

Over the next few days I explored the Bangkok streets, went to the Immigration Bureau to extend my visa for a third month and called in at a large English language school to find out if any jobs were likely to be available come April. Then I went to Plantip, which is a giant IT shopping centre, resembling an exhibition hall with all its shops and stalls. Here I bought a sim-card modem which allows me internet access through the cell phone network – great for when there's no Wi-Fi around.

It was Saturday morning, after a late night out at DJ Station and G.O.D.; I got up surprisingly early just after 11am and checked my emails only to find dreadful news. The bank was sending my card to their Brixham, Devon branch for me to collect on or around the 18^th December. I called them to enquire what was going on, they were supposed to send my card to my registered address, someone by the name of Liz was being extremely apologetic at the other end of the phone and checked with her superior to see what could be done. It transpired that they would have to destroy the card being processed and issue yet another which this tome would absolutely definitely go to my registered address. This was getting nerve wracking especially with it being close to Christmas and the usual UK shutdown for a week, fortunately my friends who were looking after things for me realised the problem I was facing and kindly transferred five-hundred pounds to my current account. This still meant I could not pay my volunteer fees nor book a flight back to Bangkok late January until my card arrive and I could access internet banking to transfer money from my savings account. As I write this today, I don't know when I things will get sorted. All I know is that I am contacting the Chairman's office of the bank for an explanation and resolution so that this never happens again.

After I went to a Japanese style haircut booth, where for 100 baht, which I placed into a machine, I got a 10 minute haircut. At last I had a decent cut, the best not only in Thailand but for a long time previously as well.

Sunday 14^th January was a good day. I took the Skytrain down to the river and boarded the ferry to visit the Grand Palace, which was built after King Rama 1's ascension to the throne in 1782. The complex houses the royal residence, a number of government offices and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Palace is exceptionally beautiful and was worthwhile visiting. Later I met up with Amanda, who I hadn't seen since Chiang Mai. She had come in from the suburbs of Bangkok where she had been volunteer teaching and I joined her in the bar/restaurant at the Jim Thompson's then went shopping with her at Platip, the giant IT shopping centre.

I spent a couple of hours that evening in Silom Soi 4, dined on chicken and chips with onion rings and enjoyed a few beers before heading back to the Om Yim Lodge for my last night's sleep in Bangkok for 3 weeks.

Chiang Mai – A Teacher’s Lot

10^th November – 5^th December 2008

Some things in life are easy, some things are not and some things are very heavy going. My time in Chiang Mai was certainly the later of these.

Okay, four weeks on an intensive CELTA course that should be run over six weeks (but for present day economic realities), combined with the tranquil isolation that was Nugent Waterside had an effect on me that I have no desire to repeat ever again. The other eleven teachers on the course were great and we all got on amazingly well. Our tutors Jacqueline and John gave us some great tutelage and helped us achieve our goals. The location was beautiful, accommodation excellent and the food very good. So what was the problem? Well I felt locked away, miles from civilisation only able to live and sleep for CELTA, in the end I was getting claustrophobic and had to get out a couple of times a week, taking a taxi into the city, where I felt able to live and breathe again. During those four weeks, I would go to bed between midnight and 1 am and wake up at about 5 am and I know I wasn't the only one there suffering with sleep deprivation.

Out of the twelve teachers attending the course, only American Chris, lived out, preferring to live in the city and riding a motorbike in each day. When I booked the course I thought that being at Nugent with everything in one place would be good – Chris got it right and I got it wrong. It took almost a week back in Bangkok for me to recover and stop dreaming CELTA.

So I'm not going into detail except to say that the students we taught were a great bunch, so nice to teach, so willing to learn. They helped me to realise that Asia is where I want to be teaching and not Europe. The people in Chiang Mai, whenever I made my escape were terrific and very friendly and I will miss them. On our last day teaching they gave each of us teachers a present of a scarf and cartons of milk. I love my scarf and look forward to wearing it when I get back to England.

Our first week we were still quite relaxed; and with the first twelfth lunar month occurring on the 12th November came Loy Krathong, the biggest festival in Thailand after Songkhrang (the Thai New Year). It is a festival which celebrates the end of the rainy season and is held to honour the spirits of the water. Alan, Canadian Chris, Despi, Pat and I went into the city for the evening to experience the festivities first hand. We took a taxi to the Night Market then meandered along the street towards the river to see baskets of flowers and lighted candles were floated on the river together with paper hot air balloons by the thousands which were released into the clear night sky. Fireworks were set of everywhere and Alan got hit by two, one in his side and another on his arm, fortunately he got off relatively unscathed. On the following Sunday afternoon we visited Doi Sutep, considered to be the most important temple in the north of Thailand, it is situated atop a mountain just outside Chiang Mai and was founded about 600 years ago. The drive there is by way of a steep and winding road and upon reaching the summit one has a stunning view over the city. The temple is very beautiful and at the centre stands a Gold Pagoda which glistens in the sun.

Then there were my escapes, when I would head to the night market in the city where I could do some therapeutic bargaining at one of the stalls. A couple of times I went for a massage and on one occasion treated myself to a facial, body scrub and massage pampering that lasted two and a half hours. I would always end up later in the evening at Kim's Cocktails, situated on the street on the Loi Khroi Road opposite the Thai Boxing stadium and when I say the street, it was actually in the road itself, this little cocktail bar with eight stools squeezed around it, where I would sup on a Gin and Tonic with ice and freshly squeezed lime while the music played. I introduced this bar to my course mates and on our last night, most of us celebrated together with Jacqueline and John, enjoying our last drink together as a group. If you ever go to Chiang Mai, you must seek out this unusual little bar and enjoy the experience, the owner Kim, I know for sure, will take very good care of you.

On one of my trips into the city, I met up with Art, a local Thai, who together with his friend decided we were in the wrong part of the city, so I became the second pillion passenger on a 125cc Yamaha motorbike. Not having ridden a motorcycle for nearly 20 years, nor been a passenger for even longer, I was quite nervous, however there I was squeezed onto the rear of this bike crossing from one side of Chiang Mai to the other in a fair amount of traffic. Later that evening I tried to get a taxi home but nothing was available, so once again I was perched on this bike for nearly 20 kilometres to get home. When I got off the bike, at Nugent Waterside, I was walking bow-legged back to my room. The next Saturday, Chris gave me a lift into the city on his motorbike and I really did enjoy it. I managed to ride pillion a few times during my stay and loved the sense of freedom that comes with a bike.

Whilst on the course, Thailand got into the mainstream international news over the closure of the airports in Bangkok by government protesters. This went on for nine days and things only started returning to normal the day before I flew back to Bangkok. The situation had no direct effect on me whatsoever.