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After my long flight, I was eager to get out of the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. So I decided to get a bus from Bangkok down south to Thai Mueang. You can get a flight to Phuket but the prices vary depending on what season you are here.  After my 10-11 hour bus trip to Khok Kloi. Anders picked me up from Khok Kloi. We had a short trip from Khok Kloi and then I was at my desired location, Thai Mueang.
The Volunteer house to my surprise was a lot more spacious and secluded than I envisaged. It is set back amongst a rubber plantation on the outskirts of Thai Mueang. You have the odd moped flying past on the road but apart from that you have sounds of subtropical insect’s screeching away with densely populated subtropical flora waving in the wind.
Thai Mueang Town itself is only a 2 min moped ride or a 10 min walk from the Volunteer house. The town is small and you pass through in a matter of minutes. It has all the essentials ranging from the post office, internet cafes, pharmacies, banks and little family run stalls selling loads if weird and wonderful things. There is a market every morning in the town selling fresh fish caught that morning from Andaman Sea. It has all kinds of tropical fruit which may not get back in your home country. Eating out in Thai Mueang is adventure all in itself. There is close on a dozen family run restaurants around Thai Mueang selling various traditional Thai dishes at very reasonable prices. But if you are missing home there is not very many Western restaurants. There is a little restaurant by the beach which sells homemade pizza’s which is also very nice. In general Thai Mueang supplies all your basic needs.
As you travel out Thai Mueang parallel to the beach you will again pass various restaurants looking onto the beach. After 2/3 miles you will come to the Thai Mueang Turtles Conservation. These researches are rearing small and injured turtles and re-introducing them back into the wild. They are doing a fabulous job as the turtle population is diminishing due to over fishing and pollution in their habitats. They also breed loads of different types of tropical fish and lobsters. It is well worth a visit.
Further up the beach you come to Thai Mueang National Park. It is very tranquil and picturesque as you don’t have very many people walking along the beach. It’s better to go for a swim here as over the last 30/40 years there was Tin mining on Thai Mueang beach. So as you enter the water it starts to get deep very quickly and the currents are pretty strong.  But on the beach at Thai Mueang National Park you can walk out into the glass like water for about 20 metres and it won’t go over your head. Within the National Park you also have several waterfalls that you can visit. There are about 4 dotted around Thai Mueang.
Teaching in Thai Mueang has been brilliant. On my first day the school gathered for their assembly to pay respect to the King and to the Buddha. One of the teachers was translating everything for me. Then she turned around and said ‘’This is when you make your speech to the school.’’  I was totally gobsmacked but I couldn’t back out. It was all very off the cuff but I managed to muster up some words.
The children at my school have been a joy to teach. Every time you walk into the class they huge smiles and eager to learn.  I have been well prepared but something’s you can’t prepare for. I found that if you get the students out their seats and doing activities outside the classroom it gets them interested and willing to learn.  The younger students love to draw and colour in. So you can integrate that into your lessons you might find it beneficial. The older students again more hands on work tend to be better. If you get them to cut out shapes, making flags and up to the front of the class to write on the blackboard it works wonders. The teachers at the school are very welcoming and are very keen to make your time at their school enjoyable as possible. They are always on hand to give you a helping hand in the classroom if you are struggling to get the students to understand your work. During lunch at school the teacher’s have loads of different dishes that one can try. Some are very nice but others worth a try and then you know for next time to give it a miss.
My stay so far in Thai Mueang has probably been the best experience in my life. It wouldn’t have been like that if I didn’t have the support from Anders and Net. They are always there for a helping hand and to give you support throughout your stay. No doubt I will probably have some more questions and queries before my time is up.
I have found a quote by Marshall Berman which I thought was quite appropriate for my time here in Thai Mueang.
‘’ To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world – and at the same time that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are.’’
Cheers
Dave McFall

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers, please visit our website HERE

Dave, volunteer at Wat Muang Pracharam Primary School.

One of Dave's classes.

About 99% of our volunteers, the trip to Thai Mueang starts with a flight from their home country.
Unfortunately flying is not always a particularly pleasant affair. Rising oil prices and increased demand for low prices have in recent years led many airlines to cut down significantly on the service, legroom and serving on board the airplane.
Service varies considerably from airline to airline, so it is always a good idea to check before booking a flight, what kind of serving there will be on the plane. Of course on long haul flights there will be food served, but sometimes on short flights there is no serving at all, and some airlines in Europe charge you extra for bringing e.g your laptop computer as hand luggage.
Here is a list of tips you should consider before boarding an airplane.

1. Avoid corks in the ears (barotraumas).
Corks and pain in the ears can occur during take-off and landing and can be very annoying. To offset the pressure yawn, swallow, drink, chew gum or suck on a piece of candy.
Are you suffering from a cold or an allergy, blocked up noses nose make the symptoms worse, in this case a nasal spray is a good idea. If you have a cold, a nasal spray like Otrivin can be a good idea. If the blocked up nose is because of allergies, you should use a nasal spray containing glucocorticoid (for example Flixonase and Rhinocort). You should of course consult your local medical facility or your doctor before using these products.
You can also buy specially designed pressure equalizing earplugs, but I have not found any evidence on the web that proves that these work.

2. Bring water on the plane.
The atmosphere on board an aircraft is very dry, and it can be annoying – even on short flights. Bring a bottle of water on board – buy it either at the airport shops (expensive) or bring a bottle from home, just remember that today’s safety rules do not allow fluid containers which contain than 100 ml.
Avoid alcohol – no matter how short or long the flight is, alcohol should be avoided. It increases the risk of jetlag and dehydrates your body. Also if you suffer from fear of flying, alcohol can reinforce your anxiety.

3. Use the restroom at the airport.
Use the restroom at the airport before boarding the plane. Then you can stay out of the aircraft’s small toilets, and the environment is spared from the extra CO2 emissions, as a toilet visit in the high altitudes entails. If the hygiene at the airplane-toilet is not meeting your standards, you may want to use a disinfectant gel, like “Care Plus Clean”, which does not require running water to use.

4. Keeping the blood circulation going.
The longer you are sitting still, the greater becomes the risk of having a blood clot in your legs. Special flight socks can be used which help keeping the blood circulation going, and they are strongly recommended. They also reduce the risk of arriving at the destination with swollen feet and avoid that your shoes no longer fit.
Alternatively, it is good to move your feet from side to side, twisting the ankles and generally keep the blood circulation going in your legs during the entire trip.

5. Eat before departure.
It is a very good idea to eat before and after the flight, remember when you eat at high altitude; the food in your stomach expands, while at the same time your digestion is working slower. And it does not help that much “plane-food” also belongs in the fatty end of the food scale. Skipping the meal on the plane and instead eat on the ground, the body becomes somewhat less stressful.

6. Pack sensibly.
There is rarely a lot of legroom at your seat, so put your hand luggage up in the hat shelf above the seats and make sure to only have the most necessary in the seat pocket in front of you. This way you give yourself a little extra legroom and avoid accidentally trampling on your stuff if it is in front of you on the floor. You can learn more about how to best pack your luggage at onebag.com

7. Bring warm clothes.
On the longer trips – and this applies especially if you fly at night – it may get cool in the cabin. Many airlines provide pillows and blankets, but the blankets are often small and synthetic, so it is good to supplement with warm socks – like special aircraft socks as mentioned earlier, a light warm sweater and possibly a thin scarf. Choose a sweater with a little extra length to avoid it slipping up creating a cold piece of bare skin when you try to find the most comfortable sleeping position in your seat.

8. Be sure to get a good night’s sleep.
A sleeping mask and a pair of earplugs can be worth gold on the longer flights, where dimming the lights is beyond one’s control, and the other passengers are still chatting.
On longer trips, a pair of noise reducing headphones can be a very good investment – so you can listen to music without hearing the engine noise in the background while they are also good to shut out the world around you when you need to rest.

9. Pack your toilet bag with care.
On longer flights it is a good idea to bring a good moisturizer, one which can be used on both hands and face. The relative humidity in an aircraft is 20 percent lower than at ground level, and it can be hard on your skin, so use it regularly.
The air in the cabin is also hard on your eyes if you use contact lenses, so you might want to use glasses for the flight or take out your contact lenses before the flight. Remember to be aware of the safety regulations for liquids, when you pack. Max 100 ml. per container, all of your liquid bottles must be in a transparent plastic bag of maximum one liter, which must be closed.

10. Change the time.
On long flights it is a good idea to change the time on your watch to the destination time, as you will be flying across multiple time zones, and there is nothing more annoying than to spend the first week fighting jetlag.
Set yourself up mentally to the new time zone you are flying to, once you are on the plane you can adjust your eating and sleeping routines to your destination, if possible of course.
I hope that this information is useful to our future volunteers and other people who are going on a plane trip.
If you have any questions about volunteering with Thai mueang Volunteers, please go to our ‘Contact Us’ page and send us an email. Also check out the links below.

Smiles

Anders

Links to check:
Otrivin
Flixonase
Rhinocort
onebag.com
Phuket International Airport
Suvarnabhumi International Airport