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Sat 12th Dec
Anders and I went out on the bikes again. Different direction this time but followed the coastline and what a coastline. The most amazing thing is that the beaches just go on and on and except for the occasional Thai fisherman, they’re empty. We stopped for lunch at an out of this world restaurant called Waterjade. www.water-jade.com. It’s on the side of a lake, there are five bungalows each with its own sundeck, double room and bathroom and TV. Fantastic food. Thai massage if required. Just an amazingly beautiful place (especially if you’re a couple!) A lovely day out and about. Went to meet Net for dinner as she works on Saturdays.

Sun 13th Dec
My niece Tara’s birthday today so I thought I’d go and celebrate with her so I went to Kho Lak, approximately 50 km round trip. Word of warning when going anywhere on the bike – keep your mouth shut! Plenty of bugs around and it can come as quite a surprise when you realise you’ve just swallowed one! Very pleasant ride over there and found a lovely place for lunch. Right on the sea front serving traditional Thai and European food, so to make a change, I had a toasted cheese and ham sandwich and chips! Just next door are several beds where you can get different sorts of massages. I sat watching for a while and was quite envious and will definitely have one next time I visit. It was all open plan so what better way to relax than to have some-one massage away your aches, pains and stresses, with the sea playing it’s magical music and the breeze stirring the heat away, can’t think of much better! There are many very smart hotels on the beach. All have been rebuilt since the Tsunami. The only good thing I can say about these places is that it gives the locals work. I’m sure the guests have a lovely stay but it just doesn’t seem real, somehow. It’s a strange feeling seeing so many foreigners around. The only way I can explain that is that as I’m here living and teaching in the area, it’s not the same as going somewhere for a two week holiday where you expect to see foreigners. I went in to a large supermarket and not only could I find things from Tesco and Waitrose stores but there wasn’t one Thai person shopping there. I only went in for cereal and tea bags!

Mon 14th Dec
I have decided not to go to Trang for the competition, not because I didn’t want to see Jiranan say her speech but due to school politics. I wont go in to it but suffice to say I stayed behind with Fon. We were thinking of her all the time though.

Thurs 17th Dec
Happy Birthday Adam.
Today is the day of the competition and I have no classes and so I decided to stake myself out at the beach. Wow, not a person in sight and fantastically hot but I took my umbrella for shade! Clever or what. Took a lunch break at George and Veronica’s and then back out to the beach. I went into the sea a few times, not for a swim, because I’m a coward, but for a refreshing dip. Jiranan rang me at 4.30pm to tell me that she came 2nd. I am so pleased for her and now she has to go to the finals, early January 2010. What a star she is. She won’t be back until Monday so I will have to wait until then to give her a big hug. On my way home from the beach, the heavens opened and we had a terrific storm and the rain just poured down. Saw two youngsters come off their bike as they took a corner too fast. They bounced back up though, their pride more hurt than anything! Went to meet Fon for dinner by the beach, once the rain had stopped, which was very pleasant, her son was with his Grandmother and so it was just the two of us. Home to soothe my sunburn!

Thurs 3rd Dec
Fon told me that the Assistant Director, Mr Sakunsa had asked to see me. I felt like I was being sent to see the head master! He said to me, “I have one question to ask you” – many things went through my mind but he said “Phang Nga College have asked if you will be a judge for the competition in Trang on 17th December”? I replied that yes I would if he didn’t mind. So, it’s set, I think I’m judging the demonstration part of the competition. I can hardly judge the English speech as I’d be very biased towards Kwang, naturally. Very exciting. I have arranged with Kwang that we will meet every day at George’s Pizza place to practice her English speech. She really is very good and is trying very hard as this time she has to do the speech from memory.

Fri 4th Dec
Fon’s students today, learning about tourism. I am still amazed by how little these students understand English and trying to have a conversation about where you would like to travel proved very difficult this morning.
The second class were also learning the hotel trade and so I have started talking about a hotel, what you would find in it. That also became very difficult because as soon as I got to ‘Reception’ I met a stumbling block. Very very slowly we managed to get as far as booking in! I just don’t have enough time.
Had a third class today, computer students and we talked about our daily routine and telling the time. All very basic stuff but it takes a long time to help them understand. Oh well, onward and upward!

Sat 5th Dec
The King’s birthday today, don’t think he’ll be up for much celebrating as apparently he’s in hospital. He’s just over 80 years old I think. There were celebrations in the evening at the Municipal building in town and Net and I went along. Lots of school children were singing and dancing. Tiny little girls and boys all made up with eye make-up and elaborate hair styles – weird in a way, they were pretty but they weren’t, if you can understand that!

Sun 6th Dec
Mr Sakunsa, the Asst Director had asked me to go to a local Temple as it was the first anniversary of his Mother’s death. I went with Sunisa and Tammy, another teacher and we visited the monks and had a long look inside the Temple. It was amazing, different pictures, each telling a story painted around the whole inside. We had lunch and then we went to Lampii Waterfall, about 15 km outside of Thai Mueang. It was very busy with both Thais and foreigners. Lots of children swimming but the water was very cold. Not a large waterfall. A nice place to visit for a short time.

Mon 7th Dec
Bank Holiday as it was the King’s birthday on Saturday! Anders and I went to Phang Nga on our bikes, across the mountains. Absolutely amazing and some beautiful views. A little bit hairy here and there but you get used to it. We visited a very large Temple the animal kingdom had a wall which had masses of monkeys climbing over it and one particular fella decided to take my coffee, which I had inadvertently left on a table, he rushed up the tree and proceeded to drink it, using the straw! He got fed up with that, threw the straw away and drank from the cup. I took some pictures but not too sure how they turned out. We then went down into a huge cave, a monk sitting by the entrance, so if you wanted to pray, he was there. The cave just went back and back into the mountain, I am sure it’s inhabited by millions of bats but fortunately didn’t see any. Typically my camera wouldn’t take the photos well enough as it was so dark but just believe me when I say it was amazing, with water at the bottom, no idea if it was a river but it must have come from somewhere. Then we went into ‘Hell’. All I can say is that the Thais have some amazing imaginations, it was awful. Statues of people being tortured and killed in the most horrific manner. Honestly it was like a Stephen King story. I’m not even going to tell you what was going on there, if you want to know ask Anders! I took Anders to the same place that I had lunch with Sunisa for Papaya salad. Then back home, same way. A great day out – 110 km! Wow and yes my bum knew it!

Tues 8th and Wed 9th Dec
School is the same but am working hard with Jiranan for the English speaking competition. She is working very hard and on Wednesday spoke in front of the whole school. Unfortunately she was very nervous and so it wasn’t as good as perhaps it could have been. Met up with her after school, at Georges and we practiced some more. Fon joined us and she’ll speak in front of school again on Friday.

Thurs 10th Dec
Another public holiday, lucky me, something political this time I think. Anders, Net and I went to Khao Lak, about 35 km from Thai Mueang, for lunch. There are so many resorts on the beach for the holiday makers that when you walk around, you see more white people than you do Thais! Had a very tasty lunch, little wander and then back home to catch up on chores!

Fri 20th Nov
Only one class today, tourism and hotel students. Very nice girls and their English is fairly good too. Had some laughs in class which is always a good sign. Still raining although doesn’t seem as heavy.
Went to George and Veronica’s for coffee and took some photos of George’s truck, inside and out. Thought it might be a good introduction to vocabulary for the mechanics. With that in mind, I also took a variety of photographs of electrical stuff for the electricians.
Quiet weekend, doing the usual household bits and pieces. A very pleasant walk on the beach.

Mon 23rd Nov
First shot with the mechanics and electricians. The photos went down well so we’ll see what they can remember next week! Four hours of teaching is fairly heavy going so am always glad when it’s lunch time. I go to the school canteen with Fon and usually have the pork noodle soup. I’m getting better because I add my own chilli now, must be getting more used to the taste of Thai food.

Tues 24 Nov
Today, Sunisa dropped the bombshell that she had the subject matter for the English speaking competition, in two days time. Could I please write a piece on how the students are against violence, a five minute talk. I would meet the student the following day to practice. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. Had Accounting and Electricians for class. Not bad classes, although I had to tell the boys that being late for class was not really acceptable! Not sure that the Thais have the same idea about punctuality as we British do! I worked on the piece for the English speech and just hoped it was what they were looking for.

Wed 25 Nov
Spent the first two hours with Jiranan – nickname Kwang (meaning deer), the student who will read the speech. This is the young girl that can also speak a little German, she’s 15 years old but really seems quite mature for her age. I had to explain nearly everything in the piece as she didn’t know what violence was – so you can imagine it took a while but for her to give feeling to the piece, she really did need to understand it first! I had a lesson with accounting students and we talked about what you can buy in certain shops. It’s so hard when they have such a limited understanding of English – just as well I can act and mime!! Met with Jiranan at Georges so we could go through the speech. Told her to practice in front of her family and that I’d see her bright and early in the morning at school.

Thurs 26 Nov
Arrived at school at 08.00 to meet with Sunisa and the students so we could drive to Phang Nga, where the contest was being held. Jiranan was feeling fine and we had several chances to practice. Once we arrived at the college in Phang Nga, she was able to stand with the microphone and practice a little more. As the starting time approached, she was understandably a little nervous. Success, she has got through to the next round to be held in Trang province (about 300 km from Thai Muang) against, I believe, 27 other students. I have to lengthen the speech and do more practice with Kwang. There was also a competition of students demonstrating something. One girl was showing us how to make New Year’s cards. She very kindly made one for me. Her name is Nutcharee. The Director of the college also asked me to stand and talk to the students about the competition and what I thought of the contestants. I’ve never been very good with a microphone but they were still smiling at the end, so I guess I did okay. Sunisa took me to a lovely restaurant where we had papaya salad, sticky rice and some vegetables. Wow, was it spicy but very tasty all the same. The views around Phang Nga are amazing so I intend going back to get a better look around.

Fri 27 Nov
Quiet day at home as there was no school as the Director was leaving to go to Trang and all the teachers go with him to the new school. I went to George and Veronica’s for pizza, lovely. They are a really friendly couple and make it all so much easier as they both speak such good English. I am off to Phuket tomorrow, to visit Andoo and Beakie so home for an early night.

Sat 28 Nov
Caught the 09.10 bus and arrived in Phuket just after half ten. Met a very friendly Buddist monk, who was off to Phuket to buy a laptop! That surprised me. Met up with Andoo and Beakie and we wandered around Phuket for a while then caught the bus to Patong Beach. Another huge shopping center and again full of foreigners. Went to the beach and boy was it crowded. It was fairly late in the day so didn’t bother hiring a sunbed and just watched the world go by, which included, of course, the much older men and their much younger Thai female friends! Back to Phuket in the evening and found a very pleasant hotel called The Chrystal. 850 Baht , just over £15.00 for the night, air con, safe, mini bar in the fridge and own bathroom. Very comfortable bed too. Had a lovely dinner close to the market, spicy papaya salad, deep fried chilli pork and a bamboo dish (not to my taste!) Watched a film on the TV and slept like a baby.

Sun 29 Nov
I went to the market to see how Andoo was doing, not a bad day for her considering it’s a Sunday. She sells jewellery, hair slides and other bits and pieces. I had a wander and went into Robinson’s food hall. Can you imagine my excitement when I spotted the sign ‘cereal’! I rushed over and there they were: Cornflakes, Frosties, Branflakes, All Bran and a few others. Picked up a couple of boxes and bought them along with a few other essentials. In my excitement I’d forgotten to check how much the cereal cost so you can imagine what I thought when I realised I had just paid £9.00 for just two boxes! Ouch! This cereal is going to last a long long time, however I’m sure it’ll be worth it! I met up with Andoo once she’d finished. We had lunch and then went to the bus station. I caught the 1 o’clock bus and got to Thai Muang at 2.30. It was very cloudy and rain was definitely in the air. Popped in to say hi to Anders and Net then got home just in time before the rain started. Another amazing storm which carried on for some time. I had the usual stuff to do at home and to get ready for school tomorrow. Had a power cut but only for about half an hour so no worries.

Mon 30 Nov
Mechanics first and I was reasonably impressed as they remembered quite a bit of last week’s lesson, the names of parts of the car. We went through ‘free time’ again and what they did and all in all it was a good lesson. The electricians were late and there were only 9 whereas last week there had been 17. Their memory was very good on the photos and we progressed a little on to nouns and their plurals. It’s another very hot day but with a pleasant breeze. Off to meet Anders and Net for dinner.

…to be continued.