Hong Kong!

In true Thai style our flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong was delayed by 2 hours, not so bad really and to be honest we had been in Thailand so long that we found this a reasonably prompt service. Unfortunately other passengers did not share this viewpoint and became quite angry, particularly when we were locked onto the shuttle bus for half an hour without explanation (truthfully I was just glad of the air-con and being on solid ground). Apparently the delay was due to the fact that we required a new aeroplane, as ‘the old one was broke’ so the beautifully manicured ground steward informed us. Good to know. But the important thing was that we arrived in Hong Kong only 20 minutes late, the captain must have really put his foot down.

Breakfast in HK

It was late evening when we arrived in HK. We made our way quickly to the baggage carrousel (always my favourite part of the journey, the dance of the luggage and the apprehension of if your luggage is actually going to arrive) and found our luggage waiting for us. We boarded our train to Kowloon where we would be staying for the next few nights. And here I got my first view of HK. And it was beautiful. The gazillion tower blocks twinkling in the dark is genuinely one of the prettiest things I have ever seen, even though it was late at night, pitch black and raining, I was already in awe of HK.

   

Matt has learnt to read a little bit of Chinese and is constantly pointing out in a very annoying fashion random words.

Bright lights

Speaking of tower blocks I have to mention our hostel. We are on the 18^th floor. Normally when somebody is on the 18^th floor you think Wow! You must have amazing views. But not in HK, what we have is a rather interesting view into 5 other tower blocks 18^th floors.

Room with a view ... sort of

A couple of the famous Hong Kong island trams

We spent our first day in HK aimlessly walking around and taking in the sights and delicious smells of the area. We wandered around the many markets where you could buy all manner of things, one road sold springs of all shapes another chains of all size. In the evening we made our way over to Hong Kong Island via the Star Ferry. Although overcast we had a great view of the unique skyline.

Hong Kong island from the, again famous, Star Ferry

So many bright lights

And then it was time to go back to our room on the 18^th floor and get some rest, tomorrow was Disney day! Oh and a rendezvous with our most trickciest friend. 

What is Gary thinking behind that tricky expression.

Last week in Thailand

I cannot believe it. It does not seem real. This is our last week in Thailand. I almost don’t want to say anything, every time we leave Bangkok we say this is the last time we will be here on this trip. And yet here we are again, in the air-con heaven that is Siam Paragon- shopping utopia.  We originally only intended to spend one month in Thailand. That month has quickly become three, we have welcomed in the New Year (both Gregorian and Chinese), met some of the most incredible people at Isara in Nong Khai and strangely I feel that I am better at navigating my way around Bangkok than Birmingham. Having been here so long, there are certain things that no longer seem odd or strange to me, here are a few that Matt and I were thinking about yesterday as we found some shade in the beautiful Lampuni park (for all you Brits reading, its 33* and sunny all the way here!)

Random dogs, often with missing limbs… everywhere.

The legend of the hot shower. Hot water in a shower is a privilege; water pressure is something I vaguely recall from my youth. Oh yeah and 9 times out of 10, the toilet is going to be in the shower. Great for those early morning showers where you’re not quite ready to stand. Not so good if you forget to remove the toilet paper.

Food being available 24/7, any cuisine, very cheap.

Going to an ATM and withdrawing thousands of Baht and feeling like Richie Rich.

Driving down a road, and a group of people are moving a marquee, do they stop and move out of the way? Hell no, they lift it higher and continue to walk up the freeway so the cars can drive through it!

A motorbike with less than three passengers and a dog on it is a waste. 

If I have to wait longer than 5 minutes for my train, it is a national outrage.

Electrics, if it doesn’t visibly and audibly spark when you plug something in, do it again, it must be broke.

Massive lizards everywhere!!

Anyone that has been to Bangkok has mastered their own 7-11 dash, the quickest way from the MRT to your apartment via as many air-con soothing 7-11s as possible!

Too hot? Go inside. Too cold? Go outside.

Not understanding any billboards or television programs. Ever.

Asian pop music, strangely the songs will get in your head and you start to think that liking Girls Generation is acceptable!

The daily assault course that is the sidewalk. Vats of boiling oil, holes in the ground and low lying electrics. Walking in the road is actually safer.

So Thailand, we are going to miss you and your ways. It will be strange no longer sawadee ka-ing' and 'kop kun ka-ing' people. But for now I better finish my coffee and enjoy my last Bangkok food court. Tomorrow we head to Hong Kong. And we all know what that means… Disney Land Hong Kong! 

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, a set on Flickr.

Finally managed to get some my pictures from South East Asia onto flickr. Just before we leave!

7 minutes in Laos

Last Wednesday our Thai visa exemption ran out:

Option 1: Get out of Thailand
Option 2: Go to Laos and get a new one

So we went to Laos. This might sound like a bit of an ordeal but it is actually about an hour and a half round trip from our apartment.

We ate breakfast, jumped into a tuk-tuk and within 10 minutes were out of Thailand. The bus over the Mekong took 5 minutes. It was all going too well.

We picked up our Laos visa application form then realised that there were no pens to be found and we had forgotten ours. How after all of our border crossings were we lacking a pen, I'll never know. No problem, there was a sign 'Pens 2000 kip'. So I went over to the pen sellers window, it was closed, I peered in, the lady was very carefully counting and marking off receipts. So I waited.... and waited.

After 5 minutes I went back over to Aimee who had spotted a local lady who was filling in her application. After some odd hand waving she let us borrow her pen just long enough to fill in the first sheet of the four. So I went back to the pen seller. Ten minutes later she was still counting the last few receipts but the end was in sight. I think my face probably did a spectacular about turn from delight when she got to the end of the pile to despair when she started to carefully select pairs of receipts, meticulously line them up then staple them. I gave up!

I was just lining up a Russian lady to ask for her pen when the receipt lady opened the window and 50 pence later I had a pen. In total we were waiting over half an hour for a pen. The wait to get the visa back was about 5 minutes, probably expedited by the $35 each processing fee.

We walked into Laos queued for 3 minutes to get an exit stamp and within minutes were back on a bus to Thailand, filled in the usual entry card, queued, got the stamp and were in a tuk-tuk back to the apartment.

Moral of the story, always bring a pen.

Teacher! Teacher!

We are now into our second week of teaching and volunteering with Isara here in Nong Khai.

Pink school

 We are working 3 days a week at a local government school, teaching students from 9 to 13 years old. The school is two doors down from our apartment and is a lovely shade of flamingo pink. On our first day, as we walked down the driveway of our apartment block we could hear children’s laughter, we glanced over and there was a group of  girls playing what appeared to be tag on the roof of the 5 storey building! Lets just say discipline at the school is quite lax.

All together now.... ch!

Saying this, the students are all very respectful and respond well to us (we have not needed the cane that was handed to us on day one). Our lack of Thai and their lack of English hasn’t been a problem and already we have seen progress from the students. Now when we walk down the street it is to a chorus of ‘Teacher, Teacher!’.

Teacher Matt in action!

Ruling with an iron fist. 

Both at the government school and during our afternoon classes at Isara we have mainly been focusing on Phonics. I have found it fun to think of activities and games to  engage the children and Matt is loving his time in the classroom, after years of hearing 'I don’t like children', Matt is a natural in the classroom, and I think it helps that the young adult class all tell him he is handsome!

We also have been enjoying our Thursday afternoon art class. I had the genius idea of making salt dough with the children, it was a great fun activity, although I didn’t count on the most humid weather I have ever encountered hindering the actual drying process, turning the artistic ducks and flowers into a beige mush!  

Not too sure about salt dough.....

clearly loves it!

Lets just hope I can fix the finished products....

If you have time, check out the Isara website, you may even spot a few pictures of us participating in manual labour! 

A little taste of Nong Khai….

Salakaewkoo sculpture park

Let sleeping pugs lie. 

Yummy ice cream.

Take Matt to a sculpture park and he takes photographs of the light fittings!

For Lisa and Dan.

Entering the 'Circle of Life'. It moved us all. 

Transport Nong Khai style!

Dust off the cobwebs

I am going to gloss over the last few weeks pretty fast and dust the cobwebs off the blog (and in the process see how many metaphors and sayings I can manage to mangle into one sentence).

We had all kinds of plans for new year when we left Taiwan but once we were back in Bangkok we felt a bit under the weather and decided to hibernate and recuperate. We really did just eat (mainly Japanese), watch movies and try to get to the art gallery (which we never managed). We did however manage to enjoy the amazing fireworks display that was put on, it put Disney to shame! 

We forgot the art gallery is shut Mondays

Bangkok traffic is nothing if not colourful

On January 2nd we finally located an illusive Thai train, we caught the overnight sleeper to Nong khai. The beds were comfortable and the carriages quiet but we didn't get much sleep as the lights were left on all night, we will be investing in an eye mask before the return leg. Also a mention has to be given to the toilet which afforded a surprising view of the track below flashing by as you peed.

Nong Khai is in north eastern Thailand, its main claim to fame is its position on the Mekong river connecting Thailand to Laos via the Friendship bridge. After a couple aborted attempts to get there we can finally see Laos from our apartment window. After living the luxury life for so long it was hard work scrubbing our apartment up when we first arrived but it is very habitable now, and comes complete with our rather adorable guard dog Toto. 

Toto

We are in Nong Khai to help out at a voluntary project called Isara. Isara started out doing helmet awareness before branching out into English teaching and most recently recycling. In our first 2 weeks here we have painted walls, recycled junk, sorted books for a library and taught a few classes.

Aimee jumped straight back into teaching and has really enjoyed being back in the classroom. I was a bit slower to get going, the little people started as a bit of an alien species to me having only taken the odd class of older students or adults at college. So I attended a few classes of my own, basically I sat at the back of Aimee's lessons and made copious notes, then I got involved helping out with reading and assisting in the class.

This week I took a class and have been team teaching with Aimee. I am having a rather good time it is fun when you can see the children's brains click onto an idea.

The other volunteers are a real mix from all over the world with different experiences and ideas and we have been made to feel very welcome. 

Better sign off, I have to attend planning 101 now, apparently the idea is each lesson builds on from the last one, who knew?

I will leave you with a picture of the sunset from our apartment and we will post again soon.

We don't see many boats on this stretch of the Mekong