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Published: March 7th 2007
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We have now finished work and are filling our days with not-a-lot! It is SOOOOOO hot here - over 35degrees - that just moving is a bit of a struggle.
Before we left work we had to do a last minute visa run to the Cambodian border. Even this short journey into Cambodia was a bit of an eyeopener. It is such a poor country - especially in comparison to it's wealthier neighbour, Thailand - and as soon as we left Thai soil the cars were replaced by wooden carts piled high with rice and fabric and pulled by jaded looking people. After a very long day spent mainly on buses, it was a relief to meet up with Jim again having returned from his trip south looking far less sickly than when he left us! He was already emersed in the backpacker culture of Kho San road so we followed his lead and drank lots of Singa.
Our final week teaching was fun and followed by a night out in our honour. We were treated to a delicious meal in a local restaurant (delicious except for the raw shrimp and battered chicken ankles!!!) and then on to drink
Jim and Neil
Trying to pretend I'm not with them! bright blue slush out of a bucket with a straw! The evening then continued in the traditional Thai style of karaoke. Unfortunately when we got home I had locked our keys in the room so we had to sleep in a room with two of the very kind Asian teachers we work with and their crazy dog!
After packing up the contents of our room we decided to spend the rest of the our time in Thailand seeing a few of the sights north of Bangkok. Our first stop was Lopburi. This is a small town with a few 'wats' (temples) and not many attrations except for one - MONKEYS! I decided I could not leave Thailand without a picture of a monkey on my head and we'd heard Lopburi was the place to make dreams come true! The city is completely overrun by monkeys and the locals continually do battle with them as they steal food and destroy stuff. The relationship is love-hate though as monkeys are also worshipped and the locals recognise the number of tourist dollars the monkeys bring in. In fact they throw an annual feast for the monkeys to encourage them to hang around.
The monkey's territory is around the grounds of a temple ruin and in the surrounding streets and they swing across shop fronts and through electricity cables, ther are rumours that the pesky monkeys board trains and get off in neighbouring town then come back when they got bored! Whilst we were there we witnessed many acts of vadalism; a coach driver using a stick to desparately clear them all off his doubledecker, a swarm of monkeys covering a pickup truck and pulling the rubber trim from the windscreen, a furry pickpocket grabbing a woman's glasses and a wing mirror being wrenched off a tourist's car! This was particularly entertaining as the monkey with the mirror was fascinated by it and balanced it on his face so he could use both hands to search for the mysterious monkey who was hiding behind it! So cute!
When we walked in to the temple we were given a bag of seeds to feed the monkeys and also a stick to push them off! The monkeys have lost all fear of humans and just launch themselves at you! This is all fine if it's a small monkey but when they all start running
over making odd noises and baring teeth it becomes a bit more scary! The monkeys were fascinated by my blonde hair and used it to clean between their teeth! Nice! Neil was far more nervous and waved his bamboo cane around a lot! They were very cute though and rested their little hand on mine to take food. I loved them so much that I went back 3 times.
We are leaving Thailand on March 8th for our awful series of flights - we arrive in LA 4 hours earlier than we leave Thailand! It does feel very strange to be leaving. living in Thailand has been an incredible experience and having our own airconditioned space to go back to each day and a routine means that it feels odd to be leaving that behind and living out of bags for the next 10 weeks.
I'm sure it won't take long to get back into it!
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Annette
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Dr Dolittle!!
One minute tigers the next monkeys. Wherever will it end? All looks so fab and I want one, a monkey that is. From now on Catherine your name must be..........................'Flossy' Enjoy the next 10 weeks. Is that all that remains of your 'once in a lifetime adventure'? Amazing. Take good care. Lots of love Annette xxx