Here be dragons Kate Last weekend we went into Bangkok to stay in a different part of the city, Silom. This area is home of the Suan Luang night market, where Mark and Helen had been on their stay here but where we had never visited. There are about 3000 stalls selling all kinds of Thai crafts and stuff, and bars and restaurants. It's also by the puppet theatre and the Muay Thai boxing stadium. Its not really like being in Bangkok at all. Silom is also right by Lumpini Park. The park looks like a typical city park you get anywhere. Grass and trees surrounded by skyscrapers. A bandstand. Big lakes with swan boats. We had a Sunday stroll around the park in the sunshine. Which was nice. Then we stopped and had a sit ... read more

Kate After leaving Mum and Dad on Tuesday we had to do another 3 days at work before we got a plane ourselves and heading for the island of Ko Samui. We jumped into a taxi straight from school on Friday to the airport, which convienently is only about 1/2 hour from our flat. After enjoying the free nibbles, internet and magazines in the Bangkok airways complimentary lounge followed by just over an hour on the plane we were on a tropical island. Ah, not a bad place to live this! Ko Samui is one of those famous Thai islands that you see in films and on the tv. White sand beaches, palm trees and falling coconuts. The airport was the cutest I've ever seen. All bamboo and palm leaves with no walls, just wood carvings. ... read more

A weird birthday back at school At school I prided myself on the fact that my birthday never fell on a school day as it's at the end of July. Thus birthdays could be spent playing in the garden, jumping off the patio or running round and round my mam's clothes airer until me and my friends pulled it to the ground dirtying all her clothes for work the next day and resulting in me being chased indoors. ...Anyway, that's before I got a job as a teacher in Thailand where the western-style summer holiday doesn't exist. Probably cos in Thailand there's never really summer and winter. Just hot and hotter. So there I was on my 28th birhtday in a Thai school on the outskirts of bangkok. Not only was it weird to be at ... read more

Banglampu and Khao San Road When we were on the TEFL course we met a lot of people from all over the English speaking world - America, New Zealand, Australia…and of course, the UK. Many of them now live in and around Bangkok. So on the weekends we often go into Bangkok to meet up with them for a few beverages and lots of discussions on teaching. The meeting place is usually the area of Banglampu, home of Khao San Road, the famous backpackers ‘ghetto’. It’s where most backpackers to South East Asia congregate during their travels, and is thus an area of cheap hostels/guesthouses, internet cafes, travel agents, tour guides, restaurants and bars. You can get any food you fancy, loads of Thai as well as Indian, Middle Eastern, pizza, pasta, steak…. The streets ... read more

Kate So we finished the TEFL course and jumped onto a bus to Bangkok. The next morning we were taken to our new school. We are teaching at Nawatan Thaiwipas school, which is South West of Bangkok in a place called Bang Plee. Its a trilingual school for kids from 2-11. They are mainly taught in English but also learn in Thai and Chinese. Kris and I are two of the four native english speakers at the school. We teach English to Grades 1-3 (6-9 year olds). We teach each Grade every day for 50 minutes each. I also teach health and art to Grade 1, whilst Kris teaches p.e. to Grade 1, and art to Grade 3. Yes, suddenly Kris has become a p.e. teacher. He is sat next to me now wearing jogging bottoms ... read more