Blogs from Ubon Ratchathani, Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 4

We have finally made it to the village! Not much has changed, I am sitting downstairs @ the newly purchased bamboo (mai pai in Thai) table setting with bloody midges flying all around me. It’s good to see Ma and Pa again and see the rest of the family. Dad has big plans for the bathroom, which he and Locky are planning to build. I am really tired due to the lack of sleep but it’s too hot even to try and get some sleep. It’s so quiet it’s unbelievable. Going from Bangkok to here, all you can hear here are the birds and some bugs chirping . But there has been a lot of catching up. I have filled dad in about the Melbourne trip and showed him photos. I’m sorry, I love this quietness, ... read more

Mei Ling's Arrival I met my sister Mei Ling in Bangkok, she'll be travelling with me for 2 months through the more remote areas of Thailand, Laos, then into Vietnam. Paolo has less than a month before his flight to Nepal so he's visiting the key destinations in Cambodia and Vietnam. After 5 months, it was awesome to have Mei Ling around, teaching her key backpacker survival skills (like collecting rolls of toilet paper when they're free), and having someone to carry my winter clothes for me. After Mei Ling purchased an entirely new summer wardrobe, we headed to Korat in NE Thailand. Korat The bus dropped us off in front of 'The Mall', an air-conditioned mall with Western restaurants and a high ratio of Western men married to Thai women half their age. After exploring ... read more

Day 256, 11th February Nam Thaeng - Pha Taem National Park - Khong Jiam Somehow I can’t imagine life not on-the-road. It’s a scary thought to think of the end of this journey. The most asked question from non-travellers in the last 8 months has been, “Aren’t you scared”? The answer has always been a resounding “NO”! They have obviously meant cycling and free-camping in developing countries. But now, the answer to that question is “Yes”, “I am scared of the prospect of being sitting at a desk all day doing a shitty job for the rest of my life”! Where do I go from Singapore? That, as a matter of fact, is one of the great adventures of life, not actually knowing what life will throw at you. A lot of what happens is chance ... read more

Hello! Hope everybody is enjoying freshers week...or enjoying waiting for freshers! I really dont know where i should start as its been nearly 2 weeks!! Friday was the retirement party. We had our picture taken 1000000000000000000 times, my double chin has now disappeared from smiling so much. The Thai's are like 'white person lets have a photo with them' The school photographer had taken our picture earlier in the week for our introduction board and he gave us it to have a look and he had AIRBRUSHED my skin and hair so i looked like a doll..a psychotic doll! I have had another photo taken as i thought it would freak the students out. We met up with andy and allan (volunteers from det-udom) at the party which was fun...got the chance to speak fast english ... read more

Hello again! Im sitting in the public library computer room(its right next to my house)...and theres a monk just behind me! Ubon Ratchathani is fab much nicer than Bangkok. Our first day here was mad, the train was 2 hours late getting in and when we got off all the hosts went crazy taking millions of photos. Em and I's hosts is called Ajharn Chiansa she speaks English really well so communicating hasnt been too difficult. On the first day we went straight out for breakfast and then they took us to visit our accomodation which is really nice! It isn't as big as we thought as we can only use the downstairs and we are sharing a bedroom - but we have too bathrooms and there is still plenty room for the other volunteers to ... read more