A means to an end...

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This is sort of the first entry on this site, because my previous blog got lost somewhere strange, virtual and frustratingly inaccessible to me!

By way of a short introduction, I think the best way to describe the beginning of this blog is like this:

Me and Laura were stranded in a shabby, uninspiring half-horse half-cockroach sort of town in southern Thailand called Chumphon. We had submitted ourselves to the disposal of a shoddy company working under the auspices of professionalism, who had slotted us in to two different schools. We were teachers, I at a secondary school and Laura at a primary school. Suffice it to say- since most of you will have already been exposed to my miserable musings- it proved to be a lot less exciting than I would have hoped. The main problem was that I was a 'farang' (foreigner), and neither the school, my students, the whole of Chumphon or myself could ever forget that. Half the time I felt like a circus freak because all of the pointing and shouting and so forth! Life was made possible by the presence of Laura, the comradeship of two charismatic Americans, a handful of Thai acquaintances and a lot of Karaoke. Not to mention the Thai 'whisky'/'rum'/'coloured-alcohol-cheap-juice-that-one-can-ably-mix-with-coke-prior-to-consumption'.

It was Laura's idea in the first place. She had hatched the dream some time ago, and in the middle of a dull and sopping wet November, the idea began to promise fruit. Bad weather forced our respective schools to close that month and without much else to do we started scheming. We decided that the best way to preserve our sanity was to set ourselves the mountanous task of returning to the UK overland all the way- not a single flight would be boarded, every inch of land between Chumphon and Brighton would be counted, witnessed and reckoned with! In so doing, the monotony of Chumphon life would be bearable! Thusforth we set to, trawling the internet for details, counting the pennies, drawing rough maps and making projections. The adventure had begun!

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Photos

Leaving commitee
From the window of a speeding train, some weirdoes that we just couldn't shake off

Doggy
One of Chumphons least hairy celebrities!

Karaoke fun
An alarmingly good selection, poor translations and cheap Thai whiskyrumboozejuice, helped to keep us 'sane' in the long Chumphon nights.

Ning the great
Ning, the purveyor or fine Thai foods, and the co-creator on our virtual home-away-from-home

Pups and more pups...
Life would have been all the less bearable if not for the deluge of lovable strays, such as this little scamp!

Pigheadedness won't get you anywhere
Chumphon's markets catered for all of our needs