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Published: January 6th 2007
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Happy New Year Everybody!
We are now sadly back at work following our Christmas break. Most teachers in Thailand don't get Christmas off so we were very lucky to have 10 days to escape. The last few weeks passed in a blur of cotton wool, glitter and 'jingle bells' as the children did special Christmas activities. One of the schools we work at is a Christian school so we went to their Christmas concert which was far from traditional! The children wore so much make up - like you would see at a beauty pageant - even the boys! Their clothes and hair were incredible but apparently they start getting ready for events like this from about 2am! The teachers have to be at school from then to help out and some of the students just sleep at school! Above and beyond the call of duty I feel! Before the holidays a Taiwanese teacher we work with offered to cook us a special meal. This was more as a disgusted response to the fact we had never eaten Sushi before rather than a Christmas gesture! The food was delicious and contrary to popular myth nothing was raw!
After finishing
How gorgeous are these kids!?
The end of term raffle draw pulls in the crowds. school on Friday the 22nd we boarded an overnight sleeper train to Surat Thani. The sleeper trains are so cool! Like climbing into a little den! We were herded off at 5am and caught a bus across to Khao Lak where we had 3 days to fill before our live aboard dive trip began. Khao Lak is quite a quiet tourist area. We were there at a difficult time as it was the 2 year anniversary of the Tsunami which completely devastated this region. Nobody would talk about their experiences but one night lots of balloons with candles attached were let into the air and soared up making a very eerie sight as they mingled with the stars.
Our Christmas dinner was not a patch on the usual! We had fresh sea food which was lovely but you couldn't put gravy on it! Luckily the wonder that is modern technology allowed me to watch my family open their presents so I didn't completely miss out! We spent most of the day relaxing on the beach and in the pool which had a sunken bar along side it!
We then boarded the boat which was to be our home
for the next three days. It was surprisingly small and the sea was unusually rough, making for a choppy journey. The dive group totaled 8 plus two instructors and 3 boat staff and everyone was so nice. the food was delicious - amazing what could be prepared on a tiny boat - lots of seafood and fresh fruit. We slept altogether at the top of the boat in beds that were always damp but felt so comfortable at the end of the day! The diving itself was so beautiful. The Similan Islands are part of a marine national park so there is no fishing and the islands are uninhabited and pristine. On our second dive we saw a 4 metre wide manta ray which swam over then under us and was so close! It was absolutely the highlight. Another amazing experience was the night dive when we saw an octopus, moray eel, a HUGE orange reef crab and gorgeous jeweled lobsters. Unfortunately my diving career was then sadly put on hold as I developed pains in my ears as we descended. I then had to stay on the boat whilst everyone else went down on day 2 and I became
really sea sick and was accidentally sick on someone's dive equipment. Then, Neil came back and had seen leopard sharks AND I was too sick to eat the tasty food! The only compensation was that I got to see a dolphin and a turtle from the boat. It was all still worth it though and we got to spend a few hours on the untouched islands.
After we were back on dry land we headed to Koh Samui for New Year to meet up with someone we work with. After all the beautiful places we have seen since we've been away, Samui was a bit of a let down. The beaches were undeniably beautiful but it was very, very busy. However, we did get to eat the most delicious Italian food, bacon sandwiches, cream cheese bagels and other Western delights! New Year was spent on the top of Samui at someone's house watching fireworks and drinking Tiger Beer!
We are both hoping that there will be a Christmas dinner waiting for us in May!
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beth
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Happy New Year guys!
Happy New year to you both! Glad to see you are both well and still enjoying it all! Jelousy is still in abundance from the cold grey and wet british winter! Take care xx