Last week of Paradise

So I’m now half way through the second week as I write this, this week has been a lot easier to handle, doing presentations on your own which I much prefer to working in groups because my good ideas tend to get rejected when working in a group. It’s gone really well I'm enjoying the presentations and learning from them. When class ended today about 8 of us swam out to this floating raft which was about a kilometre out, against the current but it was amazing to look at the island from out in the sea. We were all surprised when all of a sudden Mon from Thai Thai just climbed aboard the raft, didn’t bring any Chang’s though, poor effort. We had a few dives off the raft get back on sessions but being such an effort to get back on we decided 3 times was enough and swam back to dry land.

     The second half of the week was more of the same, presentations and nights at the bars. On Tuesday Mike from ETA (not the Spanish terrorist group) came out to see how we were all getting along, he also bought a professional photographer along to take some pictures of us. There are some amazing photos of a group of us jumping off this little fishing boat we hijacked for our childish needs.

     The final night on Koh Lipe was an emotional one, saying goodbye to paradise for the 'city' of Hat Yai, saying goodbye to the guys at Thai Thai, and finally taking it all serious and knowing this is not a holiday, this is a JOB. as it was our last night there were a lot more of us in the sea, no nudity this time though. but climbing on the boat there was, there so many on this little boat that when we were rocking it we nearly capsized it. As we had to be up for about 8 the next morning we decided to call it an early night at about 3ish. The next morning started well, the speed boat back to mainland had pulled round to our side of the island, which made us think we had the boat to ourselves. Much to our dismay we pulled into the other side of the island, Dalton told us that only a few people would be getting on, he lied. About twenty people got on, it actually was only standing room, but that's what you get when their motto is 'The boat is never full'. Being sat on the front of a speed boat in a monsoon, rough seas, and only wearing shorts and t-shirt, definitely is not a good idea under any circumstances. Well, unless the life of your family and friends depended on it, then you should probably consider it. Luckily it was a bit less squashed on the front, so there was room between the seats to hide from the what felt like being shot by an automatic BB gun with unlimited ammunition.
     We finally arrived on solid, stable ground after what felt like an eternity aboard the high seas. Everyone's bags were soaked, but lucky no laptops. Our taxis were ready and waiting for us, aircon blasting, which when you've just been sat on a boat, in the pissing rain, in shorts and t-shirt, is not exactly what you want. It took us ages to get to our hotels, this was partly due to the fact that we stopped 4 times on the way to the Teacha Language School, and when we finally got to the school, we were there for about an hour faffing about. We were split up and sent to different hotels, when we were finally ready to set of we loaded all out luggage onto a songta (I think that's what it's called), and the people into the other. As I loaded all the luggage on I felt it my responsibility to sit on the back of the songta and keep an eye on the luggage, theres a picture of me and Kaley sitting on the back of the songta in the video I posted. Well I'll leave you with that much for now, and fill you in on the first week of teaching soon, because I'm off to get drunk and celebrate a successful first week. 

Finally time to chillax

 So the first full day of nothing since our arrival, we were all hanging out our arses so it was a day of chilling, a bit of sunbathing and swimming. I also got my first proper massage, a full body oil massage, and no happy ending lads before you think it. It was so relaxing, not a brutal one which would have been nice, but I was so relaxed I was struggling to open my eyes at the end. For dinner we went to Pooh’s bar to watch the footy, the food was awesome and having the footy on was nice, a little connection to back home, even though Chelsea lost their first game and conceded their first goal of the season it was still a good night. The next day was more of the same, chilling and then watching the footy. I have yet to mention that it only took me 3 days to find a girl, she a loud one (pun intended) but a good laugh, sweet, and likes to do things for me. (Already got her under the thumb) Na she’s a lovely girl, buff not butters, haven’t spent a night apart since we first hooked up which isn’t a bad thing, she did bring her toothbrush round which I swiftly moved back to hers, toothbrush at mine is a major step and after week it’s a little scary but she only done it to annoy me so it’s all good. But we’ll see how it goes, carpe diem and all that jazz.

TEFL Heaven Koh Lipe Slideshow 2010

First week of Paradise

      The bus journey to the ferry was an experience and a half. They don’t seem to have speed limits in Thailand. And if there’s someone on a scooter in front then they just beep their horn until they move onto the hard shoulder. When we arrived at the ferry we had enough time to have a quick meal, which was good, as me and mike were hanging out our arses from the heavy meet and greet session the night before.
      The idea of getting a speed boat to a paradise island may create an image of cruising over the sea with the sea breeze in your hair, but the reality was less idyllic. Now picture having 40 people cramped onto one speed boat, their entire luggage, and more. In the tiny little toilet was a plant so there was no use of those facilities. Now you have that image imagine being on that boat for just over 2 hours hanging out your arse. Not the kind of transport you imagine when being taken to a paradise island is it now.  But when we arrived at the island, paradise it was, clear blue seas, white sandy beaches, watching the bright tropical fish dart in and out of the coral beneath the boat.  We had locals waiting for us when we arrived to take our luggage to the resort, which I realise sounds a bit tarquin but it really isn’t, we still had to walk to the other side of the island with our hand luggage. When we finally arrived at the resort it was perfection, palm trees, white sand, clear seas, and bars on the beach. Which we soon found out were incredibly nice and getting drunk on the beach in paradise is something else. So once again me and mike got drunk and only just turned up in time for class (well we had a reputation to keep up now). This was only because we thought it started half hour before it actually did. This was the routine for a couple of days, until I realised I was spending too much so I thought it a good idea to have a night of no alcoholic beverages at all. This made me feel a lot better the next day. But the next night was not such an easy going night, a lot of us went to the bar we went to on the first night called Thai Thai. The people there are very friendly, their names are Mon, Bau, Loon and God. On this night our teachers joined us at this bar, so we got incredibly drunk, and went swimming, which because of the intoxication that we were all inflicted by ended up becoming skinny dipping. Me and mike were the only lads that were naked with 4 girls, which are all rather bangtidy. As we had drinks in the sea and we needed to take the glasses I decided to be a gentleman and take them all back to shore, still naked with one hand cupping myself with my shorts and the other full of glasses teacher Sanjiit went to shake my cupping hand, so I Manginaed and shook his hand. As there was a group of Thai women on the table next to the teachers I thought it impolite to ignore them and said hello in Thai, and bowed, all while doing, a rather good I must say, Mangina, which they giggled at (it was rather cold out of the water). When I got back into the sea the girls had decided that it would be a good idea to swim out to one of the boats and climb aboard, mike had got out of the sea by this point so it was me and 4 naked ladies on this little fishing boat. Being on a boat with 4 naked lovely ladies and not show your appreciation is very hard (no pun intended) but I managed it. So the first week was eventually over and my nervousness of teaching had diminished, I was really looking forward to it now. So we had a party to celebrate, we all bought alcohol and sat in our classroom getting incredibly drunk until we ran out of alcoholic beverages, and moved onto Thai Thai. At Thai Thai we took over their music, playing from our own MP3 players, I was Top DJ for the night banging out tune after tune, Pete Tong eat your heart out.

First Encounters

A good start to a great experience is being stopped as I enter the departure lounge of Heathrow because apparently I look like a druggie.  Meeting strangers for the first time that you’re going to spend the next six months half way round the world with is never exactly easy, but when it’s such an awesome group of people, as they are, it makes it a lot easier. As I write this I have already been here for a week and it’s like we've all known each other for a lot longer. just as it is when you first start uni, it must be the fact that you learn a lot more about people when you live with them.

     The weekend of travelling from the glorious big smoke to the paradise island that is Koh Lipe was an experience in its self.  Having never been outside of Europe myself, I had never been on a flight lasting more than 4 hours.  So the idea of 15 hours flying was quite daunting, but turned out to be a good time. As soon as I sat in my seat I was like a little kid with a new toy on Christmas day, I had my own TV screen.  Not only were there movies available on my personal screen but also games. I felt like a commoner having never flied in a plane like this, but it meant I had more fun so it was all good. The food was just as amazing; being a flight to Mumbai the food was a proper curry, unfortunately though there was only vegetarian but the air steward manage to find a separate little meat dish for me which I was very grateful for as I'm not a fan of rabbit food, however the meal was very nice. Arriving in Mumbai airport wasn’t a major cultural shock as I expected, but that was probably due to the fact that I was stuck in the airport for the 2 hours I was there. This gave me time to meet more of the people that I would be spending a lot of time with. The second plane was nowhere near as nice as the first one, but I still had my own little personal screen so i was contempt with that. Unfortunately I couldn’t eat the meal that was provided as the thought of eating made me queasy. Which if you know me, is definitely not like me. When we arrived in Bangkok we had 12 hours to explore the city, which we didn’t quite use as well as we could have. I did eat something from a street vendor who said it was chicken but definitely was not chicken, but tasted quite like it. From people saying that strange food tastes like chicken I guessed It was dog which in hindsight is actually quite tasty. When we decided to split into smaller groups we decided to head to the local shopping centre which meant that the only difference from home was that the prices were a lot cheaper and there were a lot more Thai people around.  In this shopping centre we had McDonald's and then went to the pub and had a few drinks, so I feel I fully experienced the Thai culture while in Bangkok. We then returned to Bangkok airport where I had my first proper Thai meal, Pad Thai, which is extremely tasty. We then had an hour flight to Hat Yai where everyone was out cold before the plane had even taken off, we were all woken up by the stewardess' just before landing. When we got to Hat Yai,where we would finally get to relax and rest overnight, which was well needed, me and Mike decided to find somewhere where we could watch the footy, we were unable to find anywhere so we decided to go for a few drinks. Your probably imagining a little pub, or bar. well that's not quite right, this place was a shop which was also the blokes house where he was chilling having a few beverages with his mates, he set up a table for the 5 of us which we had now turned to from the original 2. then the rest of the group turned up, making it about 15 of us, this is where it turned into a proper session. But this meant we finally got to meet everyone properly, and now me and mike have a reputation as the party people as we had an after party in our room and ended up missing the bus in the morning.