Lest We Forget
12 Nov 2011 1 Comment
Silence is golden. Try doing a two-minute silence with a classroom of 20 two-year olds.
11.11 comes once a year a, and I am never in the same place to stand and think for a brief moment about the sacrifice that has happened so I am able to stand in all these different places.
As I sat on my lunch break in work, a girl spoke about how someone had posted on her Facebook ranting about doing the silence. It frustrated me that it had gone completely over that person’s head to realise that just shutting up and thinking for a couple of minutes ia not glorifying war, it is not saying it is right or wrong, good or bad, it is thinking, honouring and thanking all those people who have sacrificed their lives so that we can carry on with ours because they believed that fighting would bring peace. It is thinking about all those people who didn’t have a choice in whether they fought or not, they were young and scared but carried on regardless.
I sat a group of toddlers down and for once they all stayed relatively still, relatively quiet, just a murmur, not shouting or messing around, it was like they knew without having to have it explained to them. Before it started one staff member said “good luck trying to get them to be quiet”, my reply, “it doesn’t matter, as long as they are sat with us being calm for a couple of minutes, it’s important for us to do it”. Once again being faced with a negative attitude! Why do I come up against so many of these daily?
Tomorrow I’m going with the Beavers to a Remembrance service, I wonder if they will be able to behave as well as my two-year olds did?
Wake up and smile.
09 Nov 2011 3 Comments
It’s that time of year when you get up and it’s dark, you go to work and it’s cold and you get home in the dark. It’s miserable! So whilst getting my daily fix of Groupon and Living Social (google them if you are unaware of these) I stumbled across a wristband called an Equilibrium band. I’ve started wearing this wrist band because, much to become the joke of my house mates, it is meant to bring balance to your life helping with S.A.D and other things.
I have always believed in all that “hippy crap” as it is so fondly known, herbal remedies, Echinacea, pressure points, Reiki, you name it I would quite probably believe in it. Mind over matter and these things help with the mind, improving the matter!
Positive mental attitude, isn’t it such a wonderful thing to be able to cheer someone up with just a smile, to make light of a situation with just having a positive mental attitude. People get so bogged down in so much crap that they forget that they could make themselves feel so much better if they just believed they were happier and forget that when they are miserable it brings people around them down. So what if I wear a wrist band that I believe will make me feel happier, I harm no-one around me by doing so, I am not being offensive, if anything I am just doing another thing to make myself happier, and as one wise lady once said “by allowing yourself to shine, you unconsciously give other people permission to do the same”.
So tomorrow is another day. Wake up. Smile. Get happy.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Back In The Swing Of It
22 Jan 2011 1 Comment
in England, Reverse Culture Shock
After being away for any long periods the adjustment time for getting back into regular life is always far longer than I think it will be. Knowing that I would be coming back for Christmas, New Years and my Birthday gave me things that I could fill my time with made the adjustment far easier.
I had heard about reverse culture shock, after settling in to life in a very different environment abroad to then being plonked back into your own culture hits pretty hard. Things can seem mundane, there isn’t the daily spotting of something crazy and completely new to every sense. Trying to explain this to people can be hard, how is somebody expected to understand that you have become so disconnected with your own society that it’s like being a foreigner to the things that you have grown up with. It was little things that I had to get back used to; being able to understand the people sat at the next table in a restaurant, being able to explain exactly what I wanted to a hairdresser, having regular toilets…that flush, bread.
But I have got back into it all, I figured that I would make a running start and try to get a job and a house sorted as quickly as possible. Things seem to of slotted into place rather nicely, after almost going for a job in some kind of sales I applied at my old work in a nursery school, after the second interview I was told that they would love me back and was even being put back into preschool. The same day I managed to find a house just a few minutes from where I will be working, so life seems to be a lot less up in the air.
I can’t help but be jealous of all my friends that are either still travelling or are moving back abroad and wonder if I should go for the job on the Disney cruise ship that I have just been offered an interview for. But I am actually liking being back, I’m happy catching up with faces that I haven’t seen in an age and I’m excited to be moving back up to the rainy north.
Banging Bangkok
05 Jan 2011 1 Comment
in Bangkok, Chatuchak Market, Khao San Road, Reclining Buddha, Thailand, Wat Pho
Bangkok is the place that backpackers love to hate, it starts trips, it ends them, it is a trip. On our way back home it was my 3rd time of being in the city that is known for ping-pong shows (a sex show not in the sense of there actually being a table, let your imagination run wild and I expect your not even half way there), prostitution, Khao San Road, manic tuk tuk drivers and as many lady boys as you would like plus some.
My first time had been a bit daunting, being on my own and feeling very small in such a vast city. The second time was not even a full day, with just a shopping trip down Khao San and an emotional goodbye. This time I was ready for what the city had to offer.
On my first time in Bangkok I tried to find the reclining Buddha, but turning up myself and my friend both realised we were wearing completely the wrong clothes, this time I was on a mission, and with my sarong under my arm we made our way down to the statue that was yet another image for me from The Beach (note to self – stop watching girlie films to the degree they rule your trips). Wat Pho as it is called in Thai is known as being the birth place of the traditional Thai massage, and Prior to the temple’s founding, the site was a centre of education for traditional Thai medicine, and statues were created showing yoga positions. Wat Pho is the largest temple in Bangkok and is home to over 1000 images of Buddha, including that of the reclining Buddha which is one of the largest single Buddha images. The Reclining Buddha is forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high, decorated with gold plating on his body and mother of pearl on his eyes and the soles of his feet.
After a large plate of pad thai we were ready for the afternoon of our site-seeing day, finding our way on the local bus for about 7 baht (45 baht = £) to the Sunday market to prepare for our return to the Mother land and get our Christmas shopping out the way. Chatuchak market is literally a place to shop till you drop, covering about 35 acres of land, the size of it could make even a pro shoppers head spin let alone me, where 2 hours is about maximum for my retail therapy.
We had a night out in Bangkok, which after fueling ourselves on Chang and Sangsom we headed from the relative peace of Rambuttri street to the manicness of Khao San, where at 3 in the morning we managed to find a stall that was selling beers and have a DJ booth, with plenty of people dancing on the street. Dancing till the sun came up, I felt that my time in Bangkok had been had, and went to bed feeling that I was ready to face the snow back in England.
The following day I checked the internet and to my horror I saw that Heathrow was shut, bollocks I thought, bloody typical that I was about to fly home after 16 months and surprise my parents and my flights looked like it was non-existent. So with plenty of PMA and my fingers turning blue from being crossed I headed for the airport. First step check-in, I was told to return later, oh dear I thought, that doesn’t sound good. But finally I was allowed through to the gate. Getting to Sri Lanka, I thought to check if the next part would be so easy, sure enough there was a delay, only an hour and a half at that time so I went and slept on a bench only to wake up and find a lot of Sri Lankan men staring at me, time to move to the gate. The gate finally opened and everything was looking positive, so I sent my brother an email to say that I would be turning up that day. The positive thoughts must have been working as I boarded and was served my food before I knew it, I even got moved to have 2 seats to myself and could lie down, trying to get myself back onto English time as quickly as possible. So for all the worry I turned up just 2 hours late which gave Dan a lie in and he also had been there such a short time we didn’t even have to pay for parking, you couldn’t have planned it! Home to mum and we knock on the door, the reaction was that of sheer shock, she stood there for about 30 seconds mouth open not saying a word, brilliant surprise I take it, Dads reaction was actual tears. After all that time away it was good to be back. As George Moore said, “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
* Getting to Chatuchak Market
Bus number 3 will take you straight past the market from Khao San Road, and works in the opposite direction as well, fan buses are the cheaper option at 7 baht, or splash out for aircon at 15 baht.
Hop on the skytrain (BTS) to Mo Chit station, take exit no. 1 and follow the crowd until you see rows of canvas stalls selling clothes. Turn right while continuing to follow the crowd and you will see a small entrance that leads into the market (clothing section).
Another option is to take the subway (MRT) to Chatuchak Park station (exit no.1), then follow the crowd until you arrive at the small entrance that leads into the market (clothing section). For the plant and flower section, get off at Kampheng Phet MRT station (exit no. 1).
The weekend market is open on Saturdays and Sundays, 09:00 – 18:00, and Fridays 18:00 – 24:00. Plant sections are also open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 07:00 – 18:00.
Railay
05 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
Railay is the gem of the South of Thailand, although it is on the mainland the limestone cliffs surrounding it make it cut of and inaccessible by road, so the only way there is by long tail boat. The ferry took me from Phi Phi to Krabi, from there, there were free mini buses to Aonang, I then had to wait until there were enough people for the long tail boat to leave for Tonsai. Tonsai is the first beach on the way around Railay and is cheaper and more chilled than the other beaches. Jumping off the boat I headed to where I knew a friend was staying, Mambo guesthouse, which has cheap but very basic huts running out the back from the beach up to the back road. Some of the bungalows even came with fury little friends, luckily the most we saw in our hut was a frog and a squirrel who would watch Jessie while she showered.
Our wonderful abode, complete with en suite with a bucket to flush the toilet.
Sunset on Tonsai Beach.
Railay is known for is climbing, with over 600 routes around the area it’s easy to see how climbers get their fix here. I was not in for the climbing, but there are enough other things that could fill my days. It would be quite possible to just stay and be happy on Tonsai beach but there comes a problem when you run out of money and you have to get to the West Railay beach for an ATM. Tonsai itself is a little more cut off from the rest of Railay, with the only ways to get to the other beaches are either a trek through the jungle, a climb over some rocks, if the tides out it’s possible to walk over the rocks or there is the long tail option.
Tonsai feels like a mini Glastonbury, with lots of little bars made out of the nature that surrounds them, full of bits and bobs that would keep a game of I spy going for hours, everyone doing poi, playing beach volleyball or just sitting and chilling. Life is as lazy as you make it on Tonsai, days sometimes consisted of getting up going for fruit, yoghurt and muesli then hitting the beach until the sun goes down, perhaps having some pad thai and a lazy evening watching a fire show or two, bliss.
The bars on Tonsai are more like adult playgrounds, with ping-pong, swings made from different recycled objects, poi, boats to climb in and various talented people showing everyone their skills. We would spend hours laying back and watching fire being spun around people’s bodies in a trance like way.
It was my friend Andi’s birthday while we were on Tonsai, and when we woke up for the first time in a few days the sun was baking us at 9 in the morning. It looked set to be a good day, my travelling family had been reunited with Rachel turning up, as we sat having breakfast I looked up and saw a familiar face and Jessie had made it a day earlier than expected, and to top it off another lad Drew was better after being ill for days. We set out to an island in the distance we had all been staring out to for days, getting there we jumped out into the perfect water and onto the white sand we had spotted across the water. Maxi our driver lazed in a hammock on his boat as we played in the water until we were ready to leave and watch the sunset from the boat on our way back. As a surprise for Andi’s birthday we had got lanterns which we each attached a wish to and sent them on their way across the clear night sky, it certainly gave a magical end to the day before we caught a boat over to the West beach for a bucket and UV paint night out. Ending the whole day in a typical beach fashion with singing to a guitar on the beach.
Kayaks can constantly been seen skimming the water of the bays of Railay, it is small enough to get around everywhere within 30 minutes of kayaking, and on the way the rocks have some hidden caves that can be paddled into. One of the days we kayaked around to Pranang beach, which at the end of it is a large cave that has hundreds of statues of penises. It is said that a young lady had said farewell to the love of her life on the beach as he sailed off and would sit and wait for his return, heartbroken he never did so she lay a statue in the cave. Now it is said that if you lay a statue of a penis in the cave you will get luck in love, that mixed with the fact that on the horizon is a rock that the locals called cock rock, I think it’s more an obsession with willies than love. There are no restaurants on Pranang beach so long tails boats ground themselves and serve dishes cooked up on hot plates on the boats, the perfect answer to how to get your daily noodle fix.
I spent a long time in Tonsai and would love to return some day, with incredible scenery, lots to do and time to relax it is for me the perfect beach holiday without feeling like you are having a beach holiday.
The Islands
05 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bamboo Tattoo, Koh Tao, Phi Phi, Phuket, Thailand, The Islands
Mention the Thai Islands to anyone and I put money on it images of Leo swimming in crystal clear water surrounded by sheer rock faces pop into their head. I am certainly one of these people and after my tan had faded in Vietnam I was ready to feel the sun on my back again.
I love the words of this song.
Being back on my own again was strange after Viv jetted off to Australia, I was back into dorms, carrying my own bag, sitting next to strangers on the bus, remembering they were not my pillow and having to make conversations which predominantly consist of “where are you from?” “where have you been?” and “how long have you been away?”. It can be draining, especially as I was at the end of a long trip and what I really wanted to do was just relax with people who I could have comfortable silences with. Luckily I knew that after a few days of being in the South of Thailand my travelling family would all be together again.
I arrived on Phuket after a bus journey that was meant to drop me off at 11 am and ended up being 3 pm, so after being on buses for 23 hours I was struggling to think straight so jumped on the back of a motorbike taxi with all my bags balanced over the place to be dropped of at Phuket Town Backpackers. My heart sank as I saw the bunk beds squished in to a tiny room, especially as we had treated ourselves on the last night in Hanoi and splashed on a nice hotel with silk robes and a shower that rained down water, but this place was clean and there lots was going on so in my position it was the perfect landing spot.
Phuket is not the nicest of places, it is cramped but when you step into the water you see the draw, with water that is warm and clear as far as you can swim out. Trying to walk along the beaches there are thousands of sun loungers and if you’re not sat down on one you will be asked a million times if you want to be. Patong beach is the worse for this, it is lined with every kind of restaurant you could ever need, when a place has Starbucks and Macdonald’s it’s time for me to make a hasty retreat. The hostel had various different activities that people could get involved with, including a walking tour of the night market. I was happy that my new-found friends dragged me up to it, not for the shopping but for the street food, hundreds of stalls cooking various different wonders that tempted me in with gorgeous smells, spicy, sweet and everything in between. Walking home with a full belly I was ready to hit my top bunk.
My last day on Phuket was spent on the back of a motorbike whizzing around the coastal roads of Phuket with an Ozzie guy who had decided only a day before he left that he was going travelling, we headed to Surin beach where I was meeting a friend, getting fresh fish for lunch cooked on a BBQ, the perfect beach meal. Getting out of the backpackers that night I was spoilt to stay with my friends family friends, up in the hills of Phuket, overlooking the beach in a very luxury house.
Next stop Phi Phi, stepping off the boat we headed to find somewhere to live for the next few nights, after asking around in the town we headed further up hill and found a little hut with a pool, pricey in comparison to what we had been paying we sucked it up and handed over our baht realising that for what we were getting it was still a good price and we had to remember that the islands are known as being expensive.
We took a boat trip out around Phi Phi, still feeling dazed from the previous night being out in the fresh air was the perfect place to be. Stopping off at Monkey beach, which as the title suggests was crowded with monkeys, stealing biting monkeys and stupid tourists feeding them crisps and wondering why they were being bitten, you wonder who is the more intelligent species when you contrast them in that way! The place that I had gone on the tour for was Maya bay, known for being the beach where The Beach was filmed, even with a bit of rain it was breath-taking, with perfect turquoise water. The water was actually like sitting in a bath, and was warmer than being out on the beach.
When it rains on an island you realise how little there is to do apart from sit on a beach and swim, so other entertainment has to be found, this came in the form of tattoos, sitting in the shop watching my friend get one I sat with a Thai guy and explained what I had been thinking about, within 20 minutes he had drawn a beautiful tattoo for my back, the following day in the same situation we designed together a gecko for my foot. Both done with bamboo, a much quicker way of tattooing that heals fast and you can swim with them, perfect for time on the islands.
After Phi Phi I headed to Railay, but feel that it should get its own blog, so watch this space…
Last stop in the South of Thailand was Koh Tao, and having met up with Jessie, a friend from home we started on the what was meant to be easy journey over to the East side. After a boat, a car and multiple buses we were chucked out at a docks and told that our boat was coming and wait here, as the car quickly drove off a sinking feeling hit me, it was dark and there were obviously no boats going, after investigating we were told that we had been dropped at a port 20 km from where we were meant to be and our boat had left 5 minutes before. Shit. With nothing to be done but just realise that shit happens we got ourselves ready for a night in the cafe of this port to wait for the morning boat which we would have to pay extra for, at least we were somewhere that we could eat, drink and get our heads down. The boat in the morning was a vision after a pretty rough night, and looking down to the bottom of the deep water in the docks we forgot what had happened and looked around at where we were.
We stayed on Sairee beach in a hut that fit 4 of us, it was a stones throw from the beach and in the middle of town close to the bars. The days were spent floating in the sea on lilos, browning our skin until the sun sank below the horizon giving daily shows of reds and oranges. Then when the day has gone the nights roll in, after a good feed on the best masaman curry anyone could ask for it would be time to get ready to hit the beach again, this time for partying. Nights out on Koh Tao are brilliant, being able to go out barefoot, dancing till you drop on the sand, buckets, lady boys and fireshows, you name it Koh Tao has got it.
“Trust me.
It’s Paradise.
This is where the hungry comes to feed.
For mine is a generation that circles the globe
in search of something we haven’t tried before,
so never refuse an invitation,
never resist the unfamiliar,
never fail to be polite,
and never out stay your welcome.
Just keep your mind open and
suck in the experience,
and if it hurts,
you know what… it’s probably worth it.
I still believe in paradise,
but now at least I know it’s not some place you can look for,
cause it’s not where you go,
it’s how you feel for a moment in your life,
and if you find that moment
it will last forever.”
Ha Long Bay
04 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment
in Ha Long Bay, Junk Boats, Vietnam
Ha Long Bay off the North East of the Vietnam coast was something that I had been looking forward to, and with a big group of us who had been together for a while it seemed like the perfect end to our time together. There are lots of different options when it comes to Ha Long Bay, you could pay a bit more and get a nicer boat with better food but the places you go to will still be the same, or pay more and go on a party boat with lots of other people, which is good for people who aren’t in a group. As we were all on a budget and knew that with our group we would have fun whatever happened we went for the cheap option, just $36 for 3 days and 2 nights, all food and accommodation included and transportation to Ha Long Port from Hanoi and back.
On the first day we were picked up early from our hostel and taken the 4 hours to our boat, where we were loaded on and set off for Ha Long Bay itself which sits out in the sea, with thousands of limestone karsts and tiny islands, the area of the bay is 334 km2 , the vastness of which cannot be comprehended until you float around the rocks in the junk boats, both of which are iconic to the area. Our boat on the junk boat was small but comfortable enough for the two of us, with a small en suite that was more than expected on a boat. The weather was a bit overcast but good enough that we could be up on the top deck, watching the scenery drift past us. We were taken into an amazing cave hidden in a mountain, which was absolutely vast filled with stalactites and stalagmites.
On the 2nd day we were dropped on Cat Ba island, not before things getting heated on the boat with the crew claiming that things on the bill were not paid for and not giving back our passports until it was proven that everything was accounted for. Cat Ba is the largest island in the bay and where we were going to stay for our second night. On our drive to Cat Ba town we were taken to climb a mountain, coming off the bus in flip-flops I wasn’t prepared for what was to come. Walking up our guide told us not to go up one way as it was harder than the other way, so I plodded up the path that was pointed out, clambering over rocks, slipping out of my shoes the whole way up to the top, to be greeted by incredible panoramic views of the island and then be told that the way I took was in fact the harder option.
Our room in Cat Ba town looked across the bay where lots of tiny fishing boats were moored, we put down our stuff and headed for the beach, although it wasn’t particularly warm not swimming was definitely not an option, with the beach lined with the same limestone rocks and a back drop of more of the tiny isles dotted out at sea.
The last day was spent back on the boat, watching the bay again, trying hard not to take 10000 photos.
