Wet, Wet, Wet

Yes, no, not that 80s band who spent 15 weeks at No 1 in 1994 with Love is All Around but the weather here at the moment. Rainy season has definitely arrived and this past week there's been rainfall every day in varying amounts and times. In fact, last Tuesday it pretty much rained the whole day. It's reminding us of our first year here. But I digress.

The result is that I've mostly been hanging around the house which doesn't result in anything interesting to share with you but, as always This is Thailand (TiT) so there's always something!

just like this one!

Last Sunday we took our morning coffee over to Toms corner shop and enjoyed one of Tan's lovely omelettes for brunch. Whilst sitting there, a taxi went around the corner and a large bag of beans fell out of the back. Quite a number of people, us included, yelled out to the driver albeit he probably wouldn't have understood us. Fortunately, there were enough Thai people hollering and so he stopped outside our old house and proceeded to dice with death at the intersection to retrieve said beans. 



Nothing weird about that I hear you say, and you'd be right. But as he was dodging cars and bikes his taxi started moving forward, slowly, down the street. Mr John and I were in hysterics, it was like something from a comedy show. Of course, the yelling started again and thankfully the car had only gone about 30 metres before he jumped back into the drivers seat and carried on. Honestly, I keep telling all our visitors that you don't need TV when you live in our neck of the woods. Just sit yourself down at one of Toms tables and watch what goes on. 

Another great pass time here seems to be "rearrange the supermarket". I'm not sure if it comes our of boredom or what day of the week it is or if  Jupiter is aligning with Mars but this is a regular occurrence here in Chanthaburi. Tesco Lotus is currently going through a major upheaval. I arrived at the fresh food section to find a large white tarpaulin over everything and all the fridge shelving missing. Took a little while longer to get the weekly shop done, I can tell you. I had to call into my favourite "shop that sells everything" the other day and even they have been at it is nothing sacred? 

New Travelodge

I've also been trying to get to the pool a few times a week but with the weather, it's been a bit too wet for swimming. Yes, I know how that sounds but hang in there. Obviously when you're in the pool, you're already wet so rain is not an issue. However, if you need to ride a motorcycle to the pool and it's lashing down this can cause dangerous driving condition. Hence, it becomes too wet to go to the pool. 

It's not just here of course, the rain played havoc with the matches at the French Open with the Seine at a record high level and Sydney was really rocked by torrential rain at the weekend. Keep safe out there people.

Wash Day

It's been a while since I told you about my favourite washing place over near Big C. It's still the best place to get your washing done at only 20 baht a load unless of course you're lucky enough to have access to your own washing machine and provided you have somewhere to hang it at home.

Anyway, the rainy season seems to have properly started this past week and it got me thinking about the washing machines near Robinson yes, I know, I need to get out more. If you've never experienced a true rainy season you cannot imagine the state this leaves your washing in. 


Seriously, it can be wetter by the end of the day than it was when you took it out of the washing machine no joke. I'm not a fan of the machines there -  actually that's not true, I'm just not a fan of the 40 baht they charge for an 11 kg machine. However, they have half a dozen tumble dryers. It's basically 10 baht for 10 minutes with a minimum of 30 minutes. And there's no law that says you can only use the dryer if you've used the washing machines to be fair it might be written there in Thai but I can't read Thai.

It could work out expensive if you do this regularly and I've been lucky enough to only need it once when I had no chance of getting our towels dry. In the main, I tend to stick the clothes rack near the fan that seems to be on permanently in our lounge room.

So if you need washing done and dried, fancy a bit of window shopping / lunch / coffee then you could do worse that to head to this place. Just head to Robinson and look out for the pink building the other side of the open car park by the river. Enjoy!

Permission Granted

It's been a bit of a crazy time lately and there's hardly been time to catch my breath. So many farewell lunches, dinners and drinks but then, it's always like that at the end of March. So now, the vast majority of foreign teachers have not only left the school but the country as well. I wonder what next years by that I mean the next school year which starts in May teachers will be like?  I think Mr John becomes the third longest serving foreign teacher at the school now. That just seems pretty weird considering he's only in his third year.

Speaking of which, yesterday was spent at Immigration. Thank goodness it wasn't like the experience I had a couple of years ago I still have nightmares about that one. To be fair, it was pretty trouble free and the school administrator was with us which is always incredibly helpful as it negates the language barrier. We were both exhausted by the time we were finished and I'm not really sure why because we were there less than two hours.


Of course, it's not over yet. Now that we have next years visa, we have to go back today to get our re-entry permits. Yes, even though we are allowed to stay here for another year, any time we leave the country we have to hand over 1000 baht each to enable us to temporarily leave and come back again. Our trip to the UK straddles the end and start date for our current and new visas so we've had to wait to have both before getting the permit.

We are almost beyond excited at heading back to the UK for our first visit in three years. Mr John has been compiling a list of meals that he's planning on working his way through during our visit. Now don't panic, he's put aside his gym membership money already for our return. To ease ourselves into the holiday, we've booked a hotel near the airport and we'll be making our way there on Sunday. Should be lovely hanging around the pool and we don't have to check out until 4pm on Monday. We're staying at Best Western Amaranth hotel, so I'll let you know how we get on. It's about 10 kilometres from the airport but has it's own shuttle service.

In the meantime, I'm washing like there's no tomorrow and you could eat your dinner off our apartment floor you know how it is. Not that there'll be any cooking for the last couple of days ... Muslim Food here we come!

Happy Birthday to my big older brother Mike!!!

Handy Hints?

With a short week, last week, before I knew it the weekend was upon us again. Time seems to be flying very quickly at the moment. So much so, that Mr John was at a party last night for all Grade 6s as it was their last day in school. From now until the end of March he gets to clean his desk, make sure all his folders are in the right order, plan something different for next years class and the all important visa required to carry on teaching next year. So don't for one minute think he's got his feet up.

I'm in spring cleaning mode at the moment not that Thailand even has a spring but winter has gone and it will really start hotting up next month. Actually, we've been lucky with a few cooler days lately and I think that's helped me get into gear. I've even been moving the bed to make sure I've got at everything.

So because it's been pretty quiet on the news front, I thought I'd share a couple of things I've been meaning to tell you about for ages. You know how it is, something minor that you mean to share with your friends but keep forgetting about and promising to do it next time? So here's a couple of tips for you.

Passed on by my mate Debbie the one in Australia and not the one in England I bought some celery to make Cheeseball at Christmas time. Whilst Mr John loves celery and I've read all the articles you can find on how it takes more calories to eat a stick of celery than is in the celery itself - I just don't like it. Try as I may. I do, however, like it in cooking. I feel lucky enough to be able to buy celery here in Chanthaburi and whilst elsewhere in the world I can buy trimmed sticks of it, here I have to buy the whole thing. This usually leads to me making weird and wonderful things in order not to waste it and I hate waste or throwing out a very limp, almost rubber like celery sticks. So how do you avoid this?

 

Wrap the whole thing in tin-foil. Yep, simple as that. I eventually used the last of it some four and half weeks later and you could still snap it in two. Hallelujah! So, if you are fed up of wasting your celery or eating your way through it quickly, here's the answer. I didn't believe it until I did it, so no more celery waste in the Mr John household.

TOP TIP

For anyone living in Asia, you'll know how awful the water is and how dependent you are on bottled water. I have real issues with how much plastic is used in the production of said bottles plus, when you add it all up, it can be expensive. Get a water stand and only use the extra large bottles of water. The stand set us back about 350 baht but when you consider we were spending about 200 baht per week on 1.5 litre bottles you don't need to be a mathematician to see that it soon paid for itself. At just 12 baht a bottle, I wish we'd bought one sooner.

And finally, you all know how obsessed I am with the washing yeah right well I thought I ought to share with you the facilities near Robinson. With only three months to rainy season, you might find that you need a little help in the drying department. Of course this is only if, like me, you prefer to do your own washing for about 5% of the cost of having someone do it for you I'm sure singleton teachers would much rather pay someone.

It's easy to find this place. Head to Robinson through town and over the bridge. Stand with Robinson behind you, the river to your left and you'll see the big pink building an apartment / hotel accommodation place and the laundry is underneath that building on the left hand side as you look at it.

Whilst the washing machines are more expensive, at 40 baht per load, when compared to the other side of town at 20 baht, these machines are slightly bigger at 11kg plus the bonus of having tumble dryers at the same location. Of course you don't have to do your washing here to use the dryers. You could wash anywhere and then bring it all here to dry it but I'm a firm believer in cost / benefit so for me, riding from anywhere else is likely to cost me the 20 baht difference, so I just suck it up.

The best bit is you can do some sneaky shopping in Robinson whilst you wait for it all to finish. Of course, if you want to avoid temptation, you could always have a coffee or something to eat at Koff House but more on that next time. Happy washing!

Maudlin Monday?

It works if you can get past the look

If you've managed to catch up with me on Instagram, you'll know that I spent all last week coughing and spluttering. Poor Mr John had to take over the household tasks such as washing and food shopping bless him. With the help of some "dry up your extremities" drugs, satsumas and the weirdest banana and coconut water concoction from Tan at the corner shop which looks foul and tastes weird but works, I am feeling myself again and once I build up some strength will be fighting fit.


So yesterday, I'm all ready to pop to Tesco and get food for the week and my motorbike won't start. I try and try figuring it's a little slow as it hasn't been ridden in nearly a week. I was supposed to meet Mr John for lunch and fortunately he hadn't ordered when I finally got to speak to him on the phone.

A knight in shining armour, he headed home and popped it up on its kick stand to wait for it kick start the bike obvious right? Anyway, it's just not happening so he asks me if there's petrol in it. Derrr obviously there is says I I filled it up on the Friday before I got sick and it only had a short trip on the Saturday.

produced without an oven

In fact, Sunday it didn't even get ridden. We had the most welcome cold spell here in Chanthaburi. It was so cold I wore my jeans. In honour of the cooler weather I made Mr John a Sunday "roast" and then in the afternoon we took a walk down the old town for coffee and ice-cream. It was lovely because Emma came along and she and I stopped for a small sherry at Tamajun. But I digress. So there he is rocking the bike left and right to see if he can here petrol. Meanwhile I'm trying to find a stick to act as a dipstick but am struggling.

Mr John's expert opinion is that there is no petrol in the bike. I'm flabbergasted. It can't be right, it had cost me 85 baht to fill her up just over a week ago when it's barely been ridden. It usually does me a fortnight after I've filled it.

Anyway, he goes to Tom's shop and comes back with two "bottles" of petrol and the funnel. The way this works, Tom has a plethora of empty, previously loved whisky bottles of dubious quality. His sister buys a massive container of petrol and puts a litre into each of these bottles. They are then sold for 25 baht. The funnel is a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off.

So, Mr John puts both bottles in the bike and pushes the start button. Then I see some liquid dripping from the front of the bike and there's suddenly this really strong smell of petrol. Yes, that's right, all the petrol he as poured into the fuel tank is now coming out from underneath the front of the bike.

Another trip over to Tom's and he saves the day by getting the mechanic down the bottom of our street to come to the house and take the bike away. In the meantime, I've popped up to Tesco to grab some food on Mr John's bike and managed to make him a cheese sandwich for lunch. Thankfully, by 7pm, the bike was fixed and back parked under our house and had only cost us 200 baht roughly AUD$8 / GPB£4 / USD$5.60 / EUR5. How lucky was that?

only 1/3rd is working here

Of course, that wasn't the only excitement in my Monday. Mr John used my iPad whilst I was shopping and it locked up on him. Since then it just keeps freezing and turning itself on and off. Being the smart person I am I resorted to my laptop only to be greeting by the most horrendous screen I've ever seen. Miraculously I didn't cry. I chose instead to laugh because really they were the only two options. Today the screen has come to life but the iPad, I fear, is not long for this world.


I sure hope your Monday was less traumatic than mine.

Holidays R Us

We've had such a good time over the last three weeks. Seen some awesome things, eaten our own body weight in food at least that's what it feels like, sampled some new cocktails and spent some lovely time with family and friends.

I'm sat here hoping that I can do everything justice but to do that, I need to focus on a few amazing things. At the moment, it's all about trying to get back into the swing of things. The apartment is eerily quiet with Mr John back at school and although I didn't feel like it, I've started back at yoga. 

So, I hope you've been following our exploits on Instagram. What a great medium it is to keep people up to date. Being a visual person, it really suits me as I am a firm believer in the old "a picture paints a thousand words" adage. Of course, you can't really go into detail about what's been happening so I've been very good about keeping my junk journal up to date.

How much fun has that been! It's definitely been a learning experience. I think I overdid the preparation before we left I knew this at the time, it kept getting heavier and heavier. I just need to get a couple of photos printed is anyone else like me and thinks just keeping photos digitally is a little bit sad?  Then I'll share it with you - in all its glory.

Too often, we all can't wait to get away and don't appreciate what we have around us. Having visitors in Chanthaburi reminds us of the lovely little place where we live and the fact that we shouldn't overlook what's on our doorstep.

With both Ross & Bryony and Abi & Dave we took them to the Catholic Cathedral obviously but also made sure that we walked the Old Town back to their hotel. The Old Town, Chanthaboon, has a 2015 UNESCO Award of Merit in Cultural Heritage Conservation for the refurbishment of a 19th century mansion into a boutique hotel. Visitors have said the whole street reminds them of Georgetown, Malaysia a World Heritage site. It's true that the architecture in this part of town is in my opinion beautiful but it's also the street art that captures my imagination.

So stay tuned for an update on all our adventures but please give me a chance as I have a huge amount of photos to get through and put into some semblance of order. 

...1....Lift Off

Yes, it's the big day and as you read this we are probably already at the airport. It's an early start with a 7am minivan. As you know, I much prefer the big bus but the timings just weren't right today and neither of us want to risk missing our flight.

Whilst Chanthaburi is now pretty devoid of any foreign teachers they pretty much all headed off last Friday Mr John and I have had a fairly relaxing weekend. Australia won their final Pool game of the Rugby World Cup which was most satisfying and as Mr John has recovered his composure after England finishing third in the group I am now able to properly gloat.

The Chinese Nine Emperor Gods Festival is on again. This year it runs from the 12th to the 21st. We are pretty pleased to have found our lovely doughnut stand again this year. 

Mr John was carrying them and having finished his, he assumed I had too. But I still had about a third of mine left when he threw the whole package into the bin. I was so sad that he's promised to get me some more when we're back in Chan in a weeks time.

Actually, it's a shame all the teachers are away as there are a few vegetarians amongst them and all the yellow and red stalls serve is vegetarian food. 

So don't forget to keep up with our travels on Instagram and the all important Super Saturday. Take care everyone.

Countdown ...3, 2 ...

Yes, the countdown continues with only two weeks to go before we head off to Hanoi and then welcome our international visitors. We just can't wait. 

In the meantime, I went to pay our internet / TV / Phone bill the other day. Yes, they're all with the same provider but of course, they have to send us separate bills. Why? Who knows. Anyway, there's a self service booth at the shop. Helpfully it even has the instructions in English, you know like "scan bar-code here", "insert bank note here" and my favourite "kiosk doesn't give back change". So you'd think this was a pretty simple operation, right? Wrong. Think again - This is Thailand or TiT as I like to say for various reasons (say it out loud, you'll get it). When you arrive at the shop, you are warmly greeted by a member of staff. They're very smiley but there's not a massive command of the English language. These lovely staff members tend to direct you read foreign people to the self-service machine presumably because the counter staff have no English either.

Anyway, you can't operate the self-service machine ... yourself. You need to have a member of staff operate the self-service machine. Not only that, but because the machine doesn't give change, the member of staff goes to the counter staff and gives them the money you've handed over in order to get change. The member of staff then gives you your change and feeds the correct money into the self-service machine. Awesome!


All this excitement however is tinged with sadness as we have to say goodbye to the lovely Chantal next week. She's been an awesome addition to the Chan community and we wish her well in her next endeavour. Naturally, we spent the afternoon with our colouring-in books for some quality time. 

Orla cooking flat breads

In order to celebrate properly and there's a few other events planned, a few of us had a home cooked dinner on Saturday night and much game playing ensued. Games like bananagrams and apologies for the language shithead card game. If you've never played these games then use the links to find out how they work. There was a lot of fun and a lot of laughter. 

Relaxing Massage

Last Tuesday I did something to my left shoulder. I still don't know what it was but either I had sat awkwardly on the couch or I slept weirdly. Either way, if I reached out with my left arm I was in agony - enough to wince each time. 

If I sat still for too long, as soon as I moved it would hurt. Putting my hand up in the air or waving it around felt OK though so I carried on going to yoga. I was talking to my Pilates instructor after class Wednesday, who suggested I try a massage at either KP Grande or Maneechan hotels. I mulled this over for a day and decided to do it. I picked out the Maneechan because I thought more foreigners would stay there and I was more likely to get a western style massage.

Having been warmly welcomed at the front door, I headed to the Reception desk to make my request. Funnily enough, they had a large list of massage services right next to the desk no, not those sort of services, this was legit and I duly advised I would like a head, neck and back massage. I was lead through the hotel, passed the pool which looked lovely and to the room on the other side of the complex. There were about six mattresses all at floor level. That seemed a bit to caring and sharing for my liking but I was the only one there so didn't think anything more of it.

Alarm bells did still not go off when I was given a fetching little outfit to put on. I've confirmed with the very nice lady who did keep calling me madam which I hate but hey that I want my head, neck and back massaged. I've done this by also including hand signals pointed out my head, neck and back. She's nodded and directed me face down onto one of the mattresses. And, by the Gods, then it starts. Without a drop of oil in sight.


Have you every had a Thai massage? I can't say I recommend it. Sure, some people love it. They think this is the original massage which we should all have. Quite frankly, this is not my opinion. By the time she turned me over yes I know, why on earth do you need to be turned over when you're having your head, neck and back done all sorts of thoughts were going on in my head. 

My first thought was - I wonder if anyone has ever gone for a massage, fully functioning and come out the other side a paraplegic? I kid you not. This woman was pulling and pushing me for all she was worth and not just with her hands. Oh no, she had a foot firmly planted on various bits of me and went to places that not even Mr John has been to in twelve years. Not only that, but every now and again she would punch, yes punch, the soles of my feet. What the ...... insert expletive of your choice...!

My second thought was - do you have any formal qualifications for undertaking this "service"? Health and Safety is, well, not very healthy or safe in Thailand. The general "sabai, sabai" namely chill out, relax, whatever approach coupled with a Buddhist belief that when your time is up, your time is up means that the Western obsession with your own personal safety just gets in the way of living life so best not to bother with all that.

One of the problems with all of this is that as she's working on one part of you, the rest of you has tensed up waiting for the inevitable surge of pain that's about to head your way. If you've already got a part of you that's tense, this sort of massage can surely only lead to other parts of you felling tense? And why do I have to roll onto my back when I'm only meant to be having my head, neck and back massaged? And what do you mean, sit up??

By the time she was jamming her chin into the top of my skull I was ready to run out screaming assuming I wasn't actually paralysed. I had been breathing so deeply and exhaling so dramatically think pregnant woman, labour pains whilst face down that I'd left a damp circle on the sheets and presumably they'd have to get a hair dryer or some equivalent to the mattress so that it was dried out for the next victim customer. 

I get up off the mattress. This was only achieved by rolling myself onto my knees and gingerly, one foot at a time, raising myself up. I lurched to the bathroom so I can change out of my "massage outfit". I feel like I've been 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali. I'm offering up all sorts of promises to the Gods that I'm still able to ride my motorcycle home and will not be stuck here until Mr John finishes school.

Then 300 baht (about GBP £5.50 / AUD $11.80 / US $8.30 / EU 7.40) plus a tip what was I thinking later, I'm on my bike heading home thinking I should have tried the KP Grande. To be fair, it's feeling a little better but I'm not sure whether that's due to the skills of my masseuse or just time passing remember, this was no serious injury. I somehow suspect it was the latter.

Countdown 5, 4 ...

Now that it's September and quite frankly how did that happen? Mr John is feeling the strain of non-stop teaching for the last four plus months and is looking to October with slight desperation. Yes, it's the three week "mid-term" break and I don't think it can come soon enough for him or some of the other teachers.

We're so excited about October because we have so many fun things happening. Firstly in approximately 34 days we are heading to Hanoi. We've not been before and are really looking forward to it. In fact, Mr John has booked us into an Executive room so there are high hopes all round it even has a bath. It's really just a city break, so for us that's four nights and we're staying in the Old Quarter it's the shopping district so look out.

We'll be landing back in Bangkok just before lunch on a Saturday in mid-October and I can't stop giggling every time I think about it. Why? Because cousin Abi and her boyfriend Dave arrive just after lunch on the same day. Isn't that awesome! In fact, I'm not sure whether we should meet them flight-side or be out in the arrivals hall. It's Abi's first visit and we can't wait to see them.

And as if that wasn't exciting enough, guess what? Ross is coming back for a week and is bringing Bryony with him. And guess what else? Yep, they're arriving around lunch time on that same Saturday. What a hoot. All six of us will be in Bangkok for the weekend and I think I can feel a headache coming on already. I'm just beyond excited.

As a consequence of all the above, we've been keeping our heads down here in Chan to save as much money as we possibly can. Fortunately, some others are in the same boat as a lot of teachers head off travelling for the two / three weeks unbelievably it does vary between schools. Of course, some things are exempt from the saving binge - like coffee. I mean, that's an essential and definitely not a luxury. Right??


The political scene here continues to be perplexing. The draft charter was rejected and so the current "government" will be in place for at least another 22 months. Investigations are ongoing into the bombing at Erawan Shrine. In fact, Mr John's school had a visit from Immigration the other day supposedly because of it. Apparently they spoke to some of the teachers and wanted to see visas and work permits. 

So now, Mr John is meant to keep these documents on him whilst at school - just in case. It seems a little weird, I mean, why not just speak to the Directors and review their hiring process but then, what do I know. I've also read that Immigration officials have been told to strengthen their checks of foreigners coming in and out of the country. No doubt that'll slow some things down at the Airport but we have nothing to hide so will just have to be patient with any ensuing hold ups. There really never is a dull moment here.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mums out there! I know this date differs all around the world and quite frankly, when you're away from "home" what date do you stick to? Do you use the date in the country where your Mother lives and if you do, can you remember it? Do you use the date in the country you're currently living / working in? And if you do, will your Mother think you are deranged as you dial up Skype other video conferencing services are available and boom out a happy greeting? These are just some of the dilemmas you have to deal with as you start globe trotting.

Of course, Mr John and I are pretty static here in Thailand. Today is the Queens birthday and therefore Mothers Day for the whole country. It's a national holiday and so yesterday, at school, there was a big assembly in the morning. I popped along to check out what was happening but I actually didn't see much in relation to the children's Mothers being celebrated. What I did see where the lovely matching shirts all the teachers wore sadly they never seem to think of the foreign teachers as, forget how bad the pattern is, the material is so thick for the heat of the day they all end up a sweaty mess.

There was food giving to the Monks and the whole school was at assembly singing the national song I'm genuinely not sure if it's also the national anthem and the school song but no Mums by the time it got to that stage. Still, it is always lovely to see the little ones first graders are sooo tiny.

Nice hat!

This last week has seen Mr John survive "man flu" actually, he was really sick and even had a day off school for the first time ever though I did wonder if it was tied in with "post holiday trauma". We are both missing the conveniences of Bangkok and the lovely swimming pool that was so handy.


And so today, I've left him home alone don't panic, there's water in the house and I've opened the windows and have gone off with the girls for a day trip to Rayong. Am really looking forward to some quality girlie time and I suspect Mr John is looking forward to some uninterrupted Play Station time.

Buddhist Lent

Did you even know there was such a thing? Well, now you do and it's this Friday. Of course this means Thursday is Asahna Bucha which commemorates Buddha's first sermon in Benares, India don't take my word for it, check out the link.  For the next three months, the monks are not meant to travel and to meditate, a lot. 

This also means there is a four day weekend coming up and we are off to Bangkok or civilisation as we sometimes call it. Can you believe we have booked a place with an oven. I know it sounds sad, but we don't have one let's face it, we don't even have a kitchen and I am so excited about cooking. Mr John has been menu planning for months. 

Speaking of Mr John, we attended the school Open Day for his Maths Project. The girls were very sweet and answered the judges questions well though sadly they didn't win any prizes. Mr John is hoping this will mean he won't have to do it all again next year. Anyway, back to Lent.

We are in a lovely area, not far from where we stayed when Anne & Graham were over. There's some snazzy little bars nearby and we were looking forward to checking them all out. The eagle eyed among you will have noticed I used the past tense. Why? I hear you cry. 

Well, the powers that be have decided that both these days will see the sale of alcohol banned. In fact, they've even named Friday "National No Drinking Day". Hurrah! So, I now have visions of arriving in Bangkok to find the alcohol shelves at all the supermarkets devoid of all booze except for a lone bottle of sherry and that's no good because you can only drink sherry at Christmas right? I don't want you to think we are total drunkards but we have been looking forward to a nice bottle of wine with our home cooked dinners. 

Still, all is not lost. There is a pool at the apartment which is ours to use for the four days we're there. Oh no, quick check the weather and tell me it isn't going to rain aaaaaargh.

Competitions

Tiramisu cake

Life continues at a pace here, well you know, albeit a tropical pace. Still, there's always time for cake and Sweet Factory continues to excel in this department. Mr John is well and truly back into the swing of another school year. He's been extremely busy lately as he's in charge of putting together the maths project for the school. There's a regional competition coming up and it is, of course, very important that the school is appropriately represented. 


You may recall that last year, his task was to prepare Chompoo for the recitation contest. This year, it's much more complicated. His team is doing "Art for the unARTistic" and involves a lot of parabolic curves. They have to put a pack together and have an interesting display not only for the competition but for the open day at school. Of course Mr John is not the only one with added responsibilities. Just the other day, my mate Thuy had to cancel our coffee date now that's serious!

The rainy season is a bit hit and miss at the moment. No sooner do I think it's here to stay than the sun is blazing again. About half the provinces are in drought and there was a headline yesterday that claimed Bangkok will run out of tap water by the end of this month. Chanthaburi is known as the fruit growing province so as you can imagine, gets a lot of rain and is not one of those in drought. As often is the case here, no-one seems particularly concerned maybe because of another circulating headline, that the end of this month will bring torrential rain. That wouldn't be so bad, but there's a four day weekend at the end of the month and we're already booked into a place in Bangkok. Ah, it's only rain.

Of course, the most exciting thing we have to look forward to is a visit from cousin Abi. We're really looking forward to seeing her in October and getting to know Dave. Can't wait.

Immigration

Boy have we had some rain this last week. Rainy season hit with a vengeance so much so that Mr John didn't move from the house on Saturday of course that may have had more to do with the fact that the semi-finals of the Super 15 were on rather than the wet weather.

buy Twister here

I'm clearly getting my fitness back because I no longer feel dizzy when dangling my head at the floor during yoga. That's not to say that the Torturer isn't trying to turn me into some sort of human pretzel. Seriously, it's like playing a game of Twister without the mat.  On Monday, she introduced these weird black straps but frankly, I'm just not going there!


But back to today's topic. Immigration. DON'T GET ME STARTED ,,,,, seriously, what is it with me and Immigration? Mr John had got his visa extension whilst I was still in Australia. With the existing visa running out on the 20 something of April and Songkran starting on the 13th we thought we'd best get mine sorted before time got away from us.

Off we go on the morning we're going to Koh Chang with Leon we've left him having a lie in. I've remembered we needed our marriage certificate and have duly taken a copy of it, along with a copy of my passport let's not even go down the track of breaching Crown copyright by photocopying this document because here, you need copies of everything. So at 08:55 we're at the office, quick in and out - no worries. Yeah, right.

I've forgotten to bring a passport sized photo with me. Honestly, this is a school boy error and I should have known better. I can't blame Immigration for that one. Firstly, there's very little English spoken at the office itself. I find this amazing as surely the majority of people who need to go to Immigration are non-Thai's? Anyway, we've also got Mr John's passport which was completed by this same office the previous week. Easy, right? Wrong, so wrong.

In a nutshell, what we needed was

1. Copy of my passport
2. Copy of our marriage certificate
3. Letter from Mr John's school about Mr Johns' terms of employment
4. Copy of Mr John's contract with the school not sure how this is different to 3?
5. Passport sized photo
6. Immigration application form
7. Copy of Mr John's passport
8. Copy of Mr John's work permit
9. Fee of 1900 baht

As you can imagine, only the school had certain documents so our morning included a trip to see the new Administrator who, bless her, was doing her best in a job she'd been given very little training in. It also included a trip back to the house for the photo. 

By this point, Mr John was starting to get a little hot under the collar vague threats of leaving the job if I'm not allowed to stay resulting in me suggesting that he wait outside whilst I continue jumping through the hoops. I figure it's never a good idea to upset anyone who has the power to get you deported. 

By 11:00 we were all finished and I had a lovely 12 month extension stamp in my passport. All I have to do now, is go through the same trauma next year. I think it might be best though if we go at the same time. I'm pretty sure it wasn't this hard last year!

Just to make things lovely and interesting, today we have to go back and do our 90 day report. Yes, this is just to let them know we are still here. I am not really sure what it achieves. Surely if Mr John had left the school, their administration would have cancelled everything? This reporting does not include having to pay any sort of fee though I best not say that too loudly as someone somewhere is bound to think that's a good idea. Still, we continue to do the right thing. But knowing me, you best all keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck. 

Fame!

Well, it should start with the Thailand National Youth Games that have been happening since last week at the Stadium and will be finishing up on Friday. As is often the case here, the only reference I could find for this prestigious event was on the Cricket Association of Thailand website. I'm sure cricket is not the only thing that has been played.

In fact, the opening ceremony was covered by one of the TV channels here. The stadium is a reasonable distance from our house, but you could here the fireworks like they were being lit next door.

On top of that, I had the most surreal but fabulous experience the other week. I was perusing the shelves of Tops in Robinson as you do and singing along with Christina Aguilera being piped through the store when a voice said "excuse me, are you Mrs John?". 

To cut a long story short, I was concerned that I should know who this lovely young lady who was speaking to me I don't know by sight everyone Mr John works with but no! She has been living here in Chan for a year and plans to stay here another year teaching. She said that this blog had helped and that it was all she could find when she got here I like to think of this as a back-handed complement and that she likes my writing style and hopefully hasn't changed her mind now that she's reading this.

I was so shocked that I forgot to ask her name, so can I just say thank you so much. You have no idea how thrilled I am that one of the reasons I set this blog up has come to fruition and that someone other than my friends and family enjoy reading it. It doesn't get much better than that.

The first wave

Wow, what a fantastic time we have had with Anne & Graham. I hope you were following our exploits on Instagram. What an easy App to use and I will definitely be making further use of it as the holiday season is upon us. So you may want to consider getting an account if you don't already have one so you can keep up with what's happening. So, Anne & Graham stayed at the Kasamsarn Hotel and I can't believe I've never covered this place so I'll put that on my "to do" list. 

It's very handy to the old town and our house so perfect for having a small sherry of an evening! In fact the Tamajum bar was well and truly visited, several times! There is also ample parking at the hotel and as Pii Kob was kind enough to lend us his car for their visit, it was perfect.

Vietnamese Food was a big hit for brunch and we ate there twice. Lollipop Cafe was where you could often find them though and it was lovely to join them for breakfast there. When I booked the hotel, I decided against including breakfast at 150 baht a day mostly because there's enough places around to eat at and omelette at Tom's is only 30 baht.  We really did do all the sights too like the Catholic church, King Taksin Shipyard, Laem Sing.

We ate at some favourites Pu Nim, Black Sheep and a new place which deserves it's own mention Meneechan Resort. Of course no trip to us would be complete without regular coffee stops and so we did Doi Chaang, Brunch, Delight Cafe and Koff House another one for the list!


There was one night, however that sticks in my mind which was the night I decided we would have take-away pizza. We've used Pizza Company before and can order on-line for delivery though this does often mean Tom literally waving his hands and chasing down the pizza motorbike because they can't find our house! For various reasons, we needed to go to Tesco Lotus which is our nearest pizza place and so I thought I'd take care of "dinner" whilst Anne & Graham did a bit of shopping.

It was all so easy, with the use of the menu, to get my order taken until I asked about size. I should point out that some Thai people have trouble finishing words in English because they don't use all the letters in the Thai language and they think English is the same. I swear, this is the exact conversation I had:

Me: What size is the medium pizza?
Her: 6 sli 
Me: OK but how big is 6 slices making a circle with my hands
Her: 6 sli looking at me like I have special needs
Me: OK. How big is the large pizza?
Her: 8 sli
Me: trying not to giggle, I lunge at a nearby table, waving my finger in a circle over the dinner plate that's on top  Large?
Her: No
Me: Medium?
Her: No
Finally, she heads to the shelf where the cooked pizzas come out from the kitchen totally frustrated by this stupid farang who just doesn't get it, speaks to one of the "chefs" and returns holding the metal plates they cook the pizza on
Me: Double Cheese 6 sli, Meat Feast 8 sli 

I was exhausted. And it was two for one special offer time so we had loads of pizza, in fact so much we had two dinners out of it.

Look out for the next instalment of the visit which includes our trip to Bangkok

Year of the Visitor

Yes, yes, I know that under the Chinese zodiac it's the Year of the Goat funnily enough some websites refer to it as the sheep but in our house it's definitely the Year of the Visitor. I've been waiting on some flight confirmations before telling you all how excited we are about 2015.

Firstly, my sister Anne and her lovely husband Graham are coming to visit. One of the highlights of their trip will be a Thai cooking course and we're looking forward to some time in Bangkok with them. The gorgeous Leon is also going to be back with us for Songkran he has no idea what he's in for and we have a trip to Koh Chang booked. And as if that wasn't enough, Hannah niece 1 is also coming to see us after meeting up with Ross in Hong Kong and we have a trip to Koh Mak booked with her. We can't wait to see everyone.

Sadly, this means I am likely to miss some sessions with my Torturer aka yoga instructor. Yes, I continue to try and master the human pretzel look. Unfortunately, she's still winning at the moment! Seriously though, the girls including the Torturer are just lovely. Very friendly and including. I'd like to say I'm feeling the benefit but for now, getting up from a chair is still a bit of an issue after class!

I was out and about the other day doing some bits and pieces and stopped to go into one of the shops. These cans were on display outside the shop and it caused me to do a double take. I'm assuming "ATM" is the brand name and that these cans of paint are not to be used on ATMs Automatic Telling Machines - you know, cash points!. It did make me chuckle quite a bit though, and gave some evidence to the "This is Thailand" TIT quote that everyone uses here.

My cooking adventures continue and Mr John is still enjoying the flatbread. I thought I ought to let you know about a new cut of meat we tried the other day - Pork Butt I still giggle like a school girl every time I say it. I thought we'd give it a go in curry on the basis that Mr John and I like pork cheek - can't go wrong, right? 

Believe it or not, it was delicious. Perhaps because it was done in the electric frypan aka slow cooker but it was incredibly moist and had more of a lamb texture to it. I know that sounds a bit weird but it didn't taste like chicken, which is usually what people say. Anyway, if you get a chance, try it.

My Own Torturer

Firstly, I can't believe I haven't told you about our night time visitor! Urgh! Just thinking about it creeps me out. Whilst the sting from these is not fatal, it can result in several day pain. I was returning from the bathroom at silly o'clock when I noticed something sticking out the bottom of the bedroom door. 

I first thought it was just a tag off one of our backpacks, then on second look realised that a) none of our backpacks are anywhere near the door and b) it was moving! Funnily enough, the picture is not one we took as this turned into the most epic 10 minutes Mr John and I have had in a long time! 

Because of the hour, I quietly called to Mr John and tapped lightly on the door. He already had his head down but woke up quick smart I can tell you. So he's on the bedroom side of the door and I'm in the hall. He's instructed me to get his boots. They're pretty big and clumpy, so I've got hold of them and kept saying "now what" but he was silent on what I should actually do with them. I could hear a bit of huffing and puffing never a good thing and a repeated instruction to get his boots. 

So there I am in the hall holding his boots, feeling like a bit of an idiot and still not fully understanding what the issue is. So I put said boots on telling him this is what I was doing and was that the right thing to do? Still no real answer! I figured if the "thing" was going to come streaking out of the bedroom there was no way I was going to have bare feet. So regardless, I was safely ensconced in the boots! Next thing I know, he's telling me to open the door and step on it. Uuurgh!!! 

I open the door to find him laying face down with his head over the bottom of the bed. In his hand is a large water bottle that he's pressing down trying to stop the little bugger moving. With him yelling "stamp on it, stamp on it" goodness knows what the neighbour was thinking it took about four goes for the thing to stop wiggling. It was so disgusting, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

To give you some idea of what I was going through, take your hand and grasp the index finger of your other hand. Feel it? Yep, that's how it felt under my boot ensconced feet. So now, all the lights are put on when someone has to go to the bathroom and one of the boots is permanently by his side of the bed. Phew!

Anyway, back to today's news. Namely, for the princely sum of 100 baht, I have my own personal torturer. OK, some of you might refer to her as my yoga instructor. I started going last week when my friend Kik told be about it. It's just down the bottom of our street and is at 9am every weekday (except Thursdays). This is a great time and location for me and the girls there are just lovely - even my torturer.

As a result, I pretty much ache all over all day, but I'm sure it's going to be great in the long run. If only I could get into a nice hot bath at the end of it! I thought going would be a good idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, flexibility at any age is a good idea. Secondly, it would get me out of the house and finally, help improve my Thai speaking skills. 

Well, the first point will hopefully come with time. It's definitely improved my disposition getting out and seeing people. However, everyone including the torturer has at least some English and they're so thrilled to practice that nobody speaks to me in Thai! I'm going to have to learn the phrase "please help me speak Thai" and tell them all one of these mornings.

Classes are a hoot. She has us bending this way and that turning ourselves into some sort of human pretzel and then says "relax, relax" or actually sabai, sabai. Yeah right, you try and relax when your ankle is up around your earlobe! Thankfully, a few of the others struggle too so I'm not left feeling like the dunce of the class. And another thing I've found out is that when I have to stand on one leg, I wobble around like an un-set jelly! I cling to the fact that the only way is up.