Travelling!

We have been rather busy since the last time I posted and it has all been very exciting. We have been having troubles with our visa and it has been rather stressful trying to sort it all out. The problem is that our school and town has never had to do anything like this as the project is new, and last year, Ali arrived with 3 months left with his visa already sorted. Therefore nobody seems to know what they are doing which led our teachers on a wild goose chase trying to track down the right documentation. This did lead to us making a visit to the immigration office in Bangkok at the end of last week with two teachers. It was quite tiring, but good to get out and about, the trip was pretty pointless as we didn't really need to go to Bangkok, but we ended up having a lovely lunch and going to the suit shop for a fitting for the suits we ordered on the first day in Bangkok.

We arrived back home on Friday rather exhausted after a day on the bus and I ended up reading pretty much all of eclipse, from the twilight series, which has been finished now and I have moved onto starter for ten.

Saturday was very exciting as we were meeting up with 4 other volunteers for a film, James Bond, and a good night out. I got my hair cut and ear pierced in the morning and we all met up at around 2 to check into a cheap hotel. We paid 150 baht each for the night. After the film, we retreated to the hotel to start drinking, I attempted to face time family and friends, but the wifi in the Hotel was poor and wouldn't allow it.

I drank red cock, which is a cheap white spirit that I picked up at Tesco for 130 baht. I proceeded to drink far too much and have memories of being up on stage in Mix Club without a shirt on and being applauded by lots of Thais. It was a very enjoyable evening, however, the morning after was not pleasant as a hangover plus the excessive heat can leave one feeling rather queasy.

We managed to get our visa sorted yesterday and last night, we had a lovely meal with Brayung (our host) and her family. She is an excellent cook and has promised to teach us how to make my favourite Thai dish, Panang Gai.

We caught a bus from Ubon last night and arrived in Bangkok at 5.30, which is really too early to function. So after monging out in a coffee shop for an hour or so, we dropped off our massive rucksacks at the train station and set off into the heart of Bangkok, coughing through the thick fog of fumes.

There is not much open until 9 or 10, so we visited a very extravagant temple, which isn't really my cup of tea, much like visiting museums or going on walks, or getting a jigsaw as a present, but I was rather pleased that we didn't have to hang around too long. We are now sat in a little coffee shop, using the Wifi and passing time so we can explore Bangkok more enthused.

We are heading North to Nakhon Sawan this afternoon to meet up with some other volunteers, Holly and Beth and to see their project. Amy and Robyn are also going this weekend, so I can see us having another big night out, I think ill stay away from the spirits this time.

Stay classy England,

Ben  x