Bangkok-Khosan road

I left Nong Khai at 6.30pm on the overnight sleeper train. It is such a good service and run with exact precision. The carriages are like any other, each with their own assistant to change the seats into beds. The bottom bunk is made up from the two facing seats pulled towards one another and a mattress placed on top  complete with a clean white sheet, pillow case and blanket. The top bunk is affixed to the ceiling and pulls down.

luThe journey took 12 hours, the bed was very comfortable ( I booked the bottom bunk) I slept fairly well, all too soon the sun was up and the train was arriving in Bangkok station. I shared a tuk tuk with a couple who were going to the same area as I was, the infamous Khosan road, a place frequented by backpackers from all over the world. I walked a couple of roads away to a pre booked guest house and was at the reception desk attempting to check in at 7.20am. I was told by a very rude girl that the room would not be ready until 12pm and to leave my rucksack in the luggage room. And so, I walked back to the Khosan road and sat at one of the many cafes and ordered  a bowl of fresh fruit with yogurt and a cup of coffee and watched as shops and street vendors opened their businesses for another crazy day. Originally Khosan road was like many others in Bangkok, lined with homes and the odd shop, but, one year, there was a big affair at the Palace and it led to locals opening their homes to tourists who needed a bed.

From then on, a few turned their homes into guest houses, and then a few more until what it is today, a road that never sleeps. There is a constant turn around from the shops and cafes and street vendors during the day, giving way to the restaurants, street stalls and loud music bars that continue well into the night.

It's a melting pot for people watching, all roads lead to Bangkok, when travelling almost anywhere in Thailand or from one country to another in S.E Asia, and indeed as a stop over on route to Australia, people from all over the world stop here for at least one night.

I sat in one seat for quite some time and took some photos from the same spot...

Check out the girl in beige wearing fluffy slippers!

Having spent the past 5 weeks in the nondescript town of Nong Khai with very little to tantalise the camera, it was great to have my senses awoken with the sights, smells and colours of this part of the city. I decided to walk up one side and down the other side of the Khosan road and took some photos of many of things offered to the tourist...

It began with the Mother of scarf shops

How fab!

 Any thing you want can be bought here, maybe I needn't have bothered taking the TEFL course, I could have just got my certificate here, far easier

 This lady was on hand to repair and alter clothes and bags

 This old boy was trying to sell me a hammock, not quite sure where I would have tied it?

 I decided to give the Rasta hair do a miss

 There is nowhere better to make your coleslaw than the side of the road

 This block of flats is just inside the road, goodness knows how they ever sleep

 These 2 pooches were taking a nap and both had a fan to cool them, very impressive.

Sandbags were still evident as a reminder of the tremendous floods only recently receded.

It was very hot both day and night while I was there, luckily my pit of a room had a/c and it was  a relief to put it on when I was in it. I chose to stay in an area a little way from the madness of the Khosan road purposely thinking it would be quieter. No such luck, I had managed to get a room at the front directly opposite an outside bar that seemed to attract people who didn't want to go to bed.

There was a small sound system that despite being turned down at around 1pm still continued albeit at a lower level until 6.30am this morning. That, coupled with the sound of talking and laughter, and, can you believe, a bloody cockeral at 5am didn't do much for a restful  nights sleep.

By 8am I was on a mini bus being taken to the airport ready for my flight to Chiang Mai. I will stay in the old town until Sunday when I will go to my final guest house where I have a large room reserved for a month while I do my TEFL course. That is where the hard work begins...





Last days in Nong Khai

The past couple of weeks have passed much as the others here, it is a small town with little in the way of entertainment or places of interest.
Luckily, there has been many new volunteers, we were up to 20 this week which is an all time high. They are from all over the world, mainly USA and England, but include Australia, Holland, Sweeden and Germany. All seem very nice people and of course, are giving their time free of charge to help make a difference to children who, would otherwise not get the chance to read, write or speak English.
This week, I took a couple of classes,  previously I had  been listening to the children read on a one to one basis, this time I was 'Teacher Lisa' and taught the lessons.
The children pronounce  the word Teacher as 'Teachaar'  and that has been my title since arriving here.

I knew the children in this class and their level as I had been reading with them for 3 weeks. Their regular 'Teacher Mark' had gone away for a long weekend so I took 2, hour long classes.
We practiced some phonics (sounds) and then played a game with flashcards that I had written out to include the sounds in 5 letter words.
I split them into 2 teams

The first person to raise their hand and answer correctly got to draw a picture on the board for their team

The team with the most pictures at the end were declared the winners, they all got into it and enjoyed it.

Some of the children are so pretty, most all of them are well behaved. The ones who play up and lack attention are the boys!

A fellow volunteer, Lily from the States was taking the photos for me.

Last Friday was Childrens day and we were invited to the Village school that we volunteer at 3 times a week. All the girls were in their pretty dresses and wore make up and entered a competition where they did a dance, different ones for the different age groups.

This little boy was determined to be in the fron t row with the girls, check out the pink tee-shirt and the whats written on it! next stop, Brighton.......

  Some of the older boys look on

On Saturday morning, a reception room at the local hospital was the setting for a fun morning for some HIV orphans. Isara foundation was invited and 4 of us went along to help out (mainly blow up balloons) and then twist them into funny shapes

we were given some refreshments complete with  loo roll as our serviettes, not uncommon here but always makes me laugh.

We were told that most of these kiddies had been born to Mothers with aids, many of the (Mothers) have died, many of the children were given away as their families didn't want them, it was sad, they were all lovely and such fun. they all put on a dance act, the 2 boys pictured, did some great break dancing that they said they had copied from you tube, boys will always be boys.  They all recieved gifts, sweets and food and had a nice time, it was a very humbling experience.

Here are a random selection of photos 'life in Nong Khai'

 The sunset

Large fish on the barbeque, cooked by a large lady

Barbequed chicken

Barbequed chicken feet!!!

 Lady boy at the local 7 eleven

 Tomorrow night I take the 12 hour overnight train to Bangkok where I will stay for 2 nights before making my way to Chiang Mai, ready for the TEFl course that starts the following Monday.

I hope that doing the volunteer work here will have prepared me a little, at least so that I may more confident in a classroom situation when being watched by my peers and Tutor.

It has been an interesting experience this past 5 weeks, and amazing to see one mans dream working as a reality.