Phimai, Thailand Travel Blogs

One Ticket to Bangkok and One For My Picture, Ta
Aug 16, 2006 (1 photos)

... the other teachers whose birthday it had been ascended to the stage and accept the picture with me receiving a blue Queen t-shirt (of Thailand not the band) and a book about the King from the director. Thankfully the book was a picture book since my Thai ...

More Mor Lam
Aug 11, 2006 (6 photos)

So today was the big day for the music and dance competition which could not have come fast enough to save me from the repeated music practicing all week which has been echoing around the whole school. I headed to Khum Phaaw's school in the morning ...

King of Fruits
Jul 14, 2006

I've definitely gotten acclimatized to the heat here but days like today still prove to be uncomfortable in the sticky heat, especially when trying to teach a class of 50 or so kids the rules of charades. Finally tried some Durian fruit which is ...

Talking Crap
Jun 22, 2006 (2 photos)

I'm not actually here to teach English (good thing giving my speling!), more to just give the kids a chance to interact with a native English speaker and play games to make them feel more comfortable using English. Even it that does make me uncomfortable ...

A, B, C....
Jun 23, 2006 (2 photos)

Slowly getting used to the bugs and insects swarming around the house (this place would be an entomologists dream home) with me beginning to find a middle ground between myself and the multi-legged friends who like to co-habit my bed. Basically if it's ...

Rubber Feet
Jul 19, 2006

... with her having had the kid 3 months ago so not sure why there was a bit of shindig tonight. As with all social gatherings in Thailand there was more food than any one (or any small army) could possibly eat, that's not to say we didn't give it a good go ...

Music Practice
Aug 10, 2006

With the music and dance competition getting closer the practicing seems to be going on all day in the big hall at school which also means hearing the same songs over and over and over again throughout the day. Despite not understanding the language I'm ...

Guten Tag
Jul 24, 2006 (4 photos)

Somehow I found myself in a car with 4 Germans heading back to Phanom Rung with me still not exactly sure how I'd managed to get into that position. The day started with a walk into town in the morning for some essentials with the usual attention I get ...

Funny Looking
Jul 1, 2006 (5 photos)

I seem to be the only one besides the farmers who likes the rain here giving a me a small respite from the heat and a few strange looks as I step out into the downpour to cool off, but then I get strange looks all the time. It would appear that the ...

Far Out Man
Jul 10, 2006 (6 photos)

... nearby temple who could have only been around 10-12 years old. Back for dinner I attempted another thing best not to try in Thailand by taking Poope on in a chili eating contest. Pretty sure she won though, not entirely sure since I was near blind by ...

Frogs and Farang
Jul 20, 2006 (1 photos)

Carrying on with the same memory game as the last few days with the older two classes today, I was impressed by both their ability and their ingenious cheating with them being extremely competitive against the other groups I had spilt the class into. ...

Hi and Goodbye
Oct 2, 2006

Waking in a familiar bed followed soon after by a huge breakfast (missed Khoon Maa's cooking) it went some way to relieving the after effects of the red whisky as I spent the morning taking it easy. After talking for a while it was soon lunch with them ...

(Almost) Hitched
Jul 9, 2006 (3 photos)

So dragonfruit appears to be a natural laxative, or at least to me anyway! Maybe because they also say hello when saying goodbye here (sawatdee in both cases) they seem to have a habit of disappearing without saying anything as I found myself alone for ...

What's in a Name
Aug 7, 2006

A former AFS student from Germany arrived to stay with us yesterday who had spent 11 months in the country resulting in her speaking good Thai putting my feeble attempts to shame. During her stay here they gave her the Thai name of 'Mali' with them ...

Happy Birthday
Aug 13, 2006 (3 photos)

... also needing scoffed, a tough job but someone had to do it. At least it confirmed yesterdays one extra candle thing so guessing Thailand is not the place to come for a birthday if already feeling old. They also gave me a clock as a present which was ...

Last Day of School
Aug 19, 2006 (1 photos)

Due to some big regional budget meeting seminar type group thing at the school today we were there the earliest ever for my last day given me time to scribble down some notes for the inevitable leaving speech I'm sure they would have me make - have come ...

A Guy Called Ben
Jul 13, 2006

"But I don't wanna go to school, just 5 more minutes in bed please!" Today at the school we welcomed Ben an AFS exchange student from Norway with the poor kid having to put up with the this mad house for the next 11 months. I did manage to warn him ...

Prize Catch
Aug 6, 2006 (5 photos)

... again we all headed out to a Lebanese restaurant which was about the only place I've seen Lamb being served in Thailand so far. Stuffing ourselves with some great Mediterranean style food including humus, pita bread, potatoes and olives we were all glad ...

Lost for Words
Aug 16, 2006

... but couldn't and they replied "why?". The obvious answer being because I still have a lot of the world to travel as I look back at them knowing most of them have never been outside of Thailand as I again took the speechless route and stayed quiet.

Blood Bath
Jul 31, 2006 (1 photos)

With the bus pulling into Phayakk in the early AM today was an easy going lazy day with most of it whiled away reading and catching up on my journal as well as the almost routinely Sunday washing chore - would pay good money for a washing machine here. ...

First Day of School
Jun 20, 2006

Not feeling like having breakfast this morning I simply said I might have some a little later and with that the ears pricked up "a little?" as Khoon Maa merrily hands me a plate overflowing with rice and chicken - I really hope that was chicken! The ...

School Dinners
Jun 24, 2006

This time last year or even a few months ago, if you'd asked me if I could ever see myself standing in front of a classroom of 50 Thai kids teaching them the Hokey Pokey to learn the parts of the body I would have wondered if you'd spent too long in the ...

Home Run!
Jul 14, 2006 (1 photos)

And the cow is alright! Continued trying to teach some tongue twisters today with some of the younger classes which turned into a complete mauling of the language but they still had fun though which is the main thing. Some commotion outside the ...

Not Well, Sick, ill, Not Good
Jul 17, 2006 (1 photos)

Not sure if it was the chillies from yesterday or something else that had finally caught up with me but my stomach was feeling pretty dodgy this morning. Khoon Maa and Khoon Phaaw were both heading to Maha Sarakham today but with the way my stomach was ...

Coco Beetles
Jun 21, 2006

Never been so glad that I had started to learn Thai than this morning when offered beetles for breakfast and managed to simply explain "I'm full". So my first proper class today and what better way to be eased into it than on my own with no one to help ...

Problem Child
Jul 25, 2006

No classes today since there was another teacher training seminar this time about using computers for teaching which having sat through 4 years of computer lectures at university I chose not to sit through another in Thai, although it probably would have ...

Wheel out the Farang
Jun 29, 2006 (5 photos)

No insects in sight today for breakfast and with what has to be the freshest bananas I've ever eaten (straight from the back garden) things were certainly more palatable this morning. Having to have lunch with the director again I became aware of the ...

That Sticky Feeling
Aug 9, 2006

... out of. Driving home after school we saw the rare sight (to me anyway) of a convoy of trucks heading in the opposite direction with an elephant in the back of each doing their best dog-with-it's-head-out-the-car-window impression. I love Thailand.

Having Some Barney Rubble
Jun 27, 2006 (5 photos)

Today was a celebration of some famous Thai poet meaning no classes but it immediately spurned images of long dreary recitals and speeches. What actually happened could not have been further from that feared setup although there was still one or two ...

Crunchy Crickets
Jun 28, 2006

... sanity of volunteering to suffer in this a herd of buffalo wandered past the windows as Watchara too gave in and we spent the rest of the class sitting outside under the shade of some trees as I soon remember why I volunteered again. I love Thailand.