Green Hotel Chaweng

... Thais are mostly shy, and mostly you need to approach them in order to get to know them or get help, in that matter. The language is crucial, but with a help of the phone translation (talkinthai), I could manage to make friends with many locals down there. <br><br>Anyway, looking at the rubber tree plantation of Chantaburi, it makes me think of all the trips I've been throughout Thailand, and probably spent a lot of money on hotels, fancy food ...

... mishearing. Hang on one second, [Dree cover your eyes for this bit].. spent nearly 1000 baht on a couple of sandwiches and chips. Thats nearly 20 quid.... ooops.<br><br>Stopped raining eventually and we hired a kayak to head to one of the islands in the bay. The water was crystal and we could could see that it wasn't too deep. Rowing does knacker you out though. Especially in that heat. We did a bit of a circle of the bay, and at times we had to get out and walk it (only a ...

... caused a fair bit of excitement, which led to us throwing ourselves headfirst into Samet's bar scene. Most notably, Tok's, where they offer a coin toss which determines whether you have to pay for your drink or not. I bet they thought they were being SOOO clever... '50/50' they thought, 'we'll raise the prices, pull in the punters and end up ahead'. Not so, Tok my boy, not tonight! Our fondness for the Big Lebowski led to White Russians being the drink of choice ...

... to travel. It's massively expensive &amp; the most beautiful spots are being ruined by over development! That said we still had a lot of fun! Would I return? Only to do Changmai on my way to Laos on a future holiday (I hear North Thailand's still nice) but other than that &amp; in the words I wrote to the Thai Immigration Bureau in my Victor meldrew-esqu letter...... 'I'll take my money to a country that wants it'!

... minimum wage in England was 370 baht an hour, he was amazed. He had travelled on his from Burma to Thailand when he was 15 with nothing, had his passport confiscated at the airport and for 7 years he had been working all round Thailand trying to earn a living. Felt sorry for him, but it didnt propel me into buying a 10,000 baht suit from him, despite him offering me a free Armani suit if I buy one. Wonder why... Continued watching Wimbledon late into the night until 2am-ish ...

... tyres due to the poor roads. First time I've ridden a bike in over 6 months. OK, it wasn't a Ducati, but it was still a lot of fun. Visited a few different beaches on the ride, had a swim and generally chilled out. It was a beautiful sunny day but later on in the afternoon it clouded over. Had a good ration of sun though which was nice. Laos was overcast most of the time, so it was good to see some blue sky. In the evening went out for drinks ...

... they fill their tanks. (Old bottles are filled with gas -- silly!) Half way there we realized that the driver had been drinking a little (Mekong Whiskey is the drink of choice here). We made it home safe and looked rather cool to all our mates. Speaking of classmates - I don't know if it's missing America but there are some celebrity look alikes. We have a Justine Timberlake, John Beluchi and even a Jerry Seinfeld. It's like I"m watching ...

... As for now I can relax! I am now staying in south of Pattaya away from all the go go bars and the selling of sex. I am going to spend the next week on the beach reading books, writing and drinking some singha's(local thai beer) I will be heading to Malaysia this weekend to get a visa. Thank you to everyone for all your support. I am so glad I was able to get a job! I feel blessed to me here.Happy early valentines day. I love you all very much. sending Big hugs from Thailand!

... When I was traveling with B, we saw everyone wearing the yellow polo. I joked about how I was going to wear it while I was teaching and make it my uniform. Well It is my uniform. wearing the yellow polo is considered formal wear in Thailand. Tuesday After class we heading in to Rayong, the closest city to Ban Phe. It take about 20 min to get there and cost about 50 cent to get a ride there. We went to the mall to shop for clothes for teaching . There is a ...

... Eventually got to the bottom to realise there were no taxis all the way out here and had to wait about an hour for a taxi to come. We were entertained well thou but 2 monkey in a cage who enjoyed jumping round and trying to grap hats and my umbrella - the were vvv funny. Eventually got a taxi and came home a bit damp and cold (1st time since we have been here!) Was a really great day though so cant complain too much.