Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? ....No, it's a Dangerous Homemade Rocket.

Yes, the rainy season has come around once again and so begins my last season here in Thailand. To kick it off, there was the Isaan Rocket Festival. This special event is held all over Northeast Thailand but is particularly famous in the poorest and most rural province.- Yasothon. Which is where I also happen to live. The idea is to send homemade rockets (safety, schmafety. This is Thailand.) Into the sky in order to encourage the gods to make it rain and so allow a new season of rice growing and planting to begin. It's also an excuse to get absolutely wasted. I've never seen so many drunken men in one small village.

My part in this festival was to dance. Thai dance that is, (lost of intricate arm and hand movements whilst standing in lines and turing on the spot) in front of the whole village in the heat of the day wearing traditional dress. The dance was twenty minutes long and we had to do it three times in different locations. We got through it without expiring (though I'm not sure how as I managed to lose about three stone in sweat.-disgusting I know but, details are important) and had a well earned rest.

Next was the actual rocket launching. We all went off to a random rice field where hundreds of people had gathered on plastic chairs to watch. Rockets were strapped to wooden scaffolding and then fired up into the sky. when the big ones were launched, everybody stood up in anticipation and clapped and cheered as their creations shot up. They presumably came down somewhere too but no one seemed to know where. Anyone whose rocket failed to launch was tossed in the mud. Afterwards, the party continued with stages set up everywhere for karaoke and dancing and there was a big fair with rides and even a ferris wheel. It was odd seeing a small sleepy town become so excitable and busy but I guess rain is so important for farming and most of the people who live here are farmers. (Did I mention I live in the poorest province in Thailand?) Drive for any distance outside the village and its rice fields as far as you can see in every direction.

Well at any rate, all the celebrations seemed to have worked as it's been raining non stop for the past three days. Its great because it cools everything down and, generally just makes for a nice change. However, its not so great when your primary mode of transport is a bicycle!

Sawat Dee Ka.

Happy New Year!

I know I’ve not been keeping you up to date as regularly as usual, but that’s due to an unforeseen combination of lack of cash, lack of internet cafes and being distracted by glorious beaches.

What? I hear you say, surely not another one? Well yep, another New Year celebration has come around. This time it was Songkran, or Thai New Year and I think it’s my favourite New Year so far, probably because it’s the most fun a person can have over three days. It starts out serious enough- a Buddhist ceremony where water is used to gently wash Buddha images and then is poured over the monks themselves- but afterwards it turns into a fully fledged, no holds barred, deadly (okay not deadly as such) water fight.

Get a city, (in our case, Chiang Mai) arm every occupant with a water pistol or pickup truck containing vats of water and let them loose on each other and you’ll get close to what happens. It’s actually impossible to stay dry if you step outside for more than three seconds. It’s chaos. Great chaos. The only slightly bad thing about it is the “nam yen.” This is water that’s had a block of ice melted into it. So cold! If we spotted anyone with nam yen, we’d take serious revenge on them. People driving past in cars were bombarded if they’d left so much as a crack in their window and why anyone even bothered to attempt driving a moped I’ll never know. It was all very good natured though.

The madness would go on all day with everyone crowding the pavements and taking over the roads. Music was blasting out from all the bars and shops and everyone was dancing and having an amazing time.  Shame it came to an end, but it was nice to by dry for a change and all the water actually ended up giving me an ear infection...

After Songkran it was a gruelling forty eight hour journey south to Ko Pha Ngan, home of the infamous Full Moon Parties. They happen...well at every full moon and have been going for about twenty five years. You may have heard of them and if so you probably know about all the bad press that goes along with them. I remain unconvinced because out of the eleven of us (and okay there were maybe thousands of people there) none of ended up drugged, killed, drowned, attacked or robbed. And we definitely weren’t at our most sensible. Except me, that is. Ahem....

So at a Full Moon Party you dance your way around the beach through the night and through different musical genres until the sun rises. And it was very surreal wandering into the trance section at five o’clock in the morning I can tell you. The ultimate night out though.

That was just a small snippet of what the holidays have been like (i.e AMAZING), though I may share some more if I run out of tales of thrilling village life.

Sawat Dee Pii Mai!

 (again again)

Ostrowski. Fleur Ostrowski.

Another week, another patch of Thailand covered. This time it was the south. Luckily, we visited the western side of the coast rather than the eastern side so we managed to avoid all the bad flooding. Though on the journey back up north, the flood waters we drove through were so high, the water came in the bus! And other volunteers had to be evacuated by the navy on their travels! Exciting. And scary.

The south of Thailand is very beautiful. The sand is so white, the sky is so blue and the sea looks as if it's been dyed the perfect shade of turquoise. Literally, paradise. The main reason for being in the south was because Anna's parents were flying out to visit her and travel with us for a bit. So I was temporarily adopted into the Ostrowski clan. (that's temporarily, Parents) First stop on our island hop was Phuket, which was too touristy for my liking, (I have been living in the back of beyond for seven months, remember) but we went on a day tour of four smaller islands and went canoeing in some sea caves inhabited by bats. The man running the tour was ver taken with us when he found out why were in Thailand and kept pushing his canoe to the front so we'd end up as passengers. We also went to "James Bond Island" (hence the blog title) named so because it was used to film The Man with the Golden Gun. As you may have noticed this is a continuation of my film tour of Thailand which is completely incidental. There's more come though...

After Phuket came Ko Phi Phi ("Ko" means Island) and it was time for a snorkeling trip. I'd never been snorkeling properly-with a mask and flippers- but I loved it. The fish were brilliantly colourful and swam right up to you and swarmed over pieces of bread we had in the water. At one point I made a rookie mistake of trying to giggle, but only managed to snort up a load of seawater which was quite unpleasant. It all got rather exciting when I looked down and saw a shark! Just swimming around on the ocean floor! I may have flippered off pretty sharpish... Back to my film tour. I mentioned the film The Beach earlier when I went to one of the waterfalls used. Well this time I actually went to the The Beach beach. It was very, very beautiful and looked pretty much exactly as it had in the film.

The last island we went to was Ko Lanta, where we did a Thai cooking course. Now, I eat Thai food of course but I've never cooked it- stall and restaurant food is so cheap in our village we hardly ever use our electric wok. Which, after the disaster of the grill and the Christmas chicken, is the only cooking tool we have. The food we made was delicious, compliments to the chef! My favourite was Panang Curry, closely followed by Chicken and Cashew Nuts. We even got a recipe book to take away so when I get home, I shall be whipping up lots of Thai treats. Though it could be tricky gettin hold of ingredients. Anyone know a shop in Derby that sells galangal?

Sawat Dee Ka!

I Was Mauled by a Leopard...!

... but we'll get to that later.

So next stop on my travels was Kanchanaburi. And continuing the movie theme (see previous blog) Kanchanaburi is home to the the Death Railway Bridge, made famous by the film The Bridge on the River Kwai. For those not who don't have clue what I'm going on about, here's a quick history lesson: During World War Two, the Japanese sought increasing control over Southeast Asia. Getting into Burma (Myanmar) proved tricky so they decided a new rail link was needed so they began to construct the Thai-Burma railway using Prisoners of War (mostly British and Australian) as free labour. The railway became known as the Death Railway due to the amount of POW who died whilst building it because of the dreadful conditions and poor treatment by the Japanese. Class dismissed.

We visited the war museum and the allied cemetery where there were hundreds of headstones for British, Australian, Dutch and American soldiers. The British ones had badges of what regiment (I don't know if this is the right term) they had come from and I managed to find some "Sherwood Foresters" who had come from Derby and Nottingham. Quite a proud moment I think.

Enough seriousness. Now for a fun fact. The River Kwai is constantly mispronounced by, well pretty much everyone except Thai people. Speak about the river Kwae (as in "care") and not about the river Kwai (as in "pie") otherwise you'll be talking about the river Buffalo which always gets a laugh from Thais. We went kayaking on the river which was a lovely serene trip. Though we did crash into a floating restaurant causing several patrons and staff to come running. (there a lots of floating things here- restaurants, bars, guesthouses, dead kayakers) only our pride was bruised though and we made a speedy getaway under the bridge.

Kanchanaburi has turned out to be one of my most favourite places so far. There's a perfect mix of culture, history, tourism, cheap places to stay and cheap places to drink. Not that I've been testing these places out...much. But you've got to visit a bar which promises you drinks for ten Baht (20p)

Ah, yes the leopard mauling. Well I was in a market (nice, calm, supposedly leopard-free) and there was a bus. With a leopard on it. It looked young and cute though it was chained up quite shortly and the whole situation was a bit sad. I took some photos (it's not every day you see a leopard) from a safe distance before the owner came over and forced me to touch it. Literally grabbed my hand, dragged me over and put my hand on its head. It didn't like this and instantly lunged at arm batting my hand away. Luckily, its claws had been cut very short so it didn't actually cut me. But still!

Right, times up for this internet cafe so Sawat Dee Ka!

Won't you take me to MonkeyTown?

No, it's not to do with monks this time.

The summer holidays have begun. For me, this means two months of freedom to do whatever I please. Right now, I'm in the charming town of Lopburi home to some lovely ruins, former palaces, museums, but more importantly...monkeys. They're everywhere! As soon as I opened the curtains there was one peering in at me. They scramble up buildings, shimmy down drainpipes and I even saw one hitching a lift on someones car. (Though it may have unintentionally trapped itself on the roof) The locals don't give them a second glance but I could watch them all day. No one ever harms the monkeys as some believe them to be descendants of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, others however are just staying in line with the Buddhist ideals of not harming others. And I so sound like a history book here. Anyway....

So we've soaked up the atmosphere, the culture and the history and tomorrow we'll be moving on by bus which, believe it or not, is going to be a step down from the third class train we took to get here. Cheap as chips, more comfortable and far more interesting, trains offer another glimpse of Thai life. Hawkers walk up and down the carriage selling everything from beer to talcum powder and childern hang out the windows trying to grab leaves off the passing trees. (okay sounding like a travel book here) Ahem...

Before Lopburi, we were in Khao Yai National Park. One of the biggest and best parks in the world. We slept in little more than a shack and it was freezing at night. We didn't manage to spot a tiger but we saw deer, snakes, porcupines and monkeys whilst on a night safari. We also visited the waterfall that features in the film The Beach (if you've seen it, it's the one Leonardo DiCaprio launches himself off) which was rather exciting. We also had an unfortunate attack of leeches of which Anna is actually phobic of. Not kidding. And "Fleur, get this leech off me!" is not what you really hope to hear in the middle of the jungle. We escaped unscathed and "un-leeched" though I don't think I'vr ever seen someone run away from a waterfall so fast....

Sawat Dee!

Monk-eying Around

Pardon the bad pun.

Monks are everywhere in Thailand. This is not unusual of course seeing as ninety percent of the population is Buddhist making Thailand the largest Buddhist population in the world. Monks dress in orange robes of varying shades-almost neon coloured to more of a brown hue, they have shaved heads and eyebrows and all of them are, of course, male. You get nuns in Thailand but they’re less prominent. However, they too have their heads shaved but wear white instead of orange. I had not been acquainted with any until one fell asleep on me during in the back of a pickup truck. Long (and awkward) story.

Back to monks. We volunteers had all been invited on another English camp in Nakhon Sawan by a previous volunteer who has moved back to Thailand after university. This time we’d be teaching high-school aged novice monks. We were all slightly nervous, the girls especially as women aren’t allowed to touch or make physical contact with monks or even pass them things. If we wanted to hand out sheets we’d have to put them down and hope they’d pick them up. Even though I don’t go around touching monks (or any random people actually) I found myself being extra aware of monk-proximities. Even after the camp was over I kept automatically flinching away from men walking past in the street. I probably looked mental. Anyway, we were split into pairs and given a topic to teach Chess (Francesca) and I taught fruit all day to different groups of monks. We played the game ‘Fruit Salad’ and watching robed, religious young men run around fighting each other for chairs so they didn’t have to say ‘apple’ in front of everyone was a lot of fun. Weirdly you get lady boy monks which are an even stranger sight- watching monks mince up and down with false eyelashes on and saying ‘strawberry’ in the campest voice ever.

When the day was over, we all got given certificates and presents. Which all turned out to be the same. A towel. Hope they weren’t hinting at anything. Afterwards we hit the streets of Nakhon Sawan for my second New Year of the New Year. This time it was Chinese New Year and as Nakhon Sawan has a large Chinese population we saw parades of floats with Chinese dancing and music playing, there were fireworks and firecrackers and the streets glowed red with the hundreds of lanterns that had been strung across them. We saw a show with fire breathing creatures that could change their faces with a flick of the head and naturally the famous Chinese dragons.

This weekend has been a lot different as we travelled to the next village where some more volunteers are posted. Though their village is much tinier than ours, they have a spa! Which you can use for free! You have to sign some forms (they wanted my parents names’ for some bizarre reason) and give your blood pressure and are supposed to make a donation but apart from that we had a free afternoon going in and out of the steam room. Ah, bliss!

Sawat Dee Ka!

And Happy New Year. Again.

Trippin'

I loved school trips. The coach journeys, the laughs, just the change of scenery. But then there were always the work booklets or the timetables or questionnaires with which to annoy the general public.  If only there were schools which took you to places just for fun and not because they’re vaguely related to what you’re learning.

Welcome to the average Thai High school trip!

We left for Bangkok on Tuesday night having only been notified twenty four hours previously and arrived at a temple school the following morning. We dropped our bags and went off to our first destination. The Airport. This may sound odd but most of the students on the trip had never been to an airport. We’re country bumpkins remember. So they were all fascinated by check in desks and landing strips. At one point the excitement reached breaking point as a large crowd began to gather near the arrival gate. When I enquired as to what was going on I was told that a “Superstar” from...wait for it...Korea was arriving. I swear you could hear the screams from Cambodia they were that loud. Obviously this was mildly boring for us but it was strange to think that the next time we’d be in that airport, we’d be on our way home.

When one thinks of Bangkok, the word “beach” does not exactly spring to mind. “Sprawling Metropolis” yes. Beach? Not so much. None the less, we set off with an open mind and were pleasantly surprised to find a real beach just outside Bangkok. We spent a very relaxing afternoon there watching roast crabs and prawns and cuttlefish on the sand and enjoying iced chocolate. (The best cold drink ever)

After sleeping (surprisingly well) on a school hall floor, we travelled to Ayutthaya, the cultural capital of Thailand. We looked around Bang Pa In palace and admired the stunning former residences of past kings, fed some turtles in the surrounding ponds and saw a memorial for one of the past queens who had drowned in a boat sinking. Thai law at that time forbade anyone to touch her so no-one tried to save her. The law was quickly changed. Afterward we cruised along on a four-hour round boat journey. I watched the sun set on the river and enjoyed papaya salad (a student mad a non-spicy version especially for me!) smoked fish and of course, rice whilst sitting on the deck.

After another night spent on another school floor we began the long journey home, stopping off several places on the way. First, the floating market where you can buy cups (yes cups) of strawberries from boat-stalls and visit the many lakeside shops for touristy souvenirs. We had to stop every five minutes for photo moments. Thai people love taking pictures and will keep you standing in front of some monument while they swap positions and cameras or make you hold things until everyone has a record of every photo. Next stop, Wat Yai Chaimongkhon. (“Wat” means temple) There was a magnificent, giant reclining Buddha draped in gold cloth and a huge stone chedi (pagoda-y tower thing) which was once completely covered in gold that had been burnt off by the Burmese when the two countries were at war.  For a small price, you could buy some gold flakes to stick back on the many Buddha statues in the hope of one day returning it to its former glory.

Back on the bus we had to put up with another love of Thailand. Bad Karaoke. (Well, karaoke that they don’t realise is sung in a way that makes you want to jump out the nearest window. Oncoming traffic or no oncoming traffic) After five hours straight I was glad to see the lights of Lerng Noktha finally coming into view and as it was midnight by this time, was grateful just to be able to collapse on the nearest school floor. No, I did actually make it home to a proper bed!

So it might not have been the most educational of school trips but it was exciting and interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. And that, let’s be honest, is probably a lot more valuable.

Sawat Dee Ka.

Beach Bums and English Scums

So this blog includes Christmas, New Year and my other latest exploits.

Firstly, Christmas. It was as weird as I thought it would be but once everyone had arrived at our house (they were seven of us all together) and put on Christmas music and got our secret Santa underway, everyone was feeling a bit more cheery. Christmas dinner went down okay-roast chicken from Tesco Lotus followed by coconut cake and ice cream- though the reheating of the chicken proved difficult and nearly resulted in the kitchen being set on fire and I haven’t touched the grill since! My parents sent me a big M&S parcel and thanks to Daisy who sent me the cutest tree decoration I’ve ever seen.

New Year was brilliant. A twenty two hour journey, bad tan lines and a mirror-less guest house were totally worth it. Though in future I might shell out more than £2 a night for accommodation as not knowing what you look like for four days is not an experience I’m dying to repeat. Ko Chang, the island we went to, was the most exotic place I’ve ever been and everything you expect an island paradise to be: blue sky, turquoise, clear sea, white sand and a really chilled atmosphere. That is until New Year’s Eve when the beach party started. It was great. At the countdown, fireworks were set off and all the volunteers did ‘Auld Lang Syne’ together. Everyone was hugging everyone and wishing complete strangers a Happy New Year. The sky was packed with stars and it was just a perfect start to 2011 and my favourite New Year so far.

The next few days were spent on the beach, in the sea, building sandcastles and admiring each other’s beach hair. I’m still having trouble getting a brush through mine. At night we visited the various bars which were all really reggae-ish. You know, grab a cheap drink, nod your head away to Bob Marley and discuss all that’s good in the world. Thai drinks are interesting. They’re normal concoctions but you can order them by the bucket load. Seriously. You want a load of Vodka and Red Bull, they’ll literally bring you a bucket with loads of straws sticking out so you can share the love. Or the hangover.

More recently, we journeyed up to the north of Thailand to take part in an English Camp with some of the other volunteers. English Camps consist of lots of children camping somewhere (ours was in the mountains) and playing team games to help improve their English. The theme for this camp was ‘Saving the world from English scums’ no-one, it seems, managed to point out the grammatical error. Ironic. Each volunteer led a group of students, represented by a superhero. I got given The Mask because the two volunteers organising it think I’m (and I quote) ‘Absolutely Mental.’ There were lots of games, banner making, a fashion show, dancing and singing annoyingly catchy camp songs. Being awakened at 6 in the morning by Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ was definitely a low point. Playing Duck Duck Goose around a bonfire with around ninety people was one of the highs.

We’re back in good old Lerng Noktha now, and I must dash and think of something to teach thirty nine to twelve year olds. Past perfect continuous maybe?

SawatDeePiiMai!                                                                                                                                                         

(Happy New Year)