Week 4 Mary....THE TARANTULA! 7/8/13 - 8/8/13

WEDNESDAY 7TH AUGUST
Pure exhausted when my alarm went off! I just don’t seem to be allowed a proper sleep or lie-in in this country! Had some fried banana, my food took a while coming as they hadn’t expected me back so early, some tomato fried rice and some soup, used the soup as extra vegetables just, plain and easy on a stomach that hates me,  Had a class with Bla, she had to leave, and I was only having to do an hour as it was a double but they knew I was knackered, so kind of just abandoned them, they didn’t seem to understand me or could be bothered too much at the start but after Bla left I kind of took reins of it myself and get the meaning through, seemed to work, they seemed ok after that. Hadn’t taught that group before apparently, year 4. Tidied and chilled at mine, the stupid beer Lao t-shirt I got for myself is for a fucking kid! I kind of can squeeze into it, guess I can cut it…bricolage y’know! Made a Thai facebook finally. So the kids will be able to add me.
Had my after school class, the wee 3rd years came again. This time I recapped everything orally and then I had them write out the questions and answers, they’re to go over them for Tuesday as I'll set a test. They were quite full of chat. Getting comfortable round me, sort of messing about. Asking me if I was going to the space convention and getting really excited in case I’d be with them for the bus (turns out I am) they asked me lots of questions and started teaching me some Thai phrases and asking me some words in English, such as tip-ex. I think I will really miss them, I told them how I’d see if I could come back next year, though I wouldn’t be teaching them as they’re p6. One girl, who’s nickname is now Nikki, said she didn’t want me back….she wants me to live in Phaisali permanently! Aww. Kids can be so great some times, really makes me wonder if I should do this? Maybe just TEFL? I will have to look into it.
Went for a bike ride. Then BANG,  TORRENTIAL RAIN, was soaked through like a drowned rat! Tidied some more and made the house more my own with what I got over the weekend, the rain had got heavier and it was starting to flood! Felt like I had to near swim to Jongrak’s that like 10 metres away haha. She’d made 2 meat dishes so I took the veg out, a red curry with lots of mushrooms, delicious, and a peppered soup with some omelette and green veg, cauliflower too, it was divine, the soup in particular, through her use of chilli and pepper, I've asked if she’ll show me how to make it! With ofc some mixed rice steamed. The cooking is so good and there’s always so much flavour…long as it isn’t wayyy too spicy haha. Got a lift to the school as the weather was so horrendous,. The cows had started up but Jongrak says the aren’t actually cows, it’s a Thai animal and she’ll tell me what it is…it’s a frigging cow like! Haha she says it’s a frog like creature…way to loud to be that tbh! Got speaking to the family on skype, brought my headset this time. Fucking electrocuted myself again with the plug in the classroom, this one was a lot worse ffs! Asia… always trying to kill us white bitches some way! Haha
They’re all away to Espana tomorrow,  I miss them. Becks (my sister) is fully up for a “gap yarh summer” next year, having seen all that I've been doing and hearing about it and then she looked up where I was on the maps and saw how close Thailand is to everything and agrees that she’d be ok if we went seeing as I'm able to organise to grown up boys to go lol. It’d be great craic. and Ofc the Thai kids and the ones on the course should I need to contact them, feel better for it already. Knackered again as usual! No sign of ol’ Mary though haha (What my sister named the tarantula to humanise it so its not as scary.. Had the TV on for a bit, another weird soap…this one had a guy who was speaking to his “imaginary” golden Buddha kid…wtf haha. Asian TV always craics me up. Wonder what they think of ours. Dull in comparison by far I'm sure

THURSDAY 8TH AUGUST
 Absolutely shattered when I woke, to the point were pressing snooze again was a tantalising ordeal that I had to overcome. Turns out the Glong Yaow thing today was to begin at 7, Chongrak forgot to tell me, Wat gave me a lift to a place nearby the school that had been set up, lots of people were there and lots of ceremonial sacrificial food and floral/plant designs mainly in dragon shape were up, lots of full pig heads and trotters and full chickens, eek!

 Amazing dragon made form flowers and plants, such skill!

 pigs head, nom nom

The Directors father was there, he just looks like him, the white hair doesn’t help! Then I was shown to a nearby house to meet his mother who was nice but spoke no English an was very very old an immobile but she was obviously proud of her son as she quickly instructed us that the show was about to start, she seemed to have a count down, how sweet! The skills those kids have, are as always amazing. The rhythm is great as is the tempo but with added dance it makes it exciting, especially when they correlate a high trapeze style act whilst playing and dancing! Noticed that one of the students that does the dancing and drums was a boy, must be the gay one, he was definitely caked with the lippy, I really don’t understand how such a prim and respectful culture is so sexually free with men being women, but not the other way around? There was food Ofc, then went back to the school. Had 2 lessons with Bla, drawing food and drink, I drew my “favourite food is pizza” and “favourite drink is lemonade” and went over it and the question and asked some of them individually, Bla disappeared so I had to set the activity of them drawing it myself, they seemed to catch on quick enough. Same again for the lower class. The girl with the ticks tries so hard with me, she's needy, in much need of attention, always calling me, I don’t want favouritism or being treated like an equal, so when they are too chummy I sort of ignore them…is that bad, or is that what teacher/student relationships need to be about?
One of the boys was not paying attention at all, he’d even manage to cut out part of his book…wtf, so I made him state a good few times that his favourite food was pizza…kids! Boys in particular! Same in every country I'm sure, the bad boys and kids acting up/not trying does get to me, things like that make me feel that it wouldn’t be a good career choice, but then I think that getting the ones who muck around to try harder through forced examples and exercises means that through their dislike of me, further down the line the stuff I made them do repeatedly as a sort of punishment if you will has stuck with them, I think dad said that happened to him once…or maybe some one else…so I do know it works? But it can be an utter failure too? For lunch we moved to the first blue building as they had lots of teacher food, I had some noodles and curry sauce with my veg and mushroom meat, absolutely define, plus J gave me extra full head mushrooms, was heavenly!! Tried a rambutan, the red and green class looking spiky fruits was nice but the fruit stuck to the nut and it came off with it making it crunchy…had lots of a wee dessert, sugary dough, with a sugary buttery spiced nut gooey centre and then roll it in some more nuts and spices. HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH!! So bad but sooo good!! Soft and gooey goodness throughout!

 Glong Yaow, spot the little boy

 how different cows are from home. they have humps!

 No more class and no Thai dancing due to the preparations for tomorrow so went for a bike ride, ended up quite far, the crossroads for the towns, think it was called Dak fa? There was a police road stop at it too, tried to go to a temple as there was a sign for it, but I didn’t find it, fuck sakeeee, stupid lying Asian signs, getting my wee temple whore hopes up haha! Looked at a sign, apparently I was 10km out from Phaisali, didn’t feel like it! But boy did it on my way back! My bum felt dead, all but crawled into the classroom to go on the computer and die haha. Looked up such for Bangkok and contacted the guys, turns out neither Robin or Tom will be there until Saturday so there really isn’t much point me going on the Friday as I’d either be alone of stuck with people I cant really be bothered with lol.
Chilled at mine for a while, then borrows Wat’s scooter, felt so alive! So free! Need to get one for home. Went to the reservoir from the 1st week but wasn’t in the mood to way the forest bit so continued on, found a sign for a temple to followed it, came into what appeared to be a dingy village, dirt track road, continued to follow the signs and even start of go up a large hill/forest area,  obviously a temple on the hill…nope, was convinced it was just a house. On a dead end on a cliff!! Fs! With a better look I spotted a statue…hardly a temple if its just a house with a statue for the locals, but I spotted a monk, it was a fucking house. Not a temple. Liars! Near died again on my way down from it too! Stopped at the 7/11 for a drink and gave Watt his bike back. Went to Chongrak’s and near enough passed out having done some crochet. All the others teachers were eating in the hall as Chongrak had used the food given to them from earlier to make a pig soup and meat dish, she made me some vegetables and I went up with them. The older really skinny teachers had sugary crepes with string candy floss like sugar, is there no end to the candy sugar filled Thai madness?
No, there isn’t.
I had about four along with my food, was sort of strange but was yummy and then some kid turned up with more of the dough things from earlier, one of the teachers with poor English was saying if I kept at it my teeth would fall out and go black haha. Wouldn’t be surprised! But it's sooo sooo good! Chilled at mine for a while and got a “bath” i.e. a bowl and a rag, or as they’d say in The Simpson’s “I wash myself with a rag on a stick” did feel better for it though. Raining again :( Chongrak bla and the other teachers all went to Tesco’s, they’ve to get things for the monks, as you do and I needed more water,got a little banana milk cartoon, it was actually quite cute.
These monks seem to have an easy life, peaceful, bright coloured, well educated, free stuff, great respect and reverence from all, and everyone loves each other and they have loads of holidays, they have a great life, and yet Christianity is the true religion of eternal happiness….everyone hates each other and kill each other…yeah the true religion….people really make me question my life and faith in general, my country is a great example of religious tolerance…not. Got speaking to Nan and gag when I went on the computer, got him to go on facebook chat as the skype was actually much better! Apparently there’s still lots of trouble back home in Northern Ireland, more to be expected tomorrow and extra police being brought in for some parade, ffs!
On Skype I was being honest with Nan and gag after a while about how I was so nervous and scared at the start but how happy and alive I feel now and how great everyone is, think that really set them at ease, I'm glad, okay they can err me at times but they mean well, they’re so good to me, honestly the spoil me too much, I don’t deserve their kindness and love at times, so hopefully more skyping over the next week would be good, I miss them and they’re strange ways haha!
Came back to “Mary” being on the prowl, was able to get pics and a vid, one of them she has glowing eyes, hopefully I can tweak the video to edit out my squawks when she moves rapidly haha! Up early tomorrow, celebrations start at half 7. Not going to Bangkok until Saturday now andddd Chongrak is going to take me to Lop buri in the afternoon, excited! I said I didn’t want to be a hindrance and she told me I was silly, they’re all so kind to me :D oh and according to Jongrak we are both right about the “cow” noises, they’re called Cow frogs

 there she is...

evil glowing eyes!!

 "she's coming for you Barbara...!!!!!!"

Laos: Living the Dream 5.8.13 - 6.8.13

MONDAY 5TH AUGUST
Vientiane Laos

Lots of waiting for everyone to get their visas that were on our bus, then we ALL got in one of those open trucks to the Thai embassy, squished! It’s so hot here already, like Spain, the atmosphere already is so different from Thailand or Cambodia, strange! So close but yet so different. From Laos you can go to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and China, cool eh! All so close! We got jumped on by Laos men outside the embassy who scrapped our visa forms, rewrote us different ones, photocopied out passports and visas and then demanding 100B. The one doing Robin went so far as to ask for 3500B to do it all quicker, Scandalous! We got our ticket numbers and waited from around 10 to submit our applications, got seen by 11.15, all was fine, easy enough sitting reading while we waited, we get to pick it up tomorrow at 1.30pm. The visa payment however was a different story, it took forever to do! They seem to close for like 45minutes, no idea what for, lunch maybe? But they were all still sitting there playing with papers, thankfully when it opened we were the first ones and handed the 1000b, and then got a tuk tuk to the hotel Tom had booked. And the driver took us to the wrong fucking hotel, all for 100b! Grrr. We dandered around trying to find ours as apparently it was nearby before giving up and getting another one. It wasn’t far and ironically it’s a Chinese hotel! Unfortunately we didn’t have 3 beds =/ a double and a single, the guys will share though. Got a shower and borrowed Robins laptop to check what’s good to do nearby, then headed on out. We passed the beautiful NAM PHOU fountain, though it was dead all around and the fountain wasn’t on, it looked promising, we also passed the presidential palace, it’s so weird all the road signs and some of the buildings are in French as well. Obviously there’s still a strong connection with the French after all these years and therefore why its so different, a western influence still lingers, but not in your face like Bangkok.  A strong sense of French colonial, particularly in the architecture of some of the buildings, the palace in particular, not to mention the river and the promenade that runs along it nearby our hotel and Ofc the heat which is more intense and sunny than humid like Cambodia and Thailand., though thankfully it went overcast. We found the morning market and had a look around but the main thing on our agenda was food, there was also a shopping centre that had a whole floor dedicated to jewellery alone! Thankfully we found another shopping centre beside this as well and got food at the “food court” it was more like a strange canteen, we had to buy coupons to pay for the food and lined up/ordered at a stall. I went to a vegetarian one and got what appeared to be a soup with vines, herbs, tofu and some sort of mushroom “meat” for 15,000kip, so just over £1. It was huge and delicious! Think the herb/vine might actually be the Asian veg “morning glory” as it has a very distinct taste and smell. And its like a lettuce like green thing, might be wrong, there may just have been some in it, who knows? Maybe it was basil? ho rap pa.

rich, rich i tells ya!

monk stalking

nomnom laos food!

Robin and I dandered round the shopping centre while Tom ate as his came when ours was finished before we all headed on out, it had rained when we were inside thankfully so it was a lot cooler now thank goodness! It was so hard trying to find a restaurant, they all seemed to be shut even though it was only 3pm, so different from Thailand when all they seem to do is eat, or like at home, again maybe another similarity to Europe, like Spain and it’s siesta’s maybe? Went to THAT SISAKET the only temple not to be ransacked by the Siamese in the 19th century and is therefore considered the oldest temple in Vientiane. It was very beautiful. Lots of monks, young and old. And lots of Buddha’s, got some class pictures, I then posed outside the palace pretending I was in “MTV Cribs” and “This is my Laos palace, come on in!” it was closed Ofc to the public. Took some hilarious photos of a really dirty looking tree that looked like a certain lady part haha, got the boys to pose beside it :P we explored on down the opposite side of our hotel after this and found a really large abandoned hotel, it may actually be the culture hall, went to an American diner for Robin to get his chocolate shake, it was an ice cream diner so it was heavenly. Was so nice to sit in the cool as the heat had picked up again. We’re now al quoting the line from “the room” “cheap cheap cheap” haha.
Went to PHAT DAM it’s a really old shrine that reminded me of the ruin sin Wasali, there’s two stories behind it told by the people of Laos, one is, that it was guarded by a three headed dragon who lived inside it that protected the people from the Siamese and another that all the gold was stolen off it by the Siamese, perhaps as the dragon died, who knows, folklore is often strange, Irish faery tales in particular! The Siamese appeared to have ransacked the whole of Vientiane in the 1800’s maybe it was something to do with the Emerald Buddha that was stolen?

THAT DAM

where the dragon dwells apparently...

THAT SISAKET

the dirty tree

using the technique the lady boy showed us :P

he just loves the chocolate milk!

The guys went back to the hotel to rest so I went an got a manicure and pedicure nearby in what can only be described as a garage it was pretty strange, but I like the relaxed way of it all, got my nails and cuticles softened and painted pink and she did a floral design on them,  and orchid gorgeous, like miniature artworks on my nails, she tried to make me pay more but I originally was told 60,000 so I bluffed and said it was all I had so they accepted it, not bad for £5 eh? Went to a Chinese temple at the riverside just as the sun was setting and another Buddhist one. It was gorgeous with the sun setting behind it, lots of great photos! Got a shower back at the hotel, putting on the Laos TV music channel, the song that awoke me on the bus to Chang Mai came on, its atrocious, the male singer is old and looks like a bad 80s version of cliff Richard now! Wore my pashmina as a Thai SEBAI round my chest and over my shoulder along with my Thai bangles and tied my hair up. Very Asian.

my wee princess toes and nails for £5

We went to the night market along the riverside promenade, it seemed to be ongoing! Got magnets too, have to get magnets from every country I visit, I’ve done so for the past 4 years now for my family, its tradition, everyone’s adding to it now too, a continental fridge in my hose and my grand parents! Got a chocolate bubble tea, first I’ve had on the trip so far, delicious! Maybe even nicer than the ones I got in China for only £1 too, love how cheap fun and drink is in Asia in comparison to home, how will I survive when I return?!!? Tom and I nearly got the Beer Lao hats that they make from recycled cans, the look like the hat form the dirt bag meme, got some hilarious pictures! But they were too expensive. Robin headed back for a nap as he was exhausted from the van journey the night before still so Tom and I looked around the places nearby the river and our hotel area.

ASIAN ATTITUDE

BEER LAO GANGSTER!

We went to the fountain, NAM PHU FOUNTAINE absolutely gorgeous at night, all lit up with different types of moving lighting in a form of a light show, beautiful! There was also a live band playing they were actually doing some decent renditions of English songs, I always get so confused when I hear English TV or songs in public here, I’ve become accustomed to the Thai background noise. We stayed at the fountain for ages, it was like being in another world, all so different  than anything I’ve seen yet, so much more cleaner, western yet not western, hotter and with a sense of a relaxed holiday atmosphere but without all the tourists, much more so than Thailand even with they people being so friendly, everyone seems to be relaxed here, the people of Laos and the visitors, I’ve never been in such a chill atmosphere I loved it! Mostly smoke free too which is great for a capital, so much more cleaner and healthier to be in, no wonder Laos was apparently awarded tourist destination of the year! When we finally pulled ourselves away from lying on the raised area around the fountain staring at and relaxing around the beautiful water show with light display, peaceful live music and cicada’s playing in the background with a gentle breeze slightly cooling the warm night time air through the palm trees while the stars twinkled down on us…we found a cosy Laos restaurant with some foreigners but mainly natives, the English in the menu was funny “remonade”  I got a melon shake for £1 and Tom got some sausages, was lovely!  Cheap and nice, relaxed and cosy. We spent ages sitting there chatting about everything, such a great night, felt so comfortable and chilled for once, could have spent the night there or by the fountain  but we were exhausted and decide we should really head back, didn’t feel intimidated or uncomfortable being alone with a guy I didn’t particularly know once, it was great, I can easily and freely talk away to him or Robin! We came to the hotel room with it unlocked and with the door open, I couldn’t see Robin, the bathroom was wide open too, started to panic, what had happened?! Walked further into the room, he was in the furthest corner of the bed snuggled up unconscious! I conked out myself as soon as I got into bed, having received texts from the family, I’m no longer wearing bra’s. swimwear all the way haha!  Unfortunately I plucked the pashmina slightly with the safety pin I’d used to hold it in place. I need to have stronger material if I was to do it again.  Today was great, so different from what I expected as Robin would say; “living the dream”

This just reminded me of a funny night out before i went with my culchy friend Gavin who kept shouting about his sticky fingers!

TUESDAY 6TH AUGUST
Sabadii (hello in Laos, even their greetings are more laid back that in Thailand!)
We booked bus tickets at 65,000 kip each yesterday that will take us to Udon Tani In Thailand instead of going to Chang Mai which is the opposite end for all of us, further, unnecessarily longer journey and much more expensive. Uton tani is the first main station closest to the border, much cheaper, sorted, leave at 3.30pm form the shop across form the hostel. Free until 1pm to collect visa so got up after 8 and showered, got some free coffee and water from the hotel then by 10, having checked out and left our bags we ventured out. Roasting day again, the air isn’t humid here, its more a direct sunlight and heat, again reminding me of Spain, maybe its something to do with the position we are on the equator? Our room cost us $9 each, (£5.95) paid Tom back in Baht as he’d paid for it all by card. Decided we’d go to the phathat luang Shrine/temple, it’s what is on most of the currency actually. it’s a golden shrine, very large and beautiful. Though quite a fair walk from the hotel.

 lets get drunk and chop of an ear shall we?

 scary life like Buddhists :O

 trying to do a peaceful Buddhist move and failing....different in my stomach and arms!!

 Robins disgust at the poor tile job!

 monument that never got finished due to lack of funds, clear combination of french western and Asian eastern architecture

 no passing the grass, no joints for you, all for me!

 Stopped at a shop and got a cute Asian apron that’ll do becks and got dad a Beer Lao can, this one cant burst all over my luggage haha, it’ll compliment his t-shirt well. The booze here is sooo nice and so cheap, I‘d be an Alco haha. Stopped at a lovely huge temples, very colourful, lots of greenery and plant life for once, kind of like a miniature forest, one temple had recently been added so large, colourful and golden with statues inside, it had cost 2,090,000Kip, which although it seems a lot was only in fact about £174 think its called something like Budharatanan temple there were really creepily life like statues of some of the old monks, to the point that they put my off, creepy dead eyes and wrinkly life like skin, sort of like a taxidermist had just used the monk instead of a model eek! Robin pointed out the lack of proper tiling, not only was it poor plain brown dirt tiles, they weren’t even lined correctly, having spent so much effort on the aesthetics of the shrine you think they’d have considered all the details, particularly the representation of the flooring into the temple, properly lined wouldn’t have cost much! Then again, handy men tried to get away with anything haha! We came to the centre of the main highway, a park sort of area, it was here that the victory gate monument was located, very French in styling, obvious similarities to the arc de triumph but with Asian accompaniments, such as the asian designs on top, Buddhists architecture combined with French! So different, it was just grey though, they’d ran out of funding due to political unrest when they tried to build it after WWII so the only painted bit was the interior ceiling, we could have gone up tot eh top but would have needed to pay, went to the wee shop in the corner of it and bought a flag, (fucking lost it somewhere later on!!) was only 30p, wish I’d have got a Cambodian one, start an asian flag collection in my room! As per usual a tuk tuk driver tried to call us over, from across a busy road, robin fully led him on and he came over haha Robin ran a mile, guy was a bit raging, especially when it took sooo long for him to cross again haha. Dipped our feet in one of the fountains, such a hot day and it wasn’t even 11! We stopped at the main recurring coffee shop of Laos, the Costa of Laos as you will, Robin’s chocolate ice drink his new addiction, as bad as me nearly ha) was utterly divine, we read some of the Laos tourist articles and books that were strewn around, finding out more information on what we had seen and were going to see. Tom found a funny article about the monotony of standing in line for a Thai visa advertising a coffee shop just across the road from it so we decided we’d try it out later, I even stole the article form the book to recall the name haha, they had sugar syrup here, for your coffee etc, I tried a bit in a cup, was quite addictive, how the Laos or thai people are not obese with so much sugar in everything I really do not know! Perhaps the spices in all the other foods give them stomach problems like the rest of us, but I really doubt it, especially when the Laos food isn’t particularly spicy.

 HUGEE MOTH!! i thought it was a bat eughh

 my flag which i bought! i lost it though :(

Continued on, unfortunately the temple was just closed by the time we’d arrived but it would have cost us farangs more to get it. Was gorgeous though, the sunlight reflecting so brightly off  all its golden sides and so large! Could see it from nearly a mile away!  There was a market beside it, nearly got a Laos silk weave that I could have worn as a skirt like they do for Thai dancing, colourful with golden patterns running through it but she wouldn’t go down from 180 baht by the end and I really have low cash! We made our slow way to the consulate, stopped at some shops, dying from eh heat, before we got there we stopped at a mini market, Robin persuaded me to get permanent bright blue Laos hair dye for 16,000Kip (1.33) he didn’t even try very hard, he showed me it, said it was cool and then I looked a the price haha, probably doesn’t help that Tom wants to bleach his hair, I demanded that Robin lets me give him a blue streak or at least get a feather in his hair/braid, he said okay :D after a short 30-50 minutes WE GOT OUR VISA whoop whoop! 60days tourist, hallelujah! 

 victory visa lunch! picture taken by the little Laos Boy whos parents worked there 

Went to our coffee shop, got a papaya shake, was ok, the computers were free in there, was a pleasant little indoor cool café, emailed the parentals and told them the good news, went back to that shop and got 3 5packs of thai fegs for the girls, along with a packet of gum for 8,000kip, dirt cheap! Marlboro here are £1 for a 20decks, they’re near enough £10 at home! Got a tuk tuk back to the hotel, dandered around before getting some lunch, got friend veg rice and basic, delicious, along with a 2l water for about £2. Got to love a bargain, especially a delicious one! Got a thai kid who worked there to take a pic of us with our visa’s. Robin pointed out that we’re so awesome we needed 2 thai visa’s so the thai people could comprehend our awesomeness haha. So now im a temple whore and a visa whore as that makes temple number 4 this trip, and number 5 this year lol. Headed to the shop and got a truck that dropped us at the station, got on an air-con at half 4, was simple enough going through, the thai-lao friendship bridge wasn’t that friggin friendly when I needed to head back to pay for a day pass border card for like 50p (but still) to leave Laos and get into Thailand, Cambodia wasn’t that stingey, but then again, the border queue for that was horrendous and we were there for like 2 hours not 30-45 minutes like in Laos. From there we arrived in Utonani around 7, Robin and I had sat beside each other, he kept telling me little random things from his book (he’s reading Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy which he got in Chang mai on sat…feels like a lifetime ago not 2 days eek!) and im telling him funny like in Games of thrones B5, that doesn’t give anything away Ofc, he’s read the first 2 here and is up to date on the series, love talking about it! When we arrived in Utonani Robin quickly disappeared, he got randomly advised and moved onto a bus to Bangkok that would stop at his town apparently, he didn’t have the money for it though, think when they finally demanded it he had to stop at an ATM lol, oh robin! Haha. Finally found out how they make chocolate yen they use a tiny bit of hot water to mix the chocolate powder and add carnation milk and evaporated milk, whitener etc maybe some more water then add to ice, no wonder its so tasty, they lovelovelove their sugar! Tom sorted our route, we got a tuktuk across the town tot eh other bus station which quickly departed for Phitanulok, only 306 each! So far it’s a bargain in comparison to the journey up! But then again I wouldn’t change our adventure in Chang Mai one bit! 

 Royal wave on the van, i get a royal wave in every country now haha!

the old lady sweet haha. COUGAR!

We got free juice and snacks, there was some thai movie on in at the front, the toilet was just elbow us and we got wee blankets, no one was behind us so could fully recline, got a drink and top up at 7/11 and chilled on the bus, the woman had told us 3 hours, but I think she got confused with tom and his English, meaning arrive near 3, we finally got there at 2.30am, had napped a bit, as didn’t want to fully konk out incise we missed our stop. There was lots of lightning during the trip, but no thunder and it didn’t seem to be raining, going to the toilet was a disaster and I tried not to wake up/annoy tom each time so tried to stealthily clamber over him, getting myself injured slightly each time TBH, and to top it off my mp3 finally died, but at least it meant I did nap a bit, however either aircon or perhaps slight rain from outside, was causing fucking water drips on my face sporadically throughout the trip…annoying. Got there in one piece however and had some kip. When we arrived and checked bus times in Phitanulok I discovered my next bus was in just over 3 hours, similar to tom, after getting a ovaltine moved into the station. My fucking guts went off again, da fuckk honestly didn’t know how there was anything left in me! So annoying, it seems to be every time I travel now, wtf??!lay on the bench curled up and kinda slept/dozed, obviously being wary with my bag, the lights were all on the so put my sunglasses on to try and help darken it, there was an atrocious soap on the TV too, and im pretty sure I dreamt the national anthem at one point…wtf…I don’t mean the English one neither! Woke up at 5, and was able to get on a bus at 5.30 to Nakhon Sawan for 90b, toms was soon after as his 5am one didn’t seem to make an appearance, bus was empty enough and conked out for the majority of the journey to be awoken by Jongrak who had misunderstood my text as she had thought id arrive in Phaisali so she rang to say she’d meet me at the Nakhon Sawan station within the hour, thank goodness too, no English! Had to pay £b to use the toilet, as always in these places ffs. Missed having to stand awkwardly and respectfully for the national anthem, it must come on at 8am daily! Got a grape Fanta and sat outside waiting, a Thai man spoke to me and upon discovering I was just a common tourist I was in fact teaching in a small town he told me about his driving job to Chang Mai and Bangkok and how its going to be so busy over the weekend and he didn’t seem like he could be bothered he sort of wanted to hang with his sister also a teacher. Another guy appeared after, younger, he asked if I minded him smoking…Ofc not, free country and he wasn’t that close to me, other side of the seating area on opposite wall, he asked the same sort of question, where you from/go/do…then he asked if I had a bf and did I have facebook or email haha, I was very beautiful llf, id had very little sleep, I defs looked like a zombie, Thai men must be desperate, but frig it I gave him my email for a laugh, Asian fwiends!!.Thankfully Bla appeared at this moment and we headed, tx robin, he’s ended up going to Bangkok, ejit! Next bus to his town was in an hour, he’d get in round 1 or 2. Silly Billy. I told him about my new friend, his response was, ohh maybe he’s the guy from your fortune haha, my baby daddy :L thankfully after arriving in Nakhon Sawan I didn’t have to do anything till lunch then id have a class with Bla as I was clearly exhausted. Yet when I fucking got in I discovered my melon had fully rotten and so I had to clean and scrub the cabinet, bin the melon using all my bags, clean any surrounding objects and wash the fucking floor, was a smelly, disgusting fiasco! Ended up getting about 45mins sleep. Eughh!