Monkeys, crocodiles and sharks Oh my! 24/07/13 - 28/07/13

Week 2. Cultural differences: Gays and Lady boys, no lesbians allowed! Beung Boraphet, touring Nakhon Sawan with my Thai friends, Monkeys and crocodiles

WEDNESDAY  24th JULY
Last night was long, I napped in jongrak’s on the floor in a makeshift bed but my hair must have been damp from the shower as there was a pink patch on her pillow., stomach was still acting up. She awoke me at 4 as Wat was there and she drove us and her sister Dang to the school, stopping to let Dang and Wat off at their respected houses, they obviously make and ok amount if they are able to afford two homes, Wat and I had slept in the back while she drove, he apparently was unable to get from Bangkok also, I wonder how he got to Nakhon Sawan? I slept for a couple hours in my room when I got back, ofc when I got up at 7.30 my stomach was doing back flips. I feel so bad for making Jongrak stay up so late but she seemed fine with it, and when I explained the full story of what all happened she found it hilarious. The Thai's always seem to laugh! Assembly was the usual. I wouldn’t mind knowing what they say when they raise the flag. I wonder if someone will translate for me. Free first period., I wrote up a bit of my weekend, using references from my book and then texted Nan and gag and the parentals so they knew I was alive, people worry too much.  I had p5’s with Jongrak, I did a story with them about their school and got them to draw a picture, I drew some examples of things that weren’t in it also and wrote the English, such as volleyball and vegetable patch. I then had p2’s with the other teacher, who I still haven't found out her name, again we did the alphabet but this time I got them to say my name and teacher and did animal noises so they’d understand bird, dog and cat, lunch was next, some weird thing with sweet chilli which  sampled, then rice with stir fried veg, Pat parr. There was some weird fruit I tried a bit also, I didn’t eat too much so I brought the rest back to my room and checked out the old facebook, there’s now 2 students who‘ve tried to add me…. I then had another class with Jongrak, again the same thing but as they were smarter I tried to teach them big/small, in front of and behind, I think they understood and then chatted away to her. She wants me to start doing after school classes, she wanted me to do them every day but thankfully now ive only to do them 3 times a week and then the other days I can do thai dancing. She wanted me to start today but as my tum had been iffy she let me start tomorrow, she says it’ll mainly be p5 and 6 so I might do an intro on my fam and show them the pic and get them to do something with it. After I had another p2 class and did more animal sounds, they really liked it,. This class was much better with the pronunciation of Q. It's so weird to see what they find so difficult, ive noticed a good few put R’s into everything, its annoying as I can't really single them out..  After this I chilled at mine and Jongrak came with the handyman and they put up the hammock, EXCITEDDD!!! I WENT TO the 7/11 after this after I went on an experimental bike ride to a different section from last time, found some wee garages and whatnot, no random animals though! Id forgotten the SIM in my phone to get a top up as I used it up again so I had to go back to my house to go back…least it wasn’t far! Then spent the next hour talking to mum and becks and filling them in on my disaster of a return from Cambodia ha-ha, they were thrilled to see me, becks quit her job which is unfortunate so after next weak no1 in our house will have a job, as dad has not heard back from the church of all places!! Went to Jongraks at 6 and basically all the other female teachers came too, she had made a lovely mushroom and  Thai green curry and we had it with some whole-meal rice was beaut, however I think I may have accidentally ate a bit of chicken NOT COOL not 100% sure though, she said there was none in my bowl ffs. That might be the 2nd time today after that weird tasty stuff earlier, I must be more careful [turns out it wasnt meat phew] we had some seeded fruit nut thing was gorge, need to find out what its called, tried lotus flower seed again, its still not great lol. Jongrak and the others are going to a funeral tomorrow, I don’t know what I am to do in the mean time then, but Batoway wants me to go to dinner with her, hope it's not just us tbh.. One of the other teachers brought me clothes, a polo shirt in blue with embroidery especially for mothers day in August, as blue is the color of the queen, the embroidery on it is in Thai and means that I love mother and its for the queen or something they also gave me some hideous top and Jongrak gave me the skirts, I Believe they’re trying to tell me they hat my clothes and they aren’t acceptable…awkward lol. I went to the 7/11 after this for a wee bike ride and then washed my hair finally. Got a response from Oil from the British council, I am to send my passport and some details to her pronto! To try and get this all sorted, may do that tomorrow or Friday. Currently chilling on the hammock, can bring the laptop to it too, awesomeeee! May have blocked the tiny sink in an attempt to drown an army of ants though…whoopsy.. Oh and princess Kate and William had a baby boy, 8 pound something,  a big un! And unfortunately Rhys’s dad died, the funeral is tomorrow, i feel awful that i cannot go! R.I.P jeff :(

THURSDAY 25TH JULY
SO knackered when I finally got up today!! I awoke at 6 to some musical commotion outside ffs, it usually doesn’t start until 7..fml. There’s problems with the lack of water atm, the director was worrying if I had enough water…grim times. Free period to begin with, so wrote up and learnt some more words. CHEUN DRA. I LOVE. CHEUN CHOP. I LIKE. had 2 classes with Bla today, p3. I was helping teach them food. Did phonetics and then did a matching game with pictures.

They really enjoyed it, the second class Ofc is the slower one, the girl with ticks, so had to go through it slower and try to make it easier Ofc they still cant do H and R well but I think both classes were starting to get the hang of fried and making an attempt a the word pork. Who would have thought that was difficult?! There’s one wee boy with a rats tail in the middle of his head that half as long as becks hair! For lunch we went to the canteen, they gave me enough to feed a small family! Stir fry veg soup and rice, mango slices and fried mushrooms, had a wee bit of each and kept the leftovers in my fridge. Jongrak is going to a funeral so I was free until after school for my 1st class. I cycled out towards the reservoir but it was too far so stopped at the spa and sat near a tree and did a sketch, I'm truly terrible at drawing, hopefully I can produce something half decent by the time I come back, it was warm but slightly cloudy so I headed back after one stopping at the Tesco Lotus. Wrote up on my hammock and having brought down my extension cord I could go on the internet and chatted to mags, have an email from the British council, need to send them my passport so they can sort out what they can do for my visa…il sort that out tomorrow, got quite sleepy so had a wee nap on my hammock, when I woke up I discovered I was a bit sunburnt from my bike ride ffs!! Im an ejit! So had my first after school class, was bricking it and thought I had loads but had only around 22. Got them to write their name on a sticker then did basic intro’s, then age, they found that hard especially when I tried to get them to tell me what age they would be next year, did where do you live and then birthdays, think they enjoyed this the most as I got them to sit in a circle and stand in the centre, state their bday and then choose someone else to stand and say while they sat in their place, it seemed to go ok, will be with them again tomorrow may just go over it so they can become more confident in what they say. At 5 I went to Jongraks and them Batoway, Bla, Wat and Ding all got in her car as Batoway was treating us to dinner in a nearby restaurant, we had lots of different dishes, tried some soup, vegetable crisps, a mushroom salty nut roast which was BEAUT a bit of rice and some veg in soy, was scrummy! We spent ages chatting and telling wee tales in broken English and Thai. Found out Wat is from up North and can speak Laos! Such good fun, found out what im doing Saturday, Bla wants to take me to a nightclub to dance ha-ha should be fun, but need to head back at 11am on Sunday.. Grimmm. Wonder if I can change it and head at another time? We’ll see. When we returned chilled at Jongrak’s in her hammock chatting again, she’s going to an English class. She’s been teaching for 33years! Internet wouldn’t work, will need to mention this if its still not tomorrow. Mark rang so chatted to him, did washing and watched a bit of the 1955 version of Anna and the King, its so wrong in Historical accuracy, clothing and customs, I wonder if Jongrak would be interested in it or would she find it offended, there’s not even thai actors in it. WTF?!?! 

FRIDAY 26TH JULY

Okay there is definitely some shit that goes on from like 6am,woke up with the speakers AGAIN!! Not cool at all. Even though I slept more im actually knackered. DA fuckkk. Had a class first thing with J. Then P4 with Bla, she had a double but I only took for the single period. Did objects, mainly clothes, from the book and then flashcards, got them to say a random sentence about it as a class then went round and gave out cards and did it. don’t think much went in tbh lol but what can you do. Internet was still not working when I checked this morning so just went on Bla’s laptop and checked facebook and hotmail, ive just to send copies of the visa and stamps of my passport to oil, Tom unfortunately already sent his passport, but at least its tracked? Learnt numbers in Thai today, for lunch had stir fried veg and rice again, they give me sooo much! And I feel really bad that I eat so little, as unlike china they finish all, as food is precious, whereas Chinese leave food to show they are full and the cook has made enough…then the scraps are kept 

 for whoever, ive taken to keeping the scraps in case ive to cook some night, but when I don’t have to I give it to the stray dogs.  I just tell Jongrak that I have, she worries I think. Im small I don’t need much, better to eat than not at all this is probs the healthiest ive been in a long time, Jongrak gave me a stove last night too, she’s so hopefully, and Odele gave me a new mosquito cream for severe ones, its miraculous! don’t have class till the Friday assembly at half 2, so went for a bike ride exploring again then chilled at mine and did some packing for later. For the assembly I did the same sort of thing last week to see if any of them would know any better and recalled some of the stuff from yesterday and some willingly came up and answered correctly, a wee p3 even answered! Went on the com after, when school was over a couple came and played scrabble and one wee girl was practising with Jongrak, some are so dedicated, and so good at it, I feel like such a failure in comparison, I don’t know what to do with my life and what subject i should move into let alone job!

 Bla, Ding, Jongrak and I headed at half 5. Ive broke the front compartment of her bag…shitttt. Really need to get a new one for myself tbh. Should have brought my khaki one. Im such an idiot. Had the most random conversation on the car with them, explaining the difference between gay and Bisexual in my country and what we called lady boy etc, men appear to be allowed to be with both but not women…typical. Chongrak (Jongrak) brought it up da fuckkkk, random haha. Gay here can mean gay or lady boy but only for man,. I told her what a transvestite and transsexual was. Such an awkward unexpected convo lol When we arrived we went to the nearby market and got food, ofc she got me shiploads again, but the Pat Tay was full of prawns so I couldn’t eat much anyway and she got me sushi which was yummy and mostly ate that,  it had seaweed on it for some, was lovely.  Then Bla and Dang’s son took me on a tour round the city, me behind Bla. She showed me some of the common sites, stopped for a browse at one of the night markets and visited one of her friends, she spoke very good English and plans to come out with us tomorrow night, she seems lovely, she is doing a bike ride with some of the students on Sunday morning which they do once a month.

Bla then took me to the riverside, full of young ones drinking, the same in every country, felt quite at home lol. My laptop wouldn’t connect to Jongrak’s internet but thankfully she lent me her laptop so was able to chat about it to people. Got another beaut Fanta slush puppy from the 7/11, don’t know what il do without it!# utterly started earlier, what I thought was a bird cage and the ornament was in fact a small slender bird and in their pots they keep fish and some little turtles. Awesome!!

"you know you've spent too much time in Thailand when you try to watch the 'King and I" and instead find yourself really annoyed at the social, cultural and historical inaccuracies and their poor representation of the King of Siam...I think im turning Thai...it's all that rice and the fact im the only Farang for miles! I'll be tanned and fluent by the end of the trip refusing to eat potatoes and insisting on a bum hose haha "

SATURDAY 27TH JULY

"such an exciting day! hand fed monkeys, went to a crocodile show, aquarium, BOTTLE FED huge goldfish. went to 4 temples and a 'museum" fitted in some shopping and got some great bargains, ate my favourite Thai fruit "toot Leeann" and had the delicious Fanta grape slush puppy and im going out tonight for a dance off or 10. cheun dra mngthai "

Up and out for 9 today. Was a bit rainy. Met Bla’s friend, our “guide” for the day, he drives, he also studies English for a masters for teaching at Nakhon Sawan uni which is where Bla and Jongrak were taught. To begin with we went to the temple nearest Bla’s home which had MONKEYS. More gibbons, and we hand fed them, little babies and all. Sooo cute, they would actually grab the peanuts from your hand. They started climbing up me and managed to pull my skirt down the cheeky wee things#! They pooed all over his jeans which was slightly funny.  Wee walked on and were looking over the pond area of the temple when one of the monkeys came over to me and because I didn’t have any food got angry and sort of hit me and made lots of noises, I pulled away and thankfully it stopped, could have ended badly =/ they had a large tortoise too and turtles in the water. CLASS.  Again this is because it is good and lucky to feed an animal at a Buddhist temple. Was told that the temples entrances had croc figures to scare away the monkeys, interesting!

 Next we went to the local” wetland” park, BEUNG BORAPHET lol it was pretty dry with some trees and ponds, so opposite from castle espie in comber lol. We went to a crocodile show. Lots of crocs in a pool arena area. There was a Thai guy who awoke four of them and started doing tricks, don’t think the crocs were too impressed getting tapped on the head and the mouth with sticks, was a bit cruel but im sure it’s a lot of hard work to get them even slightly workable with. The man lay on top of one, also when one was in the water. Put his head in ones mouth and was able to put money in ones mouth and get it back, was impressive and scary to say the least, he did a prayer in his little shrine before hand so he knows what he’s doing if very risky. He does about 4 or 5 shows hourly from half 10. Poor man and poor crocs! They had some of the dead crocs sitting about, I thought they were fake they had become so solid! Their teeth weren’t as sharp as the mini ones we saw in Cambodia though. But after seeing the crocs at the show snap, I know they’re still deadly and vicious and wouldn’t dare go near one. When I saw a basking one when I dandered round before the show started on the grass area below me, I thought it was fake, it wasn’t until I stared for a while at its open mouth did I see sort of breathing movement…clever, no wonder they can capture some prey so easily. So still! Like they’re dead. Terrifying! Moved on towards the “ark” the aquarium shaped like a boat. There were ponds before we entered with lots of large goldfish or perhaps carp…not sure, but people were BOTTLE FEEDING THEM!! Wtfff. Bla got me one, weirdest experience ever, who would have though, sucking a bottle like a greedy baby, nuts haha. They fully loved it too and they’d got so big from it, kind of want to try it on Bonnie when I get home haha, don’t think mum would approve though :L the aquarium had some tropical Dory fish and Nemo’s awesome. Then Lots of Thai fish, x-ray skeleton fish were class and then lots and lots of large scary ugly ones! There was a water walkway with lots of HUGE ones, grim. Gigantic sting rays too! If I end up doing cage diving in Dubai I may in fact pee myself a tad lol! Upstairs at the top there was a section on the migrating and native birds of the area, turns out the birds I’ve been seeing at the rice fields NA CAOW are in fact herons, in particular purple herons. 

The next temple was on top of the hill on top of Nakhon Sawan, the one I saw last night all lit up, know as wat keeleewang or something like that. It was soo high up, got some amazing pics, unfortunately it started raining so my feet were a right soaky mess. At the top there were lots of plaques for loved ones, like a funeral area, I guess it was technically a cemetery as everyone gets cremated here. Chilled at a café before we went to the riverside, getting a boat across to the Chinese temple. Here is the point where the two great rivers meet to create one. The one running from the North and the one from the south that flows to Bangkok, the reason Nakhon Sawan is most famous and such a large city not to mention the gateway to the north. I was clearly able to see the two contrasting river, one is definitely reddish and the other greeny blue, how strange and unique!  

After this we went for lunch, I had stir fried veg and rice back in the city then we went to Nakhon Sawan temple, the “ritual” for this began as normal, with the incense and flowers and “prayer” words of thanks to the shrine, lit a candle too, could I get it to stick with the melted wax, hell now, must have been a good few minutes before it did! Finally got it too, felt like a right farang ejit. But the next bit was really odd, we went to the monk in a wee temple hall area, and each picked a “pack” and lined up, there must have been 10 of us in total, each giving him our back then we got under a white blanket he gave us and he did some chant…some about rebirth I believe.. Then he flicked water on us with a cluster of incense sticks as one does then gave us some bowl and jug with water which we poured in and hand to hand back to him then bowed….so strange… lol. 

After this we went to a shopping mall place and at the top floor was a Nakhon Sawan history showroom. Unfortunately it was all in thai but it was still interesting, similar to our 1900s in shop styles but so different die to the type of shops and the products, i.e.; an ice shop. On another floor there were painted wall art pieces that made great 3d pics that you could get in, such as one that made Bla look like she was hanging from a painting or peaking at a mans downtown in his shorts or the one which I look like im about to get eaten by a dinosaur.Pure shattered so we chilled for 10 back at Jongrak’s before going to the market for food. 

I had a wee bit of PAT TAY but it had BLA in it so only had a bit but ate some rose apples and a good bit of toot Leeann there was such a feast for us all! Got a lovely hot shower then hit the market area, got becks (perhaps lol) a despicable me minions t. and got myself a net sleeve sequin dress for 199b i.e. £4.20. Bargain. Chilled on facebook and then got ready to head out to this club at half 9. It was just the 3 of us from earlier. BONBON club. Live band and free entry for woman, over 20s only? I was definetly the only white person for miles ha-ha and we were the first in. When people did start to arrive it was all men for like an hour! Thought we’d come on the wrong night lol. When the woman did come they were all dressed quite slutty, I felt quite respectable in turn… for once ha-ha. The air con made it freezing we had to move to the side to make it bearable. Didn’t drink, P had brought drink with him so we only paid for mixers (strange but practical, others got whiskey on arrival) so I declined his drinks offers, I didn’t know how comfortable to feel round him, I wasn’t sure If I got him looking at me or was I just being paranoid, there were lots of people looking at me, but it may just be because I'm white, everyone stared at the market before but I just ignored that. Was pure knackered but we stayed until 1 anyway. 2 of Bla’s friends turned up for a while, the girl from last night and a larger male friend, who is apparently gay? The room became packed out, was very grateful that it was non smoking too. Toilets where strange, although it was female there was a side door and guys walked through. Then again it did lead to another bar area, I believe ewe were in the club bit but it did have oriental style tables and little stools for everyone much better than the silly clubs back home!  The live music was all thai but the in between was in English and could dance to it fairly easily, Bla wouldn’t let me just sit and dance, we all stood up quite early on in the night and danced away, although lots of the girls were doing the usual attention-seeking whore dance Bla and I gladly pulled up the dad moves, was so fun! Was nice bopping away not caring what anyone thought. Not only was I the only white girl I was also the tallest, even with many of the girls were stilettos! And I'm not even that tall lol. The guy nearest us was alone and drunk ha-ha, at the start of the night he spilt his whole popcorn and persisted to hide the fact by sweeping it under the table with his feet, he blatantly stared at me for a while to the point where I joked about it with Bla, asking if I was white or something? What was wrong, I'm clearly black like her ha-ha was her response, such a fun random time, left before the end as I just kept yawning, dancing was the only thing that kept me awake! Even thought P was the only one drinking he didn’t have much and its fine in Thailand as even if you are out of your head and get stopped the police will give you a lift instead… as you do. But drugs are a no go, even said on the sign to the club, along with no weapons… Ofc lol 

SUNDAY 28TH JULY

Had a glorious lie in to half 10...that’s actually kind of sad when I recall it haha, a lie in really is until 12 at least but Jongrak thought I’d slept the day away, got another beaut hot shower, the last proper one for at least a week! Had a coffee, Dang had got some more Japanese fighting fish, from the market they are 10b, 21p!! Whereas at home its more like £10, 400-500b! Rip off!

P came round and we left about half 11 as Jongrak, Dang and Bla were heading back early as Jongrak had class. Went to the market at the temple, got some class leggings for 100b with lots of zombies and villains on them, for Becks but they’re so cool I may just have to keep them lol. Had some lunch in his university with tow of his fellow students, he is doing a masters in English and teaching while he teaches in another school in Phaisali, they were much older, he’s apparently 30, having been a tourist guide in the North for many years, and knows a bit of French too. I waited in the car for near and hour while he handed in some work, was able to have a wee think about the options I have for study etc, sketched an idea from some of the dresses ive seen in the dress windows here, for the curtain material Nan gave me from her kitchen, which I could also use for an Alice in Wonderland costume, no matter what I still love to design clothes particularly costume. I think a lot more about random things out here, the things you do when fun, internet and English speaking people/friends are lacking, for instance I started thinking about how well suited I am to my name, Kelly means “warrior” in Gaelic, all I have ever done is fight, fight, fighting someone, something,emotionally and passive agressively or just outright fighting, no matter what I always seems to be fighting against the odds, I have to prove everyone wrong, im strong and stubborn in the face of defeat a lot, like a warrior im also always pratising and honing my skills trying to better myself to be able to stand strong against anything that may come my way, always trying to learn new things, to be prepared in knowledge may it be studying culture and history to trying to learn new languages and doing new things, seeing new things and having new experiences, I can prepare myself, im learning to keep calm and be able to go through anything independently because after all I always will have to depend of myself as sometimes life put you in that situation, Im a natural born fighter no matter what, I prepare myself for battle and will battle it out for my friends and family, im constantly on the defence, I am a warrior….see, utterly RANDOM! Haha. Anyway, We headed back after 2, was raining quite badly but at least it was cool for once! Arrived back at mine round about 3ish. Chilled, the internet is no longer working so went for a bike ride and then watched some more of “morning Glory” while lying on the Hammock or PLAY sooo bored. Had some rice and cabbage at Jongrak’s pet nid noi before going up to the classroom and talking to mum, dad and then Ryan for nearly 3 hours and uploading my photos from last week. Was good chatting to them, thankfully the reception was better there and Jongrak says I can go there whenever, thank goodness! Got into bed round half 11. Omg could I not sleep? It appears that there’s some wild creature living in my walls, birds or lizards or whatever and they fully attack each other, its like something’s getting murdered or raped!! They kept me up for ages, tried to block out the sound with Thai TV, all that was on was frigging sports, mainly football or news. GAY