More adventures!

Sawadeeka!

Time for Tristan and I to head to Bangkok for a night out. We booked accommodation near Khao San Road and planned to meet up with Simone, Thiv, Morne and a couple others. I was a little anxious about the whole thing but still excited to see everyone. It was a rather crazy night but for the most part I had fun. A lot happened that night including someone’s phone being stolen, it was karma in my opinion (I have valid reasoning for saying that). The night flew by and before I knew it, it was 2 am and Tristan and I were heading out to find the kebab vendors.

After checking out the next morning, Simone, Thiv, Morne, Tristan and I headed to Terminal 21 to find the Piri Piri chicken restaurant (it was alleged to be like Nandos and Nandos is my absolute weakness). We did manage to find it, but it was nothing like Nandos (cue sad face). And thus, ended the weekend in Bangkok, time for work again.

 It hadn’t been the best week; I’d received some bad news: my cat Scruffy had run off on a little adventure and hadn’t survived the trip. Scruffy was a special little cat who we’d rescued about 2/3 years ago. He was a very sick little kitty but nobody could tell us what was wrong with him. After countless trips to the vet, we eventually ended up going to a specialist vet who diagnosed Scruffy with the Feline Calicivirus. We were then told how to manage the virus and kept Scruffy in the best health we possibly could. He was a happy cat and lived a good life, even if it was short. He lived longer than the expected time, giving the world the middle finger.

Tristan and I flew to Chiang Mai on Friday morning which is 10 times better than the train and 1000000 times better than the bus. We headed to immigration 5 minutes after we’d booked into the hotel. The process at immigration was a slow wait at first but was over almost as soon as Tristan and I had been seen to. The rest of the day was relaxed, we got some lunch, Tristan went for a haircut and then we chilled until supper time. we were both really looking forward to supper that night as the plan was to head to a restaurant called Rock Me Burger. Tristan had been when we were in Chiang Mai for the course and said that it was amazing. He wasn’t wrong. We both got the same burger and my word has it been ages since I’d had a burger that good! I also got a milkshake, the first milkshake I’d had in 6 months. (it’s also worth mentioning that I’d also had sinusitis about 2 weeks before that). After supper, we headed back and watched some greys until we fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke to the most incredibly painful headache. It’s hard to put the feeling in words but it was so bad it even made me nauseous. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I also couldn’t sleep, so I took some tablets to try stop the pain and nausea only to get sick 10 minutes later. This carried on for a couple hours but I eventually fell asleep again. I only woke up again to run to the toilet or to try drink some water. Unfortunately, we had to check out at one so I had to find the energy to leave, which was difficult as I could barely stand long enough to shower. We checked out and went to get some lunch. I was proud because I managed to keep the 3 French fries down, at least until the airport. I had never felt so shit before, I just wanted to get home. I slept on the plane ride home and was sure to grab a sick bag for the van ride home, which I also manged to sleep through quite a bit of. The funny thing is, as soon as we got the apartment I was better. Not completely, my head was still sore and I felt a little nauseous, but other than that, I was fine. Which concludes my story about my one day death flu and moral of the story: milkshakes and sinusitis don’t mix well.

Thanks for reading and sorry about the ramble about my sick day, hope it didn’t bore you too much ..

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Just another week in Rangsit.

Sawadeeka!

Tristan and I decided to start getting fit again and go for a run one sunny Thursday afternoon after work. Our first and, possibly last, run in Thailand was an awful realisation of just how unfit we both were. We ran for 6 minutes and almost died. The heat doesn’t make running any easier. We haven’t run since then, but fingers crossed we get into it again soon, I love running.

I was very excited for to watch Suicide Squad; the trailer was a really good teaser. On Saturday Tristan and I had to head to Future Park to open a new bank account for Tristan, which took about 2 hours. We later planned to meet up with 2 guys from the course for lunch and a movie. It was nice to get out and to catch up with them. Plus, we went back to the easy ribs and wings place and got some delicious ribs!

After a long, long wait, Pokemon Go was finally released in Thailand. So, that very night, Tristan and I downloaded the app. Tristan wasn’t as excited as I was in the beginning, but after coaxing him to go hunt Pokemon at 10:30pm, he was almost as addicted as me. Our excitement didn’t last all that long, our closest Pokestop was a 15/20 - minute walk away and all the cool Pokemon were in Bangkok. But we still played it for a couple more weeks.

The sunset from my closest Pokestop

Sports day

Sports day in Thailand (or at least at the school I was at) was more of a fashion parade than anything else. There wasn’t much in terms of ‘sports’ that day and the marching around the school was awful as the temperature was very high and the students were really battling. It was nice to interact with my students’ parents and watch the students have fun.

Half of my students (and 2 lovely parents helping control the chaos).

My school

Some weird jelly ...

One of the best ice creams I've had

The cuties again

Our theme was yellow: Beauty and the Beast

Thanks for reading!

Happy wandering, 

Centaine xx

Island adventure!

Sawadeeka!

In need of a little R&R, Tristan and I booked 2 nights away at the City Hotel Sriracha. The hotel was amazing and well worth the trip. We took a van from Future Park to Sriracha and made to the hotel with enough time to relax and enjoy the pool. I was also thrilled to lounge in the bath with bubbles coming up to my ears for about 7 hours straight (I’m so tired of cold showers). The next morning was tough to wake up to but also exciting because we’d be exploring Koh Larn, an island just off the coast off Pattaya.

After almost getting ripped off by the van driver, we made it to Pattaya. Our next mission was finding a reasonably priced scooter taxi to the pier. We walk for a little while but eventually found a friendly scooter taxi driver who wasn’t trying to overcharge us. Koh Larn was beautiful and relaxing, but more popular for tourists than Koh Sichang.

Some tips for surviving a trip to an island in Thailand:

• ·         Always wear sunscreen. I know it’s a given but don’t go taking any chances, the Thai sun is ruthless.
• ·         If you don’t have that much in terms of spending money, I’d recommend taking snacks to nibble of. We were charged 150baht for a plate of French fries.
• ·         Rent a scooter for the day. Unless you’re planning on just staying at one beach, then you don’t need to bother. But if you’re planning on exploring the island it works out cheaper to rent a scooter and it’s also easier than trying to find song thaews or scooter taxis when you want to move to the next place.
• ·         Take advantage of the sunbeds. You must pay but it’s worth it and it’s a safe option to leave your bags on. And it gives you a nice a break from the sun.
• ·         And a tip for getting around, if you feel like transport is overcharging you, you’re probably right. Walk on for a little bit and you’ll eventually find a person who is charging a lot less.

 That night we visited Morne for a little bit and then made the most of the pool, jacuzzi and bath while we still had them. Tuesday morning was sad as our time in this beautiful hotel had come to an end, but at least we left feeling well rested.

Scooter selfie in Koh Larn

Lounging on the beach in Koh Larn

Interesting BnB in Koh Larn

Koh Larn!

Thanks for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Chiang Mai

Sawadeeka!

So I am back at work now (cue sad face and tears). But lucky for me it’s only a 2-day week. Yup, just came back from a six-day weekend! Tristan and I had to take last week Friday off to go fetch our work permits from Chiang Mai and got Monday to Wednesday off because it is Buddhist lent.

The weekend was amazing! Chiang Mai was only a short visit but I still enjoyed my time there. Tristan and I decided to take an overnight bus to Chiang Mai (against our better judgement) and let me tell you it was even worse than the van ride to Laos. We were fortunate enough to be seated behind 2 of the biggest asses. But I’ll get to that later.

We left for the bus station at around 5:30pm and got there at about 6:30/7pm and found that the only available seats were on a non-VIP bus (VIP was the recommended bus to take) and only left at 11pm at night. That meant a lovely four hour wait. So we headed back to future park after purchasing our tickets and got some supper. Tristan opted for subway and I was craving pasta so that lead us to the top floor at the cutest little romantic restaurant where I got my pasta and we shared some pretty amazing chicken drummets. Before we knew it we were back at the bus station for a 2 hour wait. As we waited we noticed a trend among the buses, every single one was 20 minutes to half an hour late. Yay. At 11:45 our bus arrived and it was time for us to sleep. Or so we thought. Which brings us back to the guys sitting in front of us. First they wouldn’t stop talking for a good hour after we got on the bus. Then when I eventually fell asleep, I woke up and the guy in front of me had reclined his seat so far back he was basically lying in my lap. What made matters worse was that he was right in front of the bus so he had so much leg room he was basically lying down without his seat reclined. I said something which his friend clearly heard but he chose to ignore. Eventually my knee started getting stiff and my legs were sore so I tried to move his chair. Being the ass he is he tried to recline his seat further. This was it for me. I held the seat upright for an hour and eventually settled on making his trip as bumpy as possible. It may seem childish but I was grumpy and it was 2 in the morning and I had tried to talk to him about it. The rest of the bus trip dragged by, but eventually we were back in familiar Chiang Mai and one step closer to getting our work permits.

The walk to the TEFL company was nostalgic and brought back many memories (we’d opted to walk as the cab drivers were trying to charge us “tourist” prices). We had to wait around at the TEFL company for a while but thankfully fetching our work permits was a quick process. With the main task complete we headed to the train station to buy tickets for the overnight train to Rangsit, we could then finally get some lunch. Thankfully, star avenue was a close drive from the train station to we could eat some pizza for lunch, yay! The pizza was good but didn’t buy us much time, by the time we had finished eating we still had about 2/3 hours left until the train left. To buy more time we bought a coffee from Toms coffee and watched 1 or 2 episodes of Greys.

The train was a much more pleasant experience than the bus. We’d also been fortunate enough to get a top bunk and a bottom bunk. This was a luck because the bottom bunks were almost double the size of the top so Tristan and I could watch some Greys until we fell asleep. We slept solidly until the next morning and were at the train station before we knew it. With the worst of the weekend over, it was time for us to rest up for our island adventure.

Work permits!

On the train back to Rangsit

Easy Ribs and Wings - 7.5/10

Thin Thin Pizza - 8/10

Tom Tom’s coffee - 7/10

Thanks for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Adulting.

Sawadeeka!

Friday night: Tristan and I were craving nachos, which was not good because there is no Mexican restaurant near us, not even at Future Park. We settled on finding some nacho type chips and cheese. And then realised that our electric fryer just wouldn’t do the job. So we had to just cut our losses and get some subway. Which was still good so all was fine.

The next day (Saturday) Tristan and I procrastinated and had to then do all our tasks on Sunday. But we managed to watch a fair amount of Greys which is never a bad thing, especially as I’d only just started watching and had 12 seasons to catch up on.  

Sunday: First task – Medical exams. To apply for our next extension, Tristan and I needed to go for a medical check-up. I was nervous about the blood tests (it has never been my favourite thing), but it was over soon enough and completely painless. It was quick (perks of being a ‘farang’) and an efficient process, the longest thing was waiting for our blood results which took an hour. Whilst we waited, we enjoyed a really yummy waffle from Mezzo café. The medical exam was also cheap, especially considering it was two of us! Next step – grocery shopping. We’d just bought an electric fryer so now we could actually cook our own food! It was a rather exciting shop, and rather expensive. But a decent price for some home cooked food.

Unfortunately, the more “fun” part was over now and it was time to go home and clean. Team work made the cleaning and grocery unpacking rather quick and so soon we were chilling and preparing for the next week. Even though it hadn’t necessarily been a fun weekend, I did enjoy myself and felt rather proud that I could do all that without any help, other than Tristan of course.

Mezzo cafe

Amazing waffle from Mezzo

Mezzo - 7.5/10: Good food (well waffle and ice cream) and coffee, but on the pricey side.

Thanks for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Laos

LAOS

Saturday: Chatuchak market! Tristan and I spent another day at Chatuchak just exploring a bit and getting a couple things. We also walked through the pets’ part of the market and, if you’re an animal lover like myself, I’d recommend not going through there. It’s all exciting at first, seeing all the puppies and kittens, until you see how they’re treated and how cramped the cages are. Other than that, it was another very enjoyable outing.

Sunday: Sunday saw to Tristan and I basically just relaxing until the afternoon. We had to head back into Bangkok to get a van to Laos to do our visa extension. We ended up running into quite a few people from the course, which was a pleasant surprise. The van ride itself, however, was terrible. The van was made to be more spacious and comfortable than your everyday, “generic” van, but Tristan and I were stuck at the back, which meant we couldn’t recline our seats back in any way, which rather inconvenient.

Monday: we arrived at the border at 4:30am, having gotten very little sleep, an hour and a half before the border would open. Eager to stretch my legs and find the little travellers room, Tristan and I got out the van just in time for the rain. And we soon discovered something even worse than the rain: I’d have to wait almost an hour for the restroom facilities to open. Back to the lovely, cramped, overly stuffy van it was, yay (insert rolling eyes face here).

Tristan and I were applying for our visas and so we got stuck at the immigration offices for quite a while. The agency we were using for the boarder run helped make the process a whole lot quicker for us than it could’ve been though. At about 12/1pm we finally got to the hotel and decided to go get some curry from the Indian restaurant we’d scoped out on the way to the hotel. The curry was incredible and so worth the crap we’d had to endure in the past 15 hours and the walk to the restaurant itself. After filling our bellies, we opted for a nap so we’d be well rested for the evening tour we were to joining. We slept through our alarms and ended up having a 6/7-hour nap. We also missed the evening tour to the market so we just made our way there on our own. Be warned: transport in Laos is crazy expensive. We met up with the others from the course for drinks and karaoke and I made myself a little friend: an adorable little ginger kitty. He loved me and fell asleep with his head in my hand. I tried my best to bring him to my room but SOMEONE *cough cough* Tristan *cough* wouldn’t let me.

Tuesday: More lines and buses and waiting. On the plus side, we stocked up on some chocolate in duty free (chocolate in Thailand is expensive!). At 11pm we arrived back at Future Park and headed home to Rangsit (yes, I now call my apartment in Rangsit ‘home’).

Wednesday: REST DAY. Time to recuperate for work.

On our way to our van to Laos!

Stray kitty I met outside 7/11 

Laos

My kitty friend!

Laos

Laos

The border at Laos

Laos

Cute coffee shop in Laos

Market in Laos

Thank you for reading, keep following the Paisley Firefly blog to read about more of my adventures!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

The big move!

Saturday night Tristan, Thiv, Simone, Morne, Sudarthi and Taylor (another 2 people from the course) and I went on a hunt for pizza. The place we eventually found had a special on: pay 300baht and drink as much beer as you could in an hour. The guys took it upon themselves to make the most of this challenge. Thus lead to a rather entertaining night full of stories and lots of good laughs.

The next day Tristan and I chilled for the morning and then met up with Morne to get some ice cream from Swensens. It was well deserved (we’d all reached a month working as teachers). Then it was time for me to leave. I really didn’t want to. I even took a later van to buy some time. That night I felt rather homesick and started inquiring about moving schools, to no avail as I was asked to stay at the school the agency placed me at.

After one of the longest weeks, I was finally on my way to meet Tristan at Future Park. We went to the Chatuchak market on Saturday just to explore. And we had some delicious garlic bread, for the first time since leaving SA.  The weekend flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Tristan to leave. That Sunday though, there were no vans going to Sriracha. Which meant Tristan had to stay an extra night, and just leave early Monday morning. The goodbye sucked and lead to me asking that morning if any jobs were available at Sarasas. There was one position and so Tristan had to head back that afternoon for an interview the next day. The whole of Tuesday morning I was unbelievably nervous waiting to hear if he’d gotten the job. He had! That night Tristan would be moving to Rangsit!!

Swensens – 8/10: very tasty, but expensive as they charge 55baht per scoop. It’s always nice to treat yourself though.

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry for the lack of photos, been having problems with my computer and my phone won't let me access my photos. Will have it sorted ASAP! 

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Lost in Bangkok

LOST IN BANGKOK

My visa was about to expire and the angency I work through made me go the day before my visa expired to do a visa extension. So that lead to me heading into Bangkok on a Monday night to meet Tristan and Morne. I left for Bangkok just after 5, after being told the other two were leaving at 5 (when in fact they left at 6). Which left me having to keep myself busy at Victory Monument. Bored and hungry I wandered into a restaurant (who's name I cannot remember) and treated myself to a cappuccino and a yummy pasta. That bought me half an hour. I wandered around a little longer before my back started to ache from carrying my backpack for too long. I eventually went and sat at a bus shelter until they arrived. Which they eventually did, at about 7:30pm. I was relieved to see them because I knew it meant we would be heading to our hotel soon.

Here’s where the fun part starts. After spending about 45 minutes to get to the accommodation in Samut Sakhon, we discovered they had only one room left. That left us in shit because it was late and the only available accommodation we could find was back in central Bangkok. We found a cab and made the trip back only to end up getting lost on the way to our accommodation and deciding to walk because “maps said it was a 15-minute walk”. Well, maps lied. And we ended up roaming the streets of Bangkok at 11pm. Somehow we ended up in another cab on the way to a rather nice hotel. After a well-deserved night’s sleep, we were on our way back to Samut Sakhon. After stopping by the agency to fetch some paperwork, we made our way to the immigration office. The visa extension process was, thankfully, quick and rather painless. 

We headed back to victory monument to catch a van and decide to eat at the restaurant I'd eaten at the night before. It was a crazy 24 hours and I couldn’t wait to get back to my apartment but on the plus side, just 3 more sleeps until I'd see Tristan. And all in all, it made for a pretty great story.

The altogether suite - 9/10. It's a little more on the pricey side for someone earning baht, but definitely worth the splurge!

Thank you for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

First week as a teacher!

Sawadeeka!

I arrived back home after saying goodbye to Tristan at Future Park feeling rather down. My apartment felt empty and I was already counting down for Friday. The next day (Tuesday the 12^th of May) was my first day at Sarasas, the school where I’d be teaching. I felt a mixture of nerves an excitement. Angie and I would both be teaching year 2 so we would be able to work together which was quite a relief. That evening I just relaxed and skyped home to get some words of wisdom from my parents. Feeling a lot calmer, I managed to get some sleep.

The day had arrived: my first day at my first full time job. Both Angie and I were rather nervous but the first day was a nice calm one. We were just given the day to start preparing our topics for the academic year ahead. Before we knew it, our first day at the new job was over. The next day went by quite quickly as well, the only new thing from that day was that I was moved to teach the KG 1 students. The nerves really started kicking in then because I only had a couple hours to prepare everything as the kindergarten students were starting the next day. I left quite late that day as I was kept busy decorating the class board. I had an early night that night and made sure I was as ready for the day as I could be.

Thursday the 12^th of May: My first day teaching! The first day was very eye opening. It hadn’t been made clear what the day would entail so I felt a bit lost. The first lesson was also quite a shock as it was only then that I really realised how difficult it would be to communicate with the students. In fact, at one point I remember sending a message to my parents saying “What have I gotten myself into?!”. But the day mostly consisted of me learning the students’ names and playing games with them.  I felt a little more at ease by the end of the day, I just hoped the next day would be a little bit easier. And it was. I was more confident as I’d had a day to bond with the students. The second day even saw the youngest and quietest student warming up to me and sitting in my lap. This student’s name in Neena and you’ll be hearing a lot more of her. I left work that day feeling good and very excited because I was on my way to visit Tristan!

Thank you for reading!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Sriracha, Thailand.

Sriracha

The end of the first week had finally come and it was time to go visit Tristan in Sriracha. I was excited but also nervous as I would be catching a van alone. I had packed my bag the night before and so I left straight after school. After a tedious cab ride, I made it to Future Park 5 minutes before the 5pm van was set to leave. Relieved, I put my earphones in and prepped myself for the 2-and-a-half-hour trip. It was actually a rather enjoyable van ride (except for the traffic) as it was a good opportunity to see more of Thailand, even if just from the other side of a dusty window.

That night Tristan and I joined a few others for a night out. It was cool to see a new part of Thailand and to see Simone and Thiv again. Brendan (another person from the chiang mai group) was in charge of finding a club or bar for the night. After leading us to the other side of sriracha, we decided to just settle for the next bar and get some food. It was a nice chilled night followed by further rest and relaxation. Leaving Sriracha left me feeling rather down.

When I got back to my apartment I had a quick skype call with my parents and readied myself for the week ahead. Luckily the next week was a four-day week and went rather well, so before I knew it I was on my way to sriracha for the long weekend.

Thursday (night): Tristan, Simone, Thiv, Brendon and I, along with Sophia and Tania (also from the course) and a guy called Morne (he was on the course in Krabi), all went out for some drinks. We settled with just chilling on the pier and having a good laugh. Unfortunately, Tristan ended up feeling rather sick so him and I left early. He went from bad to worse very quickly and we both decided it was food poisoning. Tristan vowed to never eat another 7-11 toasted sandwich!

Friday: The day consisted of relaxing so Tristan could recover. He was better by the afternoon so we started watching ‘Stalker’ again.

Saturday: KOH SICHANG! This was a lovely adventure to a small island just off the coast of Sriracha. Just Tristan and I went so it was rather romantic. We just explored the beaches and before we knew it, it was time to return the scooter we had rented and catch the ferry back. That evening we had some food at The Pizza Company and I decided to have some calamari to satisfy my craving. And that evening I was lucky enough to have food poisoning.

Sunday: Another day in bed, recovering. I really didn’t want to leave but knew the soon I could go home and take some medicine, the better. And so ended a weekend of sickness and exploring.

The skyline in Sriracha, taken from the pier.

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Koh Sichang

Ferry tickets to Koh Sichang

Selfie!

Koh Sichang

Selfie at Koh Sichang!

Thank you for reading, keep following the Paisley Firefly blog to read about what to do when you get lost in Bangkok!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx

Rangsit

Rightio, time for the trip back to Rangsit (which is also in the outskirts of Bangkok, but the opposite direction from where we’d be staying). Angie and I asked the agents if we could be dropped off in Rangsit as they were going right through it to drop 3 new teachers off in an area 30 minutes from our school. The consultant we were dealing gave us an excuse and we ended up getting dropped off 5 minutes after getting on the van. Luckily for us, someone translated where we needed to go and before we knew it we were in a van on our way. We were on that van for about 30 minutes, then ended up hopping onto another van. After the second van (or 3^rd if you include the very short trip in the beginning), we got stuck in the pouring rain for 20 minutes (clever me decided to wear slops that day) and had cockroaches crawling on our feet and bags. Fun. We finally managed to get a song thaew to Future Park which was all of 10 minutes away. And now we were at the final leg of the trip and hopped on our last van, both beyond eager to lie down. After having walked about a kilometre from where the last van dropped us, we arrived, feeling rather exhausted. I should also mention that my suitcase was broken and so I had to drag it around on 1 and a third of its original 2 wheels. I was helped in last couple meters of the walk by a Thai man who used some contraption to wheel my bag the last little bit, I was so grateful.  

The next day I signed the contract for the apartment, my first apartment! It’s not much, but its mine. It felt so good to unpack everything! No more suitcases!! Well for the moment in anyway. That night I was keen to skype Tristan, but first had to help Sara out as she was rather worked up about where she was staying. After skyping her for an hour and then Tristan and I skyping her, Tristan and I could finally talk. 5 hours later we decided it’d be best to go to bed. And we’d decided Tristan would visit first, in 3 days’ time.

The next couple days involved shopping with Angie for some apartment essentials, unpacking and just chilling. Oh and Angie also helped me sort out my phone so I was able to use it when I wasn’t connected to wifi, such a relief. On Monday afternoon Angie left for Laos to apply for a work permit, so all I really had to do that day was chill until Tristan arrived, which was at about 10 that night. We’d done so much moving around in the past month, Tristan and I decided to have a relaxing week. The first week in Rangsit involved hospital visits (Tristan needed a check up on his toe), a trip to Terminal 21 in Bangkok and watching the new Captain America movie at Future park. Sadly, the week with Tristan ended all too quickly and before I knew it, we were heading to Future Park so Tristan could catch a van back to Sriracha, the area he was teaching in.

Some amazing cupcakes from Cupcake Love in Terminal 21.

Movie time!

The weather conditions Angie and I were faced with.

Tristan and I exploring Future Park.

Thanks for reading,read the next post to find out how my first week working as a teacher in Thailand went!

Happy wandering,

Centaine xx