Don't Look Back in Anger

I write this in an internet cafe in beautiful coastal town of Gaeta in southern italy (halfway between Rome and Naples ). So I’ve obviously left Thailand and I thought that I had had my fill of amazing scenery in Asia but the stunning bay surrounded by mountains and old Mediterranean buildings shows that you can find such beauty closer to home. Your probably thinking why I’m in Italy? Well it all happened rather quickly my visit to the British embassy first thing Monday morning proved much more successful than anticipated. I started to ask about temporary passport when the lady said ill just check if your renewed passport has arrived. I thought it was a rather vain attempt as it was still a week away from my collection date, but it wasn’t and amazingly the woman came round the corner with my new passport. Straight away I realized that I could now head home via Italy to see Dad and Sandra and within a couple of hours I had booked a flight direct to Rome leaving at 3in the morning. It all happened so quickly but it was probably the best way, the time was right to leave Thailand, we were all getting very restless (Paul and Neil were very jealous of my sudden departure as their not leaving till Thursday for Japan ) and just about reached our limit with the craziness of boiling and polluted Bangkok . So within 24hours of booking my flight I found myself via taxi ,plane ,train ,train and bus in Geata in Italy on another mode of transport, the great ship sundowner 2.

My last few days in Bangkok kept up to the rather crazy nature of the previous weeks. Me and Neil hooked up again with Paul on Friday back at the four sons in Bangkok. I had intended on a quiet one as we had a big night planned for Saturday. Paul didn’t have the same idea and I joined him on a rather eventful night out along Khosan rd. another interesting night out followed on the Saturday night . We were determined not to let the party end and as each club closed we made efforts to find another one which we did every time and as a result found ourselves at the 3rd club of the night at 6 in the morning! What should have been a pretty monster hangover the next day was nullified by the foot long subway I had before I eventually went to sleep at 7!sunday was still a quiet one as I just started to cross my fingers that one way or another I would soon be on the way home .

So it’s Thursday and I’m obviously closer to home but still having an amazing time. Yesterday was great we(yes me included I was at the helm for a while!)sailed to a beach 2 and a half hours down the coast to meet auntie Jackie and my 2 cool Italian cousins Christina and Steffi. The sailing was great and really calm and a perfect way to view the beautiful coast. Upon arrival and anchor just outside the beautiful beach we all decided it would be a great idea to jump into the clear and refreshing sea. By Refreshing I mean it was certainly on the cold side but it was so great (particularly as the temp are imo equal to Thailand )and the water was so clear. Shame that there was no fish to spot on my new favourite hobby of snorkeling but it was very interesting to see all the wildlife that attaches itself to the bottom of the boat! We got the dinghy to the beach for an hour or so before we headed back to Geata. I spent the return journey lying on the front of the boat listening to Alan partridge on my ipod whilst admiring the stunning coastline a slightly surreal way to do things !we anchored just off the coast once we got back and the rowed to the mainland to watch the footy have a few beers and eat amazing pizza, so amazing that I didn’t indulge in my new love - Italian ice cream !just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better I get a text from Dan saying David Webb has left Yeovil –great news the man has done nothing but destabilise the club since he came back for the third time. Hopefully he’ll stay away for good this time .

Well the plan is to stay here for a week or so, I’m going to check out flights but I may head straight to Bristol so I can come and see all you Somerset people but as the last few days have shown things can change very quickly.

The Importance of Being Idle

Well, it's been a funny week, since I was last with you I spent 3 days pretty much on the toilet (it had to happen once I suppose!), watched far too much football, spent an evening drinking with a Colombian tennis player, ohh and sat down with 2 tigers! To be honest it was a heavy one last night (back at 6am!) and I don't know if I have it in me to write all about it. Instead I am going to put some pics (from the last few weeks) up from my camera as I got the memory card put onto disc earlier. I might be able to tell most of you about the other stuff pretty soon, because basically I've decided that the time is right to head home. This is how lazy I'm feeling today I am basically going to cut and paste the email I sent to Mum explaining why I've decided to head home...

"About the passport. well I was half aware, me being me thought I might be able to chance it and leave it till the last minute but for once I didn't manage to get away with it. To be honest its really messed me up because I am seriously thinking about heading home now cause 3 weeks of just waiting for my passport (I obviously cannot do too much as I am trying to save money) is getting pretty damn boring and its expensive especially when I know I have to pay the money back and then spend even more for 2/3 weeks going to Vietnam/Cambodia.

Having a few days in the piece and quiet in Kanchanburi has led to me do alot of thinking, I've had the most amazing time of my life these last few weeks I haven't been unhappy for one second, but I'm starting to think now that I've had my fill, to stay any longer would be greedy.

I've got a qualification a job that will enable me to save save and save to finally rid myself of all my debts and the sooner I get home the sooner I will be able to move forward. If I spend another few weeks waiting and travelling your talking around 600quid probably more knowing my ability to spend!

Also Paul is very keen to get settled with a job in Bangkok and he said he would defo wouldn't mind waiting for us but he will have to write that off till mid July if he did, and I dont think I should hold him back - and I don't really enjoy travelling on my own which is the other option.

Also I am getting very restless with this travelling lark bag to bag place to place, I think Im finally missing my creature comforts like robinsons orange sqaush,sofa sundays and my own little pull out bed in Flat 3!

So I am pretty much on the course of heading home, and I think the time is right to do so, being me there is a slight sticking point in that my old passport is with my passport renewal that I handed in at the Embassy last week. I spoke to someone at the embassy on the phone today who seemed pretty sure that I as long as I had a flight ticket booked I could get a temproray passport that would cover me for that one journey. I am ringing them again tommorrow to clarify. Ideally I might be back say early next week.

Anyway this email kind of gives the impression that I am a miserable bugger stuck thousands of miles away but thats defo not the case I'm still having a ball (despite spending the last 3 days having a rather too friendly relatioship with the toilet - it had to happen sooner or later all the beer and funny food I have eaten!) and will do till I leave. I think for once I might actually be being sensible - remember it it might be some time before it happens again!"

So there you have it failing any problems at the Embassy tommorow I should be back in England soon. I'm sure there are a few more experiences left in me to tell you all very soon!
















Myself at the TEFL awards ceremony with my make up lady!
















A few of the TEFL crew enjoying themselves, maybe Paul and Sean on the left a little too much!
















Beer by the sea.
















The last night in Patong at Suzy Wongs. It says "Ass smacking fun" but Paul is in the way.
















The hotess stands with TEAM TEFL with whips in hand!
















The river in Bangkok which one day suddenly had loads of leaves on it.
















Kanchanburi so beautiful and peaceful, a world away from Bangkok.



















If I look a little aprehensive then that's cause I was.

Roll with it

Well it's been a while since I last let you all know what I've been up to, thought I would wait till I was really hungover because it seems to sort my head out being sat on the computer for a hour. And Yes I'm really hungover, after a few weeks rest I decided to get back on the Changs (the 60p price tag might've had something to do with it!) a few of them followed by the obligatory Long Island's meant I woke up this morning with a very sore head. I've spent the afternoon watching Scarface in the restaurant in our hotel and after sitting there for 2 1/2 hours the dvd decided to break 10 minutes from the end, so I didnt say 'ello to my little friend'.

It seems a while ago and I actually have forgotten what I did last Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday it obviously wasn't anything too interesting. The most exciting thing was that Paul and I moved to a hotel just of Khao San Rd and as we are keeping an eye on the pennies decided to get a twin room, obviously ensuring the beds were far enough apart! On Thursday we went to an old prison set in one of the parks in Bangkok. Instead of housing inmates it is now the home of the Museum of Corrections. Inside each cell there are artefects such as instruments of torture, the machine gun used for previous executions and loads of other interesting but slightly disturbing stuff such as the old syringes prisoners use to use to inject their drugs - nasty! It wasn't as weird as it sounds and it was actually made quite funny by some old lady leading us around describing everything to us in non-stop Thai which we just responded to with a smile and "Okay". We went out that night to a place called RCA which is pretty much the 'Bangkok Deansgate Locks' loads of really cool/trendy bars so not really Deansgate Locks then, but I hope you get what I mean. We stayed in the first one we went into all night the music was great but mainly because they had bottles of Jonnie Walker whisky for around 15quid. Having a big bottle of spirits in pubs/clubs over here is a really common thing, so much so that most bars have loads of bottles behind the bar which people bar and leave and come back and drink whenever they want. In some clubs here you can actually take your own bottle of spirits in and you just pay for the mixers. Whereas Thais might buy a bottle and drink a bit and save some for next time such a habit is pretty much alien to 4 brits (Paul and I were joined by our former coursemates Tony and George - who we had spotted in Bangkok a couple of days previous) and we had 2 bottles between us. As a result we were all ridiculously drunk and dancing like loons, although this didn't stop endless Thais coming up to us and chatting and dancing to us for most of the night.

The next day's hangover was componded further by the news that I wasn't going to get a visa to go to Cambodia as my passport is less than 6 months expiry, so our intended departure on Tuesday wasn't going to happen. It can only be described as a 'grade A f**k up' for once my lack of organisation really making me pay and rueing not sorting it out before I came over - that would have been too sensible. It takes 3 weeks to get a new passport so I have to stay in Thailand for all that time. Granted, it's not the worst place to stay but I was really geared to do some proper travelling and keen to get to Cambodia and Vietnam cause they are alot chaper than Thailand. Oh well as someone once said 'You've gotta Roll with it' and at least the World Cup starts soon.

I soon forgot about my troubles when Paul and I headed to Pattaya on Saturday. Pattaya is named 'Sin City' mainly because if you want a girl, boy or even a girl/boy then your money is very very much welcome there. As a result the town has perhaps the highest proportion of fat, bald, ugly, pasty white men in the world outside of America of course! Seeing such men with attractive young ladies is at first quite an odd and slightly amusing sight, but you see it so much that in the end you become immune to it. Something that you don't become immune to are all the bar girls all shouting from their workplaces 'WELCOME' , 'HEY SEXY MAN' at ridiculous volume everytime you walk past and I'll say this there are alot of bars and consequently alot of bargirls. We managed to find some really cheap digs and soon headed off into the night, where fun was had by all!

Sunday was pretty quiet had a look at defo the worst beach in Thailand, went Bowling of which I won one game and remarkably stayed off the beer - 3 nights on the drink had taken their toll. I had to leave early on Monday morning to be back in Bangkok for lunchtime so I could head to the British Embassy to apply for my bloody passport. In order to keep the spending down we've not done much since except change hotels for one with a TV just to stem the boredom. One of the lads off the course Neil arrived yesterday hence the night out last night. We have decided that Bangkok is getting a bit too much so we are all heading to Kanchanaburi tommorow for a week or so to get out of the city and find some peace and quiet. I loved it last time I went and wished I could've spent more time there and now seems like a great time to do it and its cheaper up North (it always is isn't it!).

So it's been a low key week or so exactly what was needed, Yeovil have finally got a new manager and started signing players and the World Cup starts tommorow so I think the quiet times will soon be over.

It's good to be free

Well it's been a while since I posted and whilst its been a busy few days, not having to get up for school every morning at 9 has been pretty damn good. I am actually in Penang, an island in Malaysia at the mo and its the first time I've atcually been on my own since I left England and its a nice change but my hyperactive nature means I am looking forward to getting back to Bangkok tommorow and catching up with Paul (new nose and all!).

Well we got to Bangkok last Monday with no problems, and checked in to a hostel, a little bit out the way called Big Johns. Big John is an Australian who I am led to believe started selling pies and then basically everything snowballed from there and he has a hostel where you can eat his pies, arrange travel pretty much all sorts. Its a great cheap place if a little out the way, but the pie. chips and gravy certainly made up for it when we got there in the afternoon. I went for a quick nap around 6 ish and the previous week must have really caught up with me cause I woke up at 7 the next morning. I woke up feeling so refreshed and really glad that I had managed to catch up on the hours I had lost in Phuket. As a result a days shopping didn't turn out anyway near as bad as it should have done especially when you find an Argentina 86 shirt for 7quid, Paul bought retro Germany one as well - St Georges flags on cars boys we certainly are not!

With Paul going to get his nose done on Wednesday, we decided that myself. Alex, Sarah and Keith would head to Kanchanaburi, a place made famous as it was the scene of the infamous 'Death Railway' and location for the film 'Bridge on the River Kwai'. We understimated the Bangkok traffic which really is a nightmare and arrived half an hour late for our 2 1/2 hour bus to Kanchanaburi, but luckily it was still there and after lunch time we arrived at the River Guest House, which was exactly how it sounds, a guest house on the river. It was like being on my Dad's boat again everytime a longtail boat sped past to disturb the peace, the room we were staying in bobbed up and down - but the view was so beautiful it was worth it. We had big plans for the rest of the day once we got there but they soon disappered when we fell asleep amongst the tanquility after some food. As it was the last night myself. Alex, Keith and Sarah would be together as a result of me and Alex catching a flight on Friday we decided on one last hurrah that night. This was made easier in that the others found some lovely wine (a rairty and an expensive one at that in this part of the world) I just stuck to the beer then Jack Daniels and coke - something my head certainly regretted the next day! It was an eventful night that was for sure.

We woke up on Thursday refreshed and eager to make the most of catching the sights around Kanchanburi. We had made a contact in a bar the previous night for a driver and for just 20quid the 3 of us had a driver for the day and we imeadiately made our way to Hellfire Pass just over an hour away from Kanchanaburi. Hellfire Pass is one of the most recognised spots on the 'death railaway' that was built by Prisoners of War/ Many more locals for the Japanese war effort during World War 2. Hellfire Pass is a beautiful place with stunning scenary, despite this it was the scene of horrendous attrocities commited over 50 years ago. The site has been kept as it was and it involves a 4 km stretch walk along the old railway to give some albeit a little understanding of what those under Japanese control had to do. Hellfire pass is known as such because of the glow that emanted from the workers from the torch light that kept the prisoners working throughout the night - often after intensive day shifts. The tour involved listnening to an mp3 player with different stories from veterand at specific points - this really helped to give a sense of what happened. Basically the men on ridiculous rattions (1/4 of your recomended allowance) had to cut through rock 60 ft high to create a passage way all the while battling disease, fatigue, but even more disturbingly viscious abuse from their captors. It was really an emotional and amazing experience one that I won't forget for a long time, it just seemed impossible that such horror could occur in such beauty. After the tour at Hellfire pass we grabbed some cheap but lovely food and headed to a waterfall which was stunning although I have forgotten the name of it - but it was the perfect tonic for the emotional trip around Hellfire Pass. Our last stop on on our tour was the Bridge on the River Kwai (from the film) which after everything we had seen seemed a little false, but worth seeing nonetheless. Alex and I headed back to Bangkok in the evening as we had flights early in the morning, we had to leave Keith in Kanchanaburi, it was a real shame we had to do so.

Alex and I had to catch a taxi bleary eyed at 5 the next morning to go to the airport - I was flying to Malaysia to see Auntie Claire and Uncle Nik, whilst Alex had to head back to New York City. It sounds alot easier than it turned out cause surprise surprise someone hadn't checked their passport which was now less than 6 months from expiry (a requirement to get into Malaysia) and guess what, it wasn't Alex. Air Asia let me on although I had to sign a disclaimer absolving me of any costs I might occur if Malaysia immigration sent me back. I was worrying the whole way on the flight to Pennag (where I was catching my onward flight to Langakwai) however I needn't have bothered as I was waved through immigration with no problems. So I made it eventually to Langkawi which I have to say was an beautiful place even before I managed to arrive at the hotel Claire and Nik were at. Luxury doesn't even come close and I wont even begin to describe what it was like here's, the website http://www.thedatai.com/ it was just amazing. Lets just say it's not somewhere I will be able to afford to go to ...well for a very very long time or a honeymoon!

I left there this morning for 24 hours in Penang a little island in between Malaysia and Thailand. I'm being very crareful when it comes to money now, that and being on my own today felt that it was the first time I was properly travelling! I had to work out and find a bus to Georgetown the capital of the island (20km) away and then find a place to stay. I found a decent place for a fiver and after a nice walk around and a few beers I am back at the hotel doing this. Going back to Bangkok tommorow for a few days then hitting Pattaya which is supposed to be very 'interesting'! This time next week we shall hopefully be on the way to Cambodia as long as I can sort my passport out, and maybe just maybe the Glovers might have a Manager!

They think it's all over...it is now.

Well its Saturday morning and we are all getting ready to leave Phuket and head off to pastures new. I think the last few days have started to catch up on me as I am absolutely knackered. I have added a few pictures from the last few weeks so have a look.

Thursday night was an absoultely mental night, a real good way for everyone to get together one last time and just celebrate what we have acheived. We all met up in a bar called Relax, I had decided during the week that loads of the lads should get loads of crazy shirts - which we did as you can see on the pictures we certainly looked a sight. Myself and an Australian called Craig had decided previously that we would hold an 'awards ceremony' with things like biggest smoker, biggest drinker and so on. Greg and I hosted the ceremony and it was decided to make things more interesting he would be the male host in his suit and I would be ...well the female host! So it turned out that I ended up wearing a very short black number (pictures to follow very soon) with some fetching David Bowie style make up. Everyone seemed to enjoy the entertainment, even when my boxer shorts were showing out of the bottom of my dress! The night went on from there (after I had changed of course) with far too much drink consumed, far too much dancing all in all a fantastic night.

Yesterday started off okay, but as the day progessed my hangover detoriated. Me and Alex went to see Da Vinci code, which is probably not the most appropriate film to watch when your brian is only working at minimal capacity. The plan last night was for a pub crawl along the street where the school is, but the previous evenings activities meant that it was slightly lower key than anticipated.

I was woken up this morning by a truly torrential downpour (the rain has become more frequent of late) so still tired. Not sure what we are doing before we leave for Bangkok on Monday but I hope its more relaxing!

Pete takes exception at my Argentina shirt, whilst giving me my certificate.

Paul recieving his certificate from Pete (course director)watched by Greg and Urica (2 of our teachers and excellent ones at that)


Team Tefl with their nice shirts on display.

My name is Seb and I'm a teacher

Apologies for the delay in the latest offering, its basically been a week of getting all the various bits done to enable me to be a certifed TEFL teacher, so the blog has had to take a back seat. The long and short of it is that in just under a hours time I shall be getting my certificate that says I can teach English - get in! The hardest aspect of the course was the 3 hour Grammar test, regular readers on here will be suprised to know I managed to get 88.5% easily passing the 75% required. There has been a few other side projects to do which have been pretty straightforward but still takes the time to do it. There is just one more task we have to do this afternoon, we have spent the last day designing our own games for the students which we will play with them today. I was amazed at my own creative talents in creating a clock based on 'world times' and somehow I have managed to pair Yeovil with the great cities of New York , Tokyo, Moscow et al, I hope the students appreciate it!

The early part of last week was pretty much spent teaching and preparing some of the revision and work required for this week. So the first 3 days were hectic and not that interesting. A few of us had the idea of having one last big drink before a weekend of revision on the Friday. Luckily we found out early on that as it was a Buddhist holiday on Friday alcohol would be scarce - so we decided to make Thursday the new Friday night and head to Patong. Patong has a vibrant strip of 'interesting' bars which is a lot more fun cause it is nowhere near as sleazy as Pat Pong in Bangkok. In fact the two American girls I went to Phi Phi came with ;Alex and Sarah came with us, so there was no 'sleaziness'! A great night was had by all with a fair few drinks sunk, mostly my new drink of choice vodka and tonics. Alex and I decided to stop messing about with our previous days flirting and get together and 1 week on we are still having fun!

Friday morning was a bit messy so it was a good job that we didn't have anything too taxing in class. The best way to cure a hangover in this country is to hit the beach and throw yourself into the waves a few spins in that and your hangover is well and truly forgotten. That is exactly what we did and whilst I had to admit defeat at one point when I pulled a muscle the waves certainly did the trick. We stayed at the beach till the sun went down during which the beautiful Ni Harn beach somehow looked even better. Friday night was supposed to be a realxing affair especially with alcohol being scarce. Unfortunately/Fortunately it wasnt and we headed to our local bar/restauarant 'Cheweys' for a few drinks. The day and the previous nights events had taken its toll and I ended up at one point nearly asleep on the sofa but a vodka and redbull soon sorted that out. The red bull over here isnt fizzy and comes in a small bottle, the reason being I suppose cause it is ridiculously strong, but it certainly perks you up! So another nights drinking was enjoyed as I put myself in the best shape to do a weekends revision.

The weekend was very boring for me with plenty of revison so I'll spare you the boring details.
Monday came and I walked out the 3 hour test feeling hopeful but very confindent that the weekend's revision had done enough to make me get the 75% required. A few of us decided to let off some steam, well a lot of steam and start drinking. The drinking was briefly interupted by us going up to the school (albeit with a can of beer in hand!) to get our results and even the numerous vodka and tonics coudlnt contain my excitment at getting 88.5%. The day pretty much carried on liek that but I finally had to admit defeat at 9:30 and head home a little sorry a lot worse for wear.

As it was an earlier finish than I am usually accustomed to my hangover wasnt as bad as I had would've predicted, this was a good job as I was teaching my last lesson in the afternoon. I cannot blame the hangover but I was really dissapointed with my last lesson, I messed up a few times and was annoyed that I finished off with a bit of a damp squib. Hey, no point dwelling on I reckon I've showed in the lessons previous what I'm capable off and the observers agreed so by no means the end of the world.

Yesterday was pretty much spent creating my game, I had planned to sleep before Champions League final and get up at 1:45 to watch it. However the recent events have clearly started to take their toll and I decided a good nights sleep would be better than seeing Frances finest lose to Barcelona!

So thats pretty mcuh it, fairly low key compared to recent weeks events. However, tonight the whole group is going to get together for one last time at a place called Relax with a buffett and alcohol all for just 400baht around 7quid. I imagine there will be a few stories from that. Until next time...

Here is a picture of everyone on the course, were all looking happy because we've just got our certificates!

Feelin even more 'Supersonic'

Firstly, I have been told off by some classmates at the TEFL school for my appalling grammar on the blog - behaviour not really expected by an English teacher! It's a fair cop, normally when I write the blog though I'm normally hungover and I just bash it out. However I'm going to sort myself out, so you grammarians out there should see an improvement. Speaking of 'grammar' that is definately proving the mosty challenging, I ve forgotten so much of the technical terms and all that cause I learnt nearly 15 years ago. Seen as I should be sure of what I'm teaching I've just bought a book 'How English works - A grammar practice book' so I shall ploughing through that for the next couple of weeks.

Well I've just got back from the most beatuiful place I've ever been too, Ko Phi Phi an island an hour and a halfs boat ride from Phuket. It's most famous because it was where 'The Beach' was filmed. To be honest I am still on an emotional high from the various sights I ve witnessed and however I try to describe it, it certainly won't do it justice.

It was initally going to be loads of us off the course, and as my role as organiser of 'Team TEFL' I was going to have to sort out travel and accomodation for 15 people. Luckily the number dwindled down to 5; myself, 2 American girls Alex and Sarah, Keith from Denver and Mike who is English but is a seasoned traveller and has lived in France for 8 years. Paul decided he had had enough of me and stayed in Phuket for a relaxing weekend! Anyway, its a only half day on Friday so at 2 we were getting on the boat to Ko Phi Phi which was only 5quid. The boat docks in a busy little port and you are immeaditaley besiged by Thais offering accomodation for various places on the island. I had spoken to a lad off the course and he said as soon as you get there just get a long boat taxi to Hat Yeo (Long Beach) where there's loads of cheap beachside bungalows and it's alot quieter, more relaxing and probably the most beautiful beach on the island. That all proved to be true and we soon found oirselves on a lovely beach looking for somehwhere to stay. The nicer looking places were full, so we ended up in what could be described as the most basic option. The two girls got a room for just over a fiver with a shower/toilet mosquito nets and fans for around 6 quid. We 'splashed out' and ended up paying 1.50 each for a room that was basically 3 beds (well at first glance they looked like beds on closer inspection there werent the most comfortable or clean ones!), very dim lights, 1 fan, all topped off with very very communal basic toilet and shower faciltites. Howvever, this was all made much less siginificant cause you could actually hear the waves lapping on the beach from the bed and we knew that a fair few drinks would be hard and sleeping probably wasn't going to be high on the agenda. We were right and we found that a stupid amount of Sam Song/Red Bull = skinny dipping at 2 in the morning! The less said about that the better, although with a camera doing the rounds I'm sure I wont be able to forget about it for a while!

Still a little drunk and weary from sleeping on a damp and hard bed I woke up at 7 and decided the best way to wake up would be to have a little swim. It certainly wasn't the worst sight I've had 1st thing in the morning the stunning landscape bettered by some magnificient cloud formations- not for the first time at the weekend I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't imagining it all. Maybe it was the Sam Song the night before but the rest of the group soon joined me and breakfast by the sea was had. Keith hired some snorkel masks, something which I was keen to do as I had never done before and the crystal clear waters looked like a good place to start. Aside from my own stupid fear of running into a shark, I swam transfixed looking at all manner of fish amongst beutiful coral and urchins. The fish just didn't seem to be bothered at all just going about their business, there were so many different types but the 'Nemos' were my favourite. I could have stayed out there all day but we decided that we were going to move to slightly more upmarket accomodation just down the beach. We hired a family room for all 5 of us with all the mod cons all for just 5quid each -much better. In the evening we headed back to the port and rather than get a long boat we decided to walk along the ruugged coastline which took around half an hour but again the beauty of the island was evident with more amazing beaches and coves. The port area was alot busier than Hat Yo which was so peaceful. We ended up in a bar called Apache which was very 'English' another Thai Chicago Rock, but seemed to be the only busy place in the area. I'm not sure why as it played some pretty basic dance music, was very cheesy and full of drunken Westerners. All that aside I managed to sink enough to make me dance (well I thought I was dancing the Americans in our party reckoned otherwise!)I like a loon for a few hours. We got a boat back, half an hour walk was definately beyond me at the stage and I soon passed out on the bed.

We got up at 8 and after a bit of faffing about we decided that we would hire a longboat and go to the smaller island opposite us called Phi Phi Le and do some quick snorkelling - we had to catch the ferry at 2:30 so we didnt have as long as we would have liked. Its the isalnd where they filmed the Beach but nothing prepared me for the sheer beauty of it. Its an uninhabited island but baot upon boat descend to its inlets and coves. Even the approach to our 1st spot was just a joy to see huge cliffs littered with greenery dotted about. The cliffs have been worn away by erosion so it looks like the isalnd is almost floating just above the waterline. We stopped at a beautiful(sorry I keep using that word alot but its just the best way to describe it) inlet and the water was even clearer than that at Hat Yao and we got snorkelling straight away. It was so much better than at Hat Yao more fish, more variety and just clear water. Aside from fish we got close to an an amazing Heron type bird which clearly didnt care about our presence, saw loads of crabs on the rocks and topping all that we swam into a cave and soon found ourselves in something straight out of a National Geographic picture. The cave had a hole say 100 feet above which let the light in highlighting the amazing rock formations, its hard to describe but it was just breathtaking. Short on time we reluctantly had to head back but the Long boat driver showed us even more amazing scenery, which literally was jaw dropping, we spent 20 minutes just in awe of what was in front of us. I'll try and get some pictures up soon but they will still not do the place justice.It was so horrible to have to head back but we had to get back for the ferry to Phuket. You might guess that I quite like the place, it was just the perfect get away from the pressure and familarity of the course, even better with great people- with memories that will last a very long time.

During the week the course really picked up the pace, and I had a further 2 teaching lessons, the 1st one was a bit dissapointing I thought I made a few silly mistakes and stupidly didnt follow the good plan I had done for the lesson. The staff here are great though and really do focus on the positives and make you reliase not to be too hard on yourself. The 3rd one though went so well, not only did I do most things right, but the students seemed to really understand me and tehy really seemed to enjoy themselves as did I. There is a big emphasis here to make the lessons fun as well as teaching the main points and it was so rewarding to get the students coming up to the you at the end of the lesson and saying 'thank you'. The more I teach the more I believe that it is something I want to do, to be honest I think I would want to do soemthing TEFL rather than living and teaching in England - especially if it means I can spend the weekends in places like Ko Phi Phi. First off though I am going to be a nanny for my favourite Auntie Claire very very hopefully in New York which I'm sure will be just as good as teaching! Its really good Alex who went to Phi Phi with us lives in New York and shes promised to take us out and show me some real dancing! Only had one night on the drink during this week after the teaching on Wednesday so I've been very good, especially when I am combining that with regular trips to the Gym. I'm actually starting to enjoy the workouts although I've still got some catching up to do with Paul.

Anyway the weekend is really starting to catch up with me so I will sign off - too tired to check it all so despite my good intentions apologies for any mistakes. Good to see the Glovers end the season in 15th place, no more football until...well that big cup thing in Germany!

Me and Alex

Clockwise Keith, Mike, Me and Alex

Me and Sarah after a couple of drinks!

A great example of when you've had too much Sam Song and Red Bull

Not the worse view 20m from your bedroom.

Hardly your greasy spoon in Elephant and Castle!

What happens when you have 2 nights on the drink

What you look like at the end of 2 nights on the drink.

The Beach

See how clear the water is

Its not all Cigarettes and Alchol!

I was just re reading my blog earlier on and realised that alcohol plays a significant part and perhaps I should highlight that Thailand isnt just about Changs and Long Island Ice Teas!

Firstly the food its fantastic. For between 1 and 2 quid you can have a plate of proper nice food. As its so cheap, we just have all our meals out, and if you just want a quick bite whereas in England you might have reached for the Ginsters here a nice bit of chicken and rice is a much healthier and nicer alternative. I'm mainly sticking to the rice/meat dishes often with say garlic or pepper. You can get some really spicy dishes over here, often in the soups but with my tempremental stomach I've probably quite rightly steered clear. Also you can get some fantastic meat over, the barbecue beef and chicken is great and as I said before its just so cheap. There is alot of seafood over here but to be honest I am not a massive fan and I'm slightly worried about my stomach again! I still have had a huge variety of different dishes over here, each restaurant or street seller makes different versions or makes it slighlty different from than last place. Despite being a well known snackhead I've been very good about crisps and chocolate, which is equally surprising cause whilst the food is great for some reason it doesnt seem to fill you up. The only time I would say Ive had a full stomach is when we had a McDonalds yesterday. Terrible I know but great for a hangover, but I will certainly not get in the habit of it, which is easier said than done cause they actually do delivery over here! I am planning on doing a Thai cooking course when the course finishes cause I would love to cook some of the food when I have to trudge back to Blighty!

Another thing is that the Taxi drivers they come in to forms either a motorbike taxi or a tuk tuk which is a very odd vehicle best described as half motorbike/half car. They are ridiculously cheap, but there really dont know where anything is! Our school is on a very busy main road, its dead in the middle between the 2 main hospitals, but try as I might they just dont seem to know where to go. Same with our apartment again its on a busy road but they just dont know. We've even got cards with adresses in Thai for both places, but you still get the same confused look. Its a good job we didnt have to rely on them too much as we've got the bike.

Dim Taxi drivers aside the Thai people are amazing, it really is as they call it - 'The Land of Smiles'. Everyone be it restaurants or shops are just so friendly and helpful. The ones in the classroom are even more happy, they seem to really enjoy the lessons and have alot of fun as well as learning. They are also very respectful of you as well, as teachers are seen as very important people in society - defo not the same as in England. Speaking of which I had my 2nd teaching lesson today which went well despite a couple of hiccups. Again, I knew what I did wrong straight away its all about ironing the mistakes out with practice, even then the observer said I managed to work my way through it well. It is really enjoyable teaching them, so much so that the nerves soon go when you get stuck in.

Mossies are unfortunately quite a nuisance, and they seem to like me and there seem to have been a fair few in my room. Ive been getting the odd bite here and there until recently when it stepped up a notch, and the constant process of applying tiger balm was getting tiresome. So I had a bit of a cull last night and spent half an hour tracking the buggers down and 7 met there maker but clearly there were some hanging about cause I had a few more bites this morning. I am going to invest in some higher strength Mossie spray but I do have a few attractive scabs! The mossie bites go well with my burn on my leg from the motorcycle exhaust I got the other day as well, which has turned nice and scabby - the Chemist clearly has seen such a injury before so knew straight away what cream to give us.

Anyway theres probably loads I have forgotten which I no doubt will try to shed some light on later, but just thought I should let you know there is much more to this place than alcohol - although that aint half bad either!

"I'm feeling Supersonic"

Firstly apologies for the rather long delay in me updating the blog, its been a busy few days, now that we have got free net access at the Language School should be more regular!

Following on from last time, we did make it to the Cinema for just under 4 quid for the VIP section in a massive multiplex. We saw The Inside Man which was good but would have been even better if it finsihed 20 mins ealrier - it really tailed off at the end. The most unsual thing about the cinema is that just before a film starts in Thailand , you have to stand up and observe the national anthem. As the long anthem is being played, a montage of the King of Thailand is played on the screen. The Royal family is very very important over here, they are massive pictures of the King(most of the time with a camera!) everywhere, there is certainly more of a attachment to their royal fmaily than ours. Did slip slightly from the no beer rule, whilst watching the Newcastle - Sunderland game, but nevermind.

The next day me and Paul explored Bangkok using the old and the new. We got a old style river boat for a 20 minute journey, which really gives you a chance to see the city and its variety; the old palaces, chinese buildings, mosques and many skyscrapers. The boat was really good, but we had to be careful not to stand or sit in the area reserved for Monks!We moved from the ancient travel to Bangkoks version of the tube, well sort of cause its actually overground and is called the Skytrain. It lets you see loads of Bangkok and is much cleaner, cheaper and comfortable than London underground. We got the Skytrain to MBK the massive shopping center and for just under 20quid I got myself a watch, pair of shorts and a pair of very comfy fake Birkenstocks. After a quick recharge of the batteries we headed out for a few beers, which proved surprisingly harder than on previous nights, because of the election the next day all beer sales were suspended. We heard various reasons druing the course of the night, the most plausibale was that the authorites want as many people as possible to vote so they take away the beer and subsequent hangovers the next day. After a lot of hunting and asking fellow travellers where they had got theirs we found a bloke with a van who was dishing out bottles and cocktails to all and sundry. Once we found somewhere we decided to stay there and we did until the early hours during which the number of fellow travellers had converged and made a Thai man with a van very rich indeed.

On the Wednesday just ambled about during the day and in the evening we went to the 'notorious' area called Patpong.Basically the strip is a collection of really horrible bars, with loads of tacky neon signs, expensive and watered down drinks even the ladies arent that nice. Walking to and from the terrible bars we were pestererd all the time with blokes shoving pieces of paper with various 'acts; that for the right price a lady will do for you. The place was horrible and after an hour or so we left and headed back to Khosan Road. The night didnt get much better as we ended up in a bar called Gullivers which could best be described as the Bangkok Chicago Rock. Still we have had our fair share of fun recently so cant really complain.

After checking out of our hotel on Thursday, I had to find myself a cheap CD player (as my ipod was still broken) there was no way I was going to have a 16 hour journey with no music! At 6 we boarded the sleeper train at Bangkok train station, the set up is that there are 2 big seats facing each other, the seats pull out to form a bed on the bottom and there is also a bed above them which is pulled out. Almost as soon as we got on the train people started putting the beds out! 7 oclock bedtimes are a pretty alien concept to us and perhaps most except the Thais it seems, so we decided to head down to the food/bar cart. We met 3 lads from Essex who had also decided that 7 was far too early to go bed and we spent a few hours swapping stories and pints. The bar shut at 10 so there was no choice we had to head back to our beds, which after the novelty wore off soon turned into a uncomfortable, hot and noisy sleeping area. It wasnt the best sleep I've ever had, but waking up at 5 and looking out the window and seeing the Thai countryside in a sea of mist was a pretty damn good view. Once our train stopped we had to get a 4 hour bus journey to Phuket which would have been okay if the bus wasnt crowded (basically natives can just jump on the bus at various points and stand in the aisle for the very long journey) very hot and if Paul didnt have a very very dodgy stomach. That problem certainly wasnt helped by the fact that the only toilet on there was padlocked, it was certainly touch and go for a while but Paul managed to hold on just! On arrival in Phuket we were met by Mark from the TEFL school and he took us to our home for the next 4 weeks. At first glance the rooms were really good, nice size big bathroom and plenty of storage but it soon became apparent that the 1 fan in the room wasnt going to stem the searing heat. Another negative was that the room was litterally yards from all the classrooms, it didnt really seem like you could just switch off from everything there. Paul felt the same and we both decided that we would have to find somewhere else, certainly with air con. Rooms aside the school and the people that worked were really impressive and we soon decided to explore the surrounding area. We soon met someone else on the course, Sean from Canada a really nice bloke who shall we say has similar interests...alcohol! We had a few that night but not too many, the travelling really took it out of us and it was a fairly early end to the night in comaprison to recent events.

Looking for alternative accomodation the next day proved alot harder than we anticipated, our frustration wasnt helped by the heat. However, the very last place we decided to check after a 4 hour search proved to be just right, its an unserviced hotel. For just over 70quid we got a large room, with a large bed, nice bathroom, a fridge(vital to keep all the water cool - I've been drinking like a camel) and most importantly air con. Its actually cheaper than the TEFL school, its only downside is that is in Phuket Town whereas the school is just outside the town - a 10/15 minute bike journey. I know its that long cause me and Paul decided we would hire a bike which again proved very cheap 40quid for a month so we could get around, Paul is more than an adequate driver, I just sit on the back and hold on! After the ardous task of getting a place, and with one eye on the course stating on Monday we decided to let our hair down one last time (well thats we thought then, it has since proved the opposite). Myself, Sean and Paul headed into Patong a 20 minute drive form the school, Patong is full of loads of bars most of which were descibred by the school staff as 'interesting'. It soon became apparent though that getting alchol would be a problem, as there were more elections planned so all the bars on the main strip werent selling alochol! Luckily we managed to find a Italian restaurant down a side street, where the staff greeted us with not a food menu but a cocktail menu which unfortunately included Long Island ice teas. Dan was keeping me updated with updates on the Yeovil score, which proved a demanding task as the Glovers tried their hardest to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, winning 4-3. The boost of a vital Yeovil win increased my spirits which were alrady well boosted by a few Changs and the old Long Islands. An interseting night followed, but Ill leave that for another time!!!

Sunday was a very delicate day, and primarily was all about recharging the batteries ready for the big day on Monday. We had a quick scout of Phuket on the bike, bought a few essentials from Tesco (sorry Dad) and was in bed for 10.

We arrived on Monday morning with 20 others, it was clear that the group was vaired with various aged people hailing from America, Canada, England India, Australian and a girl from Manchester. The 1st day was pretty much about getting to know the course and also our classmates, it was clear from the off that it was going to be a really well run and interesting alongside some top people. Paul likes to look after himself and so we had to find a gym to join, luckily there is a health spa 2 minutes around the corner from the school. Its amazing a very luxurous and realxing place with all the usual (steam room, jaccuzi, gym) and a lovely outdoor pool. As I have increasingly found in Thailand, it is very cheap and we got monthly membership for 20quid certainly looking at 3 maybe 4 times the price in England. Its so close to the school that there is no excuse to nip there to chill out or build them muscles - Paul is determined to teach me how to increase my rather gangly frame! All in all a really positive day which made me really hopeful of the next few weeks.

Tuesday was pretty much about getting to know the concept of teaching English to non-speakers. Its all very structured and there are loads of resources including some great staff to help us out which was good because we were told we would be teaching our 1st lesson on Wednesday. Despite a few nerves, the fact that we were so well assisted and prepared it went really well. Each lesson is split into half one half about Vocab the other grammar, luckily I was paired with Paul. My half was about teaching vocab related to people around you i.e step-mum, niece, classmate and acquaintance. My lesson was slighltly different from everyone else on the course cause it was a 1-1 but it went really well, inevitably I made some mistakes but I knew aftewards what I had done wrong so hopefully I wont do them next time. Each lesson is evaluated by a member of staff and the general conclusion was 'really good - 1st lesson' so I was pretty chuffed with how it all went. Teaching is split over 2 days so 11 people do 1 day and the other do it the next day, the beauty of that is that you get the next afternoon off. Luckily mine and Pauls half were pretty much the people were closest to on the course, and we all went out and let off some steam that night. The next day was greeted by a pretty bad hangover and I learnt a very important lesson, you need to have a pretty clear head to concentrate in lessons so late night drinking sessions probably are best kept to a minumum during the week anyway! The morning was pretty much spent looking at the clock waiting fro half 12 and the beach. The beach we went to was called Ni Harn (there are 5 or 6 in the surrounding area) and it probably goes down as the most beauitful view I have ever seen. Lush white sand, crystal clear and warm water, with big palm treed hills either side and its very quite. The boys amongst us well were boys and spent what seemed like hours messing about in the sea basically getting battered by some pretty big and powerful waves - we were very organised kept having a head count after each one so we didnt lose anyone! It was a really relaxing afternoon and much needed.

Friday morning was much better with a clear head and I really started to feel how much I have improved with regards to the course within just 1 week, bodes well for the future. A few of us decided we would start the weeknd off with a night in Patong, a few turned into actually 17. I soon found myself organising this large group with regard to what bar etc, but we pretty much all stayed together and by all accounts everyone had a great time - even my long island induced dancing didnt stop people talking to me. Its so good to meet people from so many different countries/backgrounds/situations, and I can genuinely say that there is no one I dislike. I got home at 6 and slept in the clothes I went out in so it must have been good!

Paul woke me up at 9 so I didnt have much sleep, basically just potted about near the school with the others, went to the gym for the steam room to sweat out the beer. We soon found ourselves back in the pub, which has quickly turned into the groups local 'E-Sarn'. Despite seeing the cheating diving champions beat Utd, the night soon picked up some pace. Huge games of Killer Pool soon started and then some silly bugger said shall we get some whisky. Basically over here you can buy whole bottles of spirits and people just sit and share, some nightclubs you can even take your own bottle in and you just pay for the mixers. So a group of us were soon on the '100 pipers' a snip at just 4quid a bottle. The night just carried on and on, and again I found myself back at the hotel at a time when some people are waking up! Today is defo going to be a quiet one!

Anyway, so far so very very good, everything seems to be going really well on all levels, oh and the bloddy Glovers only went and beat Huddersfield to ensure safety - life couldnt get much better!

Me and Paul on the River Taxi

Few beers down the line, even the camera went a bit drunk! (not really just off my mobile rather than my digital camera)

Paul on the train the seat opposite him pulls out to form the bed on the bottom. The silver ladder leads to the pull out bed on the top...as the picture below shows.

1 week on...

Firstly I am writing these amidst a Chang Beer/Long Island Ice Tea hangover from hell so apologies in advance for any grammatical/spelling mistakes a la Fat Harry style (The evil fans amongst you will know what I am talking about!)

Well far too much has happened since the last post, but the long and short of it is I am here and having a crazy time. This time last week I was getting my jabs and all that stuff from the Doctor to protect me from all the nastys, he also gave me a huge bag of condoms dont know what he was implying there!

You know me I like to do things last minute so on Tuesday I went to the Thai embassy to get my visa anticapting no problems, how wrong I was. I was getting a little nervous when the bloke in front of me was getting very irate cause he couldnt get a Visa on the day, it was going to take 3 working days. I tried to ignore this I thought that cant be right I've checked it on the net, but I was soon told there was no chance I was getting a visa on that day certainly not before I left in 36 hours. What I had done was looked at the Thai Consulate website not the embassy site, you see it is possible to get a visa from the Consualte on the same day except it was in...Hull! Despite my best attempts to come up with an alternative I found myself on the train from London to Hull at 6 on Wednesday morning (a little worse for wear few too many beers the night before) banking on National Rail to not delay me and me end up missing my flight. They did me proud (mind you at 70quid they bloody well should) and come 2 I was back in London for an emotional send off from Claire- you nearly set me off! We got to the airport no problem and we were soon on the connecting flight to Frankfurt, and by half 10 that night we were ready for take off to Bangkok. Bizarely there was less leg room on the flight to Bangkok than Frankfurt, there were no teles in the back of the seats (we had them when we went to New York!)even if one of the movies was friggin Harry Potter and there were 2 pissed Scandanavians already causing the air stweards hassle, it didnt appear that it was going to be the best 10 hours of my life. Luckily the early start in the morning and a couple of strong G and T meant that it wasnt as bad as it turned out and when we werent asleep we were laughing at the appalling antics of the drunks in front!

We arrived in Bangkok at midday and was greeted by searing and I mean searing heat and this was in the shade while we waited for a taxi! On the drive into the city my first impressions of Bangkok did I say it was hot, were how big it was and how many skyscrapers/tall buildings there were, of course surrounded by massive Western advertising. We knew it was Thai New Year before we came but nothing prepared us for the sight that greeted us as we turned into the street where our hotel was. The Thais see the New Year as an excuse to go crazy and basically stand in the street and chuck water and flour at everyone, cars and bikes included. Youve never seen so many super soakers in all your life and completely drenched people, such a distracting site that we missed the fact that all the 'go-go' bars were on our street thats another 'interesting' view. Pauls been here before and he had stayed at the hotel we checked into which was ace, not your typical backpacker pub but we felt we needed to have a good place to 'acclimitise', such as getting the sun in on their amazing roof top pool which we did straight away! We toured the various bars in the area in the evening either talking to Thai blokes about football (try explaning what league Yeovil are in to a bloke who can hardly speak English, not easy - League 1 gets somewhat lost in translation) and turning down request for ping pong balls being fired out of ...well you know! Just for Kirsty, we met some Tranmere fans, I was trying to explain where you lived and all that but the beers somewhat clouded my judgement!

The first of no doubt many hangovers greeted us on Thursday, and to clear the head we went shopping to the massive shopping centre called MBK. The Arndale it is not, it has 7 floors, huge gleaming escaltors, massive videoscreens everywhere and just about anything you could possibly want including some great fake football shirts, me and Geordie are going back before the World Cup starts to get the Argentina shirts (Let us know if you want one Iain!!!). I got my phone unlocked and a Thai sim card heres the nmber in case anyone wants to let me know what the Yeovil score is +6646416158 - although if we lose again like we did to Scunny perhaps its best not to let me know - sort it out Thommo. Also found this amazing trainer shop, a proper little independant really cool place with plenty of decent and rare Adidas gear, but I was sensible for once and didnt purchase any of the delights (Im sure I could hear my Mums voice 'You cant afford it' in my head- these Changovers are lethal). We banked on having a bit of a quite one that night, guess what we didnt, on the spur of the moment we decided to head to Kohsan road - the Backpacker strip. As it was New Year most of the roads were closed or just covered with people, so after a quick Taxi ride we had to walk. On the way down people we just walking towards us absoulutely soaked and I mean everyone and I mean soaked. There was me and Paul all dressed up like we were going to the Northern Quarter, into the inevitbality that we were going to very soon end up like all those heading the other way. We turned into Kohsan road and it was just awash with people, noise, water just a mass of celebration. We decided to hit head on and within seconds we were drenched, with that out of the way we just concerned ourselves with having a great time and really soaking in what was a surreal but amazing atmosphere. For whatever reason we stopped at a shop and decided to get a small bottle of whisky, Ive forgotten what it was called or may I am choosing not to remember cause it really was lethal (the hangover the next day was so bizarre it was like Id been on drugs)l. So much so, all the young Thais were looking at us in awe as the crazy Brits drank the crazy spirit, they all turned it down when we offered them some so it must have been bad. The evening continued into an absolutley crazy and hugely entertaining night getting more soaked, soaking others, Paul getting gropped by lots of lads who shall we say took a fancy to him, a stand off with the Thai police outside a bar (sounds worse than it was, basically there were going round getting people to drink in the bars and not outside yet me and Paul were a little worse for wear and wasnt sure what was going on and had to be shephered in by some nervous Thais!), even arm wrestling and 2 lovely ladies. Me and Paul agreed the next day when we could actually speak through our hangovers that it was one of the best nights out in our lives - even if our best jeans and shirts are still ruined damp and covered in crap.

As I said the hangovers were monstorous and the next day was pretty much spent in the room watching films and loads of English football on the tele and getting room service. We did manage to make it out eventually in the evening, and whilst we valiantly dstuck to the soft drinks at first, a couple of Heniknens were sunk - just to take the edge off you know!

Yesterday we headed to Khosan Road which was alot quieter and dryer than our previous vist. On the way we went to the Grand Palace which is a huge complex just full of buildings,temples, statues most of which are gold and pretty spectacular viewing. Cause of the religious significance of the place our shorts werent allowed so we were given some very attractive(!) pyjama style pants - unfortunaetly we had to pay a desposit otherwise I may have kept them. The Emerald Buddha is the star of the show sat atop a huge mound of gold statues/figurines just an awesome and reflective sight. Its hard to put into words how impressive visually the place was, the numerous photos will show how great it was. Claire/Alex - I was still tempted though to do a Dom Joly and say 'That is a Shit' but restrained myself. Once back on Khosan road we found a cheaper hotel (which we have moved into today)and sorted out our train ticket to Phuket for next Thursday. After watchin more football, we headed out to met Nang - Paul met here last time he was here and she owns a bar just round the corner from Kohsan Road. A few changs (really great beer) and a couple of games of pool down, the place shut around 12 but Nang invited us to join her mates for a drinks at one of what its probably best described as a street kiosk which sells alcohol with tables round it. Unfortuantely they didnt sell beer just cocktails , which you could get in buckets and it was real shame cause they had Long Island Ice Teas! After a couple of buckets (by this stage we were certainly leathered) we went back to Nangs car which is like a hearse but shes done a bit of a cheapish pimp my ride to it and it had speakers and big seats in the back and we ended up drinkin yet more. At one point I looked up to the sky not only was it spinning but getting very light - turns out it was near 5 oclock. Realising we had to check out at 12 the next day and possibly cause Paul had got into shall we say a disagreement with one of Nangs friend (she was a complete idiot to be fair though) we headed off in a Tuk-Tuk (little Bike Taxis) back to the Hotel.

I was sure I had set my alarm but it was left to Paul to ring us at 1145 to wake us up, I was defo still drunk but somehow managed to round up all my stuff and check out and before I knew it were back on Khosan Road checking into our new hotel which if the last one was Yeovil this is say more Weymouth - but needs must. And here I am , I started this an hour ago and its actually been very theraputic for my hangover. Imagine its a quite one tonight, plan is to go to Cinema however as has been proved the last few days it might not turn out that way! Not that hopeful the Glovers will get something at Forest tonight but you never know.

So as you can probably tell Im having fun the only bad thing is that my Ipod has decided to break on me , need to get that fixed soon I need my music! Note the fetching pants.

My gold than a scally's ear!

Not long to go now...

Well its Sunday and this time next week I should have settled into the life as a 'traveler' and be enjoying the many delights of Bangkok! After a couple of weeks trying to sort everything out including the finance (Thanks loads to the very very nice people who've helped me out on that front) and all that, it really is just round the corner. Its been an idea for a while but those that know me know that my track record in converting ideas to reality is shall I say 'suspect', so I've perhaps surprised myself that I'm actually doing it.

Were going on Wednesday 12th to Bangkok (via Frankfurt) arriving Thursday lunchtime. We've got to be down in Phuket a day or two before the 24th which is when the TEFL course starts, so we've got just over a week in Bangkok. The course lasts 4 weeks, I've been told by a couple of mates that's its quite intensive so I imagine well have to be fairly disciplined during that time. Nothing is set in stone but the plan is to go to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for a month or so after the course, in what order and where is all to be decided on some beautiful sunny beach somewhere! I have to come back in July cause my graduate loan repayments dictates that I cant stay away for too long and my role as 'Jeeves' (be it in Paris, New York or London) for my Auntie Claire and Uncle Nik will allow me to pay back the money I've borrowed for this trip.

Yeovils 3-0 win yesterday means they've put themselves in a decent posistion to avoid relegation, so I can rest slightly easier now that I'm not deserting a sinking ship! Still a few games to go but hopefully the confidence from yesterdays game should carry us on and just keep our necks above the water. So football should hopefully take a back seat, and I wont have to be sat in Internet Cafe in a boiling Phuket trying to find out the Yeovil-Colchester score on the last day of the season. I'll also be bloody grateful to be away from all the hype and nonsense that surrounds England and the World Cup in June. Watching the game in some little bar on a grainy TV screen minus the 'little Ingerlanders' and all the stupid car flags suits me just fine. With most of the games starting post midnight local time I imagine there will be a few late ones!

Apart from the usual; friends and family, the only things I'll really miss is probably The Apprentice and all my trainers. I am only planning on taking 2 pairs, but when you've got 15 pairs and am as indecisive as me what do you chose? At least I've got a couple more days to decide...