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.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
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.
"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.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
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 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.
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