Here in Khao Sok

After a week lying on the sandy beaches of Koh Phangan, we are all beached out and ready for adventure. So we headed back to mainland Thailand and to the striking limestone cliffs and jungles of Khao Sok National Park. Arriving in the dark and rain, we briefly missed our warm, sandy bungalows but soon we grabbed some dinner and booked ourselves on to a two-day guided trip to Cheow Lan Lake, starting 8am the very next morning.

Cheow Lan is a man-made lake which is used to produce hydro-electricity. Damning the Klong Saeng river created the 165sqkm lake and more than 100 islands. The limestone cliffs jut out from the still water, dwarfing the long tail boats fishing for dinner or ferrying tourists.

Here on Bottle Beach

We swapped the postcard beach of Haad Salad for the waves, rocks and power outages of Bottle Beach and I loved it! Haad Salad was beautiful, it was everything a beach lover would want from a Thai island - the soft white sand, lined with palm trees leading you to calm, clear water warm enough to lie in for hours. There was an array of resorts and restaurants, some average but some served up really great Thai food. 

But still I have to say that I preferred Bottle Beach. It is more remote and can be reached by an extremely rough track or by boat. There are just four accommodation options and they all run off a generator which is switched off for a couple of hours each day. It was quiet. Very quiet. There were far more workers than guests and at one point we could have told you by name the only three other guests on the whole beach!

Here on Haad Salad

After travelling for 18 hours by train, bus and ferry we arrived on the infamous party island of Koh Phangnan. I was bit nervous about coming here because the island is so well known for it’s full-moon parties and we are far too boring to wear rave paint and drink from buckets. 

So we ventured further round the coast from the bright lights and beer bottles of Haad Rin and found that most of the island remains fairly unspoiled. We found some nice little bungalows set slightly back from the beach at Haad Salad and then it was a race to the sea!

We spent a lazy few days enjoying the tranquility of low season, dipping in and out of the warm turquoise sea and rediscovering the joys of hot showers. I wish I could start every day with a swim in the sea and accompany my breakfast with the sounds of gentle waves lapping the soft white sand. 

Dokbua Games 2014

This is not just a sports day. This is not even just a sports week. It is the Dokbua games 2014 and I’ve never experienced anything like it!

Alongside the usual athletics and football it also featured tug-of-war, chess (don’t get me started!), table tennis and the Thai games, dacour and wing dial There are eight teams and they each have a colour so all week the school has been a sea of red, blue, pink, green, orange, yellow and maroon. Matt was on the orange team and I was maroon which was annoying because it’s the only colour that doesn’t appear in my wardrobe!

Almost all of the weeks lessons were cancelled and we spent our afternoons out in the sun cheering the kids. They all did brilliantly although my kindergarteners struggled with concepts such as which direction to run in and how to win the game! 

Here in Chiang Mai

A four day weekend saw us finally visit the northern city of Chiang Mai. This is the most northern part of Thailand we have visited and it was considerably cooler than our home of Nakhon Sawan.

It's seems that everyone had the same idea for the holiday and the buses were so packed that we ended up travelling as stowaways in with the luggage but it was surprisingly comfortable and I had a pretty good sleep as well as a free meal!

Chiang Mai is a tourist destination and we enjoyed the associated the perks which included plenty of markets, a variety of different cuisines and …… wait for it……. wine. In a proper, long stemmed wine glass. And that's not all……….. gin. That's right, I shared a litre of delicious red wine over some delicious buttery cheese filled pasta and then followed it with a gin and tonic. That's what I call a holiday!

Running in Thailand

Is sweaty. Actually, standing still is sweaty - running is something new. 

But the park here in Nakhon Sawan is lovely. It is the heart and soul of the town and I love running round it and seeing familiar faces.

In the UK, I exercised the keep/get fit. Here I exercise to socialise - I enjoy bumping into people and practicing the little Thai I have.

Here in Khorat

Thanks to the start of Buddhist Lent and the offical start of the rainy season here in Thailand, we enjoyed a nice long weekend in July. We were considering treating ourselves to some gin and tonics in Chang Mai but then one of our Thai friends invited us to go with them to Khorat where there is an annual candle festival. Keen not to pass up an opportunity to experience a bit of Thai culture and our first Thai festival, we took her up on this kind offer.

We did not regret this decision and our 'family' of 6 plus chauffeur went on a 2 day road trip in a rather plush minivan including an unnecessary trip to the Cambodian border and a magic double banana.