The Doldrums

Wow...it is been 3 months since my last post! I started a post about 6 weeks ago but never finished it.

I just finished a 10 day holiday in a nice country and have to go back to work for 6 weeks. Argh.

School has been really, really busy. We are in the thick of accreditation. It makes for a lot of extra tedious work that I don't know how anyone can enjoy. The schools weeks fly by and the weekends are usually spent catching up on rest (and nursing hangovers.)

A few of the highlights in the last 12 weeks (from least to most recent):

1) Attended an International Baccalureate training workshop in Kota Kinabalu. The venue was amazing - there was a 27 hole golf course at the hotel and the food was all really high quality. The workshop wasn't so stimulating but at least I've got the piece of paper and a little more knowledge about IB.

2) 4 guys and I put a team into the inaugural FCC Nations Cup at the Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap a few weeks ago. It was amazing organized and the course was spectactular, even after being pounded by Typhoon Ketsana. It was a two day tournament (Saturday and Sunday.) Team Canada came in second on day 1 and then edged out the competition on day 2 to win! Looking forward to defending our title next year.

3) I adopted a street cat. His name is Umi and he is a monster. He is very clever and growing like a bad weed.

4) I spent the last 10 days in Laos. It was water festival in Cambodia and I was told everyone and their dog comes to Phnom Penh. I flew from P.P. to Vientiane and spent the first 3 days in Vientiane. It immediately struck me how quiet and slow-paced everything is there. There are some nice sights, great food and the sunsets over the Mekong were an enjoyable way to spend an evening. After Vientiane I took a bus to Vang Vieng and stayed for 2 nights. The main draw to Vang Vieng is the tubing, which was a very enjoyable trip. There are bars and rope swings and volleyball courts set up along the way and if you go at a leisurely pace it takes about 4 hours to do. Vang Vieng itself isn't a very nice town though - the guesthouses are run down and the restaurants are pretty crap. Luang Prabang was the last stop in Laos. It is a world heritage city and very worthy of the title. There are wats everywhere, natural scenery within easy access, excellent restaurants and it doesn't feel overrun with tourists. I did a mountain bike/kayak day trip to a nice waterfall, wandered around the town in awe, and took a bus ride to another beautiful waterfall. From Luang Prabang I flew to Bangkok for a night with the old gang, and then returned to a pile of work and a messy house yesterday.

There are six weeks until our Christmas break now and school will definitely be very busy until then. Reports are coming up and the accreditation work will hopefully finish up. I have to go to the village where I'm taking my "Week Without Walls" sometime this month to check everything out. That will be a full weekend of buses and boats I'm sure. I'm also going to try to get out of Phnom Penh on the weekends more often. Supposedly there are some nice sites nearby and I feel the need to take advantage of them. Finally, I am going to do the Angkor Wat Half Marathon on December 6th so I will be doing a lot more training for that. I don't know what I'm doing for Christmas break yet - either Vietnam or Indonesia - but I am attending a Khmer wedding the first day of the holiday.

One last point, this week at school Jackie Chan is coming to speak to the students. That's right Jackie Chan! (I just noticed that Umi has ruined my number 1 key on my keyboard.) He and a few other celebrities and nobel laureates are coming to Thailand and Cambodia to talk about peace and their work. Oliver Stone is slated to come in January.

Alright...picture will be put up today or tomorrow.

Where does the time go?

Sua sdey everyone. Sok sabaay dtay?

4 weeks have already passed since my last update. After a week of orientation and preparation, the kids started 3 weeks ago. Things are going well. It is very busy and the "To Do" list keeps growing and growing but it's all good. I am teaching grade 8 math (intro to algebra!), grade 9 science (atoms, cells and waves), and Diploma (grades 11 and 12) chemistry. Since it is all IB, it has been a very steep learning curve but my colleagues have been really helpful.

The students are about 25% Khmer, 25% Korean, and the rest from all over. They are all really nice kids. I haven't had any classroom management things to deal with yet - other than a bit of chit-chatting.

I am running a recreational swimming club on Thursday nights and planning a Week Without Walls trip for February (grades 6-10 leave school for a week for some EOTC.) I am trying to get something going with an ecotourism group in Koh Kong province, South West of Phnom Penh, to do some mountain biking, trekking, camping, and volunteering in the Chi Phat village. Also, I'm joining a house building group that is going to build houses for needy families in nearby villages. That will be in January but we need to start fundraising now.

On top of all that, I'm going to Kota Kinabulu, Malaysia for 4 days next month for training, Bangkok the weekend after that, then Laos in October/November. Oh, and I think I volunteered myself to do something at a friend's wedding here in December.

As I mentioned, my colleague are all really great. (I am realizing how much I use that word...oh well, could be worse.) Most are married with children but still manage to go out once in a while. We have a regular group of guys that golf every other Friday afternoon. We have a "Thursday Night Curriculum" group that meets at a local bar for happy hour drinks. And we have another group that goes out most Fridays for after school drinks. Needless to say, Mr. Liver has never been happier.

I'm also really enjoying Phnom Penh. There is no shortage of bars, cafes or restaurants to spend an afternoon or night in. I have been getting around.

Anyway, I'm off to meet some friends at nearby place for dinner. Take care.

1 week into Cambodia

Well, I have nearly been here a week. Let me tell you, so far so great!

I have a great apartment. I have some good/young/fun co-workers. I have a sweet maid that keeps my place clean. I have an excellent landlord that looks after things terrifically promptly. I have glorious weather (a bit humid but I'm trying to stay positive.) I have impressive restaurants and cafes to choose from. I have a highly regarded place job that I am feeling impressively calm about. And I... I don't know.

So yeah, things are going well. I rode to school today and it takes about 7 minutes. I walked the other day and it took about 10. (When I walked home I picked up one of those giant water-cooler bottles of water and walked home with it. It started leaking halfway, all down my right pant leg, so I got some funny looks from khmer people.) The school is like most others except a little more quaint. I am a little bummed that I didn't get a laptop and have to make due with a desktop. (I'm actually considering going and buying a netbook for school but I think that might be silly.)

I shouldn't lie, I'm feeling a bit nervous about starting on Monday. I'm sure things will be fine and I have done a lot of preparing this week but I don't feel totally prepared. The staff has been really helpful and everything is going as planned - the bank account is set up and money is going to be deposited, the passport has been sent away for the visa, the classroom is ready, some work is ready, etc.

So yeah, all is good. Come visit everyone! You will love it!

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The time has come

Well, I have been home for 3 weeks to the day and now it is time to head back. To the heat, to the noise, to the smells, to home I guess. It's been a good visit; fairly eventful; saw lots of friend's and family, ate lots of good food, played a few rounds of golf, drank a bit too much.

Last weekend I went to Toronto on a rainy Saturday to see the Six String Nation guitar. I had heard about Jowi Taylor's project - to get bits and pieces from historic people, places, and things, then build a guitar out of them - back when I was in New Zealand. Well, it was unvieled a few years ago now and has been making the rounds to festivals, concerts, and workshops ever since. I was lucky to be around for this one! We listened to Jowi tell the project story and then got our pictures taken with the guitar. (If anyone has seen the book or the website, the pics should look like the ones found there.) I was so glad that I was able to attend because this was honestly the first time in my 29 years as a Canadian that I have felt like part of my country's history, rather than reading it, hearing it or looking at it.

Also while in Toronto, we went to a new pub that was written up in "The Globe and Mail" a few weeks ago called "The Ceili Cottage." One of my pet peeves is going to an "irish" pub and not really getting the feel of anything irish at all. This one felt very authentic, down to all the servers having a bit of a brogue. I would highly recommend it.

Besides my trip to Toronto, while I was home the old boys of Renison had the second annual "Old Boys Olympics." Ian took the gold this year, with Oliver coming up second, and Randy and myself tying for bronze. It was great having 6 competitors this year, rather than the paltry 3.5 in the inaugural year. Keep up the tradition boys!

That's about all from this trip home. Sorry I couldn't catch up with everyone. You are all welcome to come visit me though!

Round the world

I realized yesterday that it has been almost 2.5 months since I last updated my blog. Sorry everyone...I am slipping. Looking back over the 75 days, a lot has happened so this might be a long blog.

Where to begin, where to begin...

-got a new tattoo.

-went night golfing a few times. (It is the most fun thing ever - the course is lit up with giant stadium lights and you play as normal. The temperature is perfect. The caddies are all about having a good time. The Heinekens are ice cold. And it is cheaper than regular golf!)

-went to Chiang Mai to visit a friend in June. (We went on the Flight of the Gibbon. It is a zipline adventure through the rainforest north of the city. Very fun but not all that exhilarating.)

-went to brunch again. (Mmm...brunch.)

-saw a few movies.

-finished my contract at ELC Bangkok.

-Randy came to visit and we went back to Cambodia.

He came after school ended and we had a few nights in Bangkok where I showed him the sights. We took a water taxi to the Grand Palace, and Wat Po. Got "taken" by a taxi to Vimanmek mansion, King Chulalongkorn's palace. We went out to the Ancient City and rode bikes for an afternoon. While he was in Bangkok I had to pack up my apartment and move out. (Jess had left for Canada on June 19th, as soon as school ended.) Then on Saturday June 27th, I started moving things over to Cambodia with Randy's help. We flew into Phnom Penh and got settled at Hotel Cara. This time I started with the sad things: Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng, followed by a good lunch at Friend's. We finished the day with happy hour at the FCC and dinner at a great Khmer restaurant, Khmer Borane. (In case you are wondering, Khmer food is similar to Thai food in a lot of respects but more bland. Although, we found that if you add extra chili it brings all the flavours out and makes everything a lot yummier.) The next day we dropped the bags we had brought off at my new apartment. I met the girl who currently lives there and bought some things from her (including the most comfortable couch ever! in case anyone wants to come and visit.) I also met the land lady and signed a lease. Then we went for another great lunch at Java cafe. (I will just stop myself right now. All the lunches and dinners we had were great. There are a lot of great restaurants, bars and cafes in Cambodia and oh, oh so cheap.) After lunch and a siesta, we went to the National Museum, Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. I'm still very excited about moving to the city.

We left Phnom Penh and headed south to Kampot. The main draw of Kampot, besides being a quiet little backwoods set on a (slightly) attractive river, is there is an old, abandoned casino, built by the French, on top of a mountain near Kampot. However, on arrival we found out that it would take a 3 hour walk up, followed by a drive to the top, just to see the place. THEN we would have to walk back down. Now I'm all for a little physical activity and hiking is one of my favourite things, but when it is nearly 40, and full sun, I just don't have the motivation. So instead we drank and read away the afternoon and night.

The next day we took a mini bus ride to Sihanoukville. Along the way, the driver and his co-pilot (I can only assume) stopped at their village at the foot of the Bokor Mountains and asked us to come with them. Fearing for our lives, we politely refused and stayed by the van. Randy played some water bottle soccer with some local children and attempted to learn Khmer from them. About an hour later, the driver returned and we carried on our way, picking up only 1 hitchhiker. The drive to Sihanoukville was mostly very pretty. We passed a lot of typical South East Asian scenery - rice paddies, wats, palm trees, and small thatched homes. But we also passed through a few really sad and dirty "towns" that reminded us how poor and undeveloped some places still are. Sihanoukville is your typical "Gulf of Thailand" beach town with bungalows and guesthouses on the beach, BBQ's at night, warm, clear water and sun. The difference is is that it is so cheap because it is Cambodia. Our accommodation was $25/night (the most expensive place we stayed in!) and the BBQ dinner was $12 USD (for 2 dinners and 4 pints each.) Apart from me getting a terrible sunburn, it was a great place and I will definitely go back on weekends I need to get out of the city.

Taking the night bus to Siem Reap was our biggest mistake on the trip. It was pack, cramped, noisy, and took too long. But we were both really looking forward to Siem Reap and the temples of Angkor city. We found a place to stay, had some breakfast, found a tuk-tuk driver, and then headed out to the temples. On the first day we explored Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom (which consists of numerous temples itself), Ta keo, Ta Prohm, Srah Srang, and Banteay Kdei. At risk of sounding like a guide book, nothing can really prepare you for the temples. Having seen Pompeii and the churches of Europe, I was still blown away by the grandeur and detail of these structures, built almost 1000 years ago. You could spend a day in each temple if you were so inclined. (We weren't.) The other thing that you cannot prepare yourself for is the constant barrage of tuk-tuk touts, and children selling cold drinks, postcards, bracelets, scarves, and musical instruments. We must have been harassed at least 100 times a day while in Siem Reap.

The next day our trusty tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Lam, took us to Kbal Spean, the headwaters of Siem Reap river, where the Khmers carved scenes and lingas into the riverbed in order to bless the water as it flowed to them. After that we went to Banteay Srei, East Mebon, Pre Rup, Ta Som, Neak Pean, and Preah Khan. It was another full day of mind-blowing architecture and carvings but after it all we were templed out. More good food and cheap beer was in need.

Our second last day in Cambodia Mr. Lam took us to the floating village on Tonle Sap lake. It was an enjoyable hour-long tour of the village. The people live in floating houses with fish farms underneath. There are floating schools, floating mechanics, floating grocery stores, and floating restaurants. In the dry season they move everything out into the deeper water of the lake and in the wet season, they move everything farther up river. (The water level changes by 15 metres in some places!) After our tour we went to the Angkor National Museum, which was a very modern and beautiful building, filled with many statues and artifacts that had been returned to the Khmer after being looted after the Khmer Rouge regime. (This officially museumed us out though.)

The last day in Cambodia was spent drinking coffee, eating and reading at a few cafes in Siem Reap before flying back to Bangkok. It is a great way to spend a day. We flew back to Bangkok and stayed a friend's apartment before flying home to Canada via Hong Kong. I'm home for 3 weeks now, before I go back to Cambodia to start my new job in August.

A few reasons to love Thailand

Bangkok has really grown on me. Coming back from Nepal, an even more frenetic, noisy, dirty place, made me realize how good I have it here. Some more evidence:

1) My lunch today cost me $1 Canadian Dollar. I had so much I am still full (at 4:30pm) and I have some for dinner.

2) I booked a flight to Chiang Mai for a weekend. It cost me $60 Canadian Dollars to fly there, return, for the weekend. It would cost me that much to drive to Windsor and Back at home.

3) I just took a motorcycle taxi home. It took me 30 minutes to get from school home. No helmet, sun on your face, weaving in and out of traffic. So enjoyable.

Come visit!

Namaste

We just got back from a great trip to Nepal. We left on April 4th and were there for 10 days. Jess and I arrived in Kathmandu and were immediately taken aback by how undeveloped it was. There are very few stop lights - people just use their horns to announce their arrival at an intersection. The butcher shops all had a number of goats tied up outside the shop and were slaughtered on the street. There is a lot of poorness there but the people still seem quite happy and colourful. I haven't been to India yet but I think this was good introduction to it.

On our second day we did a Kathmandu tour. We visited Boudanath - a buddhist temple high in the hills around Kathmandu, Durbar square - one of the former palaces of Nepal's monarchy, the Hindu cremation grounds, a giant stupa that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we were blessed by the world's only living goddess. It was quite a day...let me tell you. After this long day we were glad to be leaving for Pokhara.

We flew to Pokhara from Kathmandu (the airport was complete chaos - trips going everywhere in Nepal, delays, yelling, pushing.) On the way we got some excellent views of the mountains through the clouds. Pokhara was very similar to Taupo (where I lived in NZ) in many regards. It was much quieter than Kathmandu. We were only there for a day before we started our trek but it was very relaxing.

Our trek was 6 days and 5 nights. Not as hardcore as a lot of people we met on the route but still a good length of time. By my calculations, we walked about 46km through the Himilayas and climbed about 3000m. On the first day we walked from Nayapul to Ulleri and stayed the night there. It was a big climb for the first day but we still had fresh legs so it wasn't too bad. The guesthouses in general are very nice - not like tenting it or huts at all. Most had proper beds, attached bathrooms, and a dining hall where you got anything you wanted to eat (even steak!) On the second day of the trek we walked from Ulleri to Ghorepani - another big climb. Ghorepani was my favourite of the little mountain villages that we stayed in. The towns-people were building a stage and seating area for their New Years celebration (it is Nepali New Years today - Happy 2066!) That night in Ghorepani, it rained, snowed and hailed. We were really worried that we would have to walk in it the next day.

The thing to do in Ghorepani is to climb up Poon Hill for sunrise. From there you get a great view of about 7 or 8 peaks. When we woke up at 4:45am though it was really cloudy and there was no point in going up. Luckily on our walk that day from Ghorepani to Chuile we climbed to the same height and by that time the clouds had cleared so we could get our first really good views of the mountains. On the way to Chuile we descended and climbed and descended and climbed some more. We saw Langar Monkeys, birds, buffaloes and cows. We made it to Chuile just before it began raining and hailing again. The guesthouse was a bit sparse to put it nicely but once they started the fire it was quite cozy. On day 4 of the trek we walked from Chuile to Jhinu. By this time we had very heavy legs but we got a lot more great views of the mountains and the weather had cleared completely - this was our favourite day of the whole trek. We arrived in Jhinu and immediately went to the hot springs where we soaked and chatted with a bunch more trekkers. That night we had a big campfire in the front yard of the guesthouse.

No trip anywhere in Asia would be complete without a bout of Dehli belly and mine hit that night subsequently making the next day's walk the hardest. We had to walk from Jhinu to Dhampus, which ended up taking us 9 hours. Jess' legs were very heavy and sore, and I didn't have any energy because of the food poisoning. But we made it and are better people for it. Dhampus was the biggest village that we stayed in. On the way there, we talked to a guide who said, "Dhampus is very noisy with all the 'Beep, Beep!'" We asked "Oh, are there cars there?" And he replied "Well, one, sometimes." But we stayed outside of the town and it was very quiet. On the final day we walked from Dhampus to Phedi and caught transportation back to Pokhara. It was an amazing walk and I am really looking forward to going back and doing something else in Nepal.

We arrived at our hotel in Pokara and as soon as we got in the room I sat down on the bed and slept for 1.5 hours. It's amazing how your body knows that once it can stop moving and rest, it will. That day we slept some more and wandered around Pokhara some more. Our last day in Pokhara we met up with our guide again and he showed us around a bit. We went to Devi's Falls and cave near it. We went to a Tibetan refugee village and helped them weave some carpets. (She said I was a natural! Must be all my knitting experience...) Then we went for lunch and finally got dropped off at the airport to return to Kathmandu. We were in Kathmandu for the night and then flew back to Bangkok yesterday afternoon.

Some of you are probably wondering if Bangkok is okay, and yes, it it. We saw some military presence by the airport on the way home but nothing else. It was, in fact, the smoothest ride from the airport to home yet! It is the Thai new year here so Sawatdee Pii Mai everyone! Thai new year is called Songkran and is celebrated mostly by giant water fights. This originally has to do with the ritual of pouring water of elder's hands as a sign of respect but has turned into giant water fights. (One of my students gave me a super soaker on the last day of the term.)

If anyone is planning a trip to Nepal, I would highly recommend our guide. He has a website but I can't remember what it is so just ask me for his email.

I have updated my Flickr photostream with pictures from the trip. I tried to trim it down as much as possible but there are still 128 photos. Sorry.

We go back to school on Monday and I have only 42 days left. So happy about that. Bring on the summer!

Kanchanaburi, Floating Market, Ancient City

We have been busy being tourists for the past couple weekends. Last weekend we went to Kanchanaburi because Jess won a night's accomodation at a hotel there. We left right after school on Friday night and made it there in 3 hours. (Going anywhere after school on Friday is always tricky because of traffic.) By the time we made it there though, we had just enough time to have some dinner and then go to bed. On the Saturday I went out to Erawan National Park and walked up the 7 tiered waterfall. It was beautiful! Very clean and quiet. You could swim in each of the pools if you wanted to and in some there were those fish that eat the dead skin off your feet so you could also treat yourself to a pedicure! (They are very tickly at first.) That afternoon I did the toursity stuff around the Bridge over the River Kwai. So the story goes that the Japanese wanted to make a railroad from Thailand to Burma and they used POWs to make it. Heaps died in the process and there is a great big war cemetary in Kanchanaburi (which is an immediatly odd sight because you don't see cemetaries here since everyone is Buddhist.) The original bridge, made during the war, was destroyed by the allies near the end of WWII (the Japanese knew the bridge was supposed to be bombed so they filled it with POWs in hopes that this would stop the bombers) and the one that is there now is the replacement. There is a great war museum with heaps of stuff that the POWs and Japanese troops left behind. After walking back out to the resort, the rest of the day was spent lazing around.

We decided to leave early on Sunday morning (mostly because there was nothing left for us to see) and stop at the Damnoen Saduak floating market. We got there and hired a long boat to take us around the market. It was quite pretty but very touristy now - mostly souvenirs for sale. Worth doing once...

Yesterday we decided to go to the Ancient City. Apparently, a wealthy Thai man bought the land for it in the '60's and started making replicas of important sites around Thailand. It's kind of like a giant, open-air museum now. There are a lot of "creative designs" from Thai buddhism as well. You get bicycles for the entry fee (300 THB for foreigners, 50 THB for Thais) and we spent the morning cruising around the place. It's well worth a visit if you come to Bangkok.

I put picutures of both Kanchanaburi and the Ancient City on my Flickr page.

2 more weeks until we head out to Nepal. We are very excited. I will try to make another update before then but it will most likely be after we return. Stay tuned.

My New Home

Back to school, back to school...

It has been a busy month since we arrived back to school. A few short weeks, an open evening, checklists, CD Roms, etc.

Two weekends ago we had a nice, long weekend to celebrate Macha Bucha, a Buddhist holiday that no one could really explain to me (Wikipedia says that it has to do with commemorating a sermon that Buddha gave.) That weekend we went to Phnom Penh to see my new home town, as of this coming August. We arrived on Saturday night and went to a local watering hole called the "Foreign Correspondents Club" or FCC for short, then to a Khmer restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet (I might take some flack for this but Khmer food is kind of like Thai food but a little more bland.) The next day we met up with some friends from ELC who used to live there. We went for breakfast at Java Cafe and Gallery, then to Tuol Sleng, the high school cum prison used by the Khmer Rouge during their 4 year reign of terror. Most people that were interned at Tuol Sleng were either tortured to death or tortured, then walked 15km, killed, and buried in mass graves (The Killing Fields.) It's a really powerful place. It's kind of like after the Khmer Rouge walked out they just left it. There is so much evidence of the atrocity there is it mind blowing. After that we went to the Russian Market for some retail therapy. You can find everything and everything there all stuff into this claustrophobic, crampped market. Then, if the day wasn't eventful enough already!, we went to Lucky Supermarket to see what you can and can't get in Cambodia. And you can get everything. Especially really cheap, tax free alcohol. A 26 oz bottle of Jose Cuervo is only $11 USD! (I'm going to have a great big house warming party in October if anyone wants to come!) After the supermarket Jess wanted to do some shopping so I wandered around Street 240, while she checked out the local clothiers (of which you would be surprised.) Finally we had lunch at "The Shop," a great little cafe. That night we went to the "Elephant Bar" at Raffles Hotel and then a great french restaurant called "Le Marmite." (There is a great French influence in Phnom Penh so there are lots of French restaurants and nice, wide boulevards.)

On Monday we went to the National Museum and made out like we were Tomb Raiders. Pretty rich history. Followed by "Friends Cafe" for lunch, a NGO run place that teaches street youth the service industry. Awesome tapas! Then I went into the school to meet and greet. All the staff I met were really helpful and my classroom is...adequate. I'm really happy to get back to high school. That night we met up with some other friends through ELC. They are both teaching at ISPP and are loving it. It was great to get the scoop from somewhere living there now.

On Tuesday we went to the Royal Palace in the morning, then out for lunch to another cafe near FCC. I popped back into the school to show Jess the place and then we took a Tuk-Tuk to the airport and flew home. What a weekend! I'm actually really looking forward to moving there. Even though there was a horrible genocide only 25 years ago there, the people seem quite happy and forward looking. There is a great cafe culture there and you can pretty much find everything you need.

The next big trip is coming up in April. We just finalized everything for Nepal. We are doing about 5 days of trekking on the Annapurna circuit and a couple days in both Kathmandu and Pokhara. I am really looking forward to it.

The weather here is starting to warm up. It was mid 30's all this week. It feels even hotter when you have to where dress pants and a dress shirt to work. Everyone says April is going to be brutal. Good thing we are escaping for a while.

That's all for now. New pics are up at my Flickr site.

I love this town

I really like Bangkok now. I just got back from my epic Wednesday but am in very high spirits. I was at school from 7 until 4, then I tutored a grade 3 student for 1 hour, then a grade 11 student for 2 hours. I usually arrive home at 8:30pm to 9:00pm but tonight I decided to take a motorcycle taxi home. I got home 30 minutes earlier, and found a new route from my friend's apartment to the bar strip! Amazing!

On top of that I have a 4 day weekend this weekend and am going to Cambodia. How exciting is that? AND I just got confirmation from my trekking guide in Nepal for my Songkran holiday in April!

If only the school I was at wasn't so ridiculous, I would stay here a long, long time! It's true what people say, for men, the first 6 months here is crap and the rest is great. (For women, it's the other way around.) It just kinda sucks that I'm just now starting to really like it here when I know I'm leaving in 5 months...

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Well, it has been a busy 2 weeks since we returned to school. The children came back on January 7th, and were around for 3 days before the weekend. Last Saturday to Tuesday I attended the Bangkok Search Associates job fair. It was a wild, wild experience. There were about 350 very qualified teachers (not quite sure how I got an invite...) trying to impress, smooze, and bribe their way into around 85 different international schools from around the world. I'm not sure if any of you have been to a job fair like this before but let me tell you, it is quite an experience. Firstly, you have about 60-90 seconds to impress the recruiters enough for them to give you an interview. Then, if this is successful, you get to have 1 or more interviews with them, where they may grill you on pedagogy, or just talk about their school for a half hour (the latter is my favourite type of interview.) Due to my stunning good looks, I secured 6 interviews with schools from Cambodia, China, Germany, Korea, Kuwait, Laos, and Switzerland. Switzerland, Germany, and Korea shot me down, but Cambodia, Laos, Kuwait, and China all offered me jobs.

So...the good: I accepted a job at the International School of Phnom Penh. I'm pretty excited, as are they (by the sounds of it.) It will be a great career move - once I have had IB training and experience I will be able to write my own ticket to anywhere in the world. (I'm not being cocky, I'm very modest actually, there just aren't a lot of chemists teaching internationally. It's great for me.) It will also be a pretty exciting adventure. Cambodia is about 20 years behind Thailand, as far as development goes - Pol Pot helped them lose that race - so it is a very frentic, developing place to be.

The bad: I will have to leave Bangkok in the summer sometime. That means all you people that want to come and visit, do it soon. Otherwise you will have to come to Cambodia. Jess will still be here for next year though so if you are nice, she might let you sleep on our futon.

The ugly: There really is no ugly...yet. Life is good right now. Work, Eat, Sleep, Tiger Woods '09, go out on the weekend...what more can you ask for.

Come visit while you can!

Tri Country Chirstmas Tour 2008

Jess and I just arrived home from our Christmas trip and since we have a day left of freedom before we have to go back to school, I thought I would update everyone about our travels.

We left December 17th and flew into Singapore. The flight was only 3 hours but when we landed, it was like we were on another continent. Singapore is very much like a western country - very orderly, parks, sidewalks without vendors or potholes, no strange smells or soi dogs... Initially it appealed to me but the longer we stayed the less time we wanted to spend there. The first night we met up with my friend and his girlfriend for dinner at a 'hawker centre.' There were 83 different food stalls set up around a bunch of tables. We had a bunch of different dishes and all were great! It was the best food I had on the trip I think. Day two saw us visit Little India, where we had lunch at an Indian restaurant called Banana Leaf Apolo. The food was served on giant banana leaves set in front of you. It was amazing. That afternoon we enjoyed some very expensive Singapore Slings at Raffles Hotel. (You gotta do it when you're there) and a Trishaw tour of Chinatown that night. It was very interesting since most of Singapore's inhabitants have Chinese origins. The next day we spent the morning in the Asian Civilizations Museum. It has an extensive collection on all things Asian. Well organized and interesting. By that afternoon we were ready to leave the city though. We had seen and done all we wanted to see and do. So we left the next day.

We took the bus from Singapore to Melaka. The bus driver was possibly the saltiest character I have ever come upon. I think he lived on the bus as it looked like he had a bed and his towel hanging in the window. Occasionally he would bark an order at us, like "Customs! Leave things!" or "Toilet!" He showed the most violent film I have ever seen on a bus. It was horrible. Upon arrival we went for a walk to find some dinner and wander through Chinatown. Jess had her fortune told - she found out that I was born in the year of the Monkey and am a Jungle Monkey to be exact and I should be an engineer or architect, not a teacher. (I knew I took a wrong turn somewhere!) The next day we wandered around Melaka some more until the heat became unbearable. We found an old church that had been used by the Portugese and Dutch that St. Francis of Assisi had been interred at. There were lots of old tombstones inside the church from the fifteen hundreds. That afternoon I personally played PSP for 3 hours and slept for 2 hours.

The next day we travelled to Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia. KL was still a bit more orderly than Bangkok but what I realized by that time is that I kind of like the disorder in Bangkok - you never know what you will see. In KL we went to the Batu caves, which are the caves that have become a Hindu shrine. You have to walk up 27o some odd steps to the first cave and inside it there are all sorts of altars. Outside there are lots of monkeys doing their things and some very odd statues. We wandered around the colonial part of KL and it's Chinatown. We realized, while walking through all of these Chinatowns, that you can get the same knock-off/souvenir crap anywhere. Unfortunately it is very hard to find any indigineous souvenirs anymore. The last day we were in KL we waited and waited and waited until it was our turn to go up to the Sky bridge between the Petronas Towers. (Another thing you have to do I guess.)

Day nine was our most epic travelling day. We were up at 4:30am to catch a train to the airport so we could fly to our next destination. Sounds easy right? No. No it wasn't. We took a taxi to the train station, a train to the airport, a bus to another terminal, a plane to the nearest airport, a taxi to the ferry terminal, a ferry to the island, and a taxi to the hotel. But we finally arrived at around 2pm and proceeded to lay on the beach for the next 3 days. That night we had an amazing Italian "Christmas" dinner at L'osteria. We spent most of our days in Langkawi on the beach, recharging our batteries from all the cities. Our last day in Langkawi we rented a scooter and drove to the cable car. It takes you about 700m up a mountain to some spectacular views of the island.

On day twelve we flew back to KL then on to Phuket. The next day we spent the full day at the beach. It was sunny and hot and the water was perfect. While in Phuket we did an Island tour to Ko Phi Phi Lai, Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Khai. All were nice (except extremely overcrowded) and you realize that once you see one island, they are all the same - sand, palm trees, water, etc. When we got back to the mainland we realized that the power was out all around us. It stayed out until about 8:30pm which made for an interesting dinner. Luckily we found a place that was running on gas. By day fifteen I was ready to get back to Bangkok. I can only take so much sloth and sun.

We spent New Years in Phuket and it was nice and low-key. We went out to a seafood restaurant and had lobster, then went down to the beach a lit of paper lanterns and watched some fireworks, then we went home to bed by 11:00pm. On New Years day we went to the beach in the morning and it was nearly deserted but by lunch the crowds had returned so we left. We went for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and then I came down with food poisoning...again. The next day we had to check out of our accomodation at noon (we stayed at the 3rd Street Guesthouse, by the way, and it was great!) so we spent the afternoon in a mall (not my favourite way to spend a day.) We flew out of Phuket at 8:30pm and arrived at our door at 11. All in all a good trip.

I have also updated my Flickr site with more photos.

Happy New Year everyone!