I looked at my calender this morning to notice that i've only got 4 weeks of teaching left! Bloody hell this has gone quickly. Whilst I can't say teaching has been the best of fun, it has been good and I'll miss it a bit, though travelling europe with friends will settle down any miseries i have pretty quickly!
Last weekend I went to Khon Kaen, which is the big city in north-east thailand. The lonely planet said it was a place for tourists to drop in and satisfy their cravings after weeks of temples, so it seemed like a good thing for me! I was planning to catch a bus on Saturday morning, but Friday arvo saw me impromptly leaving with Miss Hippie and Ann! I was grateful as it saved me a hell of a lot of stuffing around trying to catch buses etc. But in my rush to pack I'd forgotten my phone, which made it hard to organise getting picked up on sunday! And for some reason they were quite intent on me staying at the Sawadee hotel, which is about 20 bucks a night - way more than my planned splurge on a 4 dollar backpackers! When they dropped me off, I just said I'll find my own hotel and meet them at the mall on Saturday for lunch (pizza!) and Sunday afternoon to go back. Easy enough!
So I wandered a kilometre or so to a much more familiar setting of a Pom setting up a hotel/cafe with his thai bride and made camp in a definite "no frills" room. It took the guy about an hour to find a lock and key that matched, but I was very happy just to talk to another Farang (foreigner)! There were a few other expats, one guy who startled the hell out of me when he crept up and said something about Russia and Holland killing each other. I thought he was talking about a new war! Then when he said 3-1 or something I realised he was talking about the euro cup, which made a lot more sense but I stopped listening as he continued his drunken ramble.
Being used to my teaching schedule I got up the next morning a bit too early as I remembered that nothing in Asia likes to open until 10:30am, so I took a stroll around a lake at the southern end of the city. It was peaceful but definitely the start of a hot day and I was soaked in sweat when I dropped in for a iced coffee. I soon found out that lonely planet had lied to some extent about Khon Kaen being a tourist indulgement - the only touristy things there were a museum, maccas and a few other junk food franchises! I suppose that's what most foreigners would want after a month of fried rice but. So when I went to The Pizza Company (more or less same as pizza hut) to meet Ann and her friend for lunch, I wasn't overly surprised to see a fair few Farangs munching on cheesy slices of heaven. But I was surprised at the price of pizza - a large one is anywhere between 12-20 bucks! Though Ann told me that a medium is the same as a large in Australia. I think its pretty funny that what's considered cheap in australia is something of a delicacy in Thailand, especially at the price. But mainly it's because cheese is expensive. I paid for the lunch to cover my share in the road trip, plus I still felt guilty about getting paid to volunteer so I figured it's best to spend it on the teachers as the school doesn't need anything!
The main let down of the weekend was the lack of English Cinemas. So I had to settle for the Incredible Hulk dubbed in Thai. It's funny to hear the High-pitched or overly serious Thai voices for little people. I could understand all of it because of the basic plot - "Hulk, smash" then run away - but I impressed myself with my knowledge of Thai as I could understand a few sentences here and there! Later in the car trip back I spoke just thai for about five minutes to Ann and Miss Hippie and they were amazed at how much I knew and told Yim who said "yes, i think you are smarter than william as it took him a lot of practice to remember things! But he also drank a lot more beer..."
On saturday night I wandered around the city for a long time, just looking at markets and Thai nightlife. I'd planned a rice-free weekend but have to give in to temptation for Jhok, a rice soup with beef dumplings. I regretted it a little as it wasn't overly tasty but I have to try everything at least once! But then I found another night market which happened to be choc-a-bloc full of very tasty and exotic looking street food, so I cursed my impatience to eat Thai food! It was still interesting to sit and watch the locals cook and eat. I probably looked like a dickhead tourist doing that! After a long time I got bored and went to the backpackers to read books and talk to the other dickhead tourists.
I don't think I'll go back to Khon Kaen anytime soon. Just isn't anything there!
The ping-pong competition has been going rather smoothly, with the exception of today as everyone was more interested in watching a big gecko fight a snake in the roof of the canteen. I was too! We are nearly through round one of the comp, and I must admit that I lost my game (on purpose of course) but come on, it was against last years champion! And there has only been one kid crying because they lost!
