Gemma's Journey

Photos: Phnom Phen

gemmamickle — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:48:00 GMT

Photos: Siem Reap

gemmamickle — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:58:00 GMT

Arriving in Cambodia

Photos: Back in Bangkok - before my trip to Cambodia

gemmamickle — Sat, 8 Jan 2011 16:24:00 GMT

Around Bangkok, China Town and at the Ploenchit Fair

Photos: Koh Phi Phi

gemmamickle — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:12:00 GMT

One of the islands off Phi Phi is where they filmed The beach.

Koh Phangan

gemmamickle — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:19:00 GMT

Set off for Koh Phangan at about 6pm for my night train to Surat Thani.

I was looking forward to my journey on the night train, as I had good memories of the Thai night trains (having taken quite a few, when we lived here 18 years ago). I was so excited when I got on and it was exactly the same (if not a little smaller - obviously they have not shrunk the trains - I have grown a little) and we had set off and there was no one sitting opposite me. Yay I could put my feet up and relax. It would have been a little awkward and cramped with someone sitting opposite, so this was great. I ordered food - which came with a Thai spicy soup, green curry (my favourite), rice and a drink – and sat back and relaxed with my book.

Then the train stopped and people got on. But I was ok because no one came to sit in my other seat. It then stopped another 4 times and I was willing it to stay empty. I was ok until the last stop, when a giggly teenage boy came to sit there. He clearly didn't know what to do with himself and the awkwardness was made worse by comments from his father, who was clearly winding him up. Then my food arrived and I had to eat it all with him sitting there, watching my eyes water, with the very spicy soup. Oh well. It didn't last long, as when I was eating the curry they started making up the beds. I bolted it and don't really remember eating it.

Anyone who has ever been on a Thai sleeper train will know what they are like but I will explain how cool they are, for those who don't know.

There is a walk way down the centre of the train with seats wide enough for one person down the side sitting opposite each other. A small table attaches to the wall between the seats for dinner time and the bottom bunk is made out of the seats (pull the backs down and the seat slides into place as a flat bed - very clever). The top bunk is contained in what looks like the ceiling of the train. Like a luggage compartment on a plane, it pulled down and has a bed in it. All new clean sheets and blankets, curtains to make it all very private. It was just as I remembered, great fun, if not a little smaller – laying flat, my head and feet touched the walls (remember the Thai's are all quite short).

I woke myself up at 6:00 for our arrival at 6:30, skipped the breakfast and waited, and waited, and waited...I was woken up at 8:30 when we finally arrived at our destination. In the rain!

I arrived at the hotel after an hour coach ride and a 3 hour boat ride through choppy seas. I was not in the best of moods and the grey sky and muddy roads didn’t help lift my spirits. There had been a lot of rain and the road outside had flooded badly.

Luckily I haven’t seen any snakes swimming in it yet. I did however see a water buffalo and a goose just by the main road!

I was meant to start my EFR (Emergency First aid Response) Course the next day but it worked out that Simon - who would be my instructor, had to go on a visa run to Cambodia and would be away for 3 days. This meant that I would start after I had done my own visa run to the Malaysian border. In the mean time I paid to go on 2 fun dives to Sail Rock (where you may see the Whale Sharks). We were going to use this great new catamaran that they had the use of, which would get us there in super quick time. I’d love to tell you how that went, but I haven’t been there yet – no one has! The weather has been sooooo bad, that there have been no boats running at all. The only one that has been going is the large car ferry (which is lucky because that’s the one I needed for my visa trip). I got my money back and just relaxed. In the rain.

I went on a day out on mopeds with Lisa and Tom, round the Island. I have never driven a moped or motorbike before and I was a little worried about if I would be able to control it. We rented 2 – they would share and Tom would drive. He had gone off down the road to practice and I, while being watched by Michael (the hotel owner) and Hans (one of the dive crew), started mine up and kangaroo hopped it down the drive, wobbling it all over the place. I hadn't realised (because I was concentrating so hard on not crashing) that they were both chasing me down the drive shouting to stop!
I managed to persuade then to let me try going up and down the empty road before I threw in the towel. In the end I was fine, it was just a matter of getting used to it as it is with anything new.
We visited a waterfall and I almost had a heart attack walking up the side of the giant mountain!!! We weren't very impressed especially as there seemed to be a pipe feeding the water flow. (We later learned that we hadn't gone up the right part and we missed the best bit.)
We had a great day out and took snorkels so we could check out the fish in the north of the Island and then drove back down the coast road. What lovely weather!
Oh by the way - I didn't crash it. I was the picture of control and elegance.
On the way back however, Tom just missed the curb in a sharp turn, hit a storm drain (which had a big dent in the middle) and actually made it fly with both of them on there. Amazing.

The visa run was a fun day. NOT! I had decide to go to the hotels Halloween party, which was the night before. This then lead to us all going to the half moon party. Bearing in mind that I had to get up at 4:00 the next morning to catch the 5:00 ferry, I knew this was probably not a good idea. However, it would have been rude of me not to participate in one of Phangans greatest religious traditions! The Halloween party was fun and we all had our faces painted. The others of ghouls, skeletons or showing hideous injuries, where I, on the other hand chose to do flowers, much more me darling! We all got in a taxi and headed over to the half moon site, which was pretty cool. They had lots of drink places; a large place to dance and fire dancers. Good fun. I'm glad I went.

You can see all of the pictures in the Koh Phangan Photograph folder.

Anyway, back to the Visa run. I was feeling a little rough after the buckets and other various drinks that were consumed the night before, and as I had only got back at 2:30 my short sleep hadn't really helped. I was woken up at 4 by some very loud bangs on the door, I got ready and headed out front for the bus which had been booked for 4:30. At 4:40 some of my Halfmoon party friends returned in a taxi, which I considered taking but thought I should wait for the booked one.

At 4:50ish some more partiers returned and I took their taxi, as mine hadn't turned up - TIT (This Is Thailand - not anything rude!!!) I got to the pier and got my ticket. She told me I had to go to the other pier??? what other pier?? Some nice Thai lady with a young child and a moped gave me a lift round there, just in time for the 5:00 ferry. I managed to grab 2 1/2 hours sleep on the boat back to mainland, to be met by about 30 screaming taxi drivers, all trying to get our attention. One of whom was a rather scary looking Katoy (I'm not sure how to spell this, but basically it is a boy girl) with a 12 o'clock shadow! We all barged through them and found our way to the waiting mini bus (which was really posh) and I went to sleep on the 3 back seats. A couple of hours later we had a toilet break (all squats) and then carried on through the rain and flooded villages until we got to the Malay boarder at about 2pm. It was really raining - not like British really raining, but like standing under a power shower on full blast, really raining - and we had to walk to one of the offices to fill out our departure card, to leaver Thailand, then walk to another office in Malaysia (about 200 meters away) to fill out an arrivals and visa card then walk to another office to fill out another departure (from Malaysia) card and finally another office to fill out our final arrivals and Visa card for Thailand. Then back to the bus, by which time I was drowned and rather cold. Another hour drive back to the toilet stop place, where we grabbed some lunch (strange cooked Thai vegetable leaves with an unknown variety of fish stuff) and the return bus and boat journey. I got back at about 9:30. What a rubbish day - I have to do it gain on the 15th Nov. All of that for a 15 day visa!!!!

I started my EFR and Rescue diver course, which was great fun. All of the First Aid was relitivly easy and I got 94% in my test and passed all of the practicals! The Resuce course, involved much more reading and a number of knowledge reviews, as well as about 9 practical tasks, in the pool and/or the sea. I had to do things like rescuing tired divers, pulling them back to shore. Or approaching pannicked and irrational (my instructor acted this VERY well) divers, grabbing them, without them drowning you, claming them down so you can tow them to shore. I also had to practice the most demanding part, which you have to do again in the Dive Master course - rescue of an unresponsive diver. You have to swim to them, remove mask and weight belt, test to see if they are breathing, call for help, give 2 rescue breaths then 1 breath every 5 seconds while you take off their kit and yours so you can drag them on the the beach to give CPR. If you don't give a breath every 5 seconds, you fail; if you don't flick your hand and say prepare before you hold their nose and breath, you fail; if you don't count out loud, you fail. Without blowing my own trumpet, I did it perfectly first time - the best he had ever seen!!! On one practice in the pool - when he had decided that I was doing it all rather well - he decided to make it harder for me and when he was panicking, he grabbed my regulator (the thing you breath through) out of my mouth and stuck it in his own. In all of the tangles and thrashing arms, I couldn't find my spare reg (or alternate air source) and was starting to panic myself, especially as I had realised that we were wedged under the concerte bar stools. I managed to clam him down - without punching him in the face and knocking him out (a tried and tested method for rescuing panicked divers), swap back regulators, return to the surface and I take him back to the edge. I thought that was going to be the scaryest thing I had to do, but actually that was to come the next day.

This was to be the final day of my training - out in the sea. When we arrived at the beach I knew it was going to be hard work. It was very windy, creating large swells and a strong current pulling everything along the beach to the right, towards the rocks. There was also a long thin reef wall about 15 meters off the shore, which came up near the surface and meant the waves were breaking over it. It took us about 20 minutes to swim out past this wall and about 6 meters beyond, to where we would do our first activity. I had to conduct a search and recovery of a person (Don, from Texas) under the water by swimming through a certain pattern, covering a large area. (15 kicks, turn 90deg to the right, 2 kicks, 90deg to the right, 15 kicks 90deg to the left, 2 kicks, 90deg to the left, etc). He was on the bottom (about 6 meters down) attached to a rope with an orange beacon on it - so we didn't loose him forever. He was to come up after 25 minutes if we hadn't already found him and I was to use my compass to ensure that I was covering the whole area.

My instructor/observer and I went down, and about 20cm below the surface, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. This was all due to it still being rainy season and the extra bad weather from the typhoon that had hit the island, a couple of days before. I have no idea how far down we went, or what direction we were going in because I couldn't see my dive computer or compass! It was so bad that my instructor had to hold me the whole time as he would have lost me otherwise. We were swimming through areas of dark and light - which could have been anything, rocks, coral, people, nothing??? I couldn't see anything, the currant was so strong I couldn't count my kicks or stay in a straight line and I was starting to panic, so we came up. We had started about 3 meters away from him and ended up about 10 meters away. Constantly fighting against the current we tried another 2 times and then gave up. Don hadn't even come up after 25 minutes because he couldn't see his watch and it was all a bit of a disaster. We then had to swim back to the shore which took us about 45 minutes (most of which I don't think we were actually moving).

Just as we finally got back to shore, my instructor (Jeff) swam back out and I realised that I still had to rescue a panicked diver and then an unresponsive diver! I was stupid enough to think that he may actually cancel it for the day, after what we had been through. But NO!!!!! So I rescued him and pulled his huge and panicking body back to shore and then I saved him again when he wasn't breathing - took off his weights and mask, which Don then dropped and we had to abandon the whole thing again, to find his expensive weight belt. OMG!!!!

The next day we used the beach in front of the hotel (we didn't use this before because it is not deep enough to do search and recovery in). I had just found small things in the pool and I was waiting to do the next part when I noticed Mel, one of the other divemasters go out into the sea by herself all kited up. I was aware that Jeff had something in store for me so I was watching her very carefully. Everyone was looking very shifty so I asked for some help kiting up, just as I noticed Mel roll onto her front, not breathing!! I rushed down the stairs and into the sea trying to get my fins on and swam out to her, breathing for her, I took of her diving kit and pulled her up onto the beach, where I gave her CPR. Luckily she came round. Then I saw Don go out to sea without his SCUBA kit on! I put my tank back on (as I had had to take it off to rescue Mel) and swam around waiting for something to happen. Then Jeff came out as well and I had to watch both of them. Suddenly Don started to panic (do you like the drama of all of this???) so I rushed over and tried to catch him as he kept going under! He grabbed hold of me and tried to climb on top of me, but I kicked him in the face with my fins (also allowed) and grabbed him and on the way back to shore he stopped breathing. This meant that I now had to give him rescue breaths as well. I took off all my kit, again! and pulled him up onto the beach to give him CPR. It's hard work being a rescue diver!

I am glad to say that no divers were hurt in the telling of this story and that I passed my course. Jeff later said that he couldn't have found Don in the conditions we were in and that he thought that it showed how confident and strong I actually was. I didn't tell him that when I got back to the room I cried! Apparently most people do this in Florida Key conditions where it is calm and flat and you can see 20 meters under the water. Nothing like this had been done there before and he was very pleased with me!

I have now signed up to do my Master Diver course with them in January, which will last about 2 months.

One of my last nights on Phangan I went with a Lisa, Tom, Vinnie, Paudie, Gerard (last 3 are Irish) and another girl from Sweden? from the hotel, on a night out to Haad rin.

We started off in a very empty bar (it was only about 9:00) and worked our way through some beers and cocktails.

We then walked down to the Cactus Bar, where there were some more people, some more drinks, some more fire dancers and people selling lights and glowing headbands. Which we had to have – of course!

Finally we decided to move on from there and found a free bus to a pool party. Most of our group managed to squeeze in to the bus, but I was left behind with Tom and Lisa. I am sorry to say that I deserted them, when an offer of a lift on the back of a motorbike was offered. He was French and not bad looking, he even had dreadlocks! They made it minutes later however in a buss all to themselves. Again there were more drinks.

There was also a strange group of Ozzies who had clearly come as a team of 80's keep fit people, or something. They all had on very short tight shorts, tight sleeveless tops, leg warmers, and sweat bands, in a variety of glow in the dark colours. I could tell they were Australian as soon as they walked in!

Needless to say we all ended up in the pool. A great night out.

Photos: Krabi, Thailand

gemmamickle — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:02:00 GMT

Mixture of island visits, kayak trip and the place i stayed - only for one night! Sorry about the strange order, it's really hard to swap them around on here!

Photos: Koh Phangan

gemmamickle — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 19:27:00 GMT

Half moon/halloween party and the place i'm staying

Photos: Khao San and general BKK + Birthday

gemmamickle — Mon, 8 Nov 2010 19:01:00 GMT

The things you see in the back of a tuk tuk

Photos: Koh Samet

gemmamickle — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 19:24:00 GMT

Holiday with Jane, David, Alice, Jasmine and Orange mans long lost brother.

Photos: Queue for Krispy Kream 1 week after it opened.

gemmamickle — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 19:19:00 GMT

They were coming out with huge boxes after standing in the queue for about 3 hours!

Photos: Chao Phraya River - trip to find Khaosan Road

gemmamickle — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 19:05:00 GMT

Photos: Elsie's art gallery and studio

gemmamickle — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 19:00:00 GMT

She pulled the little old salt selling man off the street and gave him 500B to sit there for 3 hours. He kept nodding off. Very funny!

Photos: Chatuchak - Week end market

gemmamickle — Sun, 7 Nov 2010 18:50:00 GMT

My Thai Island Travel Plan 28/10 - 04/12

gemmamickle — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:20:00 GMT

My Thai Island Adventure - dates should be right now.

October

28. Train + Boat to Koh Phangan http://www.weangthai.com/

29. Arrive

30. Diving EFR Training (Emergency First aid Response)

31. Diving EFR Training

November

1. Diving EFR Training

2. Visa run

3. Relax

4. Relax Possible diving with whale sharks

5. Relax

6. Relax

7. Transfer to Koh Sok - 3 day 2 night Koh Sok – National Park, Night trek + kayak + sleep one night in tree house in rainforest.

8. 3 day 2 night Koh Sok

9. 3 day 2 night Koh Sok

10. Transfer to Krabi http://www.andamanadventures.com/kayaking_destinations/ao_thalane.shtml

11. Relax

12. Relax + 4 island tour + Ao Thalane kayak

13. Relax

14. Relax

15. Visa Run to Satun

16. Transfer to Phi Phi island Diving

17. Relax

18. Relax

19. Relax

20. Transfer to Krabi

21. Transfer to Koh Muk http://pawapi.com/ Diving

22. Relax

23. Relax

24. Transfer to Koh Lipe

http://andaman-island-hopping.com/hotels/tarutaocabana.htm

25. Relax
26. Relax
27. Transfer Trang to BKK
28. Arrive BKK
29. Bus to Siem Reap – Cambodia
30. Explore

December

1. Explore

2. Transfer to Phnom Penh (so many different spellings not sure what’s right any more)

3. Explore

Meet Mum and Dad on the 8^th Dec in Phom Phenn

End of the first few weeks - good bye to the Ex-Pat brat! Up to date now!!!

gemmamickle — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 20:07:00 GMT

Wow, the end of the first 3 weeks of my journey and the end of my 29th year.

It’s funny really, it feels like I’m still at school and I’m behind on my homework. I’m even getting told off by teachers! Finally, I have has the time to sit down and go through everything from the beginning, which is ironic really as I don’t feel like I’ve achieved that much.

I did let mum and dad come to the airport in the end. I was feeling strong and did all of my crying before we left the house, so I wasn’t the emotional wreck, that I was (and you were all) expecting. I got very excited when I got to the desk and asked if there was any chance of an upgrade, and she smiled in an ‘actually there might just be’ kind of way. When she then asked me where my visa was, my heart sank especially when she followed that with we can’t let you book in until you have a visa (which I wouldn’t get at that notice) or an outward bound flight (which I didn’t want as I didn’t know where I was going after BKK). Somehow it was decided that they would let me fly and that they would give me the upgrade, so I was all excited again. Yay!

My journey got even more exciting when I ended up standing next to Peter Crouch in the queue for the x-ray machines. He wasn’t there long, but long enough for quick chat.

Forgive me if I’m rambling.

The flight was great. Not in first class, but the extra legroom was much appreciated. I was worried about the visa situation, as I have seen Thai immigration officials and for very short men they can be rather intimidating. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem. I went through immigration without any problems and she didn’t even speak to me - still no bedside manner!

Found the taxis (for those of you who haven’t been here these are very brightly painted, normally in pink or yellow and green) and had my first proper Thai experience in 12 years! The taxi driver that was there, said the meters were not working (best way to con unsuspecting tourists with ridiculous prices) I stood and listened to a taxi driver trying to charge 4 gorgeous Spanish lads thousands of baht to go somewhere just down the road. Ridiculous. He also tried to charge me 800baht for a 250/300B journey. I was very proud of myself when I went to walk away and he lowered his price a bit, I told him it was too expensive – in Thai – and then tried to walk away again. I noticed the Spanish guys watching me in admiration as I got the price down to 300B and told them, that he was trying to con them. Big confidence boost.

I had forgotten what it was like to be in a Thai taxi. No seatbelts (I can’t believe I actually looked for one!), driver on his mobile, weaving in and out of lanes of bumper to bumper traffic, motorbikes and Tuk Tuks shooting down the middle of lanes and being cut off. It took me about 20 minutes to actually open my eyes, which wasn’t really a problem as I had no idea where I was going. Neither it seems did my taxi driver! We ended up going in a huge loop which was almost as long as the actual journey should have been. So I was glad I was not on the meter, it would have cost me a fortune!

This was when the inevitable finally happened. Firstly my hair went frizzy and then I started speaking pigeon English with a dodgy Thai accent and to beat that I spoke very loudly. As if that was actually going to help. What an idiot!

I arrived at Jane and David’s apartment, just outside of central Bangkok. Jane Monks was my first teacher at Bangkok Patana School over 18 years ago (which was also their first year in Thailand) and David taught in year 4. Mum got a job at the school, teaching art with his year group. While we were still in BKK they had a little girl called Alice, who is now 15 - that makes me feel old - and 7 years ago they adopted a beautiful Thai girl, called Jasmine.

That night I was taken for my first proper Thai green curry in 12 years and it was just as I had imagined it would be. So good!!! Didn’t sleep too well that night as I kept waking up every 20 minutes thinking it was the morning. Long night!

Jane and David were working the next day, so I was given some ideas of places to go, complimentary bus times, taxi directions and a sky train card so I could get around easily. The next day I caught the 10:00 complimentary bus to Central City (huge American style mall) which I then realised, opened at 11. I decided to get some breakfast and hung around for a while but gave up and took another horrifying taxi ride to the sky train station. Obviously I had no idea where we were going so I was paranoid that he was taking me the wrong way, or the long way round, to bump up the meter cost. When I got there (without having being ripped off) I was pleasantly surprised to see how organised and logical the station was. Clearly not designed by a Thai.

I had a lovely day out in Bangkok, travelling around on the sky train (which makes BKK so much easier) visiting the big malls and some of the old places which we used to go to. It was all a little overwhelming, noisy, dirty, smelly, busy and hot. Just as I remember – so good to be back.

The next day I decided to go for it and get to the Khao San road (where all the backpackers stay) this is on the other side of BKK, by the river. To get there I had to get a taxi to the sky train, travel almost to the end of the line and then change trains and travel down the other line. Then I had to get a taxi from there. This is where it all went wrong. I struggled to get a taxi and when I finally did, I managed to get myself another idiot! I had a map with me (Would recommend the Nancy Chandler map to everyone who ever comes to Thailand – brilliant) so I could check up on the taxi driver. I started to have my suspicions about his knowledge of BKK pretty early on, when he turned down a road that was going in the wrong direction. I explained that away as being due to one-way systems, which do happen over here, however when we went past the Snake Venom hospital, Snake Farm and Lumpini Park I knew he had no idea where he was going. I even kept saying Khao San and I showed him the map. In the end, I worked out that I was worse off than I had been when I changed sky trains! I got out and paid him – which I shouldn’t have done and went up the sky train bridge to work out where I was.

Travelling here I met a lovely Thai man who could clearly see that I was lost he offered his help and looked at my map pointing out where I was, what road I needed to go down and where to catch a cab to keep the cost down. He even suggested the Tourist Information Centre which would be able to help me find a nice place to stay and give me some ideas on the best ways to get out of the country to renew my visa (has to be done every 30 days, so mine is due on the 2^nd Nov). He was very kind and I wasn’t sure what to do, as I still distrusted everyone I met, which I was ashamed of as the majority of Thai people are kind, helpful and honest. He had told me that it would cost 20B to get a tuk tuk to the Tourist Information Centre and I could catch them over there – obviously I’m pointing now but you can’t see – I went down there trying to work out what to do and notice him watching me to check I was going the right way. I went round the corner and a man jumped out, “You want tuk?” he said. (You have to say this with funny clipped Thai accent) I stammered uh yes please to the… the… uh… Tourist Information Centre? He agreed to the 20B which I had been told. So, ok maybe this was going to work. I’ve been to tourist information centres in France, they’ve always been very helpful and had lots of good advice and I was looking forward to going somewhere air-conditioned, possibly with a complimentary glass of water. When we pulled up I realised I was not going to get the help I needed.

So I went in and was shepherded to a desk by a short angry looking Thai woman, possibly Thai/Chinese - by the way she was talking/shouting at me!

“Where you wana stay?” She demanded, before I’d even sat down.

“Well I was after some information really.”

“Where you wana stay!!?” Shouting louder now.

“On the Khao San Road?” Starting to panic now, she was clearly not a lady to mess with.

“How much you wana pay?”

“I don’t know,” I said very calmly, as that was clearly the reason I was there. To find that out!!! Daft bat! “How much are the rooms?”

“2000 baht,” She barked. I knew that was too expensive and pulled a confused/stop trying to rip me off, kind of face. “What you wana pay?”

“About 500-700 baht?”

“No way. 2000 baht, cheapest!” And with that she stood up (clearly the conversation was over) and she pushed me out of the office.

Needless to say I was a little… angry… but I controlled myself and got in the Tuk Tuk - which was strangely still there waiting for me. He asked me if I wanted to go back and at that point I realized that I had been conned. I sat and stewed in back of the Tuk Tuk, angry at them for ripping me off (with the fairs, there and back) but mainly angry at myself for falling for the trick. I was expecting to get back and see the ‘nice’ man standing there to check it had worked. I was a little surprised to see that he wasn’t there, when we got back and then I felt bad… until I walked into him just round the corner!

After that I got on the sky train and headed homeward. It was about 3 by this point and I hadn’t eaten so I decided to go to my favourite Thai restaurant in BKK – Cabbages and Condoms, for some comfort food. This worked and on the way back I thought about my little trauma and how I had been ripped off. They took me for 40baht… 40baht… which I then realised is only ₤1 or a little less actually! Could have been worse.

On Friday I went back to Patana (the school I used to go to), to have a look around and see some of the teachers that were still there.

You should know before you really look at the pictures, that 18 years ago when this school was still ‘small’ - it was huge – bigger that most private schools in the UK. By the time we left 4 years later it had grown to at least twice the size. There aren’t really words to describe it now. It is GINORMIC and they still seem to be adding to it. Have a look on the internet for Bangkok Patana School and you will get an idea of what I am talking about. http://www.patana.ac.th/about_campus.asp

I have attached a couple of pictures that I took when I was there. (See also Gallery – Patana School)

WBJS has one ICT suite, like most schools (if they are lucky); possibly a small pool; a gym/hall or maybe both (which is also where everyone eats); maybe other rooms to use for independent learning. Did I mention that in Primary at Patana, that each year group has its own ICT suite and large quiet area? Not to mention the school having 3 pools (one of which is Olympic sized); 3 full size and 2 smaller football pitches; a sports hall with 2 basket ball courts; 12 tennis courts; squash courts, 2 hard courts; a running track, large auditorium with huge stage, drama cube??, performing arts building….. the list goes on. Have a look at the web site.

On the Saturday morning I went back to school and joined in with an Early Years training course. Very interesting. In the afternoon I visited Katie Chirathivat, my best friend from Patana school. She has 2 children now, a beautiful little girl called Ayla who is 3 and Jamie who is about 3 or 4 months old now. It's funny to think of us as being old enough to have families of our own. I still remember dressing up and acting out parts of Matilda, with Katie and Charlotte, for an English project.

On Sunday I went with Jane to Chatuchak the weekend market. I always remembered going there as a child with mum, dad and Greg. Always very hot, noisy and busy but great fun. We always used to stop for a drink and if we couldn't finish it, it would be put into a bag and you drank it with a straw (you weren't allowed to take the bottles away as they got money for them). Greg never used to drink his and would take it away in a bag with two elastic bands round the top to attach it to his ears. He would then construct a complicated network of straws to get it from the bag and into his mouth without him having to use his hands. Every time we went the design became more and more elaborate.

I didn't partake in the hands free drinking this time but it was still fun. The market is huge and has areas which contain different things – Thai handicrafts, wood carvings, pottery and kitchen ware, fashion, food (real and fake),

arts and craft materials, antiques (genuine fakes) and animals and fish. In fact you can pretty much get everything you could possibly imagine there. The food areas are particularly interesting. Everything laid out ready to be cooked, exactly the way you want it. I'm pretty adventurous with my food but I didn't eat there!

On Monday I went to play Mah Jong at the British Club. This is something that Mum and most expat wives do when they live in BKK. It's either Mah Jong or Bridge. I met Jane Rodgers, Katrina's mum (Katrina was a really good friend from Patana) at one of the sky train stops and we went to the Club, played Mah Jong and then had a lovely lunch at the pool bar with some other friends and Pauline Spiers who also lived in BKK when we did. After lunch we then went back to Jane's apartment and watched Strictly Come Dancing – obviously!

The following day I went with Jane to visit Elsie Evans art studio. Mum used to go for art classes with Elsie when we lived in BKK, but I had never met her before. It wasn't long before Elsie got me involved and had me doing a charcoal portrait of a little salt selling man, who she pulled in off the street with his salt trolley. He was there for a class of 3 people - one of whom was the prime ministers nephew – so I just joined in. He was paid 500baht to sit there for about 3 hours, which was probably more money than he would have got in a month for selling his bags of salt.

On Wednesday I went with Pauline, as my guide, to Khao San Road – and I actually got there! This time I took the sky train to the river and then with Pauline's guidance caught the river taxi all the way down to Khao San. It was a nice and relaxing way to travel and funny seeing all of the old hotels we used to visit for a Sunday buffet lunch. Passing the Shangri La made my stomach rumble for all of the smoked salmon, lobster and prawns that we used to consume, en mass! The river taxis are fun. You have to be quick to get on and off, as they don't really stop. You also have to be careful not to bump into a monk (females can't touch them or they have to go into a period of cleansing). They actually have special places to stand and marked seats, just for them. On the way down the river you pass many interesting sights, temples and the Grand Palace.

My first visit to Khao San was exciting and I was fully prepared to move there – out of the beautiful apartment and into the hubbub of Khao San living. We looked round some of the hostels, ranging in price from about £5 a night to £20 plus and checked out some of the restaurants and market stalls. It is a weird place really, as it is not really Bangkok – it could be anywhere in the world. Just full of backpackers, drunk or well on there way to it.

The following Saturday I went with Jane, David, Alice and Jasmine to Ko Samet. Our juorney was a little wet and windy but the weather imporved not long after we got there.

We were there for 5 days and stayed in a beautiful Hotel set on a lovely beach.

The food was fantastic, you could get fresh fruit and all sorts of dishes cooked by the men and women on the beach and also the best foot massages.

On our first night (also Jane's Birthday) we went down the beach to a half moon party, where we had drinks and watched the fire dancers.

They played jump rope (which was on fire) and all of the drunk party-goers joined in – one girl had a light flowing dress on, which we all thought was going to go up in flames.

While we were away we all got the impression that we were being followed or watched. Towards the end of our time there our observer introduced himself to us.

His name was Khun (Mr) Orange

and he had recently had a communication from a brother he didn't even know he had. His brother was living in the UK and working for an evil woman who made him work in the kitchen. He had tried to escape many times, to find help, but had been unsuccessful. He had found his brother Khun Orange, in order to try to get MY help.

He joined us for the evening and decide that he would come traveling with me as a way to get to the UK to help his brother.

On our last night we went down to a different beach and had dinner in a restaurant which had these fire dancers. One was 10 and the other about 13 - they were very good.

We returned to BKK on the 21^st and had a celebration for my Birthday. (The day after, Alice was going away on her DofE; Jane, David and Jasmine were going away again before school started again and I was gong to Khao San.) We got a takeaway and watched a film then there was surprise bubbly, cake and presents for me. It was a lovely way to celebrate my Birthday – especially as my actual Bday was a disaster!

I was sick and on the toilet most of the night and by the time everyone had woken up in the morning I was very weak. I managed to crawl to the door, open it and call for help. Seriously not joking – David found me on the floor and went to get a sugary drink for me, which I then threw up all over myself (very dignified!!! NOT!!!). I then spent my birthday and the next day recovering and being looked after by Jane and David – who did not go away. Feel pretty bad about that. Thank you so much guys.

On Sunday 24^th after 3 weeks ( I was only going to be at the apartment for 3 or 4 days) I finally moved to Khao San Road.

I stayed in a place called D&D Inn which was recommended by Greg. Really nice place with a swimming pool and bar/restaurant on the roof. My room was nice and not too expensive but at the same time not one of the cheapest in the area.

That evening I went out to find food and hopefully someone to talk to. I found a lively looking restaurant and saw a girl siting by herself. I took the table in front of hers, thinking as I sat down 'I think that's her from Blue Peter'. It turned out that it wasn't (her name was Humeira) – but she knew exactly who I meant. We got talking and we both ate, then a bloke she had met (Ollie) the day before turned up, and we all went for a drink. It was a great night and many buckets of vodka and coke were consumed. We also met a couple from Canada and we all went up to the roof of Ollie's hotel to have more drinks. I think it was about... I don't know what time it was actually. But it was late or very early!

I spent the next day with them on Khao San Road. We had massages and lunch and hid from the rain by the pool. In the evening Ollie moved on to Krabi and Humeira had her flight back to the UK. Ollie gave me the details of a great Welsh guy called Steve, who worked at a tourist centre in BKK and would be able to book up all of my Thailand activities (he had also done Ollies). So the next morning I went to see him.

I had called before to get directions and had mentioned his name and when I arrived I found out that they had called him into the office for me, apparently he had only just got in form a particularly good night out. My concerns about Steve grew as he talked about his nights out and the different ways that he finds to have a extra good time! He mentioned all sorts of places where I could find such things and people to look for. It didn't take too long for me to put him straight and then he actually came up with some good places to go and things to do – that would suit me. In Ko Phangan (my 1^st stop) I was booked in to do my EFR (Emergency First Aid) and Dive Rescue course; I would do a 4 island tour and kayak adventure in Krabi, while I stayed in his hotel and then I would move on to stay on beautiful tropical islands where I could swim, dive, sun bathe and read. I would end my 37 day trip in Cambodia just before meeting Mum and Dad.

I left for my trip 2 days later on the 28^th.

Photos: Patana School - I've added a few more

gemmamickle — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:36:00 GMT

A few pictures of the school i used to go to. As it is now.

Photos: Some lovely messages from great friends

gemmamickle — Sun, 3 Oct 2010 21:21:00 GMT

Feel the fear but do it anyway!

gemmamickle — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:25:00 GMT

It's booked. I fly to Bangkok on the 3rd October for the journey of my life!

Not sure if I want mum and dad to come to the airport (In case you didn't know I can be emotional at times!!) but they've insisted. Isn't that nice. I later found out that it was actually to make sure that I got on the plane and didn't chicken out and sit in a Heathrow toilet for a year!

I will be attempting to regularly add interesting details and stories from my travels, so if you're interested this will be the place to get all the latest info, see some pictures and possibly some videos.

I will be putting any pictures/stories rated

onto face book as I believe there are some youngsters, who would like to follow my journey.

Feel free to add any comments, This is probably a good way to keep in touch with your news as well and of course there’s always Face book.

As far as planning my trip - I have booked my ticket to Thailand. I have been offered a place to stay for the first few days in BKK, which has made it all a little less daunting. I’m meeting Mum, Dad and possibly Greg? in Cambodia for Christmas. I would like to visit Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Japan and obviously the Thai islands and then I will go to South America. Nothing set in stone; just see where the wind takes me. I would like to do some volunteer work in Cambodia and later South America, but nothing is booked yet.

That’s all for now.

Gem x

Oh yeah please don’t expect too much from the spelling and grammar. I am on holiday now!