Whispering tales of Magic

Photos: More views, summer 2012

hannah_white — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:34:00 GMT

canal boating 2012

Photos: views from my galley window

hannah_white — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 07:48:00 GMT

Canal boating photos, summer 2012

Dizzy the Duck

hannah_white — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 05:02:00 GMT

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As we have been cruising through April and May, there has been plenty of baby ducks on the canal, all really tiny and fluffy with tons of cute factor. We have also noticed there are good momma ducks and some rather careless ones. We have even seen a few poppa ducks taking an active role in rearing the young.

The good momma ducks herd their little ones together, always circling around them keeping a close eye on them, never letting them get too close to people and generally making sure they are safe. The bad mommas, who have now been labelled Floozy Mommas because of their blatant disregard of the babies, especially when there is bread on offer, ignore their babies, let them swim away and as we witnessed one day, let the gulls swoop down and carry them away for lunch.

In Worcester, we were tied up and had completed a turn around and were already to receive new guests, when Hanna got on the boats looking really upset. When questioned, it turned out she had been trying to help a baby duckling back to its mum, as a group of male ducks had been attacking it.

The floozy momma duck was on the opposite side of the canal and was completely ignoring the plight of her off spring in favour of bread.

We all went out to see this duckling, who was sooooooo small and cute, and still miles away from his mum and still being bullied by the male ducks. He was getting tired swimming around and around and his mum was still ignoring him, so we scooped him up and placed him on the fins at the back of the boat to rest awhile, but he was a bit of a plonker and could not see when he was on a good a good deal, or maybe it was some primal instinct to get back to his momma, no matter how bad she is, and kept insisting on jumping back in the water and trying to swim away, but he had no sense of direction and kept swimming round in circles and getting nowhere fast, hence the very quick decision that he should be called Dizzy.

Trying to be practical and sensible, we all went inside and left him to it, survival of the fittest and all that, but a few minutes later we heard Brigitta shouting “Hannah quick!! Help! Debs!” we dashed outside to see Brigitta desperately trying to push the boats away from the edge as Dizzy swam down between them to a very squashed future. Scooping him up again and saving him from himself, we decided that putting him back in the canal would be tantamount to murder at this point and no-one wanted that on their conscience, but exactly what do you do with a baby duck that hasn’t got the sense to look after himself?

So, pulling on our very limited wildlife knowledge we decided he needed a bed with some grass and water. Raiding the kitchen we found a large Tupperware tub, and Debs went off in search of grass, (if you have ever been to the concrete desert that is Diglis Basin you will know this is no easy task) holding him in cupped hands he was shaking so much, poor thing was terrified, but then if you found yourself suddenly scooped away from everything you had ever known and adopted by four very over enthusiastic giant humans, you would be terrified too!

“Can we keep him? Can we keep him?” was the main question asked, before where will he live? What does he eat? Exactly how do you look after a baby duck? There were grand plans of building a nest box on the roof, training him to follow the boats and trying to work out how to dig for worms.

But, as in all emergencies, the ultimate solution was to call my mum.

Apart from the globally recognised truth that Mums know everything, I know my Mum had raised a gosling called Dodo when I was little (but that’s another story for another day) so on the phone, “Hi mum how are you? Good good, errrmmmm what do we feed a duckling because we seem to have adopted one!” “Oh yeah, and can he be toilet trained?”

So, just in case you were wondering, or ever find yourself in a similar situation; ducklings eat grubs and worms, or you can go to the pet shop and get special food, do NOT feed them scrambled egg and milk, they will get diarrhoea (and it seems slightly cannibalistic to me) and the thing that was repeated several times, “don’t expect him to live very long, he’s a wild animal”

With this in mind, and after the initial excitement had died down we looked at Dizzy, shaking and shivering in his bed of freshly picked grass and decided that the best thing would be to try really hard to reunite him with his momma- even if she is a floozy.

So Debs and Brigitta headed off with Dizzy in his box to try and reunite him with his family.

Now both Debs and Brigitta swear blind that they found his momma and they swam away into to sunset together, but occasionally at night there is random quacking under my bed, there is definitely one duck that looks more familiar than the others and I do get through heck of a lot of bread......

Back on the Boats

hannah_white — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:01:00 GMT

After one at week at home I am back on the boats, and its bloody freezing!!! Early April has been wet, windy, cold and cold, and did I say cold? This is not how I remember boating! It’s suppose to be glorious sunshine, open doors and windows, shorts and tee-shirts, cups of tea on the roof, instead I am wearing everything I own, including a ski jacket, desperately trying to keep the fire lit and hoping we have enough fuel to keep the Eberspacher running.

Now, the fact that it is wet is actually good, there have been concerns that there may be closures on the canals because the dry spell last year and this winter mean the reservoirs are very low, but I wish it would rain at night while we are tucked up in bed all cosy, not while trying to complete flights of locks during the day.

There was one very depressing newspaper that reckons this will be the coldest May on record- ever! So all those lovely white linen trousers and floaty summer dresses I packed optimistically have been relegated to the back of the cupboard and I have raided charity shops for more jumpers. Primark in Worcester was good as well, they had lots of woolly tights on sale, some were peculiar colours, but I figured under six layers of clothes, no-one would know.

So far we have cruised from Warwick to Warwick, up through Birmingham, Warwick to Worcester, Worcester to Worcester and Worcester to Nantwich. Except we didn’t go to Worcester as often as we should have, but more of that later.

So enough about the weather, what about this year’s crew I hear you ask. Well Debbie is from Bristol area, she is 25, tall, blond and keen to learn to boat. Brigitta is 27, from Hungary, small and blond and was a hairdresser in a previous life. If you didn’t know this before, one look in her bathroom cabinet would give you inkling. I have never seen so much shampoo! We have challenged her that she will not use it all before the end of season.

Debbie has hiking/camping experience and is used to wearing sensible shoes, warm clothes and waterproofs when needed, Brigitta comes from Budapest and is a city girl through and through. We had to take her shopping for warm clothes, and after turning up her nose at an angora jumper for £2.50 (Oxfam in Stourport) because it had a small hole in it, I took her to one side and explained that it didn’t matter because no-one would see it and she would not find anything warmer, so begrudgingly she bought it, and has worn it every day since! Apparently, I am like her mum she says, because I keep looking after her, hummmmm not too sure about that.

Our youngest crew member is Alex. He has just turned one, has eight teeth, can crawl at lightening speeds, loves sausages and has the cheekiest, cutest smile. Hanna said he would be safe crawling in the lounge because the steps were too deep for him to climb. He proved her wrong in about 10 minutes and all of sudden life became very complicated. His favourite mischief is to crawl to the kitchen and pull all the flour and sugar jars from the shelf, we are now very careful about making sure the lids are on tightly.

For all those of you who have been doing rain dances on our behalf, you can stop now! We had official word from the British Waterways guys that the reservoirs are now fuller than they were this time last year, and there is more rain forcast. The river Severn is in flood and we cannot cruise to Worcester at the end of the Worcester ring and are having to spend the turnaround in Stourport. It seems to be all or nothing.

We are getting set to leave Stourport and have some American guests, Chuck and Suzanne, on board, who cruised with me and Lauren two summers ago. It’s good to see familiar faces and great to catch up with people. So far this season we have seen a lot of returning guests and met some new ones as well.

Thats the news for now, I will try and write more sooner rather that later, take care xxxxx

Learning to Ski

hannah_white — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:13:00 GMT

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As this is my third season, I decided that maybe I should learn to ski properly. At the moment I can get down a mountain, but there is no style or grace about it and when something slightly tricky crops up I freeze and go to pieces.

Meribel is great for seasonaires; they discount everything and do special offers everywhere, so I was able to get a great deal on some lessons with the local ski school Magic in Motion. Eight lessons over 4 weeks for 150Euro, (guests pay about 200euro for 6 lessons.)

There were six of us in our class, all pretty much at the same level and all keen to improve. The first lesson the weather was glorious so we went up to Mont Vallon the highest point in resort at 2952 meters and worked our way down bobbing up and down, wiggling our hips, and trying to keep our upper body facing down the hill, apparently this is good technique for skiers! It’s probably far more technical than that, but while trying to concentrate and get the hill in one piece, that’s what I heard from the instructor, Nico.

It was like learning to drive again, so many things going through my head, lean forward, bend your knees, face downhill, don’t tense up, bob up and down, avoid other skiers, stay in control, lean forward, don’t snow plough, my head was buzzing at the end of the two and half hours, but it felt good, and I felt that I had learnt stuff and my confidence was already growing.

The next lesson was a white out and we could hardly see so Nico decided to teach us off piste and through trees. After spending the whole of the previous lesson trying to remember to lean forward, I was now being told to lean back again, it’s no wonder I get confused sometimes. Now for me, the biggest sticking point I have is turning if I feel I am going too fast, the problem with skiing through trees is, if you don’t turn, you hit a tree. I spent the whole lesson running on adrenaline, but survived and lived to ski another day!

Over the next few lessons we conquered moguls, mastered what to do with the poles, (up till this point I just randomly waved them about!) learnt to carve, hit the boxes in the park, and even jumped on an air bag!

Jumping the air bag involves straight lining towards a ramp, which means you take off in the air, fly for a split second (which feels like forever) and then land on the bag, hopefully in one piece. I was terrified, but never being one to let my demons stop me doing something, I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath and went for it......... screaming all the way down.

It was awesome!

I landed ok, nothing broken, and would definitely try it again, but it took me a good hour to stop shaking afterwards.

We skied off a roof one day, did a few black runs, even tried the half pipe in the park, but the best day was the day after it snowed and we went and did fresh powder in the middle of nowhere. Exhilarating is a good way to describe it. The views were amazing, uninterrupted by cable cars and barriers, the snow was so soft and despite definitely stepping out of my comfort zone we all had a great time.

There were a couple of sticky moments where I nearly spit my dummy out, but with lots of encouragement from the others and having a serious talk to myself I did it, and when we looked back up the mountain it was great to see where I had been.

The lessons have finished now, and I think my technique has improved, I can ski a lot faster and don’t look quite so dorky coming down the mountain and I don’t have so many “moments” where I freeze and can’t move. I still have a running commentary of all the things to remember running through my head, but it’s becoming more second nature.

I think now when people ask if I can ski, I can honestly say “Yes, I can!”

How to be a perfect guest

hannah_white — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:16:00 GMT

Following on from the rant about this seasons guests I thought maybe I should describe what the perfect guest would be like and how they would behave.

Ideally, they would ring head office before they leave and get our number and ask if there is anything we need bringing from home, but if not there are a few things that are a safe bet.

Toiletries in resort are very expensive, so bring what you need for the holiday and leave any half used bottles behind at the end.

Cadburys chocolate! Milka just isn’t the same.

Magazines and newspapers go down well, as does marmite, HP brown sauce, branston pickle and cheddar cheese!

An ideal guest would be down for breakfast at 8 o’clock, getting their ski gear on and out on the slope by nine.

Scraping and stacking plates at dinner time is a winner as well, especially when the table is difficult to navigate round.

My job is to make beds and clean bathrooms, but is so much pleasanter when guests are tidy and the room doesn’t look like a suitcase has exploded and you find dirty, scuzzy pants all over!

One thing that is particular to this chalet, is respecting our privacy. We have a room at the back of the kitchen, and it has been appalling the amount of guests who have walked in on us, or who come down shouting “hellooooo, is anyone there” and asking a really stupid question that could easily wait till I am upstairs back at work again, like how cold is it outside? How many layers do you think I should wear?

And finally, at the end of the week, guests are asked to fill in a questionnaire about how their week has been. Unless it has been really bad, meals cold, late, rooms obviously not touched all week or god forbid the staff have actually been rude or not turned up then put excellent for everything, we get a bonus at the end of season based on the scores and as well, the hosts I know put their hearts and souls into running the chalets, and to get “satisfactory” is so demoralising.

So there you go, that’s how a perfect guest should behave ;)

Guests

hannah_white — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:10:00 GMT

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I used to know someone who deliberately mispronounced guests as gits, after meeting some of this seasons guests I know why!

The first group were nice enough, but so untidy! Within 12 hours of arriving they had trashed their rooms, clothes everywhere, makeup all over the sink, duvets falling out of the covers, drinks spilt, crisps, breadcrumbs, sweets and their wrappers everywhere. It took ages to clean in the morning, but we managed to get a bit of snow time in.

Then Christmas week was unbelievable. We had a family of eight staying with us. The two mums were sisters and then their two husbands and each couple had two grown up children. The two families had never holidayed together before and I think I can safely say after this week, they will not be doing it again! It had never occurred to me that a grown adult, in his late 50’s could be a brat. During the week, they got more and more demanding and it felt like nothing we did was right, from the size of the dessert spoons, to the location of the bus stop, from the chalet temperature being too hot for one and too cool for another to not having a real fire.

We did have other guests as well and they were nice, and a couple got engaged on Christmas morning, so that was nice.

Strangely, over Christmas we didn’t have any small children, but we did over new years.

The guests we had over New Year were weird as well. There was a family, with small children and they were such telly addicts, they would rather sit and watch dodgy game shows in French than talk to each other, then the young lad who bought home a Russian “princess” at 7.30 in the morning because they had been out all night and he couldn’t work out how to get her home. Eventually he put her on a bus, which didn’t suit her at all, apparently she had never been on a bus before, and his response to that was “well it will be a new experience for you!” I think he was losing patience with her by this time.

Then we had a big group booking, 21 people who were all together, they were good fun, very rowdy, playing drinking games all the time, but best bit was, 11 of them were from Grimsby! So maybe I was a bit biased towards them!

Then we had the weirdest group of all, 19 people on a singles holiday who didn’t know each other. They also worked to their own timescale; either that or they needed a new watch. We serve evening dinner at 7.30, and every night there would be people drifting down up until 8.00, then they wondered why their food was cold!! There was definitely a reason these people were single and couldn’t find a friend to go skiing with.

This week we have a good bunch at last. They have been holidaying together for 18 years, they regularly use chalets, so they know the drill, they are polite, chatty, tidy and on time!

Let’s see what next week brings!

Photos: First few weeks and Christmas

hannah_white — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:25:00 GMT

Arriving in Meribel, Skiing, Christmas

Arriving in Meribel

hannah_white — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:22:00 GMT

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After the quiz night everyone was feeling quite rough and we had to deep clean the chalet we were staying in before heading off to Meribel. Luckily we were not getting picked up till 11, so there was plenty of time to recover, clean and pack.

The bus driver was really nice and as we went through Bourg St Maurice he stopped at McDonalds and we all had burgers. The poor staff wondered what the heck had hit them! 25 hungry, hung over seasonnaires descending at once without notice is quite a scary prospect!

After filling our bellies we continued the journey to Meribel, we waved at Les Arcs as we went past (you can see it up the mountain from Bourg) there was no snow there, and as we climbed the mountain into resort it became clear that there was no snow in Meribel either. There was a quiet hush on the bus as we considered the implications, there are a lot of returners who spent last season without much snow as well, and the prospect of another green season was not good.

This year I am running Chalet Bachal and it is the biggest skiworld chalet in resort, so on arrival, everyone was sleeping here until all the staff accommodation was sorted. The cooking training was here and Chalet Fleur des Alps as well and it was chaos, as fast as I was trying to tidy and clean the chalet, people kept invading and making a mess again. Eventually though, everyone moved out and calm and cleanliness reigned- well for about 2 days until the first guests arrived!

Having no snow in the beginning did make staying in the chalet and scrubbing a whole lot more bearable, there’s nothing worse than looking out of the window at beautiful blue skies and mountains full of white powdery snow and knowing that you have to stay in, but then it started dumping down, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed. By this point we had been in France for about two weeks and everyone was getting cabin fever, so on Saturday 10^th December we were allowed to go skiing for the first time! It was awesome. There were no guests on resort, still only a few seasonaires, the snow was fantastic, the pistes were empty and we were making tracks in fresh corduroy.

|So after two weeks of scrubbing, polishing and hoovering, we were ready for our first guests who arrived on Friday 16^th December, and then the fun really did begin!

Photos: Val D'Isere with no snow!

hannah_white — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:00:00 GMT

Training week with no snow on the mountain!

Chalet training

hannah_white — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:51:00 GMT

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Well it’s that time of year again where i head off to snowy mountains and pretend to work really hard whilst learning to ski and pushing my liver to its limit.

This year i am in Meribel, in the middle of the three valleys, running a twenty bed chalet with two others.

Training was in Val D’Isere again and it was great to meet up with people. Jen, my roomie from last year was there, Matt from Les Arcs, I travelled on the bus with Jim and Will, and Rick is my chalet manager again.

As we arrived in the mountains there was a scary amount of green and rock about, and a serious lack of snow, even Mont Blanc was bare! It was weird arriving in resort and being able to see pavements and grass and the roof not being white from snow, but as we were training it was good as well, instead of spending hours staring out of the window day dreaming about skiing we were able to concentrate on learning stuff.

After 3 days of sitting about learning health and safety, food safety, food presentation, customer service and much more we were beginning to get cabin fever, so the invite to join in the resort quiz was much welcome. And then it started snowing!!

The quiz was a riot, absolute chaos but great fun. We were given a Heat magazine to read and study and one round was purely on that, we were given sheets of tin foil and told to create something related to skiing and then there was the usual general knowledge questions.

I created a parapenter complete with parachute and skiing down a mountain, it was really cool and won, but unfortunately no one had a camera, so you will just have to take my word for it! Overall we came 3^rd which wasn’t bad considering after the second round we thought it was over and most of our team disappeared.

Being the lightweight I am, by about midnight I had had enough to drink and was ready to go home, so got wrapped up in my coat and gloves and headed out. The world had become a winter wonderland, everything was covered in snow and it was still falling. The walk home which should take about 15 minutes actually took 40 because I spent so long making footprints in fresh snow, writing my name on car windscreens and throwing snow about from every available flat surface.

This was our last night in Val D’Isere and it was a good way to finish training, by now everyone was itching to get to resort and see Meribel for real.

Boat House

hannah_white — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 02:46:00 GMT

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Some holiday this is turning out to be! I’ve never been so busy! Up at 7.30 for an early start as today we go to the JEATH war museum. It is only quite small and run by one of the temples, set up in 1977. JEATH stands for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland, the main countries involved in building the “death railway” from Burma to Thailand and crosses the famous River Kwae (or Kwai) and if you believe the movies, the British were single handed responsible for destroying it and thus wreaking havoc with the Japanese. Mmmmm – maybe not.

What was quite interesting was, that in the beginning the Japanese were keen for photographs to be taken, and they show healthy looking, smiling workers, but as conditions deteriorated cameras were banned and a lot of the records are drawings the prisoners did from memory when they returned home.

Next we headed to the raft house. The best way to describe this is like a big mobile home that you find in a caravan park, floating on the river. There were two sections, one was a big function area used to eat in and later to party and karaoke and the other was for sleeping and lounging during the day.

We were undecided amongst ourselves what was going to happen next, did we just sit here on the edge of the river and chill out? How were we getting to the Dragon temple, were we jumping on a motor boat or going in a bus? The answer soon became clear as a small motor boat pulled up, hitched himself to the raft house and towed us off.

After hurtling about like loonies and cramming loads into every day it was nice to relax and chill a while, watching the scenery pass by.

We cruised to a temple (surprise surprise) that was a dragon temple, the steps up were in a tunnel which you entered by the dragons mouth and climbed up, emerging from his tail. There was a loud speaker system which was constantly reciting stories of people doing good deeds and getting enlightenment, the lady telling the stories had a very mellow voice and it was very hypnotic listening to her speak, but we couldn’t understand a word because it was all in thai.

We went into the temple at the top of the hill and were blessed by a monk, which involved burning incense sticks and sprinkling us with water.

Then to make an offering to make the spirits happy, we set off fire crackers outside. This seemed very dangerous, was very noisy and immense fun!

Back on the house raft we cruised some more and there were big rubber rings which we could float on down the river. We cruised till about 4 pm and then stopped again to see a tiger temple, but first we visited the local market and saw some weird and wonderful things. The fish were still alive and swimming around in a bucket, deep fried chicken feet, bags full of insects to eat, sweet coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves, the ultimate recyclable packaging.

All the temples seem to be up steps, not sure if this was some kind of symbolic thing, I never got round to asking Sam, as I was usually too out of breath from climbing up. But climbing up means there are some amazing views, we watched the sun set over paddy fields and it was beautiful.

Erawan Falls

hannah_white — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:58:00 GMT

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The classic postcard/brochure image of Thailand is green lush forests, opening out into crystal clear lagoons, fed by cascading waterfalls. So far this trip we have mostly seen an urban concrete jungle, interspersed with a few golden temples, but today we finally got to see what all the fuss was about.

Wearing our swimming cossies and loaded up with suntan lotion and mosquito spray we headed to Erawan National Park. The drive was up mountain roads not dissimilar to the Alps, there were mountain ranges in the distance and sheer drops down one side of the road, but no snow!

First job when we arrived was to purchase lunch. Thai people don’t do sandwiches. So, again, trying to forget all food safety I ordered a stir fry noodles which was cooked, put in a plastic takeaway tub and wrapped up for later, ermm, still not convinced, but it’s not killed me yet.

The walk to the waterfalls was very civilised, concrete footpaths, signposts in English and Thai, handrails up the steps and a steady stream of people in both directions. Then we turned a corner and our first view of the water put everything else to shame.

It really was blue. It really was clear enough to see the bottom (not like canal water!) and it really was warm enough to swim in.

To help prevent litter, you had to hand in all your food at a security hut and you were allocated a number which was written on your water bottle, and you used as security to get your food back. It seemed a bit excessive but the lack of litter was obvious so it must have worked.

We walked up to the third level waterfall to go swimming and were all very excited, until we saw the fish. The latest trend back home is for fish pedicures, the cute little fish are about 1 inch long and suck the dead skin from your feet, and this is all done in a foot bath with enough water to cover your ankles, but no more. The fish in the pond measured up to about a foot long, latched on and nibbled, and the water went over my head, so they were not limited to nibbling your feet. The trick we discovered is to find a vacant rock, swim over to it, sit on it with just your feet in the water and if the water is shallow enough the big fish don’t like it, or, just keep moving, the fish didn’t like the moving water much. I know I am ticklish, but until the fish started nipping, I hadn’t realised how ticklish. Between the six girls there was much squealing, laughing and general hilarity, while the boys looked on in bemusement.

After a while it was time to head back to the checkpoint and have lunch. We had been warned that there were monkeys in the trees and they steal your food, and if they want it, let them have it or they get nasty, some kind of monkey gang warfare, so we cautiously opened our various stir fries and started eating quickly while there was no sign of the monkey mafia. I think we were all a little disappointed that the monkeys never turned up, but also relieved that we were able to eat lunch in peace.

After lunch we had a couple of hours to explore some more so headed up to the higher levels of water fall. I think if Disney had tried to design a water park it could not have come up with a better one than this, which had occurred naturally. Each level of waterfall offered something different, level four had a natural water slide and level five had rock pools for paddling. The walk to the different levels was less structured than before, muddy in places and gentle climbing over rocks and exposed tree trunks, some steep climbs up and rambles through trees. All in all a very relaxing and chilled out day.

We have not had a moment spare and today is no exception. On the way back from the waterfall we stopped and picked up canoes and paddled back to town! We were going downstream, so not too strenuous, it was more about keeping out of the bushes.

That evening we went to Kanchanaburi town for dinner, we ate at a place called the Jolly frog. Much to everyone’s delight they served pizza and burgers! Everyone was quite adventurous eaters, and willing to try anything new on offer, but after five days of rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the novelty was wearing off.

Then we hit the town! The main street in Kanchanaburi is full of drinking establishments, a bit like Cleethorpes high street. We started at the 10 Baht bar, every shot only 10 Baht (about 20p) and tried the local moonshine. When drinks are so cheap you cannot expect all the fancy trimmings like chairs, tables and a roof. The table was a rough plank of wood balanced on two trestles, the chairs were industrial size empty paint tubs, the bar was a kiosk on the corner of the street and like all good Thai establishments we were taking over the pavement.

After warming up with some cheap shots we headed to a bar called Happy Buddha, this was a chilled out bar, where lounging is the order of the day. Anyone who knows me knows I do not smoke, so when a big pipe was bought out to share I was not sure what to do. After much persuasion and assurance that it was not tobacco, or nicotine and I should not get addicted I tried it. The smoke tasted of apples and did not make me cough or choke. After a few tries I was blowing smoke out through my nose, making smoke rings and puffing away like the best of them.

We decided to move on and try another place, but the boys were happy where they were, so we headed off down the street to see what other delights were available. We walked all the way down the street, looking in every bar, all being very indecisive and unable to make a definite choice, so we turned about and headed back and plumped for the bar with a pool table.

This was called Easy Bar, and was our first encounter with lady boys. As realisation dawned on us, we found it hard not to keep staring. Some of the boys were easier to spot than others, the giveaway clues are the size of hands and feet and Adams apple, and in some cases the walk, because as beautiful as they looked, with miniskirts and legs to kill for, they still walked like men, it was weird to see. But, they were very friendly, made us feel very welcome and provided us with a selection of games like connect four and shut the box.

None of us had played shut the box before, except for Sarah, it is a dice game, using a small amount of skill and tactics and a lot of luck. As the game went on and we got the hang of it, it got louder and louder, with much laughing and shouted encouragement, until two fellas, sat at the table next to ours came over and asked if they could join us. Being the friendly folk we are we agreed and asked if they wanted to play, to which they agreed. One of them recognised the game, but when it was his turn he started introducing rules that Sarah was not aware of and were slightly different to how we had been playing it. After a heated argument about who was right and who was wrong, the poor guy was shouted down by five females who argued that was it was our game and therefore he must play by our rules, even if he thinks they are wrong, and anyway, he had asked to join us, not the other way round. After this they made polite small talk for a few more minutes, made their excuses and left us to the game. Moral of the story, don’t mess with a gang of half drunken females on a night out!

Headed home to back a small overnight bag, because tomorrow we are on a raft house- what ever that is!

Photos: Temples, temples, temples

hannah_white — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:43:00 GMT

Thailand first few days

First full day of tour

hannah_white — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:41:00 GMT

....and so it begins.

Sunday night everyone on the trip met for the first time.

Sam is our tour guide, he is from Chang Mai and has worked for intrepid for 5 years, Amy is 23 and from London, Evelyn is 21 and from Switzerland, Anita is 34 and from New York, Emma is 29 and from Australia, Peter is 50 and from Australia and there is a couple called Ben and Sarah from Atlanta who are 30 and 27, although Ben was originally from Switzerland as well.

Everyone is very excited about the tour and no has ever been to Thailand before.

After drinks and a meal that first evening it seems like everyone is going to get on well, we nearly all went to see a ping pong show together but chickened out at the eleventh hour.

On Monday morning we went for a cruise on a long boat on the river Chao Phraoa and saw some of the flooding, but the houses were built right on the edge and 2 inches extra of water would have flooded them, we fed some fish outside a temple, they were huge, but no one is allowed to go fishing there and therefore the fish are protected and very well fed by tourists.

Dotted all along the bank are various temples, shanty towns, luxury houses, shops and the new hospital, but the place we were heading was to the temple with the reclining Buddha. He is a whopping 47 metres long and holds the record of being the longest in Thailand. They were reroofing the temple and you could make a donation and “buy” a tile and write a wish on it, and then when the tile is used it will be there until the next time the roof needs redoing.

There is evidence of recycling in Thailand before the word had even been thought of. A lot of the monuments are made of broken china like mosaic, which were shipped over from the far east (proberly China!) and the empty trade ships were filled with limestone for ballast and these were carved into statues, waste not, want not!

The temple where reclining Buddha is housed has the most amazing hand painted wallpaper, not repeating patterns and telling stories.

On the way back to the hotel to get our bags the taxi driver tried the pull a fast one, but i was ready for him, haha! The fare was 50 baht and I had a 100 note ready to give him, expecting change obviously, but he looked at me with a pathetic smile and said “ah madame, no change no change”, “Oh no worries” says I, rummaging in my purse, “I have 50 here” that wiped the smile off his face.

Next we headed to the bus station to get a ride to Kanchanaburi, home of the infamous Bridge over the river Kwai. The bus station is huge and true to form full of market stores, it’s more like a shopping mall than a bus station, the bus was running late so we sat, surrounded by rucksacks and suitcases, in sweltering heat until it eventually arrived 40 minutes late.

Sam is a very good guide, and managed to work around the changes caused by the delay without any bother. The original plan was to get rickshaws from Kanchanaburi station to the guest house, then go see the War Cemetary and then the bridge, but as we were so late (the bus got later as the journey went on) we stopped on route to the hotel, hired push bikes, and cycled to the bridge.

It was weird to see the bridge, with all the lovely landscaped gardens, shops, pretty lights and quaint station, knowing the death toll that had gone into building it.

After dinner that evening, (blue rice and morning glory) we decided to get a few beers and sit in the guesthouse garden, so we all jumped on the bikes again and headed into town (about 5 mins away) to the local 7-11, the convenience store of choice in Thailand.

Sitting around the table we all agreed that it seemed like we had been there for ages and it was hard to believe that was only our first full day, and we still had two weeks left.

Walking in Bangkok

hannah_white — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:46:00 GMT

Sunday

So after yesterday’s disaster at getting up and moving I did much better today and was up and out for 9.30. I was determined to find my way around but soon realised the tourist map I had was very simplified and had lots of streets missing from it, but it did have all the main roads and all the big attractions.

Firstly I had to find some water purification tablets, so I asked at reception where the nearest chemist was. I was quite horrified to find out it was just across the street and I had actually walked past it many times already, but in fairness it was buried behind a street cart, a clothes stall and sunglasses stall.

So off I trotted, but they did not have any, so asked where the next chemist was and she said try Koh San Road, now this confused me because I thought that was where I was! So down to the end of the street, turn left, then left again, even I can remember instructions like that, and then the tourist Mecca of Bangkok was revealed, including those all time favourites like KFC, McDonalds and Burgerking. Some things were not so usual like massage with happing endings, ping pong shows and lady boy show, but I just kept my head down and kept walking!

Surrounded by lots of western tourists all looking rough from travelling too long, Thai girls in skirts far too short and heels far too high and Thai boys whizzing about on mopeds it was pretty manic, but I managed to locate the chemist (this one hidden behind an earring store, shoe store, a tuk tuk and two taxis) and got myself sorted, so where to now?

So now I knew where I was and could locate that on the map I had a fighting chance of orienteering about Bangkok and I headed off to find the Mountain Temple.

On the way I visited an art gallery, saw several monuments and astounded the local Tuk Tuk drivers by insisting that I was ok walking. I also very quickly worked out that the zebra crossing don’t work in the same way as back home, but luckily I realised this before getting run over.

After following the signposts on the main road, I took a right turn down a quieter side street. Now the mountain temple gets its name because that’s what it looks like it. I could see the top of it looming over the trees, but could not work out how to get in at the bottom. Eventually I saw a sign down the back of an alley, I paused, was this some trick to lure me down and then take everything I had? Surely not? And then a lot of laughing, tourists emerged through the gate and I thought phew! Its gonna be ok!

Thai people like steps.

Lots and lots of steps.

And then a few more for good measure.

But then when a temple is called the Golden Mountain I suppose you should expect that.

I climbed up, and up, and up and eventually reached the top, the views over Bangkok were amazing. Lots of golden Buddha and lots of tourists!

One of the problems with wondering round on your own is you don’t what you are looking at. I saw bells, but did not know what they were for, I saw incense sticks and flowers but did not know why and hundreds of Buddha, some gold, some black, stone, jade and wood in various poses. But more about that later.

But whatever it was i looking at, it was all pretty amazing, and very different to anything I’ve ever seen before.

Street Vendors

hannah_white — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:43:00 GMT

Street Vendors

While trying to find places to see I was suggested to visit several markets, which at the time I declined, it’s too soon to start shopping yet, but wandering around Bangkok I came to the conclusion that the whole place is one big market! If there was a spare inch of pavement anywhere, someone set up a store or a food cart. Most sell clothes, some shoes, jewellery, CD’s, a few sold books or pictures, lots of cheesy souvenirs, plastic Buddha’s, good luck charms, knock off designer goods, sunglasses.

The food carts are..... interesting.

All my food hygiene training, everything I know about food safety, every concept of cleanliness- out the window! Eating at the carts is ridiculously cheap, about 20 baht, which is 50p, so overcoming the fear of food poisoning can save an awful lot of money. It took me two days, but after watching others regularly eating at them, and trying to work out the best strategy, I plucked up the courage to try one. I picked a busy stand, working on the theory that a high turnover meant the food wasn’t stood around long, and I ate vegetarian, because the thought of chicken sat out in 30degree heat freaked me out!

So, vegetable pad thai from a street cart was good, not spicy, just noodles with veg, and I lived to tell the tale! I may have to try it again.

Travelling and first few days

hannah_white — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:38:00 GMT

Toto- I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore!

I finally made it! It took hours, the journey to London seemed to take as long as the flight did, but i’m here! In Bangkok, sweltering in the heat, trying to work out the money and eating scrummy thai curry.

I got the coach to London, no changes direct from Cleethorpes to London Victoria Coach station, dumped my bags in left luggage and finally utilised some of the amazing features on my new all singing, all dancing phone. (I used the map feature to walk to Trafalgar Square) I was going to see the Queen and pop in for a cuppa but she’s away this week, so I went to the national portrait gallery instead, saw some grim paintings of John the Baptist having his head cut off and a couple of Jesus being born, I am probably never going to be an art enthusiast, I was more impressed with the plaster work on the ceiling and architraves than the paintings!

Anyway, after getting stuck in traffic and being an hour late at the airport (you would think National Express would factor in rush hour traffic to the timetable) I rushed through checking in and security and got settled on the plane for a 12 hour journey.

I really don’t like travelling on my own, there is no one there to check with, confer notes or ask opinions, well, there were 400 other people on the flight i suspose i could ask, but I already looked like the nutter on a plane without behaving like one as well! So I arrived at Bangkok airport and worked my way through immigration, passport control, customs and luggage collection to get stumped by finding out how i was getting to the hotel. BTW Bangkok airport is one HUGE tent, with great big centre poles and steel guy ropes, has to be the ultimate marquee ever ;)

The whole point of pre booking the transport to the hotel was to avoid hassle like this. After asking 3 people I eventually found the lady who was organising us, she couldn’t have stationed herself further from the point which we exited the airport if she tried, but eventually we were on our way.

The journey to the hotel passed the Grand palace and many temples, the temples are all shiney and gold with coloured roof tiles and little mirrors all over which reflect the light, alongside the road are Buddas and shrines and the traffic lights are cool as they have a countdown on them so you know exactly when they are about to change.

The hotel was very posh, not really what i was expecting I thought it would be more like a hostel, consequently I did not meet with my fellow travellers until Sunday night and spent two days wondering around Bangkok like Billy no Mates.

The first night I ate in the restaurant, big mistake! After taxes and service charge I had blown my whole budget for one day on one meal, luckily it was night time and I had nowhere else to go! Of course you have to remember my daily budget is £10, but when i eventually got brave and ventured out I found I could eat and drink for about £2 in a restaurant or if feeling particulary kamikaze pick up fried noodles from a street cart for 50p- but more about them later.

I would love to be able to say that I got up early on Saturday morning, and hit the town, saw markets, temples, ect, but truth is my body clock was all over the place and after being wide awake at 2am I overslept till 11am and only woke up because the chambermaid knocked on my door.

I got a street map from reception and headed out, feeling brave and determined to go see something- not sure what- but definitely something!

I think I got as far as walking round the block and was stopped loads of times if i wanted a Tuk Tuk (a very strange Motor bike/ golfcart combo) in the end i agreed a price of 20 baht and headed out to see some temples, but i think i was scammed as i had to go to a jewelers and a tailors on route! But hey ho.

So after seeing temples, tailors and jewellers I headed home and got washed and changed for dinner, feeling brave after being out all day I ventured out into the street to find somewhere to eat. I found a restaurant and had Tom Yum, it was really tasty, spicy, not chilli hot so your can’t taste anything as your tongue goes numb, but lemongrass, ginger, spices, garlic and rice.

By the time I had finished eating it was only 9pm and i was at a loose end, travelling on your own is not so much fun, I had hoped to meet people in the hotel, but it was too big and impersonal. So taking my live in my hands (if you believe the scare mongers) i went to a bar which had live music and had a couple of drinks. The weird thing is it was just like après ski music, a guy with an acoustic guitar, amplifier and all the old classics. The only thing that was missing was the dancing on tables! This was not possible as they were all collapsible picnic tables, otherwise i think it could have happened.

And so that is how my first full day in Bangkok ended.

Photos: Canals 2011

hannah_white — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 01:01:00 GMT

Photos: La Plagne 10/11

hannah_white — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:34:00 GMT

skiing in La Plagne