Is this real life?

WARNING. I can tell you in advance this post is going to be a hell of a lot of rambling, but this first week has been so incredible I do not want to forget a thing! I must admit this blog is more of a keep safe for myself then anything else, so apologies for the rant.

ANWAY

So it's been over a week now since I've left England, and this is actually the first time I've stopped for long enough to write a post since I got here! But what an epic week. Seriously, the best.

11th-12th JULY
So, I met the lovely ladies that are Caroline and Helen at the airport at around 6.30am, and immediately relaxed being in the company of people in the same boat as me. Helen made us very excited with stories from her gap year in Thailand! We flew at 9.30am; the flight was looooong and I only slept for about half an hour out of 15 hours, but I love flying so was happy enough! After changing at Mumbai we arrived in Bangkok at around 7am on the 12th July. We quickly grabbed our bags, hopped in a taxi and got to the crazy world of Khoasan Road about 9am. We couldn't check in til 2pm which was killing us as tiredness had seriously kicked in, so decided to pass the time with a Thai massage! It was an experience.. painful, but in a good way! I can still feel the bruises in my back!

 

Helen, the celeb sleeper on the plane

When we finally checked in at 2pm, we all passed out until about 7pm in preperation for our first night on the wonderful Khoasan Road. One of our winchy girls Jade joined us, and then we went out and met some of the other ETA's she'd got to know in the few days she'd been there - they were all lovely. Made me even more excited about the experience to be surrounded by such friendly people! The first night was definitely one to remember, Khoasan Road absolutely transforms at night and I fell in love with it.

Me, Caroline and Helen - first night on Khoasan Road

13th JULY
Despite the hangover and taste of late night Pad Thai still in my mouth (beats Kebab) we set our alarms early, and me, Caroline and Helen headed off to do some site seeing. Without needing a map and without having to ask for help (thank god for the ready made tour guide Helen!). We first went to Grand Palace which was absolutely beautiful. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing something glittery! My inner girly girl was loving life!

Grand Palace

After Grand Palace we went for a long tail boat ride along the river. Despite it being more expensive than we anticipated (500 baht) it was SO worth it. An hour on a boat which showed us not only the beautiful tourist sites of Bangkok, but also some less developed areas and wildlife. After the boat ride we got a taxi back to the D&D, and this was the first time we heard Helen speaking Thai in full swing! The taxi driver was loving it, and me and Caroline were beyond impressed after being told she had forgotten most of it! Back at the D&D we got dressed up formal for Tom's birthday. We headed for Sky Bar; a bar on the 67th floor of a hotel with the most beautiful view of Bangkok. My pictures don't even capture it a little bit. I have vowed to own the place when I'm rich and famous!

The Sky Bar View

We powered through for our second night on Khoasan Road, and it was even more epic than the night before! I will never again be able to drink a Mai Tai without thinking of Kim's Cocktails - the guy working there has remembered it's my drink every time I've been back. Me and Tom also ate scorpions, that's how to celebrate your birthday in Thailand right? It actually didn't taste too bad, just like a burnt BBQ hula-hoop. We stayed up til 6am this night on the roof of the D&D Inn and I met some more lovely fellow ETA's. Cracking night.

Me and birthday boy Tom eating a scorpion

My adopted son Will, Tom, me and Ross, Khoasan Road

14th JULY
Orientation day, and I was woken up to a phone call from reception to say it was 11.30 and I had 30 minutes until check out. I have never packed so quickly before in my life! We jumped in a taxi to the Ambassador hotel - home for the next 2 nights. It was like a palace, suitcases taken up to the room for you, pool, spa, gym (not that I used any of these), so nice. We checked in, had some hangover recovery time, had a delishhh buffet dinner and then a load of us met in the lobby at 9pm to head down the road to an Irish bar (hope your happy reading that mum) for some drinks and to meet even more ETA's - the ones that had only recently arrived. This was definitely more of a chilled night of socializing, ready for orientation the next day.

The Ambassador Hotel

Me, Helen, Caroline, Vanessa and Zoe

15th JULY

Alarm set for 7.30 to go to breakfast for 8.30 and training at 9. We all made our way to the huge convention room where we were all sat in accordance to where are schools were and next to our mentors - my mentor Purn was lovely, she spoke excellent English but did seem a little reserved. After talks from various members of the British Council and a performance of traditional dancing from a school, we were split into smaller groups depending on our location. It was great to get to know people who were placed closer to me, straight away we were making weekend plans to meet up over the next 8 weeks. I must admit this part of the training was a little disappointing; it seemed to be based purely on working with very young children and was not enough about how to overcome the language barrier - my main concern. After training, me and Caroline headed for MBK shopping centre by sky train - an experience in itself. The night took us back to Khoasan one last time, but it was definitely more of a chilled night then the first two there. Still, a pretty great night though :)

Orientation, welcome talk

16th JULY
Bye bye Bangkok! We had a bit of last minute training in the morning before having lunch and jetting straight off to our schools. It did feel very rushed, and I'm sorry for the amount of people I didn't get to say goodbye and good luck to. Me and my mentor Purn joined Mr Ryan Bishop and his mentor on our journey to the bus station as we were both heading south. What we weren't told is that his bus wasn't until 7 and mine wasn't until 9 - we had arrived at 3. Time to kill some hours by internet cafe-ing and brousing in the three 7-elevens there were at the station! We also had our first Thai national anthem experience; so surreal. We were coming up the escalator, hadn't even noticed the music start playing and everyone just stopped in there tracks. It was like some kind of horror robot movie, took us about 30 seconds to work out what was going on! We couldn't stop though, we were on an escalator. Debated maybe walking backwards on the escalator, then we were technically staying in the same spot. Little awkward, very funny. Ryan left me at 7, I went back to the internet cafe and saw the one and only Ross (a previous ETA who is back at the same school this year, not far from mine). We finally got on the bus at 9.30, ready for the 6 hour journey to Chumphon. I didn't actually reach my accommodation until around 5.30am, and was absolutely shattered. But set my alarm for 9.30am the next day, ready to experience my first day at Chumphon and Bannoenthong School... But that's for another post!
La Gawn for now!

Me and Ryan with our mentors - at the start of the 6 hour wait for the bus!