48F or 9C

Whether you're thinking in Farenheit or Celcius, it's cold. However all DC folks say 'it's chilly'. Also, it doesn't rain, it 'drizzles'. Who's with me in thinking I'm going to enjoy winter?

Sangklaburi's river

You can tell the water level rose a lot, I used to walk a bit before reaching the pier, now it's straight from the steps.

In the West we assume the rainy season means rain and high level of water, no one teaches us that the heat is still there, the steam is in the air, we sweat a lot, the mud strangely enough does not dry, the mosquitoes are even more present, snakes, snails and frogs show up a lot as well.

The wooden structure on the right is a fishing boat/raft. I forgot to ask if there is more fish during this season or not.

Before the dam was built there was a temple somewhere to the right, now it's underwater. During the summer you can see bits of it out and visit it properly. It will be for next time for me.

First day back at school

First, a word about the rain season: wet. Besides being obvious it's persistent. Imagine never being completely dry. Imagine your clothes smelling like they've been in a basement for the last 3 years, imagine your hair damp all the time, imagine constant rain - or when it finally does stop raining there is still water in the air... Imagine snails at every single spot, walls, floor, you name it. Imagine frogs and toads of all sizes crossing the street, hoping right next to your feet... Imagine all that and you're starting to get the general idea.

Getting to school in this season is also tricky...

But we pass some nice areas. (notice the tiny girl watching us go by...)

We did a treasure hunt, the clues were given after the completion of certain tasks such as pass the water balloon, do a crazy dance etc
Playing pass the water balloon means fun and...

a wet classroom

and wet feet. Those pants and socks were white when I arrived in school that morning...

Me helping my kids build the world's tallest stick tower.

Lunch time. See the size of that pot, I don't know how they manage to cook for 350 kids... This was vegetable and chicken stew with ginger and of course, rice.

Daytrip: Maastricht, Netherlands

For reasons that are uninteresting to this post the bride-to-be choose a seamstress whose shop is in The Netherlands, more precisely in Maastricht.

So for several Saturdays my friend took the train to Maastricht and I was lucky enough to join her on the last ones. Last time despite the glorious weather we didn't see much more than the route between the train station and the shop. This time however we made sure to visit the town. Naturally it was cold. And no, not just for me that just arrived from Thailand. If you looked at everyone's clothes and not the calendar you'd think it was Autumn.


I had an ice cream just because. It took me over 20 minutes to warm up my hand afterwards but I was still very happy about having some cookie dough.


The trip was an overall success we laughed at things no one else would understand or find funny (it's time to stop trying to explain ''you had to be there'' moments), the dress was ready and I left my empty cookie dough package in the seamstress desk. Not on purpose, I swear.

The last five minutes in the store were very confusing. I couldn't find a garbage bin so I set the package on the table for two seconds. Then my friend was showing off her dress to other guests, and because of my wide smile they thought I was the proud girlfriend. The smile was mostly because I heard the dress' explanation and story several times and because I was struggling to understand Dutch. While I was trying to correct that detail the seamstress wished me a happy return to Bolivia. To where? To Indonesia. I stuttered Thailand and groom somehow. Everyone was laughing, I wanted to leave so I opened the door as fast as I could. The door got stuck in the rug and I could barely squeeze myself out. And half way to the train station we realized the package was still on top of a very fancy table in a very fancy store...

The art scene in Maastricht:

No much excitement over the next few weeks

The blog will slow down over the next couple of weeks as I am organizing a hen party and helping out the almost newly weds. Since they both read the blog, I won't be able to share much...

Belgium actually has nice sunny weather, it's a true miracle.

Arrived tired but safely to Brussels

Somehow it doesn't feel like I've been away only a few months, it feels like I've been away longer. Strange. Maybe it's because so much happened. So here are so far the differences I noticed:

1. It's cold. (hey, I just left a tropical country, European nice weather is cold for me...)
2. Empty streets or with only one car.
3. Cheese and milk. (You can't get them in Sangklaburi).
4. I'm no longer a minority, I can mingle in  a crowd.
5. Shops closed during the day. I had forgotten how exciting Belgian sundays are.
6. My cat is way bigger...

Flying thingies

Some of you know my famous disgust of all things insects and reptiles. I understand their place in the food chain and all but I prefer to keep my distance.

With the rain season starting in Sanglkaburi the animal kingdom has shown me who is the ruling majority.

Every single night since my return I lose almost 30 minutes killing unindentified flying thingies. I know they are insects but I never saw them in the West. One looks like a cricket but much smaller, another like a beetle, another like a flying ant...And they come in by the masses, the bastards.

It got to the point that I already leave some time between brushing my teeth and turning off the light for clearing dead bodies off my bed.

Sometimes I misjudge or forget about my fan and as a result the dead bodies fly back to me...

P.S. You don't hve this in the whole of Thailand, it's worth because I am in the middle of the jungle.

P.S. Despite my best hopes, even the insane amount of rain it's not cooler. So we sweat and get soaking wet with the rain, brilliant.

Angkor Wat temples during Khmer New Year

I should really create a tag in this blog called "learn from my mistakes" or "think before you go". In it I could include going to a tropical country in its hottest month and drinking beer for breakfast with a Cambodian family.

The black things behind the fruits are fried spiders, the brown things in the front are fried crickets. A local delicacy...

I always wanted to visit Angkor Wat, ever since I was a kid. I don't remember the first time I saw some images or heard about it but I remember thinking it was the most exquisite (I had a very advanced vocabulary for my age) thing on Earth and that I had to see it before I died. And here I am. I've told myself several times I was really here but only after my second day in the temples did I believe it.Thanks to the Khmer New Year (3 day holiday, now it's the year of the Mouse not 2010. Celebrations include throwing water/water fight as water cleanses your sins) the temples are full of people. From all over Cambodia people come to celebrate the New Year, to pray and to make offerings to the monks. So even though the temples are from the 9th - 13th century they are very much still a place of worship. And of drinking apparently.

I was sitting on the floor resting from the 40 degree heat when a local family invited me to join them, I gave them some of my corn and they gave me beer. We talked for more than one hour. They were very curious about the size of Westerners' noses. It was the first time I thought about the topic.

I had snake and crocodile for the first time. Not bad but don't think I'll repeat the experience.

If you come to Angkor Wat (I vividly recommend it) take at least 3 days and try to see temples that are closer together as some are 20km from the city center. Take an extra battery for your camera. Make the sacrifice of waking up early, the temples open at 5am and not only are they emptier then as it's actually cooler. At 7am I was already sweating but it was nothing compared to the sweat at 10am...

Does anyone know the name of this tree? I love it!

Photos of big temples tomorrow, it takes me about 30m to upload 5 photos so by the end of it I'm hungry and well, annoyed.

Ko Samed

My first holiday in Thailand was in the small island Ko Samed.

Look at that sand, look at that sea!

I had a great time as you can imagine.

Eating freash watermellon at the beach: paradise.

Ko Samed is not very turisty but it is more expensive than small town Thailand where I live.

I am totally in love with this pier, it's half palm tree, a quarter rubber and a quarter holes...

Snorkling for a whole day is great but can lead to the below photo:

It's been over 10 years since my last sunburn, I didn't miss it at all.

Sweat

It's not the prettiest of topics but for those you keep sending me weird messages about the cold in Europe here it goes:

• There is not a moment of the day when i am not sweating.
• Even my legs get all moist.
• If I do some sport like cycling or running I get completely soaked, hair dripping wet...
• I take a shower at night and as soon as I lay in bed I feel my pijama (it's a silky one, not like what I used to wear there) start getting glued to me.

Don't get me wrong, but I dont think I'll be able to live in a cold country again. Maybe it was growing up in Madeira that triggered my genes to heat? Yet despite loving warm weather I'd love to have at least one hour of the day when I don't sweat. Just as a confidance buster.

P.S. I've been having some problems with my pc again so please be patient for new pictures.

My first storm

It was actually entertaining. Basically after leaving the school under a 39 degree heat and laying in our hammock unable to move but thinking about going to the lake it started getting cool. I mean it's 3 o'clock in Thailand at the end of February? The temperature continued to go down as I was actually getting comfortable.

Just so we understand each other, I am never confortable after 9.30am because of the heat.

I started thinking it was going to rain and smiled. Then the sky's colour completely changed. There were dark gray clouds but the house looked like it was under a spotlight, if it was a Hollywood film we would have a UFO by then. As I moved from the hammock to see where the light was comming from, it slowly started to rain.

A few seconds later it was the heaviest downpour I ever saw. Even after seing rain in India I wondered where all the water was coming from.

About one minute later the lighting started, then the thunders. The lighting was so close that both me and the dogs jumped. Like the sissy that I am I put all metalic stuff on the table and went to the other side of the room. The thunder was so loud the doors shook. It was my first night alone in the house...

I then decided to watch a film with my flashlight in hand. I watched Slumdog and hated it (I read Q and A and liked it). When I got up I saw dozens of dead crickets, ants and other insects under my flip-flops and all around me. Frogs the size of my fingernails jumped all over the place. Dont these things ever knock and ask permission?

The next day the exact same scenario happened. Except that this time at 21h exactly the power went out. I insisted and tried reading the latest Saramago book (the elephant's trip(?)) with my flashlight. I really like the book but my eyes couldn't work under pressure. The book tells the story of an Indian elephant that was living in Lisbon in the 1500s when the Portuguese king decided to offer it to the archduke of Austria, the poor animal and a contingency walked from Lisbon until Wien. I was saving it for when I would be travelling around Asia but once I read the first page I was off... Oh, it's supposedly a true story, he just fictionized the details of the trip and the characters. I tried telling one my students what it was about but he walked away giggling. Once I figure out why I'll let you know.

Tropical toilets

No matter how I live in Asia I will never enjoy going to the toilet. I am getting used to it but I don't like it.

First it's just a hole in the ground, that's it. The whole squatting thing is not as nice and pratical as it seems. For one it makes sure I can never get drunk here as I need all the balance I can have. Second, there is no flushing system, there is a bucket. Enough said.

Sure at least I have plumbing but I also have the upside of living in a tropical country with the hottest months approaching. Not only are there mosquitoes in the bathroom (it means I take a shower while watching my back to see if I don't get bitten), there are geckos (lizzards that make a strange geckooooo sound) - I know they are harmless but it's weird to try and take a dump when there are five of them staring at you upside down - some spiders and then from time to time there are frogs. Like last night, it was so hot I couldn't sleep and kept drinking water. I had to rush to the bathroom only to see the biggest frog of my life on the wall next to the toilet. It looked ready to pounce. How can you work under those conditions?

They tell me it's only going to be worse as the heat sneaks in. I can't wait.

First day at the school and other notes

Since my former boss was an asshole I was a bit worried about sharing a class with the school's director. But she just took part of the class upstairs and I stayed with the rugrats. My 9.30 class is around six, seven and eight years old and it's their first year of English. They are adorable and easy to teach. Well, so far, let's see how teh year goes. My 10.30 class is from nine until eleven years old and the English leve varies, two or three have no clue of what I am saying. Like at all. The 12.45 class is a handfull, they're range from eleven until fourteen and some well, have issues. One boy lost his legs in a mine, another doesnt speak to people but hits... It seems all I did was five letters of the alphabet and end fights. I also dodged a pencil. I love my reflexes. No the pencil was not for me, it was another fight... However it was only the first day so we will see.

The school is quite big but a lot of things are different. The kids bow (they do a wai) and greet you. Usually that means first thing in the morning you have a screaming chorus when you walk in. They also sing before lunch. I was a total pig and just goobled things up before I even realized they were waiting to sing. I think the whole singing thing is big here, if you ask them to draw a quarter of tehm will hum or sing out loud. Less cute when you have twenty doing twenty different songs.

Considering that I am surrounded by Burmese I am getting confused, I no longer know who is from where and the cultural rules are a bit different so most of the times it means I get something wrong and they laugh.

Another first today was a snake. I saw my first outdoor snake. It was in our backyard while I was in the hammoc. I didn't move while my Brit housemate kept saying how cool it was. Not cool for me I can assure you. Those are not dangerous but still... I think they are also more out now that it is warm, don't know.

The house is pretty big and there is some confort, I'm no in the middle of the jungle as some suggested. The whole Asian toilet hing still needs to warm up to me. The other volunteers have lived together for a few months so I am sort of trying to find my space.

People are still nice and friendly, some in the market already knew my name and that I was a teacher. I had forgotten how it is to live in small towns. One guy gave me a ride in his scooter just as my water ran out and I was going uphill. He refused money. I could hug him. (I didn', don't worry).

I think tonight is the las day of the Budha festival, I hope so because there is a lot of noise and with the crickets, birds, dogs walking outside my window I have enough things to keep me awake.

Sankghlaburi

Create a Free Slideshow

I'm not complaining but it is getting really hot and humid. Each passing day has a few more notches up the humidity level. I can't wait for the hotest months of the year: March and April.

Enjoy the slideshow, I'm off to shop before the store closes.

Madeira: boat trip

The goal was to go and see some dolphins or whales but they wanted nothing to do with us. Can you blame them? Even before setting off the group was already misbehaving.

Since we didn't see dolphins nor whales I'll leave you with some pictures of Madeira from the sea.As you can see people in Madeira built homes thinking of the view first, practicality second. This is Câmara de Lobos.

Someone once told me that I'd go around the world with my All Stars...

The sun was shinning, the sea was calm but the wind was annoying. During most we were either sick, with ear pain or cold. It could've been nicer, however, I think everyone was happy to do the trip and see the island from a different perspective.


Well, those of us who did see something...

Madeira: 30 degrees to start the new year

To celebrate the new year and our hangover we decided to have a quiet day. We went to Praia Formosa and walked the Promenade. Basically it's a sidewalk that connects Câmara de Lobos to Lido crossing around five beaches.We didn't want to walk the whole thing so we only did the road from Praia Formosa until Lido. Sun, sea, palm trees...Perfect, hun?

Two days after the storm, the sea was still rough. On the third day we went on a calm boat trip...

Portuguese life is hard...

Some expressed their happiness about the weather more than others.

This is a house built in a cave/rock. There are people still living here in Praia Formosa. When I was a kid I was told it was because they were poor, in the meantime they managed to have gardens, colors, vegetable gardens, banana trees etc but I'm guessing they don't have running water.