Busy, busy Bangkok

To say that Bangkok is a busy city is certainly an understatement. The people here love their cars and when you add to that the colourful and numerous taxis, the network of very cheap, smoke belching buses and all the motorbikes of all sizes and loads weaving inbetween them all, you often end up with everything coming to a complete stop, as you can see in the city centre below.

However, the city does have a good public transport system, including the BTS (skytrain) shown below and the MRT (underground) which whip you around the city in clean, air conditioned comfort. Unfortunately it only covers a limited area of the city, although a new link out to the Airport is opening up in December.

The skytrain has been built over the streets as you can see in the next photo. It is not the most attractive piece of architecture, but it certainly moves faster than the traffic below.

Every inch of the sidewalk is taken up with street stalls, often spilling out onto the streets. Walking down the sidewalk can also end up as a traffic jam! On the quieter back streets like the one below, the best option if you are in a hurry is to walk down the road if you are game to take on the drivers, the push carts and the tuk tuks!

You can pretty much buy anything you could think of on the streets. The vendors go quietly about their business and there is no hassling of you as you walk through. Prices, as you would expect, are dirt cheap, although the quality can be a little dodgy.

Another option is the markets. They are fun just to walk through and experience the sights and smells. The biggest of these markets is Chatuchak, and it is always packed with locals and tourists alike each weekend. After a day out at this market you could find yourself going home with a new pair of jeans, a few secondhand textbooks, a nice painting bought from the artist and a pet dog and fish.

Bangkok is, however, suprisingly green and there are plenty of open spaces and parks. One of the biggest is Lumpini Park, shown below. While the city bustles along around it's perimeter, you can take some time to catch your breath, sit in the shade and plan what to do next in this amazing city.

The River Kwai

At Ruamrudee International School, High School begins in Year 9 and, following the American lingo, the students are known as 'freshmen'. The "class of 2013" spent this past weekend away on camp and I was one of the staff members accompanying 140 over-excited kids.



The camp was located on the famous River Kwai, found about 200km north-west of Bangkok, in the district of Kanchanaburi, not far from the mountainous border with Burma.


The hotel was right on the bank of the river, the view from my room shown below. Not a bad way to wake up in the morning! The photo shows a couple of mobile river rooms being towed along by the long boats.

We took a fun boat ride up the river in one of these boats, the motors struggling against the current. With the river cutting through the steep sides of the valley, it was a spectacular journey.

Our destination up river was the Lava Caves. The limestone stalagtites and stalacmites were pretty impressive and well worth a visit, although the hundreds of bats perched on the roof of the caves were a little disconcerting.

The highlight of the trip for me was having the very good fortune of going to Hellfire Pass, a place of great significance in the history of Australia. The view that greeted us there was spectacular.

Hellfire Pass is a particular section of the Thailand to Burma "Death" Railway. The railway was built by prisoners of war, a large contigent from Australia. About 2500 diggers died in this location, either from the dangerous work involved in building the railway, or from the cruelty of their Japanese captors. A moving memorial to the Australians who lost their lives form 1942-45 is shown below.

The Aussies named this section Hellfire Pass because of how hard it was to carve the railway through the rock in this area. The cutting that their back breaking work produced is shown below.

The Allied POW's could not build the track fast enough for the liking of the Japanese, so hundreds of thousands of Asian workers were also brought in to keep the work going. They make up the majority of the lives lost on this infamous railway.

We also visited the museum, which is kept open thanks to money provided by Australia. The students seemed genuinely moved as they read about the history of the Burma Railway and saw pictures and artifacts that brought home the horror that was faced by the prisoners. I feel like I have visited a very special place for an Australian - who would have thought that it would be found here in Thailand.

A Day in the City

Bangkok is a vibrant, frenetic city, where old asian history and modern western ideas exist happily side by side. You are confronted with with an amazing array of sights, sounds, smells and tastes that you have never experienced before. The oppresive heat and humidity only adds to the sensation.

It seems that everywhere you go in Bangkok there is somebody trying to sell you something. You can choose the brand new, multi-level, air-conditioned shopping malls, the chaotic, pulsating markets or the street vendors - commerce is the way of life in this South-East Asian metropolis.

The wonderful food of Thailand is one of the many highlights to be experienced. You can choose to dine in a ritzy restaurant, but the saying is that out on the street you get exactly the same thing - just for a fraction of the price. You can get a freshly cooked meal from a street vendor for the equivalent of about $1. It seems clean and safe - I have had no stomach upsets (or even a cold) so far!

Hidden amongst the traffic jams, noise and pollution are the Wats - the Buddhist temples. They give you a chance to catch your breath and to see some of the most amazing, intricate architecture you are ever likely to to come across. The enormous, gold reclining buddha is a sight to behold.

The Grand Palace covers a huge area in the middle of the old part of town. Once the residence of the highly revered King, it is now mainly a ceremonial centre, and Bangkok's number one tourist attraction.

Fortunately for caffeine addicts, coffee shops are never too far away. Here I am in Starbucks with another new teacher at RIS, Stacey, who is from Canada and teaches in the Elementary School

So much of the character of Bangkok revolves around its waterways. Once known as the "Venice of the East" many of its canals have been paved over to satisfy the love affair that Thais have with their cars. However the mighty Chao Phrya River, brown from the silt that it has carried from the north, flows quickly to the Gulf of Thailand and is busy with boats of all shapes and sizes. A number of khlongs or canals still criss-cross the city and provide an alternative to the roads and a place for the water to escape after a thunderstorm. Even so, heavy rain turns most of Bangkok's streets into the canals of the past and the already slow traffic comes to a standstill.

The Baiyoke Tower is the tallest building in Bangkok, soaring above the mass of humanity below to the 84th floor. It is a great place to get your bearings on the size of the city, catch the cooling breeze and grab a meal or a drink. Watching the sunset and the lights of the city take over is a memorable experience.

On a day in Krung Thep - the local name for Bangkok meaning the city of angels - you only really scratch the surface of all that it has to offer. However, there will be plenty more days like this ahead.

Ruamrudee

It's hard to believe I have been in Thailand for six weeks and that we have completed four weeks of school. Time has really raced along!

I am getting more acclimatised to the weather, with the air conditioner getting less use. The usual storm in the afternoon cools things down and if there is a bit of a breeze in the evenings I can sleep comfortably with all the windows open. If it is still it stays very hot all night.

Ruamrudee International School is over 50 years old and it is the largest international school in Thailand. It is not really your traditional international school, as it doesn't contain a huge amount of different nationalities - the students are mainly Thai. It must be difficult for the kids of the teachers - they are a tiny minority as westerners.

The school is located on a large campus divided into different sections: a High School, Middle School and Elementary School. There are also two separate but related schools; Redeemer International for students whose English is not good enough for Ruamrudee, and a small Swiss section where the curriculum is delivered in German. The High School is shown in the photo to the right

The school is well resourced with two swimming pools, large oval (see photo to right), indoor stadium/gymnasium, large library and an impressive auditorium. Unfortunately they have not built enough science laboratories, so I am stuck in an under-resourced classroom in the middle school where I have my desk and computer and have Homeroom each morning. Until they fit out the room more appropriately I have to wander around 6 different classrooms to teach which is challenging. The school leadership express their concern for my situation but solving it seems to be a lower priority.

My Homeroom is Grade 9, in their first year of High School and under the American system are known as "Freshmen". Their names (listed off by heart) are Top, Pun, Sony, Newton, Junior, Pawin & Rio (boys) and Por, Jin Jin, Arosha, Nune, Pear, Mary, Sangtawan, Yada, Kat and Sandra (girls). I will be going away for the weekend with all of the Grade 9 kids weekend after next to Kanchanaburi, famous for the Bridge on the River Kwai and the Burma Railway. I am enjoying my classes; the photo to the right shows my Grade 11/12 Environmental Science students hard at work.

I am still struggling to get used to the 7:15am start each day, but I guess it's appropriate with the hot weather. You feel like you have been working all day and look at the clock and it is only 10am! At least with a 2:40pm finish, there is still plenty of the day left to enjoy.

Ko Samet

About 3 hours south of Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand is the tropical island of Ko Samet. That is where I had the good fortune to spend the weekend along with about 25 other teachers from RIS.

I joined a group of 13 who left the school on Friday afternoon in a hired minivan with driver, looking forward to getting out of the city for a while. We arrived at the pier and our speedboat for the short hop to the island. Here I am on the pier below.

Ko Samet is your classic tropical island, complete with palm trees down to the water, beautiful white sand and warm water. There are lots of little beaches with a variety of accommodation; I stayed at a place called Tubtim in a little shack amongst the trees.

It was nice to back in the salt water. The weather was hot but a breeze made it more pleasant than Bangkok. The water was incredibly warm - almost too warm! Tubtim village is a cute little place with the restaurant spreading out onto the beach.

Walking around the island we came across lots of beautiful little beaches such as this one

The day was spent enjoying the water, reading under the umbrella on the beach, eating tropical fruit as it was delivered by the local vendors walking along from beach to beach and just dozing on the deck chair. The evenings were spent moving from venue to venue on the island for food and drink and we were entertained by live music and an amazing performance by a group of fire players!

Sunday morning saw a spectacular tropical storm with torrential rain but it cleared up again for another swim before we headed back to Bangkok. This picture shows the last of the stormy sky moving away from the island.

It would have been nice to have spent a few more days on Ko Samet but I won't be surprised if I end up there again.

Life in the Suburbs

My working day starts with the alarm ringing at 5:45am. Outside the daylight is just starting to appear and it is already hot. The view from the main bedroom balcony is shown in the picture to the left. After my Weetbix (only found at one supermarket so far, about 25 minutes away) I head off to school at 6:30am with my neighbours Matt & Gail, fellow teachers at Ruamrudee, who own a car. I have also been ridden to school on the back of Matt's scooter which is a bit of an adventure. The trip takes less than 10 minutes which is a nice change from the past 9 years.

The school day is divided into five 70 minute periods on a four day cycle. I have 6 classes, 2 Year 11 IB Chemistry, a Year 11/12 Environmental Studies and 3 Year 10 Biology. Two days of the four day cycle I teach 4 out of 5 periods and the other two days 3 out of 5 periods. The school day starts at 7:15am with "Homeroom". I have a Year 9 group of 18 kids - the first names that I have completely learned. School ends at 2:45pm, but I have not been getting away that early. I normally go home on a school shuttle van that runs staff and students the 3kms or so to the main road, from where I have a 10 minute walk back home.

The way the housing villages or "moobans" are arranged is quite different. The main road I live off (called Ramkhamhaeng - see picture) runs from down near the city and ends not far past my mooban. Coming off the main road are numbered streets that are the only way in and out of the mooban - they are normally dead ends even if they go for a few kilometers. I am on Ramkhamhaeng 190/1. The school is on 184.

My mooban - Parkway Chalet is quiet and leafy with short side streets (called sois - I am on Soi 17) coming off the single main road. There is a little park just near my house. There are a few school staff members in the mooban but mainly well-off Thais. The entrance gate is shown in the picture. On the gate are security guards that salute you when you go past. They also ride around the mooban on their bicycles constantly, so it is very safe.

Today I played golf for the first time in Thailand, at a course with water on every hole called Pine Golf & Lodge. Golf in Thailand is certainly an experience, with a female caddie (see picture) to carry your bag, give you distances to the flag and advice on how the putts will break. It was incredibly hot, relatively expensive and very slow but it is always good to be on the golf course!

Settling into Bangkok

It has been three weeks since I arrived in Bangkok to start this new phase of my life as a Science Teacher at Ruamrudee International School. All the reading and advice before you move overseas does not really prepare you for coping with everything being so new. New country, city, language, job, house, life, church, friends, food, shops, transport, climate - it's all very exciting but at the same time incredibly overwhelming. How the brain processes it all I don't know!

I am really pleased with the House that I found to rent. It is a Thai style, two storey, three bedroom home in a quiet suburban village called Parkway Chalet in Minburi. I found the place thanks to the Thai maid of another teaching couple and she came with me to see the place and translated between my English and the landlady's Thai. It was a very good deal and is only a five minute drive (with a neighbour who has a car) to the school. There is a country club with pool, gym and tennis courts which I am looking forward to making good use of.

The weather is like a hot summer day in Sydney all the time and it really doesn't cool down much at all at night. The air conditioners get a real workout, although I am trying to not overuse them conscious of my carbon footprint. I do prefer this to the cold and it doesn't take too long to get used to it. You do, however, seem to be sweating all the time. There hasn't been a great deal of rain even though it is still wet season, but the couple of thunderstorms that have occurred have been pretty spectacular with very heavy rain and local flooding!

The language is going to be hard to learn as the sounds are very different. The script is even harder! So far my vocabulary is very basic; Hello (Sawadee Krap), Thank you (Korp Khun) and a few numbers such as my street address. The school is going to run a free Thai Language Course soon which I am keen to attend.

Although Taxis are very cheap compared to Australia, I am mainly using Public Transport to get around. To go to the city I catch my local bus for about 30 minutes for the equivalent of about 30 cents where I pick up a boat to travel into the city centre along the canals (called khlongs in Thai) for another 30 minutes. If there was no traffic you could do the journey by car in 35-45 minutes but there is always traffic every day, every night!

I am enjoying getting to know my colleagues at RIS, especially the fellow new staff and the members of the science department. People are being very friendly and I have been out a lot in the first three weeks, either to restaurants in the area, other people's houses or down to the city. It certainly helps to have people to talk to as you are settling in.