Well upon our arrival back into Thailand, we found it just the way we left it.
The plan was for us to join our friend Miwa as soon as we landed and board a train to Laos.
This didn't happen!
Upon arriving in Bangkok, Miwa informed us that she would not be able to join us as in Laos, as she was having some very strange problems with her eyes and had been in and out of hospital with the doctors having no idea what her problem was. So Rob and I made a last minute decision to do Laos another time, we had a sick friend to worry about! (and we were keen to eat more good Thai food)
After checking in on Miwa at the hospital she was residing in, we discovered it was not a hospital but a 5 star hotel where you could get brain surgery done!... ok it was a hospital but a bloody fancy one!
The room Miwa was staying in was bigger than her apartment in bkk, it had its own kitchen, massive bathroom, 60inch flat screen tv (with over 50 satellite channels), fold out couch, very impressive city views (not really any use for Miwa because she was nearly blind at this point in time) a menu that served western, eastern and halal food and to top it of.... there was a McDonald's on the ground floor!!! I am seriously not lying! And, if you are too sick to make it down to the first floor because maybe you've just had a triple bypass, it's no problem because they deliver! And how much does all of this extreme medical luxury cost? One nights accommodation is a mere 5000baht ($150).
So after Miwa spent countless days waiting to be seen to by world class doctors who still had no idea what her problem was, Rob came up with the idea of putting a patch over one eye.... this didnt completely fix the problem, but atleast it meant she could go back to work! And Rob didn't charge here 5000baht either!
While we were in Thailand looking after Miwa anyway, Rob and I decided to look into doing our TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) course, and in typical Rob and Roh style, low and behold, there was a course due to start in only a few days time in Chiang Mai!!
So we hastily organised the finer details, and tried to purchase books, pens and note pads.
The biggest problem we had was trying to pay for the course, after putting all our credit card details on the web site ,we suddenly got locked out of the account we had just created! Ok we thought, no big issue, we will try accessing it again... nope locked out again.! Ok we will try and make a new account.... which kinda worked.... oh wait a second... nope we just got locked out again!! No major problem except our credit card details were now floating around the world wide web unguarded, and with us unable to find out where our $1500 U.S had gone! By now we were getting slightly worried! All right we will just call the contact number on the website...... D'ohhh closed because its 3am in Texas....! Well my money isn't asleep in Texas so someone better wake up!
During the whole time our online contact for the course kept telling us to relax and that everything would be fine! Yeah sure it is, because its not your money missing!
Next step, contact Rob's Japanese bank. They were fantastic about it, helping us the whole way. The bank informed us that there was no money missing from the account and they were ready to cancel the cards as soon as we said so, but they couldn't tell us where the money was or how much was missing! Bugger!! By now Rob and I were truly freaked out! We finally found an Australian branch of this so called on-line payment centre to call and after being put on hold for 10 minutes (oh how I don't miss dealing with problems on the phone in Australia, thank god for skype) and after 40 minutes the man tells us yes there is an account but its not active.... well where the $%^&% is our money then buddy! To his reply, “oh its probably just frozen a portion of it till the account was settled.” He was very helpful though and very calming throughout the ordeal, and helped us cancel the account for good! Finally the problem was fixed, to a degree, but we still hadn't paid for the course yet!
Please, have a guess on how long this ordeal lasted??
an hour... no.... 3hours??...no..... OVER 6 hours!!!! By the time this had all finished it was dark outside, we were hungry, and in need of a few beers to settle the nerves.
We said farewell to our still nearly blind friend Miwa who's eyes were no better, and jumped into a taxi for a trip to the airport as we were told WE HAD TO meet every one from the group there. We were not very happy about having to meet at the airport, as it costs 350baht for the taxi. Then when we got there we were told we could have met them at the bus station... (only 20baht away from miwa's house). Obviously we were quick to tell them that this was very different to what we had been told but, oh well what's done is done, and we both hoped this would be the last of the disorganisation....... Haha! Ignorance can be bliss wouldn't you agree?
We met the rest of our would be teachers and school buddies on the bus to Chiang Mai. They were a very eclectic group of people from different parts of the world, but mostly from the States. There were loud ones, quiet ones, ones that yelled all night, some that were always partying and even some that nobody understood. But we were all in this together and we were all going to try our hardest, well some did and others didn't really try at all.
Upon arriving at our new home for the next 3 weeks (Sintana resort... aka SHITana for a few others), everyone was shown to there “luxurious” rooms...Wait there must be a mistake, these rooms are definitely not the ones in the brochure.. Too late now! Then we saw our room and thought there was a mistake, it was on a floor above everyone else's, we had the only double bed in the group, 2 big windows with fantastic views, a breakfast table and even a fridge! We had definitely scored a sweet pad to call home!
The next day we started school. For those who know me from back in the day, school was and still is not my speciality! So, naturally I was very nervous to say the least!
But I was shocked! This course was easier than I had expected, but still very rewarding. Our days were only 6 hours for the first 2 weeks of classes, covering teaching practices, teaching aids, and my favourite nightmare grammar!!!! But even this was not too difficult after Rob explained it to me a few thousand times. During those 2 weeks we ate our meals at the local street markets which also happened to be opposite the Chiang Mai University and where some of the best and cheapest meals we had eaten so far in Asia, at a mere 10 to 20 baht (less than 50 Australian cents). And if that didn't please, there was a 7/11 directly opposite the resort, and it was never uncommon to see a flock of would-be-teachers queueing up with arms full of beers after classes!
Our first weekend proved to be something that we had missed! After 9 months on the road without distinguishing between a weekday and weekend, it was a bit unsettling at the start but we became re-accustomed to routine very fast.
So for our first real weekend we jumped on a bus and headed north to a place called Pai. It is a small little hippie village where time stops, and people are just plain old nice, the days are hot and the nights are freezing!
We fell in love with this place in the first 2 minutes! But not the road there! 4 hours of extreme hairpins and monster cliff's! But once there, you were greeted by great vegetarian restaurants, funky cafes, and a nice little river flowing through the middle of it! Rob and I even got some new bamboo tattoo's. After only 2 days, we left promising to return.
Our last week of school, was teaching practice at a local primary school and a private high school, a very interesting experience to teach for the first time, and to students who can barely speak English.
After learning all we could possibly learn in 3 weeks we all graduated. (all but one any way) We all got dressed up in traditional Northern Thai costumes for a big traditional Thai party, to get very drunk and celebrate being teachers!
The next morning at 6.30am Rob and I and a few other very very still drunk new teachers had to do a border run to extend our visa for an extra 15 days. Needless to say, I didn't do too good on that bus ride!!
Now that the course was complete Rob and I found ourselves evicted from our fantastic hotel/home and trying to plan our next adventure.
We had lot's of ideas but no real direction....... so what does one do??? go back to where you have been before!! So off we went on an over-cramped mini van back around the 271 corners and hairpin turns to one of our favourite destination's ...Pai! We spent 8 days lounging around and Rob also decided to do level 2 of her Reiki course, more certifications for Rob's ever growing resume!
So with a new plan and after 8 fantastic days of relaxation and preparation we jumped aboard a 7 hour night bus to the Lao border!
The plan was for us to join our friend Miwa as soon as we landed and board a train to Laos.
This didn't happen!
Upon arriving in Bangkok, Miwa informed us that she would not be able to join us as in Laos, as she was having some very strange problems with her eyes and had been in and out of hospital with the doctors having no idea what her problem was. So Rob and I made a last minute decision to do Laos another time, we had a sick friend to worry about! (and we were keen to eat more good Thai food)
After checking in on Miwa at the hospital she was residing in, we discovered it was not a hospital but a 5 star hotel where you could get brain surgery done!... ok it was a hospital but a bloody fancy one!
The room Miwa was staying in was bigger than her apartment in bkk, it had its own kitchen, massive bathroom, 60inch flat screen tv (with over 50 satellite channels), fold out couch, very impressive city views (not really any use for Miwa because she was nearly blind at this point in time) a menu that served western, eastern and halal food and to top it of.... there was a McDonald's on the ground floor!!! I am seriously not lying! And, if you are too sick to make it down to the first floor because maybe you've just had a triple bypass, it's no problem because they deliver! And how much does all of this extreme medical luxury cost? One nights accommodation is a mere 5000baht ($150).
So after Miwa spent countless days waiting to be seen to by world class doctors who still had no idea what her problem was, Rob came up with the idea of putting a patch over one eye.... this didnt completely fix the problem, but atleast it meant she could go back to work! And Rob didn't charge here 5000baht either!
While we were in Thailand looking after Miwa anyway, Rob and I decided to look into doing our TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) course, and in typical Rob and Roh style, low and behold, there was a course due to start in only a few days time in Chiang Mai!!
So we hastily organised the finer details, and tried to purchase books, pens and note pads.
The biggest problem we had was trying to pay for the course, after putting all our credit card details on the web site ,we suddenly got locked out of the account we had just created! Ok we thought, no big issue, we will try accessing it again... nope locked out again.! Ok we will try and make a new account.... which kinda worked.... oh wait a second... nope we just got locked out again!! No major problem except our credit card details were now floating around the world wide web unguarded, and with us unable to find out where our $1500 U.S had gone! By now we were getting slightly worried! All right we will just call the contact number on the website...... D'ohhh closed because its 3am in Texas....! Well my money isn't asleep in Texas so someone better wake up!
During the whole time our online contact for the course kept telling us to relax and that everything would be fine! Yeah sure it is, because its not your money missing!
Next step, contact Rob's Japanese bank. They were fantastic about it, helping us the whole way. The bank informed us that there was no money missing from the account and they were ready to cancel the cards as soon as we said so, but they couldn't tell us where the money was or how much was missing! Bugger!! By now Rob and I were truly freaked out! We finally found an Australian branch of this so called on-line payment centre to call and after being put on hold for 10 minutes (oh how I don't miss dealing with problems on the phone in Australia, thank god for skype) and after 40 minutes the man tells us yes there is an account but its not active.... well where the $%^&% is our money then buddy! To his reply, “oh its probably just frozen a portion of it till the account was settled.” He was very helpful though and very calming throughout the ordeal, and helped us cancel the account for good! Finally the problem was fixed, to a degree, but we still hadn't paid for the course yet!
Please, have a guess on how long this ordeal lasted??
an hour... no.... 3hours??...no..... OVER 6 hours!!!! By the time this had all finished it was dark outside, we were hungry, and in need of a few beers to settle the nerves.
We said farewell to our still nearly blind friend Miwa who's eyes were no better, and jumped into a taxi for a trip to the airport as we were told WE HAD TO meet every one from the group there. We were not very happy about having to meet at the airport, as it costs 350baht for the taxi. Then when we got there we were told we could have met them at the bus station... (only 20baht away from miwa's house). Obviously we were quick to tell them that this was very different to what we had been told but, oh well what's done is done, and we both hoped this would be the last of the disorganisation....... Haha! Ignorance can be bliss wouldn't you agree?
We met the rest of our would be teachers and school buddies on the bus to Chiang Mai. They were a very eclectic group of people from different parts of the world, but mostly from the States. There were loud ones, quiet ones, ones that yelled all night, some that were always partying and even some that nobody understood. But we were all in this together and we were all going to try our hardest, well some did and others didn't really try at all.
Upon arriving at our new home for the next 3 weeks (Sintana resort... aka SHITana for a few others), everyone was shown to there “luxurious” rooms...Wait there must be a mistake, these rooms are definitely not the ones in the brochure.. Too late now! Then we saw our room and thought there was a mistake, it was on a floor above everyone else's, we had the only double bed in the group, 2 big windows with fantastic views, a breakfast table and even a fridge! We had definitely scored a sweet pad to call home!
The next day we started school. For those who know me from back in the day, school was and still is not my speciality! So, naturally I was very nervous to say the least!
But I was shocked! This course was easier than I had expected, but still very rewarding. Our days were only 6 hours for the first 2 weeks of classes, covering teaching practices, teaching aids, and my favourite nightmare grammar!!!! But even this was not too difficult after Rob explained it to me a few thousand times. During those 2 weeks we ate our meals at the local street markets which also happened to be opposite the Chiang Mai University and where some of the best and cheapest meals we had eaten so far in Asia, at a mere 10 to 20 baht (less than 50 Australian cents). And if that didn't please, there was a 7/11 directly opposite the resort, and it was never uncommon to see a flock of would-be-teachers queueing up with arms full of beers after classes!
Our first weekend proved to be something that we had missed! After 9 months on the road without distinguishing between a weekday and weekend, it was a bit unsettling at the start but we became re-accustomed to routine very fast.
So for our first real weekend we jumped on a bus and headed north to a place called Pai. It is a small little hippie village where time stops, and people are just plain old nice, the days are hot and the nights are freezing!
We fell in love with this place in the first 2 minutes! But not the road there! 4 hours of extreme hairpins and monster cliff's! But once there, you were greeted by great vegetarian restaurants, funky cafes, and a nice little river flowing through the middle of it! Rob and I even got some new bamboo tattoo's. After only 2 days, we left promising to return.
Our last week of school, was teaching practice at a local primary school and a private high school, a very interesting experience to teach for the first time, and to students who can barely speak English.
After learning all we could possibly learn in 3 weeks we all graduated. (all but one any way) We all got dressed up in traditional Northern Thai costumes for a big traditional Thai party, to get very drunk and celebrate being teachers!
The next morning at 6.30am Rob and I and a few other very very still drunk new teachers had to do a border run to extend our visa for an extra 15 days. Needless to say, I didn't do too good on that bus ride!!
Now that the course was complete Rob and I found ourselves evicted from our fantastic hotel/home and trying to plan our next adventure.
We had lot's of ideas but no real direction....... so what does one do??? go back to where you have been before!! So off we went on an over-cramped mini van back around the 271 corners and hairpin turns to one of our favourite destination's ...Pai! We spent 8 days lounging around and Rob also decided to do level 2 of her Reiki course, more certifications for Rob's ever growing resume!
So with a new plan and after 8 fantastic days of relaxation and preparation we jumped aboard a 7 hour night bus to the Lao border!
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