25th January – 17th February 2019 was the Chinese New Year celebrations (2019 is the year of the pig BTW). Our school celebrated with a week long holiday, we are a tri-lingual school (Thai, Chinese, English) so it makes sense that we would honour the celebrations of all 3 cultures.  Having recently returned from a 3 week holiday celebrating my culture’s Christmas and New Year, I decided to stay local and try a staycation.

After many exhausting hours surfing the net for riverside hotels, I settled for Avani. My criteria was a pool, a roof top bar and access to the river…. tick!

I stayed for 3 nights, there was a courtesy boat to take you up and down the river and to the other side. As you will see, I really had no need to leave, I was well catered for (including 2 for 1 poolside cocktails). However I did venture out one evening across the other side to the Asiatique Night Markets. I could see its Ferris wheel from my bedroom window and rooftop bar so added it to my ‘must do’ list. I have since taken visitors there as it is a lovely place to stroll, buy local food and products and slip in a cold beer.

And here’s a little taste of Asiatique including views from the top of the Ferris wheel, which in case you are wondering, was really high, and I don’t think I was breathing properly..

And saving (in my opinion) the best for last, here is the Avani rooftop pool and bar….

Annndddd even though the average temperature 365 days a year is 30 degrees Celsius, I guess every pool needs one of these for backup…

Just in case right?

So after 3 glorious days it was time to return home. At this point I would like to give a shout out to Ann, she owns and operates a private taxi service and I was fortunate enough to be added to ‘her books’ shortly after I arrived in Bangkok. She is so much more than a personal driver and for those of you who have visited me, you know what I am talking about. Ann picked me up on my last day and gave me the scenic route home over the relatively new King’s Bridge…. thanks for looking after me Ann

Finally home and unpacked. Being an international traveler requires the skills of a minimalist, that’s hard when you love to shop. However, new life, new world, this is my staycation shopping…

Hand sewn elephants.

Ok so back to school but the Chinese New Year festivities continue, including a dress up day, a Chinese version of The Voice and a traditional Chinese dragon dance. Unfortunately pictures do not do the dance justice, the musical instruments were loud and crazy, the dancers controlling the dragon so disciplined, truly a show for all the senses …

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And I couldn’t help capturing these Chinese decorations at a local mall…

All that and I didn’t even make it to China Town, next year for sure!

There are many reasons for celebrations, ceremonies and festivals in Bangkok. Some are traditional Thai culture and others have been adopted from different countries. Here is a sample of just a few that I have had the pleasure of being involved with, in the short 6 months that I’ve been here. 

Wai Kru Ceremony – Teacher Day

An annual Thai ritual for students to pay respect to their teachers and express their gratitude. The students spend the days prior creating flower creations in their Thai classes, it was beautiful and felt very similar to it being my own birthday. 

Loi Krathong Festival – floating lanterns

This takes place on the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar. Floating lanterns with candles are placed pretty much wherever there is a space of water in the city and sky lanterns are released. Loi Krathong is a ritual, paying respect to the water spirits and the goddess of water. The candles represent the light of Buddha and letting go of hatred, anger, past transgressions and negative thoughts. A lovely idea that in my opinion, the whole world would benefit from participating in….

At my school it is expected that all students and teachers dress in traditional Thai clothing on this day. Feeling slightly out of my depth I had help and support from a couple of older Thai ladies who took the time to actually dress me before school. Miss Lirio and I  set up a Green Screen in my classroom, so we had fun creating fake photos lol…

Halloween

Well this needs no explanation, though to be honest I’m still not quite sure why we celebrate scary things and how this relates to candy? But its not on my list of  ‘must find out’ so I will continue to sleep at night not knowing. What I do need to explain is that what you are about to see was a Halloween party put on by the Board that own and manage the gated community where I live. It took the staff days to set up and I was quite speechless as to the extent they went to….. FYI there was a live band, claw machine and photo booth and of course masses amount of candy, all at no cost to us. Yes it did feel like it was my own birthday once again.

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And celebrations also took place at school….

Ok now this is a random celebration added. Its a birthday party for a boy living in our community turning 9. It is random because I don’t actually know him and was not invited to his party, but as you will see, the extend his parents went to is incredible and well worth sharing….

Here’s hoping Ben enjoyed his party, if he didn’t it would be fair to say all his friends would’ve. And I’ll take this opportunity to say to my own sons, ‘your birthdays spent at home, were still very special, perhaps not as spectacular, but none the less…special.’

Christmas in Bangkok

And now onto Christmas. For a nation that is not known for embracing this Christian celebration, I didn’t think they did too bad. I will first share the many decorations I came across when out and about…

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But wait there’s more….school embraced the month building up to the 25th….

And being an international traveler,  I had to down scale from what I am used to doing back home, but I was determine to keep the Christmas spirit alive in my new home….

On the topic of Christmas Spirit, I joined 2 friends on a quest to become Christmas Cookie Experts. And for those of you that would not or could not believe I could succeed with anything to do with working in a kitchen, I have proof… 

Then came our staff Christmas party, 1920’s Great Gatsby theme, this was beyond feeling like my very own birthday, more like a royal wedding. It was extravagant and so much fun…

One final post on Christmas as this was just too good not to share. So during the festive season I had my son and his friend visiting (actually I had all my children visit, but bare with, this is just about my eldest Curtis). Anyway, we researched places to visit and settled on a roof top bar & restaurant called Cielo. It was beautiful….

See what I mean? beautiful weather, fine food, great company, so happy and grateful to be there. So how does this relate to Christmas I hear you ask? Well as we were leaving we found a little walkway completely loaded with fairy lights (so Christmasy), I said we simply had to walk through it on our way out… 

 Isn’t it pretty? We walked in, stopped took some photos, feeling a little special, a bit like a Red Carpet affair, when all of a sudden Curtis looked down….

It was a glass bottom floor, we were looking straight down 46 floors! That was funny. We attempted to continue taking photos but you can clearly see, Curtis was good to go, colour had drained from his face and he felt anything but Christmasy. 

Valentines Day is coming up, I will be on the search to discover if that American celebration of red hearts exists here. Until next time…

OK, so on a lovely hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, my friend and I venture to Phrom Phong (or Pom Pom as I call it). Nothing too out of the ordinary, taxi to the Sky-train station, jump on, stay on, jump off 8 stations later…

All went very smoothly, looked at a few shops from a distance as I was scared I may get charged for window shopping.

Saw this statue which reminded me of my youth. That’s what I thought I looked like, but this is what I probably actually looked like….

But as mentioned in past posts, this is a place of contrast….Let’s fast forward a couple of weeks. Its now a Friday night, last day of the month (pay day for 8ish million people). Been invited to a colleague’s birthday party, an axe throwing event (as you do). No problem I thought, I’m an expert on the Sky-train now!

Meet up with others, entered the station to sort tickets…

busy-ish, then went to line up…(fifth mistake).

But wait there’s more, this is us actually in the sky-train…

We’re smiling but we ain’t breathing!

Finally outside and happy to be feeling my feet and walking. We found the axe throwing venue, owned and operated by a Canadian called Bear (joking, I don’t know what his name was, but he looked like Bear). He explained the rules for the competition, quote “There are not rules.” I did not want to participate, was happy to be an observer and enjoy the cold Canadian beer (the other kind). Those that know me, know that I am some what accident prone, especially with sharp objects, but after much persuasion I had ONE turn…by the way they were real axes, and although the photos do not show, I actually got it in the target (but also slipped badly on the wet puddle on the floor in front of me, so called it a night and went back observing).

Well I’m not going to lie that whole adventure took me a couple of weeks to recover from, such fun! Then came Canadian Thanks Giving and it turns out there’s a few Canadians living in my complex and it had become tradition to have a Thanks Giving dinner. To my delight I was invited to join, only one problem, for those of you that know me, I’m not so confident (or competent) in the kitchen. Everyone had to bring a plate. Let’s think about that for a moment, what to Kiwi’s take as a plate to a traditional Canadian Thanks Giving?…

SNACKS!

I thought I improvised very well, and I included salmon, which I got a bit of street cred for.

Had my first pumpkin pie (not the whole thing!), it was yummy, thanks Amanda. And a shout out to all my new Canadian friends for a hilarious evening with no transportation required.

The focus of my next post will continue on with the theme of celebrations/festivals (so many, so so many lol). Until then…

Well I have now been living in Thailand for 57 days and have settled nicely into my work and weekend routines. Before I fill you in on my job and how much I am loving Thai children, I would like to backtrack a bit to my first week of school (which was orientation for all us newbies, no students). I was at first, sightly overwhelmed by the grand scale of the school Here’s their Website

But once I navigated and memorised the corridors to my classroom and found the ‘in school’ coffee shop, I was able to breathe easier. These first days were spent in meetings, workshops, lectures and classroom prep. On a few occasions we had to stand up in front of staff (MANY) and introduce ourselves…”Hi my name is Angela and I…” this felt like a cross between a 12 step AA meeting and a contestant line up for a beauty pageant. Only I was far from a beauty with my delayed jet-lag, frazzled hair from the humidity and glowing (I want to say sweaty) pink skin from the sheer heat of the place (yes yes, everyone told me it was going to be hot, but coming from Taupo, we don’t know hot). Anywho, one of the evenings was dedicated as a ‘meet and greet’ a cocktail time for all staff. I don’t want to sound greedy but after this experience, I can’t wait to see what our Christmas party is going to be like, check it out…

And that’s Lisa, she’s our primary years art teacher, she’s Mexican and owns Taco Taco restaurant downtown. From different parts of the world, but we still managed to find similarities, we’re both passionate about children being exposed to the Arts from a young age, we have a similar sense of humour and on this particular day, we both did not brush our hair (if only I had of known how formal this gathering was going to be!). And at this point I know what you are thinking; yes Angela, you are pink lol.

Ok, so I teach 2 classes of 16 students aged 8/9. The first class until lunchtime then the second class after lunch. They are all Thai and speak very good English (which is clearly a bonus as my Thai dialogue is zero). I have a full time teacher assistant Lirio, she is from the Philippines and is absolutely delightful. A fully qualified teacher with such warmth and grace towards me and the children. We are having fun sharing ideas and reflecting on my daily practice, what worked? what didn’t? what should we never do again? lol here’s my classroom and the view from my classroom window is my home…

That was day one. Miss Lirio has since added art, colour and the most essential element, fairy lights, now, its looking gorge!

Oh, that reminds me, I sent an email to Lisa the other day and finished by saying “have a good arvo.” She emailed back saying she had to google ‘arvo’. Do I sharpen up on my spoken English or introduce Quirky Kiwi Slang?

Right, enough about work. Apart from the fact that I saw this at 7am the other morning (on my way to work)…

Oh and lastly, there was a blocked drain issue at school, but luckily they found the problem…And don’t worry, they found a new home for him, as far we we know he’s alive and well.

Crickey and now, once again, I’m distracted and completely off task with my next topic… (did you pick up on the Steve Irwin reference?). So I went nearly all the way downtown to a Farmers Market with an awesome family here at Magnolia’s (that’s the name of our complex). I work with Amanda and am blessed to have her as my neighbour, work colleague and friend (quick shout out to her husband Seymour and 2 adorable wee girls, gorgeous people). Anyway, her husband was attempting to drive us into the underground carpark when we were abruptly stopped by the security guard, we had no idea why, until we were driving out and there he was….

And now I get why everyone wears filled in shoes and head to toe clothing in 30 degree temperatures, not because they are from the United Arab Emirates, but because they’re too bloody scared of getting bitten. I felt my toes (in my jandals) curl up. Perhaps my 4th mistake.

So my last topic update today is about the transport here is Bangna, my little community. Or did you think the title “Getting Around in Bangkok’ referred to something else? Let’s not dwell on the Asian Ronald experience other than to say that when I reflect back there were signs….

I realise that a drug store is a pharmacy but with drug penalties being as severe as death here, you’d think they would want to choose a more user friendly name (just saying).

And I’m not going to lie, Kerry and I did become a little intrigued by the district we accidentally discovered (you know? because we are all life long learners), so because it was broad day light and we had each other, we strolled a little further… I can warn you the photos aren’t that clear as we took them completely undercover and on the move (detective like)

Right, back to the transport. They say international travel exposes you to many contrasts and this is what I have found to be true. So far I have used 4 modes of transportation.  All of which range from one extreme to the other…

1. taxi (not so unusual, the colour would make a wonderful nail polish hue), but check out our lane…. or lack of it…
   

   

2. Then my sweet sweet morning ride to work (travel time 1:31 min)…

That 2 storey building in the left photo, is my school. An electric golf cart, call me lazy, I say I’m helping to reduce pollution.

3. Then comes the songtaew. These little trucks from the 70’s are everywhere and seem to be mainly used to transport workers to and from their place of employment. I needed to get supplies for the 7/11 (dairy, convenience store) the other day and I asked Miss Lirio if she thought I could walk there, I got a fat laugh and an absolute ‘NO!’ I don’t think it was because she thought I was unfit, but more about the heat exposure mixed with pale complexion (need I say more?). So she had a great idea, I could jump on the songtaew from school and she would ask the driver to drop me off at the shop. It was so much fun, but to be honest, it was one of those moments when you totes know… one of these things ain’t like the others….

Songtaew means 2 bars and that’s what was literally holding us in, there are no sides or seat belts, just 2 bars, no problem. And that’s Miss Lirio across from me in the denim shirt and black glasses, having a jolly good laugh at my expense.

4. And finally, in complete contrast, our Magnolia shuttle that drives to our local mall 4 times a day for 20 baht (93 NZ cents). Its tinted windows, state of the art air con and slick seat covers, make it the ultimate passenger experience….(Emirates Airline have some stiff competition!).

There will be a part 2 to this chapter as the local motorbike taxis, city sky train and tuktuks need to be tested and reviewed. 

Until next time….

I departed NZ 23rd July 2018 after signing a 2 year teaching contract in Bangkok. Being my first OE adventure I’m not going to lie when I say I was somewhat apprehensive but, I was fortunate enough to have my longtime dearest friend Kerry accompany me for the first 8 days.

Check in complete

selfie whilst entering aircraft

Cabin crew getting in on the action

OK, so here was my first mistake. When realising crew were attempting to get in to shot, I said (not quietly) ‘hey look, the staff are photo bombing us’ …. don’t think you should use the word bombing when entering an aircraft!

I had been warned that long flights were difficult, hard to sleep, annoying passengers next to you etc etc, well…. luck was on our side that day,

A lovely older Australian man (who was loaded up on medical marijuana and scotch from the airport lounge bar) advised us to get out of our booked seats and find a ‘row’ to move to, he was last to board, showing that the plane was half empty, we didn’t think twice! Oh and in case you’re wondering, he was heading to Amsterdam with his very patient wife to visit their daughter (and possibly fill up on medical supplies).

We arrived in Bangkok around 2am and I had been very anxious about the airport; thieves, customs, drug traffickers corrupt officials, a billion people everywhere. For us, not so, we walked straight through, no queues, no searches, no questioning. The guy who stamped my brand new passport didn’t even bother to look up, he was about 12 and was clearly more interested in getting back to communicating with his girlfriend via iPhone. I kinda couldn’t help but think, I bet Schapelle Corby wished she had an airport entry like mine.

There were rows of Thai people holding up signs, and there was my name “BRADDOCK” it felt like I was in a movie. He spoke no English and that was the beginning of my never ending struggle to communicate as a minority in this vast country. Turns out even my miming doesn’t work, they just stare at me, puzzled, probably thinking there’s another weirdo trying to act like she belongs.

We had a few days R&R at a rather luxurious Hotel provided for us by my new employer, then we began the mammoth task of finding permanent accommodation. Kerry and I are avid House Hunters International watchers (along with all other house buying shows). This prior knowledge put us in good stead as we began the mission with checklist and note pad in hand. After viewing 8 properties over 7 hours, the last one was a no brainer….it ticked all the boxes and more and most importantly was directly across the road from my school.

Yes its real, not an oasis!

That’s my front door to the left, dark brown.

View from the back of property, downtown Bangkok is 30 mins drive in the distance.

Lobby

If you click on photos, I have added captions to some, and tried not to be too obvious with descriptions as I know Curtis will be rolling his eyes and wanting to edit them.

Moved in the night of July 31st, began work August 1st with a 6 day orientation program. At this point I would like to add a special mention to Kerry and House Of Travel (where she works), for organising EVERYTHING including a truly heart warming spiritually awakening stay at Ariyasom Villa. I can not describe in text how special this place is. I would recommend it if you are wanting to reconnect with your inner-self, indulge in peaceful serenity and be treated as royalty, this is the destination for you….

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And I’ll be the first to admit that I am a slight exaggerator, but true story, this piece of paradise is hidden in the middle of the city, down the end of an alley way crowded with locals and their street food, hospital, taxis, fish market (THAT STUNK!), high rises and shopping malls. On the other side was a main river canal heaving with water taxis, and a school. Frantically busy all around us, though once inside you were oblivious to it all.

Oh and quick story….Kerry went off on a temple tour one day, so I thought I’d be brave and head off for a walk in a direction we had not explored. Strolled a few blocks, couple of nice little shops, one or two ‘ladies’ standing around, nothing too out of the ordinary. Then I came across a quaint little McDs on the corner and thought now there’s a familiar sight, I’ll pop in get a cold drink and sit for awhile (keeping in mind its 30 degrees and I’m still acclimatising). Ordered, quickly found a seat, the place was busy and I didn’t want to stand and stare. And as I started to relax and familiarise myself with the surroundings I realised the place was busy alright, busy with whores. AND to make it worse, people had divided themselves into 2 sections, left side of restaurant customers, right side of restaurant whores. You can guess where I unknowingly put myself? (second mistake). Not wanting to bring attention to myself, I did not feel that abruptly leaving would be the best choice, so I continued to stay as long as humanly possible, then gracefully departed. We walked past the next day and I took this photo…

I wanted to capture Asian Ronald, but if you look closely you can see a ‘hook up’ in action lol. (My seat was next to theirs).

Kerry and I also explored China Town by night, that shit was crazy!! We were told locals will queue for 2 hours in the weekend just to get a bowl of soup from this dude….

There was a massive line of people (but I didn’t want to be a stereotype Asian taking many photo) so quick snap as I walked past.

Then the 24 hour Flower Markets…..

My senses went into overdrive, smell, sight, and intense busyness, sooooo many flowers…

Our final Bangkok ‘must do’ (before Kerry had to return to her slippers and electric blanket back in NZ) was the market the size of a town! (again, I exaggerate, but I AM NOT exaggerating on this one), in fact I’m not even sure that I will be taking my own sons at Christmas time in fear of one or more never finding their way out….

(Third mistake….not taking a suitcase on wheels for purchases).

I bought some bits and pieces to make my villa feel like home…

And had great pleasure unpacking them and setting up my new home a couple of days later…

So here I am, living in Thailand, 5th floor, Magnolias Condos, Bangna, Bangkok, and loving it. I have got used to the sweltering heat, torrential rain, bats, lizards and more recently SNAKES. The Soi dogs (stray to us) and their howling at night and the roosters at dawn. Sometimes the dogs and roosters work together to create a special harmony all of their own. The upside down light switches, no flat whites (but the cappuccinos are lish), no alcohol purchasing between the hours of 2-5pm daily and drawing diagrams for taxi drivers who can’t read. Life is good.

Welcome to my international journey. My view of all the new sights and sounds may differ to other globalized travelers being that is my first O.E and I look forward to sharing my perspective with you.

You’re never too old to start travelling. Get adventurous and make shit happen. — A Braddock 2018