A trip to Ao Nang and getting over exgf photos.

Ignoring medical advice.

It was early Friday night. I was sitting at a packed table in Welcome Home having just finished a porkchop, chips and beans. I'd been on antibiotics for three days. All my mates were boozing and making merry. I was sipping a Kiwi Smoothie after a week of attempting to fill young unwilling minds with cumulative frequency diagrams.


Life was grim.

Until two or three friends suggested that you CAN drink on antibiotics. I suspected this was erroneous advice but I was willing to blur the lines between established medical knowledge and the experiences of a few mates. I decided my friends, with a lifetime of bar anecdotes behind them, were far better suited to advise me on medical issues than the Doctors at the hospital.

So, with a new-found vigour, I started drinking my favourite Leo beers. After one bottle my head was spinning. The alcohol was coalescing with the other narcotics floating around my system. However, I remained cocooned in the psychological security blanket my friends had thoughtfully provided. I proceeded to carry on as normal.

The sun lanced my eyes and triggered an earthquake within the vulnerable confines of my brain the next morning. I was experiencing a pain beyond anything I'd ever known before. My dessicated tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth and my teeth felt like they belonged to someone else. I brushed my teeth and vomited. I vowed to never drink on medication again as my head pounded and I tried to quench my unrelenting thirst . The hangover from hell!

Lessons learnt? Sometimes Doctors do know what they are talking about!

Saturday and Sunday were spent being bored in Trang.

Another week back at work

preparing the kids for their final year-end tests. Friday 26th Feb was Pri's 24th birthday and Alex's last night in Trang before going back to the USA. I bought Pri a small bottle of Thai Whiskey for her birthday . I ended up singing karaoke in Nat's bar with Alex. It was also my little brother Joe's birthday.

Ao Nang

I was itching to get out of Trang so the next day Aussie Paul and I jumped on our bikes and headed to Ao Nang near Krabi for a long weekend. We had Monday off because of another public holiday. Makha Bucha was actually on Sunday but everybody got the following Monday off - Great! However, on Sunday no businesses are allowed to sell beer. It was weird seeing all the bars closed on Sunday night. The normally chaotic, neon-lit Soi Sunlight had an empty, ominous almost eerie feel as we walked down there in pitch black silence looking at the amazing full moon!

Makha Bucha is one of the most important dates in the Buddhist calendar. Celebrated on the full moon night of the third lunar month, it is a day of veneration, marking the day nine months after Buddha's enlightenment when 1,250 of his ordained followers spontaneously gathered to hear Him give a sermon, at which he established the basic tenants of the monastic order - the Sangha.

I spent Saturday night in the girly bars and Thailand Beer disco until 6am. Sunday night was spent on the beach since all the bars were closed. Monday was spent sunbathing and swimming before heading back to Trang. I spent loads of money over this weekend. Money seems to run through your fingers like water in the tourist traps. I have some nice friends in Ao Nang now.

This week at school is exam week so I have a lot of marking and registers to finish. Other than that it's a pretty boring week. I might go to Ao Nang again on Friday for the weekend.

Pics

I still have no camera but a few friends have passed some photos on to me.

Here's a photo from Bothal Middle School, Ashington around 1984. I am the left most boy. How dated does this look? This was around the time of Auf Weidersehn Pet - remember that?


Here I am on the ferry from Ko Lanta. Nui (a new generation Muslim girl) took this photo. I needed the towel to prevent my neck burning since I had forgotten my jacket.

Here are some of the lads at the opening of Boo Bar, Hat Yai. Left most is Mike. He's a Red Sea Pedestrian or Yid (Spurs fan) from somewhere Daan Saath. He uses these terms himself. I'd never heard 'Red Sea Pedestrian' before. Next is Ian the Manc, my fellow maths teaching colleague. I think he even managed a smile that night. To my left is Irish Tom to be sure. Thanks to Canadian Mac for passing these photos on to me.

On the following three pics Mac has added some comments. This was just after Pat had dumped me. The comments speak from themselves:



This is Monkey and I having a quiet night.

Toon

I shouldn't say this but it looks like they should go up at the first time of asking.

Thai

This is a message I received from a Thai friend working in Hong Kong:

สวัสดีค่ะ สตีเฟ่น สบายดีไหมคะ คุณชอบเมืองไทยไหม แล้วชอบคนไทยด้วยรึเปล่า สอนหนังสือสนุกไหมค่ะ คุณมาจากประเทศอะไรคะ มาทำงานที่นี่เกือบ 6 เดือนแล้วค่ะ มีแต่ตึก ตึก และก็ตึก ไม่ค่อยชอบเท่าไหร่ จะกลับเมืองไทยประมาณเดือนกันยายนค่ะ ไม่แน่อาจจะได้เจอกันนะคะ ยินดีที่ได้รู้จักค่ะ ว่าง ๆ คงได้คุยกันนะคะ
This is my translation:
Hello Stephen, How are you? Do you like Thailand? Do you like Thai people or not? Do you like teaching? Which country are you from? I've been working here (Hong Kong) almost 6 months, there are many buildings. I've never liked it very much. I will go back to Thailand around September. I am not sure when we'll meet. Nice to meet you. When we are free I hope we can chat.
I'm not doing too badly with this.

I'm off for some lunch and an afternoon swim in the sun. Sometimes life sucks.