Turning 31!

Just had my first birthday in Thailand! It involved lots of delicious food, cocktails, wine, rooftop bars and birthday cake!

On my actual birthday we went for sushi and a few bars around where I live (there are lots of Japanese restaurants which is great because I love Japanese food!) At the weekend we went to a rooftop bar (on the 64th floor!). It’s famous for being in the film, The Hangover 2. Then we went for dinner, drinks and birthday cake at another rooftop bar. The next day we went shopping at the market and ended up at a Thai bar, the staff found out it was my birthday and gave birthday cake out to everyone in the bar! It ended up being a whole week of celebrating! So turning 31 wasn’t that bad!

Here are some photos.

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Songkran!

Songkran is Thai New Year and the most important event in the Thai calendar. People celebrate for 3- 5 days, April 13th being the main day.  They celebrate by throwing water over each other to wash away any bad luck from the previous year.

I had 2 friends to visit the weekend before Songkran and showed them around Bangkok, including some roof top bars!

After the weekend, Hazel and I flew to Krabi (only an hour and a half away). We spent a night there, before heading to Koh Phi Phi the next day.

The beach at Krabi.

We spent Songkran on Phi Phi, getting involved in the water fights and enjoying the rest of the time relaxing on the beach.

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Phi Phi is a beautiful island and I want to go back!

 

International Day

Had my first International Day at school today. The day involved guiding a group of children around different countries to partake in activities and learn about that country. Everyone dressed up in a country of their choice (I chose Thailand). We learnt about Vietnam (where the hat below came from), Myanmar (where the face paint from the bark of a tree is from) and many others.

 

It was a great day and the food was amazing! Everyone was pretty tired afterwards!

 

Easter in Thailand

I wouldn’t even have known it was Easter and I haven’t seen any Easter Eggs around.

So I spent Easter Sunday looking at 1600 pandas, here is the link to their tour.

It was to raise awareness of the small number of pandas left in the wild.  They were really cute!

 

Met up in the evening with friends for dinner and drinks by the river. You can see the Buddhist temple, Wat Arun in the photo. Shame I had to go to work the next day!

 

Kolour in the Park!

Yesterday, a few of us went to a festival just outside Bangkok.

It was a much nicer festival experience than I’ve ever had before!

The portaloos were clean, there was toilet paper (and a toilet attendant handing it out if there wasn’t any in there) and there was even soap to wash your hands!

There was good food, drink and music!

I had a great day and will definitely go back next year 🙂

Koh Samed

Koh Samed or Ko Samet, it doesn’t matter how you spell it. It’s an island not far from Bangkok which is very popular with people living in BKK to get away to.

A group of us left BKK on Friday evening. We organised a van to take us to the pier and it took about 4 hours (due to Friday night traffic). Then a 10 minute speed boat journey got us to our destination.

We went for dinner and then to some bars. The military stop all the music on the island at 11PM which feels a bit strange but we were still able to have drinks and a chat.

On Saturday we chilled all day at the beach. Some of us were drinking beer, some were doing yoga, others went parasailing. Some of us also hired rubber rings to use in the sea. We relaxed and played games before going out for dinner again and heading out to Naga bar.

 

We had some time on the beach before leaving on Sunday. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get back to Bangkok as there isn’t much traffic on Sundays.

Koh Samed is a great place to get away to for the weekend and i’m sure it won’t be long before I go back there.

Little Tree School Trip

The Thai teachers arranged to take the children on a trip to some gardens to learn about Thai plants and flowers.

We picked Marigolds which we turned into a dye for tie dying. We also planted marigold seeds which we got to take home. Mine are currently growing in my kitchen and I will try not to kill them!

Take That!

Never thought I would be able to say I saw Take That in Bangkok!

On the morning of the concert, we decided it would be a fun thing to do so we got tickets!

The venue was a lot smaller than expected and mostly sitting. Our seats were right at the back but we were able to dance at the front of the stage for about 30 minutes before being moved by security!

While we were at the front, we weren’t allowed to take photos but I did get to shake Mark Owen’s hand!

They performed some of their old songs (the best ones) and the new. Highlights were Relight My Fire, Pray and Never Forget. They even got some of their old dance moves out!

The audience was mainly Western but there were quite a few Thai fans and it was very civilised! No pushing or shoving like any other concert or gig I’ve been to!

The last time they played in Bangkok was 20 years ago! I had a great time so really glad that I went!

 

Phuket

I wasn’t expecting to like Phuket, especially Patong. I’d heard it was very touristy and a bit seedy. To my surprise I really enjoyed it and went back there after the Yoga retreat.

It was touristy but the beaches were still really nice and it wasn’t hard to find a good spot to sunbathe in.

For my last night on holiday, I decided to book myself into a gorgeous bungalow which had a beautiful garden and was next to a national park.

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I had a great holiday and feel very lucky that this is less than an hour and a half away from Bangkok. I’m sure I will be back before long!

Island Yoga

For half term, I decided to spend 5 days in a yoga retreat on an island near Phuket. I flew on a Friday afternoon after school, to Phuket, which was less than an hour and a half away. I spent 2 nights in Phuket before getting the boat to Ko Yao Noi (30 mins away).

On the first day I got up at 5.45am for an hour of Tai Chi on the beach. This was a great experience and we got to watch the sun rise.

 

This was then followed by 2 hours of yoga (7.30-9.30 am) and then free time until 4.30 pm where we had an hour and a half of yoga. The morning sessions were supposed to be energetic and the afternoon one, more relaxing. Some sessions were more relaxing than others, depending on the teacher!

Whilst staying on Ko Yao Noi, I went cycling, relaxed on the beach and took life quite easy (in between yoga sessions).

 

I also tried singing yoga which was interesting! Afterwards, we had a Thai buffet which included lots of tasty Thai food.

On the last day, we went island hopping. It was an amazing trip and we stopped off at 3 little islands in the sea near Krabi.

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I had a great time and really enjoyed the yoga. Just got to keep it up now i’m back in Bangkok!