No trip to Hanoi is complete without visiting the fabulous natural beauty of Halong Bay. Kevin had pre-booked this trip and it started with a 2.5 hour transfer in a luxury minivan

The seats reclined and had massage options! Bernice is using hers in this picture!!!

The boat trip took 8 hours and we traveled between the limestone karsts admiring the scenery.

There are around 1600 limestone islands and islets which make up the Bay. Some of the formations are more than 20 million years old like this blow hole.

Only half of them have names. We visited Three Peaches but others were called Thumb, Toad or Amazing Cave!!!

According to legend the Bay was formed when the gods sent down dragons to protect the Vietnamese from invaders. These dragons dropped jewels from their mouths into the Bay, creating the islands as a barrier against invading ships. Instead of returning to the heavens the dragons plunged into the waters and remain there.

Some filming for Bond’s ‘Tomorrow never dies’ took place here.

After a sumptuous lunch we took a bamboo boat into the cave of dark & night with beautiful stalagtites.

And monkeys

Bernice was only a little bit terrified

(Of the boat not the monkeys) But our lady rower did a great job and kept us safe

The afternoon saw us having an on board cookery class where we made our own spring rolls. This was great fun as we made the men have a go. Unfortunately our rolls had to be re-rolled by the chef before frying! But they tasted delicious.

Final stop at a floating fishing village to see the traditional way of life. Here they kept fish farms with some ginormous fish for days when the water was too rough to set sail. They kept dogs to protect the farms from thieves.

It wasn’t glorious sunshine but the day was truly beautiful.

Half term is here at long last and we have Mike and Bernice over to stay so we have headed up to Hanoi to get some north Vietnamese experiences.

We booked ourselves a private walking tour of the street food and what a gastronomic delight that was. Our tour guide took us down tiny alleys to places that we would never had dreamed of going. It was a flavour of authentic Vietnam.

First up was the frog market, so called because if the police turned up lots of the stalls would jump up and disappear only to pop back when the coast was clear.

Here you can see all the fresh food. Locals would shop here several times a day to ensure they had the freshest ingredients.

Next stop was the spring roll lady. These rolls were pork and vegetables rolled in rice pastry. The tiny stall cooks thousands of spring rolls every day!

The rice pastry makes it a lighter dish than the ones we are used to in Thailand.

Next up was the dumping stall.

On the right of the picture you can see the rice which has been soaked in water for 13 hours being mulched and the rice milk being extracted. The mulch is then squeezed to remove further excess water before being rolled up into dumplings or rolled out very thinly to make rice paper or pastry.

We had two types of dumpling here a sweet one and a pork one. Both absolutely delicious.

No photo but we next had a beef baguette- a legacy from the French colonial rule.

Then we stopped for pancakes. Two to be exact. These were stuffed with prawns and bean sprouts and eaten in rice paper wrapped up with fresh lettuce leaves and copious sprigs of mint.

As demonstrated by our guide here. The pancake itself was crispier than we are used to but very light and tasty.

These were next. Dragon eye omelettes. Smaller and stuffed with vegetables and mushrooms, again wrapped up with leaves in rice paper.

Just when we were starting to feel quite full we were taken to the main course! The best beef noodle shop in Hanoi.

This place was packed. It opens at 6am and closes at 10pm. It just serves beef noodles and beer. There was quite a queue to get in it was so popular! We would never have known it was so good if we hadn’t been taken.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who is visiting. I had mine with a dash of rice vinegar infused with garlic.

We were now 2 and a half hours into the tour and off to our final destination. The coconut ice cream and sticky rice shop!

… on low stools!

We declined the snails stall (shown here) and also insects (gross) and dog (even worse!!!) We have saved egg coffee for another day.

Feeling stuffed now…

2 hours west of Bangkok is the provincial town of Kanchanaburi. Here we visited the museum of the infamous Death Railway.

In 1885 a survey conducted by the British advised against the completion of a Siam-Burma Railway due to technical difficulties and a lack of labour. In the Second World War Japan however, had other ideas and very much needed a rail link to be able to move their army around Japanese controlled South East Asia by connecting all the existing rail networks. They had a brilliant young engineer and a labour force of 61,000 POWs and 250,000 conscripted Asians (romusha) or forced labourers. It was a project, the completion of which, defied all the odds.

Work began in September 1942 and was scheduled to finish in December 1943. The project required the building of 600 bridges in total and 9 of those were long span. We have the film to thank for immortalising just one of those structures- The Bridge over the River Kwai

And having seen the film, it was a special moment when we stood on the actual bridge itself. The two end spans are original but the middle section was bombed and so is a renovation. What was fascinating to us was the documentary in the museum where an elderly Japanese man was quite indignant about the film’s portrayal of the Japanese needing British engineering assistance to complete the bridge. He said that was not the case AT ALL. The Japanese knew exactly what they were doing. But… hey ho the victors write the history…

Apparently although the conditions were hot and humid the now infamous brutality from the Japanese did not begin immediately. In the first year there were 243 allied deaths as compared to over 4000 in each of the subsequent years. It was only when pressure to complete the project was exerted from the Japanese High Command that the pressure was passed down the ranks.

This extract below brought home the conditions of the men …

It was an interesting point that no army uses its best soldiers to guard POWs. It tended to be brawn not brain or in this case, conscripted Korean soldiers who were treated brutally themselves and who took their revenge on the prisoners.

The cemetery outside (one of three in the area) had nearly 7000 headstones and was where we had a few moments of quiet reflection. Some of the graves simply said ‘A soldier’…

We left the museum inspired by the beautiful stained glass art work reinforcing the message that we should learn from the atrocities and live together in peace

The Railway itself runs for 258 miles and we travelled to its termination point at Nam Tok, a journey which took 2 hours.

The views from the open windows were stunning and well worth being wind-swept for.

At the end of the war the Allies removed the last sections of the track so that the line would not stand as a testament to Japanese engineering and Hellfire Pass is now maintained by the Australian war graves commission as a monument to those who died during its construction. Again this was a somber and moving place to be. Original sleepers and tracks can be seen in our path as we walked along through the jungle.

And dotted along the track were original tools

The cutting was constructed without any power tools or machinery. Men worked in pairs one held the spike & the other hammered it into the rock. Quarter turn then hammered again until there was a hole big enough to put a stick of dynamite in. After the explosion others carried the debris up the embankment which got steeper & steeper the deeper the work went.

Men had to carry their tools to & from the site so tried to get the lightest hammer even though it was less effective. As pressure to complete was brought to bear men worked 15-18 hours a day on only one meal. They batted malnutrition and disease under the threat of severe beatings. By the end of the war 12,800 Allied soldiers had died working on the railway but what we don’t often hear about is that 90,000 of the Asian workers also perished under the same conditions.

Historians have calculated that 38 POWs died for each kilometre of track that was laid.

We will remember them.

Thanks to big changes at UoC, a year ago Kevin and I bid farewell to our friends and family and boarded the BA flight to a new life

It was something of a leap of faith. A step into the unknown and one so very far away.

So, how have we coped? I thought our first anniversary would be a good opportunity to reflect:

Things we have missed:

1) Family – we do Skype and FaceTime regularly (although less so with Inigo who forgets and is hard to get hold of!!!) but it’s not the same as being there when they need us. And we were gutted to have to miss a family wedding.

On the plus side though Mother and the boys have already been out here to visit and the girls are booked for a trip this Nov. Kevin’s sister and brother have been this summer and we took the opportunity to explore northern Thailand with them.

It was a great trip!

Several friends have already scheduled holidays out here and i am ridiculously excited about showing them around our new world.

On the plus side we will be back to visit you all next year so we are looking forwards to that.

2) Cheese – yes it is available here but it is imported and expensive and comes in small portion from only a few outlets which are a bit of a journey away for us!!!! The same goes for butter and wine The near-by hotels do ameliorate our addictions by providing a monthly cheese night where you pay approx £34 each then have as much cheese & wine as you can manage in 2 hours. It’s a cheese binge night! however, it was a challenge we rose to! And a great social night out with colleagues but not something we do every month. On a routine basis we either go without or pay the exorbitant prices. Tough decisions. What would you do?

3) Mince pies and all things Christmas

Although the shopping malls here do wonderful large scale decorations on the whole it is difficult to get basic Christmas things. I wanted to buy Christmas books for the library but only a paltry few were available and most of those featured Mickey Mouse!!! Of the ones I did have it was difficult reading stories about sledging, snow and ice to children who have no frame of reference for winter conditions! I spent as much time explaining what being cold was like as reading the stories! They then left into the scorching heat…

The school put on a lavish staff party which was wonderful but it was the ONLY thing which felt Christmassy. I think I had 1 mince pie and not a single Quality Street. Simple things like buying some wrapping paper we had to go to special shops where the selection wasn’t great. I am planning ahead for this year and having things brought over.

4) Winter

And a related thing we have missed are seasons in general. Obviously we don’t miss the dark, damp perishing cold days but here being so near the equator the temperature is fairly constant all year round. Seasons here mean either hot and wet or hot and dry. Again, it brings home how much teaching and learning especially in the Early Years uses seasons. It’s quite hard when it’s the same all the time.

Temperatures here average in the low 30s all year round but in The Thai ‘summer’ March – May the humidity levels need to be factored in to create a Heat Index (I have an app for that). So today for instance, whilst the U.K. is experiencing a heat wave our temperature is 33 degrees but the humidity is 79% which makes the heat feel like 44 degrees and whilst nice for a holiday it gets a bit relentless all year round!!! I do get fed up of being slick with sweat every day. I have never much been a fan of large shopping malls but here they are a god-send. You can manage the dripping heat as long as you can escape into the cool for a while.

On the plus side washing dries really quickly.

5) The BBC

Ok, so we can get the BBC world service and tons of American or Thai channels but it’s not the same. I’m having to adapt to mainly getting news online, although I have to say I am not a fan of Fox News.

6) Knowing exactly where to go when you need something

It’s hard but we are slowly building up local knowledge for the location of life’s necessities. As an example we have struggled to find a dentist, a picture framer, a hearing aid repair shop or battery disposal points. All things which I took for granted back in the U.K.

7) A responsible attitude to recycling

Thailand is plastic crazy. Everything is double if not triple wrapped in plastic. I have been so used to being careful about waste but here there are trash mountains and it seems as though the country is slow to realise it’s global responsibilities. I take my canvas bag to the shops but initially got some very funny looks. However, I am pleased to say that Topps, our local supermarket, has just introduced reusable shopping bags at the counters. Maybe my little actions helped but I think largely is was the publicity of the dead whale on a Thai beach with its guts filled with plastic that did it. There is quite a way to go here.

8) Seat belts

Not having a car we use public transport or taxis. Taxis are comparatively cheap but the quality of the driving is variable. It’s hit & miss as to whether you get seat belts or not and then a bonus when they actually work. I tend not to look at the roads as driving here is crazy & erratic. I think that lines in the road are only a ‘suggestion’. To my surprise though we have seen very few accidents in Bangkok itself. Partly due to congestion which slows everything right down but also because they all drive like that and are used to people cutting in & out without signalling!!!!

Things we have NOT missed:

1) Snotty noses & all things flu related.

Yes, we have had the odd sneeze but nothing like the severity of the annual wracking cough and debilitating colds that we were used to. Yay!

2) Sleeves and Scarves

It is wonderful to spend a whole year without the restrictions of boots, trousers, jumpers and big coats. Even when the temperature here dips to below 30 and my Thai colleagues wrap themselves up we have been fine.

3) The stress

Working in cash-strapped HE was more stressful than I had realised. It is only when you move away to somewhere different that you unwind and you realise just how stressed you were. The school day is extremely busy and noisy but do you know what, it is great fun. The kids are the best and I get to read fun stories (product knowledge)

4) My kitchen

I wasn’t sure what to bring with me and so only selected a few things but with hindsight I wish i had brought more. I have had to buy duplicates here which seems such a waste! I guess that originally I thought we would eat out most of the time and indeed we did in the beginning as food is so cheap. But… as time went on we started to crave a roast dinner or a shepherds pie and so I have started to cook more. My bug-bear is that the stove here is electric and the oven pretty useless so some of my tried & tested menus have not worked that well.

5) Cost of living

Imported products (cheese, wine, chocolate etc) are extortionate but local items are remarkably cheap. You can get a meal out for 200 Baht or £4.50.

Taxi fares too are ridiculous compared to the U.K. for instance a 40 Min trip to the airport costs approx £10 including highway tolls!!! You can’t get IN a taxi in London for that never mind the journey. Taxis however have baffled me somewhat. There are lots of times when they won’t take you if they don’t fancy going in that direction!!!! Drivers will often claim that they don’t know where you want to go or they try to charge a higher price without the meter on (illegal here but they think we are tourists so don’t know). I have always assumed that a taxi will take you where you want because that is their business. One day we flagged down 4 before we found one that would take us home!!!

So instead we often use public transport. An average Sky Train journey into the city centre is approx £1.40. There are some destinations which aren’t on the BTS so you have to use the ferry. There are hop on hop off tourist boats where a Day ticket costs £4.15 but if you take the regular ferry it costs only 35p to travel however far you want!!! Mind you it is cram packed with locals and doesn’t look as if it’s seen any refurbishment in decades! Still 35p per journey!!!! It’s going to be a massive shock to our wallet when we get home

Things which we have enjoyed most here:

This is hard because there are so many.

1) Our apartment is great. I did wonder how I would feel about downsizing but actually without most of our stuff/clutter it has been quite liberating. We have great views over the city which are especially magical at night.

And once the car park beneath us has been constructed the noise and dust will stop.

I am particularly enjoying having a maid and not doing any ironing!!! That’s a real bonus. Miss Roma is Burmese and a real gem. Oh and a swimming pool is also nice.

2) The opportunity to travel

This has to be the biggest plus of our adventures. In one year we have visited 5 new countries and have had a multitude of amazing experiences. It is so cheap to travel once here and we are making the most of every single school holiday.

Our favourite highlights have been:

– fireflies in Borneo

– the prayer wheels & giant stupa in Kathmandu

– the sea swing in Gili

– washing elephants in Chang Mai

– sunset in Bagan

– afternoon tea in The Author’s Lounge

Our lives have been enriched by these amazing experiences and we realise how lucky we are to have been given these opportunities. We have been dazzled by amazing art and stupendous architecture

We often sit & look at each other over a cold local beer and say

‘ just how did we end up here?’

We find it hard to believe how fortunate we have been.

When asked Kevin added that early retirement is the best!!!!

3) The people

Although it is daunting starting a new job this one was made easier by the fact that so many of us were new & settling in at the same time. I have struggled remembering everyone’s names. There are 1700 kids and I have only learned a few!!!!

My new colleagues are on the whole very welcoming and I havej made some good friends. It is a strange situation when you know that some people will only be around for a couple of years then they move on. The turnover of staff is very high but that is normal in the International School field. It just takes a little getting used to. The new staff are setting off from the U.K. now so I am looking forwards to making even more friends. FB is fab for keeping in touch across the continents.

4) The food

Obviously Thai food is amazing and prolific and cheap but we have also been exposed to a great variety of cuisines from all around SE Asia. One of my favourites are steamed buns

These cost 50p each but a slight smaller version is also available from our local 7/11 for only 20p. They can be filled with pulled pork or a sort of custard for a sweet version.

But eating out is always a delicious adventure.

5) School holidays!!!

Unbelievably long. For the first time in my life I have had more than 3 consecutive weeks off. It’s amazing & so restful. Mind you teachers do deserve the rest (did I mention the noise levels in term-time?)

6) Salutes

I regularly get saluted as I go to and from school or on and off the boat. When I return I am so going to miss that. No one salutes me back in the U.K. at all.

Travel is a blessing and one which I would encourage for everyone. Seeing new sights, smells and sounds broadens horizons and helps to encourage tolerance of other people’s and cultures. But a 2 week visit can only give a superficial glimpse at the lives of others. Living in another country really let’s you get to know people and their cultural practices. Even after a year here I still feel that we have only scratched the surface and I have so much more to learn.

Here’s to the next amazing year..,

Our accommodation on Gili T was a bungalow which was essentially a room with an open air bathroom attached at the back. By open air it meant high walls (for privacy) and a roof but a big gap instead of eaves. This meant that it was always the temperature of outside.

On the face of it this sounds lovely BUT there were drawbacks. Given that I am a critter magnet every time we went to the bathroom we ran the risk of flying biting things getting in the room who would then feast on exposed flesh all night (yes this did happen. My legs are not a pretty sight)

You have to accept that though as part of the tropical island experience. What we didn’t expect though was what happened on the morning of our departure.

Picture this, we had a 6.30 check in at the other end of the beach & we had to haul our cases 20 mins along the lumpy bumpy road as horse & carts were not awake. So we were up at 5.30am to pack. At 5.27 Kevin heard a scratching sound and he leapt up thinking that there was a creature in the room. Lights on and a quick search proved nothing. He said the sound seemed to be coming from the ceiling!!!

Anyway he strips off and nips onto the bathroom for his (cold) shower when suddenly he realised that he was surrounded by a swarm of bees!!!! Yes bees. Not a great position to be in when you are starkers. He dashed back into the room faster than I have ever seen him move.

Needless to say we were in a dilemma. Never mind the shower, how could we get our toiletries to pack them and we had very limited time????

I wrapped myself up and very bravely (I thought) made a forage at lightning speed to pick everything up. That morning was the first time I have brushed my teeth at the tap meant for washing the sand off your feet when you leave the beach.

Some bees followed us into the room and so we had to dress and finish packing whilst taking great care to avoid them. Our departure was rapid to say the least which was unusual for that time of the morning!

Fortunately we escaped without being stung.

On the positive side, the advantage of leaving so early was that we were able to witness the sunrise over the Bali Sea.

Being an intrepid adventurer is not always idyllic. Sometimes things don’t exactly go according to plan.

The plan was – transfer from Bali to Gili T by fast boat. Leave hotel 9.30 (reasonable time) 2 hours bus to port then 1.5 hours on a fast boat to the island.

God and nature however, had other plans. The day before we departed there was an underwater earthquake near the Gilis. Now it was an underwater earthquake which caused the tsunami back in 2004 so these events are definitely to be taken seriously. This one, although nowhere near as big was apparently causing swells of around 5ft so the harbour master cancelled all fast boats. We were given an alternative option.

What actually happened- 5.15am wake up call and check out at 6. Bus picked us up at 6.30 (late) and we did the 2 hour drive to the port arriving about 8.30. By 9 all the other displaced passengers had also arrived. We were walked through to the port area along with our luggage and put into a line behind barriers (so no option to move). Then another line then a sort of scrum. This went on for over 4 hours. Some people were extremely lucky and able to lean against the railing. Others suffered standing in the direct sun. It was pretty gruelling. I ended up sitting on my case for a while. Being a port, we were lined up alongside where the freight drove on and off the ferries. 4 ferries came and went before we could board. During that time we enjoyed the close proximity of the diesel fumes from the passing lorries!

At mid-day the company passed out some fried egg sandwiches with cold oven chips! I have never had cucumber in a fried egg sandwich before! Little did I know it would be the only thing I ate that day.

On board the ferry we were lucky enough to get actual seats. As you can see from the photo many people were outside on the floor. Mind you after 8 hours even the seats we were in became uncomfortable!

On arrival in Lombok (I should mention that both embarking and dis-embarking required us to haul our cases up and down 2 flights of steep ship stairs! That was hard) we boarded coaches for the next port. This was easily an hour and a half journey up the coast of Lombok. It was dark by then so we couldn’t see too much.

We got to the north of the island at 10pm from which it is a short 10 Min speedboat ride to Gili. Only problem was that there were only a limited number of boats available at that time of night and large numbers of us!!! We had to wait and wait for the boats to shuttle back and forth. Hungry and spaced out from exhaustion we landed at 11pm wading through the water with our bags. From there is was a short taxi ride to our accommodation. This was our taxi

The Gili Islands have no motorised vehicles so the only modes of transport are bicycles and horse drawn cart (which go at a fair lick). It was like stepping back in time to a pre-industrial era and had the tang of stables to accompany it.

It was at this point that we learned that the fast boat back had also been cancelled so we will have to do the same journey in return (joy!)

There are 3 Gili islands. We are in the furthermost one called Gili Trawangan which has a Cornish ring to it. But it was nothing like Cornwall. It is a haven for snorkelling and diving. Pretty much everywhere has diving lessons.

The 3 Gili Islands were uninhabited until about 50 years ago. No one thought of living on a place with long white sandy beaches, crystal blue water and year round sunshine until the tourist industry sprang up. Consequently there was no infrastructure and everyone who lives here works in tourism. There is nothing else.

Kevin had booked us into a budget place on the seafront called Mango Dive. It turned out it didn’t have any hot water!!! Can you imagine?!?!? Why would anyone offer accommodation to tourists without hot water? It’s crazy. Maybe divers like cold water. Maybe blokes feel tough showering in cold water & it’s a ‘macho thing’. Clearly people with next to no hair can manage a quick sluice but for me it’s different.

Our beach was lovely

But after a day of sweat, sun cream, sand and salt I needed to wash my hair. Not happening. I took the speediest of showers amidst squealing but couldn’t stay long enough to wash my hair. And we were booked in here for FOUR nights! It’s budget remember so not even a kettle that I could improvise with…

I don’t know about other ladies but when my hair is dirty, itchy and sticking up every which way it is quite stressful and I personally get a bit grumpy (as Kevin has discovered) I was tempted to hide in the room for the entire time because I feel so dreadful. What saved our marriage was the chance discovery of a small hair salon at the far end of the beach. A wash & blow dry has now been booked and I am willing to pay whatever it costs!! Anything.

Today we hired bikes and cycled around the island.

We found a beach swing which I’ve always fancied having a go on.

At the northern point we stopped for a beer & pina colada (only £2.50) which was a bargain (perhaps I should have had more!)

And later a couple of beers on the beach and a beautiful sunset

After an extremely enjoyable but busy year we definitely need a rest so have headed to the lush tropical paradise that is Bali (only 4 hours away from Bangkok) for a bit of R & R.

We were quite shocked on arrival to find the temperature only 24 degrees while London at the same time was 28 degrees!!!! Coming from sweltering 34 degrees + humidity in Bangkok we found ourselves actually a bit chilly!!!! This wasn’t what we were expecting at all & we had to rapidly calculate whether we had brought enough sleeves and trousers!! Fortunately for us the grey clouds rolled away and the weather improved over our stay.

We started away from the tourist beaches and headed straight to Ubud in the centre of the Island where our hotel was nestled in the rainforest. The picture above is the view from our room of the lush jungle.

And the infinity pool (which did wonders to help unwind)

The first morning we did a paddy field trek for 2 hours before breakfast. I am ashamedly ignorant of the rice cultivation processes so this trip was a fascinating learning experience.

The paddy fields are ploughed using traditional machinery.

The rice husks are in the soil at the bottom of the clump (which hopefully you can just about see) They are clumped together here so are broken down into smaller pieces to be planted where they will have room to thrive.

The rice grows and through a complex irrigation system the fields are alternately flooded or drained at various stages of growth. The rice is ready for harvesting after 6 months.

All around the fields are multiple shrines and ceremonial offerings are made to the rice goddess, Dewi Sri, frequently throughout the growing process. This is because rice is such an important part of the island’s culture and heritage.

Much of the work is done by women, particularly the harvesting. They traditionally use a small hand-held scythe so as not to frighten the rice goddess. Bless. In an interesting example of role reversal the housekeeping staff in the hotel were all men and the farmers were predominantly women!!

I love this picture below as it is so typical. Dogs roam freely everywhere. This one looks as though he is surveying the land.

The religion in Bali is a fusion of Hinduism and local tribal customs. Apparently Bali is the only part of Indonesia which isn’t Muslim. Every living compound has an ornate gateway, the more lavish the gate the richer the occupants. This one is from the Palace

I thought this statute that we saw on one was brilliant …

Most female statues are of nubile pert figures representing fertility etc but this was much more realistic!!! (& honest)

Many statues are skirted with checkered cloth. This is very symbolic as the white squares represent good and the dark ones evil but together they are balanced in the pattern as they are in life. A good reminder I thought.

Ubud is famous for its Monkey Forest in the centre of town. Quite a substantial area is given over to providing a home for semi- wild monkeys. Hundreds of them.

For a small fee (£2.50) you can wander amongst them and watch them roaming around their natural habitat. There are big signs warning tourist how to behave as wild animals can be unpredictable. We were told not to feed them but we saw stupid people ignoring that & offering tidbits (which of course the monkeys grabbed but which weren’t necessarily nutritious).

We were also told not to panic if one jumped on you but to carry on walking calmly and the monkey would jump off. So guess what we saw… yep!!!

Panic and screaming!

The monkeys however were not stupid. They knew that the flow of tourists provided goodies, so like any reputable member of Fagin’s gang they attempted pick pocketing and were quite adept at undoing backpacks!! We even saw a couple carrying off treasures that they had purloined.

Tomorrow we set off for the Gili Islands. Our hotel there apparently has no hot water (!) so I am betting that WiFi will be non-existent. It might be quite refreshing to completely get away from it all. I will let you know.

Update: our pre-booked fast transfer to the island is cancelled due to bad weather!!!!! We have been moved to the slow boat….

146 miles (by road) south of Chiang Rai is Chiang Mai (which literally means ‘new city’). We travelled there by bus, which was quite spacious and had an attendant just like on an aeroplane although she only served a bottle of water and a pineapple biscuit. I didn’t dare use the loo though!!!

Chiang Mai is quite renowned for its night markets so it presented a unique shopping experience which needless to say, we took full advantage of…

Sights here include the Hmong tribal village in the mountains. These people are descended from southern Chinese tribes as the borders between the two countries were fairly amorphous at one point. In times past these people supported themselves by growing poppies for the opium trade but nowadays they have preserved their cultural heritage through tourism.

Their traditional dress was brightly patterned and they wore it with pride

Even the little boys

I was delighted when I found some cross stitch explaining the various tribes (I am always delighted to find cross stitch!)

For any entomologists among you here is a gorgeous little caterpillar which looks just like blossom. There are lots of them clustered on this leaf and one is hatching. If anyone knows their actual name do let me know.

In other natural news the countryside was surprisingly lush and verdant and the flowers up in the mountains were stunning. Trumpet flowers

… but I don’t know what these are (apols)

Another day, another temple. This one is called Doi Suthep and is the highest temple in Thailand. Legend has it that the then king put a relic of the Buddha (piece of shoulder bone allegedly ) in a little stupa on top of a white elephant which then walked up the mountain, circled 3 times and sat down so that was the spot where the temple was built.

This monk (below) is famous for being able to meditate under the ocean (!) and people who revere him will apparently become prosperous.

It made a nice change to see a non- Buddha statue. Behind you can see devotees circling the stupa carrying lotus blossoms and chanting special prayers in order to make merit.

But the highlight of the whole trip has to be the Kanta elephant sanctuary 50 mins north of Chiang Mai. On arrival we were asked to change into the ‘uniform’, this was not only to protect our own clothes but I suspect that with their poor eyesight the elephants are able to see who is a visitor with food!

You can see our cloth bags which we had filled with bananas and sugar cane. All carefully measured out so that the elephants have the right amounts of the right kind of food.

The elephants here had been rescued from logging enterprises and the entertainment trade. Some places treat the elephants very badly with hooks and chains. Elephant rides may look fun but to train them the mahouts are often cruel behind the scenes.

These elephants ranged in age with the oldest being 56 and one of the younger ones was pregnant. They are allowed to roam freely and they love being fed their snacks

They liked it if you patted them so long as you avoided their eyes. Each elephant has its own caretaker so although it was slightly scary when these huge beasts lumbered purposely towards you we were all quite safe. These men are paid approx £340 per month to do this job.

Some of them were quite cheeky and knew that there were more snacks in our bags!!!

Then it was playtime. Elephants don’t have pores in their skin so they cool down either by covering themselves in dirt or by going in the water. This was our cue to help splash and scrub.

They loved it (& the elephants had a great time too)

It was good to be supporting community initiatives and helping to keep the elephants safe and happy.

I have to say that from the outset this trip with the Toner rellies has been stunning. After a very pleasant flight we landed at Chiang Rai airport only to find one of the most beautiful baggage claim areas that I have ever seen. What you can’t tell from this photo is that there was also a 6 piece Thai band playing welcoming music too. We weren’t sure if they always did this or if there were important dignitaries arriving due to the world media attention on the rescue of the boys from the cave.

My overall impression of Chiang Rai is one of colour. Our first port of call was the acclaimed White Temple

This stunning modern temple was designed and built by a local artist called Mr Leung (his nickname). He made his fortune as an artist then decided to give something back to his home town. By funding the entire project himself he has ensured artistic control. Every detail is all down to him and it was a wonderfully symbolic experience.

Firstly at the front are various images which graphically depict hell. I particularly liked the grasping hands, some with bowls imploring you for help. Other sections are just contorted ugly faces.

Then you cross over a bridge flanked by demons to the main Buddha hall

Inside you see a mural on the back of the entrance wall depicting the mouth of hell. Interestingly this contains images such as the twin towers, Pokemon, superheroes and other trappings of modern life which prevent people from seeing the truth about the environment or themselves. We couldn’t take pictures but this is a detail scanned from the guide book.

Here you can see Manga and the Matrix and a transformer!! At the top of the wall are two demon eyes each containing a face. On the left is George Bush and the right is Osama Bin Ladin. Facing them are two Buddha statues one in gold and one in white representing the way to heaven and spiritual freedom. It was really quite moving.

In this part of the world temples are usually opulent edifices of gold symbolising wealth and splendour but this temple goes against tradition and is all white because Mr Leung felt that wasn’t what Buddhism should be about. He used white to represent purity and the effect is magnificent. He has used gold but only on the toilet block (which is now the most splendid place I have ever had a wee!!!)

Then it was onto the work of another local artist who favours the colour blue. Unsurprisingly this one is known as the Blue Temple!

Check the ceiling out folks!

After that we visited the work of another local artist. He had not been encouraged by his family to pursue an artistic career so he had had to support himself through art college in Bangkok by living in empty properties where there was no electricity for his studies so under the influence of all the darkness his favourite colour to work with was black.

A short drive away and we came to the Golden Triangle which is a confluence of two rivers (Ruak and Mekong) and the border between three countries: Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

It is know as ‘golden’ because much money (gold) has changed hands here as part of the drug industry. And so next we visited the Opium museum (who knew that one even existed!!!)

Poppies look so pretty but are the cause of so much suffering. Legend has it that a village woman was so ugly that no one wanted to marry her. When she died she claimed that two flowers would grow on her grave, one was a tobacco plant and the other a poppy. Before she died she prophesied that one would bring great pleasure but also great tribulation (she wasn’t wrong there!)

We finished the day off in a local food market where they tried but failed to persuade me to eat either silk worms or crickets!!!!

On the drive back we passed fields of pineapples. They grow really tiny sweet ones here

And acres of tapioca plants (I’d never seen those growing before)

This picture is of lychee trees and underneath are coffee plants. The coffee grown here is Arabica which is very smooth and mellow and not high in caffeine.

These are the tapioca plants which look remarkably similar to marijuana (I’ve been told!)

Tomorrow we are all taking the bus to Chiang Mai to see what that has to offer. Whatever it is certainly won’t be as colourful.

Quite unbelievably a whole school year has passed! It has gone so very quickly. I thought this might be an opportunity reflect on my work here.

I have been so fortunate in this job as it has brought me back to my roots in children’s librianship but with the added advantage of having all the management experience from my years in HE. It’s an ideal position really.

Life at Shrewsbury is busy, very busy but in comparison to working in cash-strapped HE is is not as stressful. The school is extremely active and there is something (or multiple things) happening every week. It’s quite hard to keep up.

Working in a school environment has its pros and cons. We are a selective school for the elite of Bangkok which means that we are well resourced and the children are on the whole highly motivated, many of them go on to fantastic academic achievements. In addition to that I have been completely bowled over by their artistic, musical and sporting talents too. I just love listening to them perform and have been treated to some amazing concerts throughout the year.

This little girl, as well as being an exceptionally talented pianist for her age (6) is also one of my year 1 excellent readers. I do enrichment activities each day with groups of the bright and gifted children to stretch and develop them by exposing them to a variety of authors, genres and styles of writing.

Moving to a new job/new country was a leap of faith but I can honestly say that I have made some wonderful new friends here and overall I have a renewed respect for all teachers & TAs. Dealing with classloads of noisy children is exhausting and trying at times.

Although our children are largely very respectful and well behaved I do find myself saying ‘no running’ & ‘slow down’ quite often at break and lunchtime (and that’s inside the library!) Some days I feel as though I am saying it on a loop, largely because the library is on a bridge between the senior and junior schools and many children feel compelled to run between the two! Or take a running leap to get up or down our many stairs! (We have LOTS of stairs which is crazy in a library as we cannot push a trolley around and so end up carrying all our books by the armful- don’t get me started on THAT one…)

Several of our children come from extremely wealthy families however as I don’t know their individual backgrounds, to me they are all just children who need to be told to tie their shoelaces or tuck their shirts in. I have no idea which are the billionaire families but apparently we have 8!!! Regardless of their background I think our children are great. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them, especially the younger ones. They all smile and wave at me and yell my name in greeting down the corridor. There are some genuinely lovely smiles and I feel really appreciated. Of course there are times when they drive you nuts…

Me *trying desperately to log into the online register on my phone for an after school book club*

Register being uncooperative. Meanwhile…

Year 6 boy Mrs Toner! …Mrs Toner! Mrs Toner! MRS TONER!!!

Me; yes

Y6 boy; Mrs Toner he touched my shoulders

Really!!!!!!! THAT was important?!?!

One of the challenges of working in a school setting for me has been the bell! I have been used to managing my own time and I generally start a job and work until it is finished but in school the bell goes every 55 minutes and it’s all change. I have got used to it now but that was definitely difficult to adapt to in the beginning.

The library itself is in need of refurbishment. The school is expanding and we simply don’t have enough space. As the only air conditioned social space on campus the library is extremely popular at break and lunchtimes but mostly from kids who just want to ‘hang’. They mess around and disrupt those who are trying to study/read so we have had to do quite a lot of behaviour management in the senior space. It’s improved considerably now after a whole year.

The space has been so well used that it is suffering from wear and tear and starting to look tired. Somewhat disappointingly the plans from the architects were not ready in time and so the refurbishment work has been put back to the summer of 2019 (although I have replaced all the computer chairs this week)

In the meantime I have been able to work on the stock. Basically it hadn’t been weeded (possibly ever) and the humid conditions here mean that the pages of the paperbacks go yellow and musty very quickly and the glue on the spines deteriorates so the spines break and the pages fall out.

I inherited a stock of 42,000 across two libraries but the school is expanding so the refurbished space will need to have more study spaces and less shelving. So far I have removed over 7000 tired, tatty or unused books. This was to the consternation of some of the Thai team who have never been exposed to weeding before!

The withdrawn books were then donated to local schools. One is a temple School in Ayuttha called Wat Khai. Marivic and I took several boxes to them. They were so excited that we were required to pose in front of the flag pole with the boxes (& some shelves)

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It was good to be able to support a community school and they were very grateful. They gave us a lovely lunch which included longan juice, a fruit which is akin to a lychee but which I had never had before. Aroy!

One of the fun parts of the job is book promoting. This year I have been heavily involved in the Bangkok Book Awards. I have been part of a small working group of librarians from international schools and between us we selected the shortlist then encouraged reading and voting for the favourite title across a range of age groups.

The winners this year were:

The bear and the piano by David Litchfield in the picture book category.

Ghosts by Rania Telgemeier in the junior readers category

Scythe by Neal Schusterman (my personal favourite) for young adults.

We then read extensively and have selected the shortlist for next year in good time for a September launch. Here is a sneak peak at the titles. We try to include books from the U.K., Australia and the US as well as ones with an Asian theme, setting or protagonist.

Another fun aspect of the job has been watching the children engage with books and develop their reading. As an after school activity I run a ‘chatter books ‘ club which encourages children in years 3 & 4 to share the stories they are reading. Then we have fun activities such as quizzes or word searches. When doing a theme of fantasy stories the children were designing a dragon and then discussing their creations. Actual conversation…

Boy 1: mine is called Crusher and has laser eyes

Boy 2: mine is armour plated and has a flame thrower POW POW

Boy3: mine is called Death and has bombs and a light sabre

Girl 1: mine is fluffy and called marshmallow

Me*sighs

Marivic and I also run a highly successful after school ‘breakout box’ club where we can subtly teach library skills in the form of codes, puzzles and ciphers. Feedback on this has been fantastic and it is much in demand. When they open the box there are sweets inside. No chocolate as that would just melt! Two teams of 6 race against each other to open the boxes first. The tension is palpable.

And the downsides? Well, it’s hot and when the air conditioning breaks down it is extremely uncomfortable and difficult to work. Even on a normal day you go from extreme hot to quite chilly as you move around the school so you fluctuate in temperature all the time. Actually I fluctuate in temperature quite a lot but that might just be my age.

I have made many new and good friends here but the way that contracts work means that sadly several are leaving I guess that’s something which I will just have to get used to. In August I will have a whole new set of people to get to know.

The other area which I have found frustrating is purchasing. Being in a private school with an owner we have to use suppliers that he dictates. Coming from the cash strapped public sector in the U.K. this has been difficult to get my head around. I have been used to VFM and tender processes etc.

I have learned an enormous amount about the international school market which has been fascinating. And I love reading the children’s books (which is just as well as I have read nearly 200 since i started!) I should at this point say that goodreads is an excellent website for keeping track of your reading.

We have run some great competitions including a bookmark challenge. These are the winning designs, one from each year in the junior school and one from the seniors. These have all been professionally printed as the official Shrewsbury bookmarks.

I would like to finish by saying that my team have worked extremely hard particularly as I have breezed in full of new ideas.

But I’m not sure that I would have made it without my Assistant Librarian, Marivic. She has been so supportive and helpful when everything was new and confusing. We work very well together and have laid many plans for developing the library service next year.

But that is another story.,,