Saturday at the market and bad luck Sunday

So Saturday night came and we were all set to head into town to find this market we have been told so much about. The walking market, from what we have read, is open from 5.30 till 10.30 and takes roughly 3 hours to navigate. 

We headed into town on the "Rocket" and after searching for nearly an hour to no avail, we stood on a corner and were waiting to meet Aaron who was out on a date. 

While waiting, a Thai approached us in the usual friendly manner, announced he could speak English and asked where we were heading, as they also tend to do. After telling us the market we wanted was miles away he sent us to the Tontann Market, the second biggest market, which was only 10 minutes’ drive.  

We parked up and began to explore, the market itself was a midst 100’s of lit up palm trees, beautiful ponds and Thais running around full of excitement. We were unsure what all the commotion was about and followed them to a stage where we had to push through to see the spectacle which at first shocked us as we were greeted with 200 men standing in line greased up, wearing only a banana hammock and a smile. We read the sign and seen it was a body building competition.

Next group waiting to flex their muskles

The Thai people were cheering and whooping as they brought each group on stage.  Myself and Aaron covered the girls eyes and expressed that there is nothing to see here we should move on quickly ☺ Nudies!!

The market was huge and at every stand the sellers were more interested in watching their screens and cheering then trying to sell us anything, turns out Thailand was playing Japan in a final of a volleyball tournament which seems to be one of the national sports here, so we cheered when they did too, many a returned smile and it lifted the spirit of the night as they won. We spent a few hours walking around taking the usual tourist pics and viewing all the art pieces set around the perimeter of the grounds.

Koi-Pond

We purchased a few items and forgot to haggle, as it seemed cheap enough and had some food from the stands... not the bug stand though, as the stomach wasn't ready to be eating cockroaches and crickets like last time we were here. 

The Thais seem to love them but to us they just taste like burnt popcorn and it was just the issue of knowing what you were putting in your mouth.

A good night was had by all and I even got back in time to watch some of the footie with Kenny in the local with a large outdoor screen!!

Then came Sunday…. SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY!!!

We were told about a large Shopping center around the corner from us and said we would check it out… this place was crazy, they had all manner of Thai restaurants and even a few American one’s. We've seen places with 4 course meals for 3.50 and even a KFC... 

Here’s one for you, the Thais eat KFC with a knife and fork, probably the first time I've seen them use a knife as its all fork and spoon here… oh yes they’ll happily shove a few cockroaches or spiders down their throats with their hands but they ain't picking up no KFC chicken leg.. Yuck ☺

They also had an arcades there and I was very happy to see they had Pro evolution soccer, as I have been getting PlayStation envy with all these FIFA 14 and GTA 5 Facebook posts...

And then I saw they had booths where you could sit in for the day and order a few beers while singing karaoke in a sound proof room.. We have penciled it in for next week and hopefully I’ll put up a video of me and Kristine singing some Thai songs, oh and of course I’ll get Kristine to sing some Jolene… Feck off she is shouting at me as I write this.. Too late it’s in ☺

As we were leaving the bad luck began, Kristine slipped and her knee popped a way it shouldn't have, leaving her in agony on the ground, turns out she sprained it after slipping on a surface outside of the Tesco Lotus here.. Unfortunately suing is out of the question, so it was a trip to the pharmacy.. 

We came home first and I put her into bed while she screamed in agony. I ran to the freezer hoping to find something to put on her knee to bring down the swelling but we go out for every meal, as it’s cheaper and all I could find was a bag of sweet chili sauce from our last take out. Popped it in the freezer and it worked just as well ☺☺

I was nurse Stephen for the day…

Later that day I went out to try hunt down somewhere to watch the Dublin v Mayo final (not easy in Thailand) and with the help of some friends back home found some sites I could stream it on, so big thanks to everyone that tried to help me. And here is were my luck ran out, 10 minutes before the game started while in a bar the WiFi went down and the Man United game started. 

My super sister sent me 10 minute updates of the scores as they happened in the GAA Final and I realised I was missing a great game. All the while, Manchester United the football team I support, began to get a spanking from a rival, Manchester City, ending 4-1. I had raced home at half time to try get the end of the Dublin game on our WiFi at home, only to arrive as it finished, damn time difference turned me around.. oh well the win is the important part.. g'won the Dub's.

Tuesday now and Kristine's leg is much better, she is taking pain killers, anti inflammatory tablets and wearing a bandage and is alot more mobile now, so it doesn't seem as bad as we had feared. Roll on our first teaching class on Thursday :) 

Meeting our first Tarantula and the start of the weekend!!!

Our Running track at night

It finally arrived, our first week of school done and we all let out a unanimous sigh of relief and decided we needed to relax, let our hair down and enjoy a drink or several. We said we would be good and went jogging by the lake first.
We got there around 8 and it was already dark for an hour as the sun goes down early here and the town comes alive. We were happy to see that we had the lake to our selves lit up by lamps around the edge for most parts but some of the track covered in darkness and some strange noises coming from the over growth surrounding it. We finished our laps and decided to throw in some push ups, as we finished we looked down to the same spot we had been working out and seen a big hairy spider as thick and as big as my hand.

Cobalt Blue Tarantula

We all jumped about 3 feet in the air and then cursed ourselves as we didn't have a camera with us and got out of there pretty sharpish. After looking up spiders of Thailand we discovered we had met our first Cobalt Blue Tarantula (not poisonous, but packs a nasty bite)
And that's when we realised why we had been having such quiet runs in the evenings as the Thais' are not stupid and are aware that all these nastys are nocturnal and only come out at night. After telling a few Thais about our rendezvous with the 8 legged beast of the lake they said: "Ohh just spider, no snake." So we will now be running in daylight only. Lesson learned....

Hootive - Graffiti master

That night we went down to our local bar, Supans House and had a few drinks with the owner Rainny, her sisters boyfriend Hootive, who studies fine art and sells graffiti paintings which are amazing and a few of the falangs (Thai for foreigner) that live above the bar. One of them Dylan an American guy who has been living in Japan for the past 9 years and is over here for research. He is also a big fan of movies, so as the drinks started to flow we debated all our favourites for hours.

Thairish dancing 

Halfway through the night Rainny told us she new some Irish and proceeded to shout "Ah here leave it out" in her best Irish accent which had us cracking up. In return once I had the confidence of a few rums, I announced I could teach her Irish dancing, making most of it up on the spot but they believed me anyway.
We had a few beers and realised it would be cheaper to buy a bottle of Thai Rum and just pay for the mixers (bottles of local spirits only cost about 8-10 €) and we only spend about 2 euro on mixers for the whole night for the two of us.. saving money already :-)

The next day we nursed our hangovers and decided to attempt a high intensity work out to sweat out any remaining rum in our systems before heading out for dinner.

We came across a place which did a Thai BBQ buffet. It consisted of paying €3.50 for all you can eat but the only draw back or bonus which ever way you want to look at it is, you cook it all yourself at your table using a hot pot and chopsticks.

The Wolf-Pack

It took a while to get the hang of it but worked out pretty good, as we worked our way through the variety of mystery meats ranging from steak pieces, chicken, pork, shrimp, squid and a few more we didn't recognise but we assumed they were possibly stomach lining, liver, heart pieces and unusual marshmallow fish pieces. Classic Thailand!! Aaron had more guts when it came to trying the mystery meats then we had. Which is ironic, as we believe some of the meat might have been guts... ;-)

After having so much to eat and struggling with the meat sweats we retired to bed, excited about the weekend and visiting the night market tomorrow...

Starting the TEFL Course 1st week of School

So it finally arrived, our first day at the TEFL course (bricking it a bit ;-). 

It’s been while since we were both in school, probably a decade now, so hoped the brain could still function at taking in information that wasn't related to what boozer I’m going to on the weekend and what teams to pick for my accumulator (gambling is illegal in Thailand, which is another good thing as I (Stephen) was useless at it :-)

Our training consists of a 6 week course Monday to Thursday (3 day weekend baby) and each Thursday from the second week on-wards we would be straight into the classroom, teaching 3-4 kids they round up from around the area.

1st day of school

Day one we woke up early, knocked into our American neighbor and class mate and set off on the red rocket 5 minutes down the road to where we would be taking the class. 

We went in early to get breakfast in the complex and of course had to take the first day of school picture, like the ones that engulfed Facebook back at the start of September.

The complex was huge and had 30 food stands with all types of food and juice bars to pick from.

My breakfast usually consists of chicken, rice and a fried egg, whereas Kristine is a lot more adventurous an has tried nearly everything they have to offer at this stage.

Teacher Boris

We got to class early and met our new mentor for the next 6 weeks (Teacher Boris). In Thailand the kids refer to you by first name so we will soon be teacher Stephen and teacher Kristine... We can’t wait.

We filled out the required forms and where given a rundown of the course and then went straight into grammar and the 12 tenses...WHAT! 12 tenses!!... Past present and future and each one having 4 tenses within... At this stage I realized how little I knew about my first language and got very nervous about the thoughts of teaching but as the day progress it all started to come back to me, Kristine was the star pupil on the first day, as she had done this more recently and that night helped me understand and memorize everything I needed, she was awesome. 

I think the last time I had to learn this stuff was when I was 6 or 7 years old and the fact I struggle to remember what happened last week, I knew this would be a challenge. 

The first week we went over everything we need to know about conjugating sentences and the difficulties we would face teaching Thai kids, as the Thai language doesn't have tenses, articles and prepositions.

So if they talk about going to the market it’s usually summarised as:

- I go  market yesterday

- I go market today

- I go market tomorrow

It was the same with plurals if they want more than one of something they put the number at the end i.e.: "bowl rice two, please" instead of: "I would like two bowls of rice please." and it will be our job to teach them the correct sentence structure. We continued the week in this manner and did some presentations and practice sessions while studying at night and were glad when 4 pm hit on Thursday and it was the weekend and we could relax. 

And then the drinking could begin...... :-)

Aaron, Kenny, Kristine and Stephen

Our new home and Bangkok belly ;-)

For those of you who don't know what Bangkok belly is, your very lucky, as it left me (Stephen) bed ridden and with a permanent tie to the toilet...so that was my first day in Khon Kaen.
However, Kristine got a tour of the University grounds from the daughter of the owner of the apartments Izumi  and came back filled with great stories of our new surroundings, which she explained to me through the bathroom door. "Good to know", I replied: "Now please blare some music, this next part is gonna get ugly." ;-)



She described the area and all the amenities on offer including:

• football field,
• basket ball, 
• gymnasium,
• out door gym equipment and 
• running track around a beautiful lake
• and much more

It also has a lot of shops, markets and student bars mostly with live music.
"We were sold!" and once my ailment had cleared, I too was ready to explore.

The red rocket 2

We met our new neighbor and as it turns out, fellow class mate, a nice guy from Washington DC who gave us the run down and the best places to eat and visit. So after getting our new mode of transport we had our newly formed bike gang and were ready to venture into the city and explore the campus in it's entirety.

So in the first week we have tried to go jogging every night and are hopefully starting Muay Thai soon.
This time next year it will be me and Conor Mcgregor showing the UFC how its done :-)

Next week, after a stressful week of studying, :) we will try and treat ourselves to a trip to the national park and big Buddha on the mountain, so we will keep you posted...

Train journey to Khon Kaen

Thais tend to ask you a million questions.
They vary from where you're going, how long your going for and for what reasons.
But everyone we told that we were heading to Khon Kaen laughed in our faces, which we have to say, made us a bit nervous but we later realized it is just because tourists don't normally go there, as it's quite a bit out of the way and it isn't really a tourist destination but a great way to see the real Thailand.
The questioning isn't spying but curiosity and they seem generally interested in what these "farangs" are up to in their country.

 Train to Khon Kaen, Hua Lamphong

So after much deliberation on our part, we decided on taking the 8.20am train to Khon Kaen from Hua Lamphong Railway Station, which Stephen kept calling "Hua Long Dong" train station, he couldn't remember it after being told 500 times...
The tickets were 399 baht (10 Euro) for a 8 hour, 2nd class with air-con journey. Classic Thai time keeping, it actually took about 10 hours...
One thing we had to learn quick is that Thais don't believe in time keeping and if they are late, then this is the norm and not to be questioned..
It's Thailand - so get use to it.

The journey flew in and at every stop street food vendors came on the train and we were offered food and drinks and we have also seen some amazing surroundings and villages heading into rural Thailand away from the city, you can see a bit in the video but not easy to record while being bounced around in between carriages.

We arrived at 6 pm and walked out of the train station hoping to find a taxi but we were no longer in touristy Bangkok and there was none to be found.
After a 30 min agitated walk through town asking everyone if they recognized the address we were given, only to be met by dumbfounded expressions so we apologized and kept walking.

The hunger took over and I exclaimed I required a toastie from the 7/11, a quick easy cheap snack (24THB), when I came out Kristine was chatting with a Thai man showing him the address using all her arsenal of Thai words we have learned to communicate. He then called over a police officer who tried his best but had to call over a Tuk Tuk driver to join the now comical group standing in the middle of the streets with 60kg in backpacks and suit cases trying to find our new home, using a method of pointing at maps and names we had written down and trying the old "Point and speak Louder" technique to no avail.
After some deliberation and a few phone calls the Tuk Tuk driver decided he knew where we were going (or so he claimed). Even Mr. Pilkington could have called that one! ☺

So what we thought would be a 20 min journey turned out to be an hour of stopping and asking people for directions every 10 mins, we finally arrived at Khon Kaen University and were brought to our new home down an dark alley way past a lot of barking and chasing dogs.

We arrived at the Mijang Mansions and were shown to our new apartment by the daughter of the owner who spoke fluent English after growing up in America, her name is Izumi and she took away a lot of fears by explaining that we are still on campus and everything is only around the corner, but at 9pm at night in the pitch darkness, we just thought we were living in a field in the middle of nowhere.

Welcome to Bangkok

OK, so the first day we got the obligatory Thai Massage (not the happy ending kind) the "crack every bone in your body" kind. 1 hour of pain which translates to floating out of the place on cloud 9. we rested a bit and headed out to the strip for some delicious Thai food and then onto have a few cocktails and Chang beers 1.60 Euro a Pint bottle seemed a good price. The Thai street food is just as amazing as I remember and as you can see from the waterfall running down my face it's still as spicy.

The streets were alive with buskers and performers ranging from girls playing lady gaga on Thai instruments called Khim, to girls dressed as the evil girl from the horror movie "The Ring".



We met a  young couple from Colorado in a bar and had drinks with them while listening to Thai musicians singing classic hits. we got chatting with them as one of them was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-Shirt the same one I painted a few weeks prior, so I had to show them, turns out they where huge fans.

Quite a few beers in and the music stopped and a Thai beat boxer came on stage, the street opened up for 6 random Thai's break dancing for our entertainment while a young lad went around collecting tips which we where happy to oblige, "Welcome to Bangkok" were any crazy spontaneous things can happen and we love it for that.

Laid back cat

So far we have renewed our love for Thailand and Thai people, the laid back attitude and their  friendly outgoing ways are like no other country I've visited, sure even the cats are laid back.

One Night In Bangkok

 We arrived at the Airport at 7am in the morning and walked around like lost puppies trying to decide how to get to Khao San Rd. (we have to add Stephen and I are not very good in making final decisions, we definitely have to get better at it). We bit the bullet and ended up taking a cab. Note to yourself: try to haggle and don't just pay the 500 THB as requested. If you really want to go cheap you can get the local buses and you probably end up only paying about 50 THB, but you will have to get 3 different buses. On arrival at Khao San Rd. we decided to stay on the less crazy Rambuttri Rd. which is a lot more built up from the last time we were here but none the less a lot less bonkers then Khao San.

I've got to admit you will still get the odd Thai harassing you for a Tuk Tuk or to buy something but nothing like the circus that is Khao San.

We asked in the "New my guest house" for a room but after being shown a room that made me gag from the stink (I'm talking used nappy after Indian food stink) we went next door.

We stayed at a place called the Merry V Guest House, decided to go for a double room with fan which cost us 450 baht. I know we could have gotten a cheaper room somewhere but were too tired by that time.

Here is a 360 degree view of our room. Not much to look at but for 12 Euro a night, you can't go wrong.

Here is a 360 degree view of our room. Not much to look at but for 12 Euro a night, you can't go wrong.

It's time to hit the road again.

Miami - Celebrity House spotting

Hiya this is Stephen and Kristine, we are an Irish-German couple that met travelling Australia over 4 years ago, fell in love with traveling and didn't want to stop. 
After travelling Australia for 2 years, New Zealand for a year, Thailand and Laos for as long as our savings could take us (which was 2 1/2 months), we decided to head "home" for a bit to recharge our Travel budget and rest our feet for a month or two.

We started new jobs, got a little side tracked enjoying the Craic at home and 2 and a half years went by, we blinked and thought it would be time again to go off and enjoy life again and try our hands in TEFL-teaching English...

This time we thought we keep track of what we are doing exactly, document trips and photos to show everyone that would be interested in it. And of course to keep the mammy happy so she doesn't worry and can do some spying on the trip.

So this is for family and friends to keep them updated from the land of smiles, but we will put up information on places visited and room and food prices for any other traveler who may come across this site and find some of the information interesting.

We are doing the TEFL in Khon Kaen and will update on where we will be working and visiting as much as possible.