City Scape...

...whoever said cities couldn't be beautiful??? it seems that everyday we get something new to look at, be it spectacular sunsets, stormy skies and lightning shows, or even firework displays provided by the fancy hotels along the river.

Here are just a few of the things we get to see from our balconies.

Just a few of the sunsets within our first few weeks here.

We get about 2 firework displays a week. The photos are a work in progress. It took us quite a few attempts to get remotely clear pictures.













And obviously with all the rain we're having, we get a few of these...

Even when the sun's gone down and there's not much going on the view can still be pretty cool.

Life in Bangkok

Well, so we’re back from the beach and turquoise water into the rain and the smog. The first three weeks back it seemed to do nothing but rain. Not the usual torrential downpour kind of rain, more like the constant grey drizzle that my home town is so famed for. At the time all I did was complain about it as I had been looking forward to spending all my free time before school started getting even browner. Now I realize how nice it was having weather about 10 degrees cooler. Bangkok currently has a heat index rating of about 47 degrees, and believe me that means it feels really stinking hot.
After all the worry about sorting out work, getting jobs was actually very simple. I wasn’t so worried about myself; female teachers with reasonable experience, TEFL certifications and real Degrees are like gold dust out here. Schools always prefer employing women as they figure they’re not just here for the sex life.... Anyway, as it turns out both Nick and I found work really easily. He nearly ended up getting a promotion in the first week when the main Grade 2 teacher didn’t turn up. Don’t think he liked the idea of so much responsibility straight off, so far he has managed to hang on to his Grade 2 teaching assistant position. 3 weeks in and our department alone is still 4 teachers short. People really weren’t kidding when they said there was a teacher shortage. Seems that all the new rules and regulations have scared everybody off. It’s a bit silly really, there are loads of really experienced and good teachers out here but they just can’t get the work as they haven’t got degrees. Instead the students just go without a teacher...round of applause to the Ministry of Education for that one.
By the time we had sorted out work and had been back in Bangkok for a couple of days, we realized that the apartments that we had gone back to (the same building Nicole and I had spent a couple of years in), really weren’t so nice anymore; dirty walls, dark corridors, dirty furnishings etc etc etc. Not only that but the traffic really has gotten worse. Take a city that’s roads are at a standstill half of the time anyway, throw in another 3 or 4 years of traffic increase and what do you get?? A desperate run for the Sky-train and Underground as everybody else queues an hour to get a mile or so down the road. Then again it takes a braver person that me to get on an Underground system in a city that’s foundations are constantly sinking and shifting. Anyway, we decided to look for an apartment within walking distance of the school. We got a little bit carried away and have now landed ourselves with a monthly rent far greater than we had budgeted for. As much as I hate spending unnecessary cash and generally take the budget option wherever I can, I’m really enjoying the treat of living somewhere a little bit more luxurious. We have a beautiful 2 bed apartment that has great views, loads of space, leather sofas, 2 balconies and a nice pool. It’s quite a step up from the £25 a month studio I started off in. It also has a kitchen which is both a blessing and a curse. It means that we can have people round for dinner, but it also means I’m having to cook more than I have in ages.
So now we’re all settled, all we need is for people to come out and visit us. Our first guest arrives on Monday and is coming with empty bags and a desire to do little other than shop. I’m really looking forward to doing yet another tour of the shopping areas I’ve already made myself very familiar with over the last few weeks. I’m hoping that we have somebody come out to see us once a month...sometime around payday so I can use it as another excuse to shop, go out, and generally spend money. Saving can start later!!

Return to a small island...

Ok, so while I was definitely enjoying myself underwater in Tioman, after 7 days of early nights and quiet evenings reading I was definitely itching to get back to that little island of oh such great debauchery...Perhentian Kecil. Nick and I left Tioman with the intention of heading up north as quickly as possible. All going to plan we were to be back on the beach within around 24 hours. Of course things rarely go to plan... the twinge in Nick’s ear turned into a really nasty ear infection overnight that came with a raging fever and that seemed to be immune to antibiotics. We had to call halt to all plans and instead I rushed around town to find us somewhere comfortable and air-conditioned to hole up in. Once I managed to get Nick across town I then had to walk back and forth in 38 degree heat ferrying all our luggage from room to room. A very hot and stressful day indeed, think the locals thought me slightly deranged as they watched me trundle back and to with bags.
After a partial recovery from Nick, we made our way north and out to the Perhentian Islands. Argued as being the most beautiful of Malaysia’s Islands, they have “with crystal-clear aquamarine water and white-sand beaches” if you are to believe the guide books. From my numerous visits over the years I have always used it as the place to compare and rate all other places against. The islands advertised themselves as quiet, with nothing to do but dive, read and chill, and with alcohol prohibited. This meant that the type of people who made it over to the island went there regardless of forecasted boredom and lack of a party and were all really cool. More to the point a whole heap of alcohol and partying was always to be found. Long Beach had all the best bits, calm blue water (well most of the time anyway), powder white sand, low key wicked parties, and a small community where everyone (even the tourists) knew each other.
So...did it live up to expectations on my return...? Well, I’d like to say that Nick instantly fell in love with the place as I once did, but in actual fact it was a huge disappointment. As we pulled up to the beach, I could see that although white and sandy as ever, the sand that wasn’t covered by brightly coloured umbrellas had diggers churning it up as they trundled back an forth in front of the sunbathers. The diggers obviously there to play a key part in creating the largest and ugliest concrete monstrosity that I’ve ever seen, slap bang in the middle of the beach, directly in front of the dive shop where I used to spend most of my time. To make matters worse, it’s predicted that the building (that is apparently the bright idea of the government) will take 3 years to complete. 3 years of locals suffering and business owners moving out.
You can probably see from the pictures, that this beach really is spectacular. Imagine a 50 metre by 10 metre metal barge being towed into that picture and being left on the beach as they unload and dump all the building materials next to where you’re trying to soak up that relaxing holiday dream. Doesn’t quite fit does it...? The irony of it is this; it was the first time I’ve ever been charged a national park entry fee onto the islands. A fee that will no doubt be going straight into the destruction of a beautiful place that many people will now never go back to.
Ok...so that was possibly my longest rant yet! We did end up having a nice time on the island, we did some really cool dives, and met some more wicked people. And, if you turned your head to the left slightly, you could almost forget what was happening up the beach. While the partying front was never going to live up to past standards in the absence of the old Coral Sky crew, we did manage one big night in Palm Tree where I went back to making an idiot of myself on the dance floor. Some things will never change.

Bangkok to Tioman

So...we finally made it, back to the land of smiles. Back to the warmth; back to life with islands on the doorstep; back to cheap food, affordable taxis and days of shopping. It’s amazing what memories stay with you when you leave...and what memories get conveniently left behind. Back to the damp, sweaty, cloying heat and its induced exhaustion; back to the stinky overly ripe streets, drains and klongs; back to the stationary traffic and horrifically long journeys; back to that out of breath and close to dying feeling gained when climbing the steps to the sky-train in 36 degree heat; back to packed department stores full of shuffling people with no sense of direction and a strange desire to stop dead when disembarking from any and every escalator. Oh yes...it’s good to be here.

We arrived in Bangkok about a month ago, I was so excited to get back that it was bound to be something of an anticlimax. I had built it up for so long, telling Nick and just about everybody who would listen about how great life used to be. When I arrived I felt so nervous that it wouldn’t live up to everything I had made it out to be, that I found it all to be more than a little bit stressful. I found myself constantly apologising to Nick for everything...sorry for the traffic jam, sorry you’re sweating, sorry it’s raining etc etc etc. Anyway, after a few days of this we flew down to Singapore and I let myself relax back into beach mode.
We spent one night in Singapore (a slightly unnerving place, hardly a car on the roads and far too little rubbish to be in Asia) before heading up into Malaysia and catching a very seasick inducing ferry over to Tioman Island. Tioman was just how I remember it, quite a few bars and restaurants yet never quite managing to provide a decent night out. Every restaurant serves the same dishes badly and the bars aren’t really set up for a mad night out. While on land was lacking in that certain spark, the diving lived up to all my memories of it and we dived everyday and could have done more. It is nudibranch heaven, even I managed to find stuff and I seem to be going blind.

The pictures are the view from our balcony (what can I say, we splashed out, seem to struggle with the whole budget backpacker thing now), one of the cool nudis and a cuttle fish.