Day 1 - so if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao..

We arrived at our hotel in Beijing at about 3am. After a long flight with Air Asia (the highlight was seeing the new Air Asia airport in KL, no really, this was a genuine highlight!), long queues at immigration and a drive with a taxi journey with a driver who didn't know where we were going, we finally made it. Our hotel, Michael's hotel, is probably the friendliest place I've been to in China. Despite arriving at 3am, Michael was there to cheerfully greet us.

Sleep, breakfast and we took the 22 bus to Tiananmen Square. We didn't quite make it early enough to see Chairman Mao, but that's something I can probably live with. Walking through to the end of the Square we visited the Forbidden City. Originally a palace during the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty.        

We left the Forbidden City via park. As we walked through the park we notice that there were mostly older women, advertising or selling something all along a great stretch of the park. We took a closer look and they have sheets of paper, with writing on them. They only thing we understood was a year on it. We realised this was a date of birth, ranging from 1978 -1989. Some had photos of women on them, and very occasionally a man. There were other women taking down notes or discussing with the 'owners'. When we got back to the hotel I googled (no wait, Google has been recently be blocked, I yahooed) to find out what this was about - www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JG10Ad02.html So the younger generation are frustrating their parents by not getting married, therefore the mothers are taking it into their own hands to find a suitable husband for their daughters. This happens every Sunday in the park.

After an exhausting and sweaty day we may have accidentally had a brief (or not-so brief) afternoon nap. Realising it was late we found a local restaurant to eat at. We grabbed our menu, entirely in Mandarin, Paul takes his Mandarin phrase book and we work out key words such as; pork, beef, steamed. After 30mins of studying he menu and With this exciting new vocabulary we tried to order some food. After some time trying to order the food, the waitress suddenly remembers she has a menu in English. Sigh. Food was delicious, especially the dumplings!

The Great Train Adventure; trains and boats and plane(s) and buses

So...I think it is about two years since I last wrote my blog (oops), I blame Facebook. Anyway, it seems a good opportunity to start it up again as we make the big journey from Beijing to Shrewsbury, UK over land this summer. Also, apologies for the terrible layout, I'm finding this quite a challenge on the iPad. The blog has been slightly delayed due to the recent banning of Google in China and then lack of internet on the trains, so I shall be posting an update today...

How quickly a year goes...

The rain came down and the floods went whoosh...part 2: Bangkok

Entrance to Chatrium

Sandbags around school

Ok, so it's slightly embarrassing that it has been almost a year since I updated my blog. I always Sandbags around school to but, but never seem to get a round to it.

The last time I wrote we were suffering from floods in Bangkok. School was closed for ages and it was pretty deserted around the place  with so many staff and families were leaving the city. Chatrium and school were surrounded by sandbags and supermarket shelves were empty. Buying water was difficult but we were so lucky here that the hotel has its own R.O. system.

Birthday cake from The Chatrium

My birthday took place during the floods and the day before I bruised my coccyx (I was messing around on a swivel chair in the office at school!). Very painful and couldn't sit down. Holly and Rachel surprised me and took me to the Oriental for afternoon tea on my birthday, which was great, despite struggling to sit properly.

Back to school eventually, and the rest of term was a difficult and disjointed one for all. It tool a while before all students were back as so many had flooded homes and were staying out of the city.

 Christmas holidays - Indonesia

Christmas was great. Started in Ubud, Bali on an Intrepid tour, which led us to Lombok and the Gillies. After the tour we returned to Bali (Christmas Eve). It just so happened that a friend from Shrewsbury, Becka, was in Bali at the same time, so Christmas Eve was spend on the beach in Samur eating fish and chips with her and her husband, Neil.

We then went on to Candidasa (East Bali) where we would spend Christmas Day through to New Year's Eve. A beautiful and quiet part of the island, no beaches but lots of lovely fields and surroundings.
New Year's Eve in Kuta. Probably won't be doing that again!
We then flew to Yogyakarta, staying at a beautiful hotel; The Phoenix Hotel. Four nights and then back to school!

February Half Term - Myanmar

A week in Myanmar (Burma). A country which is ever changing and becoming more accesible to visitors. Still has a few challenges, mostly the lack of ATMS, money to be changed in pristine and (preferably) $100 bills. I shall try to show the highlights with some photos. I loved Myanmar and despite wrestling with my conscience whether to visit or not, I'm glad I did. My advice to anyone going is to try to support the non-government business when possible and stay at non-government run hotels. This way your money is less likely to by contributing to corruption and making its way to the correct people. Not always possible, but definitely something to Mandalay be made aware of.
We flew to Yangon and spent our first night there, followed by flying to. After three wonderful nights we got the boat to Bagan before heading back to Yangon. In February, when we visited, the only international airport was in Yangon. Since then, you can now fly to and from Manadalay.

The rain came down and the floods went whoosh! Part 1: Cambodia

Having to keep our feet drive whilst having lunch

 The last time I posted we were expected floods, this was just before our school half term. At this time the city of Bangkok had not been hit. Paul and Grace had been traveling for a week and I flew to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Flying over Cambodia was devastating. As everyone knows my geography is not great and I thought I was flying over the sea. I then started seeing green spots poking out of the water and realised they were trees. This went on for miles and miles. Paul met me at the airport and we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel we were staying. This in itself was an experience. It was raining and the roads getting closer to the hotel were all under water. This did not deter the driver and we drove through the water along the very bumpy roads. I will just point out that the floor to the tuk tuk was made of wooden planks with a lot of gaps so the water would come through the bottom at the same time we were clinging on to my suitcase, hoping it wouldn't a) get soaked b) fall out! When we arrived to the hotel we had out lunch in the restaurant. The restaurant was under water too!

The water wasn't too bad but the further we walked down the road the deeper it got. The current from the river also made it difficult to walk against. The worst was when a truck drove down the road and even on tip toes it reached the top of my thighs.
I suspect I'll be talking about floods and water a lot for the next month or so, so I shall make that my last flood comment in this post!

With Grace taking a quiet stroll into town!

Paul coming down from Angkar Wat

Cambodia was wonderful and there is so much I could write about it. The people are friendly and welcoming. The Temples were fascinating. Despite the blistering afternoon heat we managed to spend three dedicated days Wat-ting.
























I was walking (wading) along Pub Street in Siem Reap when I hear my name being called. Who should be in the pub but the lovely Sam Vine! A big bonus to our holiday and we were able to meet up the next day for dinner. Can't wait to see them in Bangkok later this month!

Anyone aware of recent Cambodian history will know it is not a pleasant one. One cannot escape the atrocities inflicted by the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. The Cambodians are very open about what happened, determined that it never be allowed to happen again. In Siem Reap we visited the Cambodia Landmine Museum

After Siem Reap we got a mini bus to Phnom Penh (the capital). We were only there for a day but we fitted in  S21 - The Genocide Museum and The Killing Fields Obviously not the most cheerful places to visit but very moving, informative and in a strange way, positive.
Paul and Grace were going to continue their travels to Vietnam whilst I headed back to Bangkok only to find...

To be continued....

Sun, Floods and Bugs!

Some more lovely friends Holly & Rachel

I know it's been rather a long time since my last blog; it took forever to get my internet sorted in the apartment and then I have been busy working (yes working) at school.

Friend & neighbour Mel (not normally dressed as an Egyptian)

Even Starbucks is preparing the sandbags

Having a lovely time here and there is so much to say that I shall try to do so with pictures - it'll be so much easier. This week has been a bit of a strange one though. I finally succumbed to a Thai belly and had to take a few days off work. I'm better now, but the bigger events this week are the floods. It's been mainly affecting the north of Thailand, causing devestation across peoples homes, businesses and sadly a lot of lives. The floods are starting to move to Bangkok. So far we're alright, but the river is very high. Today there was so much rain that some of the stairways around school had to be closed, parents evening was cancelled. The school is right next to the river and we have sandbag walls defending us! There are some roads around us though, that are more at risk and some of the pupils are finding it difficult to get into school. It's meant to be getting worse...

At "Brown Sugar", jazz club in Bangkok

Paul arrived safely and the his sister Grace came to join us! They have now started their travels around Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam. It's half term on Friday so I shall (hopefully) be flying out to join then in Cambodia for the week.

Me, Grace and Paul on a longboat trip abound the canals

Instrumentalists

Straight after half term we are busy rehearsing for the first big concert of the year; "Last Night of The Proms" with guest conductor John Moore. John has been coming out to conduct the orchestra for Proms for the past few years. I think it's over 10 years since I've been conducted by John Moore.

I've arrived and I've survived!

Finally managed to get online and access to my blog. It'll probably be a few weeks before I get internet access in my flat though.

I arrive on Saturday afternoon after a smooth(ish) flight from Heathrow. I ended up sitting with three other teachers from the school that I had previously met in London and happen to be in the same apartmetn block too.

On our first evening the four of us went to explore our surrounding and went for a walk and sample some of the street food. We weren't entirely sure what we were asking for, but fortunately we all ended up with some yummy and familar looking for for the grand price of  30 Baht (about 60p).

The apartmetn block I am staying at is amazing, although it does feel as though I'm living in a hotel, so I'm trying to make it feel a bit more homely! 

Having a complete nightmare with customs at the moment and they are holding all the things I sent out. Yesterday I needed to complete an inventory of every single item in the 3 (rather large) boxes and how much each is worth. Hopefully I may have my things early next week, but I think it is going to cost me more to retrieve the items than their actual worth!

Rob, one of the teachers I flew out with and is in the same apartment, is slightly obsessed with taking photos. As I am quite rubbish at remembering to take any I have borrowed his memory stick and am going to attempt to upload some on here!

The view from the riverboat...

At Wat Po.... 

It's the final countdown!

Packed (only 4 KG over the limit - so not too bad!) - Check
Left parents' home in a complete mess - check
CDs on laptop - not quite check, few last minute imports going on!

Off to the pub for lunch with Paul, Mum & Dad and then Paul and I are making our way to Heathrow where he will drop me off. Flight's not until 22.15 so we have quite a bit of time.

Will make sure I get a pint of some fine english beer before I leave today.

Will write more when in Bangkok...

Pip x

P.S. Didn't even bother watching Torchwood last night!