Muay Thai

I had such a fun night at Muay Thai. It was held at the Thai high school and the students were fighting. They were so good though, like a proper fight.
As soon as we walked in the gate we could smell a menthol smell. Turns out they smother the guys in Tiger Balm before they get in the ring.

We joked that this guy was the janitor, his uniform was so similiar to a janitor's.
Numerous jokes were made about the poor old janitor, mostly because he kept feeling up the fighters.

The Thai King turned up for the fight, it was amazing. I felt so honoured to be in his presence.

I didn't get any good photos from the fights, the quality is really crap. There's a video though. The first round of the first fight was a knockout! The guy looked dead.

This guy was amazing, the one in the pink was my favourite to win.
His opponent flipped his round at one point, like a cartwheel!!

The guys got ready in the corners of the room, ultimate privacy.

They really didn't seem to care that hundreds of people were crowded round them when they dropped their wee short shorts.

This is Ram Muay, the dance to show respect for their teachers. It is performed before every fight.

More videos tomorrow, im snackered.

x

Chiang Mai Zoo!!!!!!

This was one of the best days of my life. I'm serious, so much fun.
My newest roommate - Clair - and I went to Chiang Mai on Thursday and came back on Saturday. We stayed at the Amari hotel which was lovelylovelylovely. This is the day we went to the Zoo.
I gave my other roommate Daniel the photos and videos of the pandas and monkeys! But accidentally cut them onto his memory stick instead of pasting. So I've asked him to send them back to me :( I really hope he can. They were the best parts of the Zoo.
Except for one......

This is the tuk tuk ride to the Zoo. When the driver saw us coming he spat out his rice into his hand then put it on the little shelf. Can you see the rice? The next day when we were leaving Chiang Mai, the rice was still there....

When we got to the zoo, we got the tram car up to the African animals. The first animal we saw was the Camel! Can you see the one lying on the ground? No, it's not dead mother.

Me and the Camel.

The amazing thing about this Zoo (I was in awe of this for the first 3 hours) is that there are very few fences and glass enclosures. For example, the Lions enclosure......

The stone behind me is a 6 metre drop into water and the gap between us and the lions is around 3 metres - insane.

Simba.

Shere Khan.

I don't like birds but this one was prettyish.

Before we went into the Panda exhibit we had to...

The baby panda, Lin Ping, can only be seen between 8.30 and 9.30am. Thailand is insanely crazy about this baby panda. Everyone talks about her, I've had so many conversations about her. They even have a Panda channel on the tv, just the baby panda 24/7. Famous baby panda. So you can only watch the baby on the screen. The mother is out in the enclosure.

I have a lot more to tell you about the Pandas, but I really should have photos and videos to back it up. I'll tell you when I get my evidence back!

This is the Ostrich. It has something hanging out its bum..

They were strangely fascinating. We just sat for a long time on a bench staring at the Ostriches. I loved how they kept dipping their heads, their entire bodies would stay still and their neck would lower their head to the ground.

Then we went to the Giraffes. The Ostriches, Zebras, Donkey and Giraffes were all in the same enclosure. There was a small bridge that went into the enclosure and we stood on it and some people fed the Giraffes.

This is one of the Giraffes after it stopped peeing (you can see the puddle - they pee for about 3 minutes non stop). Afterwards, the other Giraffe licked it clean............................!!!!

Ostrich with baby egg.

A man feeding the Giraffe.

Ostrich, Giraffe and Zebra all in the same photo.

Donkey.

Zebra, I really like this photo because you can see its reflection in the water.

Then we saw this Elephant. It was kept in a tiny little box and you could pay to feed him bamboo. But every 10 minutes the tram cars stopped infront of his enclosure and people fed him bamboo, all day every day. Next to the elephant 'enclosure' they were selling ivory jewellery, horrible.

These were horrible animals, I hated them. They're like huge rats. They were swimming in this little pool filled with their own poo! Disgusting.

Then we stopped for a break. Clair and I sat opposite each other and a Pigmy hippo sat behind me. I called my mum so gush about my Panda experience.

Then we went to see the Hippos. A lot of monks walked past and I felt the need to take a photo of them climbing the winding stairs.

So funny! They kept flickering their ears.

Rahhhhhhr!

Louise - Hippos - Clair.

The Tortoise and the Hare.

(in the same enclosure).

Lots and lots of Bambi's.

Eating pumpkin!

Waterfall and I.

Weirdo bird, I don't like birds...or fish.

This would be the monkey part, but Daniel has all my footage! I neeeeeeeed to get it back as I cannot bear to live without my dear monkeys.

After the monkeys had gone, one of the zoo keepers noticed we were sad. He pointed to another enclosure and motioned for us to follow.

Clair walking into the Staff only.

GUESS what enclosure he took us to..................

YES....the leopards.

We walked inside and on our left was a gate to an enclosure. Baby Borneaen Clouded Leopards. Look at how HUGE their tails are. The zoo keeper went in the big enclosure through another gate which was kind of like a holding area. Then he started playing around with them.

Then he took one into the holding area room and told us to come inside!

Clair went in but I stayed outside as I was practically screaming with fear. It got so excited and jumped up on Clair, digging its claws into her. Apparently that didn't hurt...

I didn't want to miss out to I went in, I'll quote myself talking to the leopard "Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me!!!!"

He was so insane when I walked into the cage, the keeper had to hold him back. He was just like an over excited dog, jumping up on you and running around. But these things have much more strength than a normal dog, even though they are babies.

Every time they got too excited, the guy would hit them on the nose!!! Like a dog or cat or something. Who does that to a Leopard!!?

Apparently his paws were soft.

He lay down on the floor and I shhhhh'd him so keep him calm. THEN I TOUCHED HIM!!

Then he started licking the zoo keeper.

Then he started licking me! I thought he was gonna eat my arm.

Then we left that cage. We said Kop kun ma ka! Thank you so much! He didn't speak any English and we cat speak any Thai. Then he walked over to another cage that we hadn't even noticed before! Right beside the babies one.

Two FULL sized Leopards and a Black Jaguar/Panther/Leopard.

The Panther was vicious, look at its face!

It went into the holding part of the enclosure which was slightly behind us and to the left. So when we were looking into the big enclosure, we didn't realise that it was staring at us from behind.

Then Clair went to look at him and I told her I'd take a picture. I made her go down so that she was right beside the Panther (I'm such a good friend).

I would just like you to take in how rusty and worn this gate is, look at how tiny the only lock is. Keep this in mind when you watch the video of this Panther slamming itself into this rusty old gate.

The guy kept poking and stroking and tapping the leopards on the nose when they did something naughty. Insane...

Clair stroking the Leopard.

Louise and Leopard.

Look at his glare. Just imagine if that tiny wee gate wasn't there. Hello breakfast!

Now enjoy the first videos I've ever put on the blog. I felt like you needed to watch these to even understand how insane this all was.

Nighty night. When Daniel sends everything else I'll post another Zoo blog. Monkeys and Pandas!

x

22nd November - 30th November

I decorated my room with Christmas lights etc. Mum's sending more christmas decorations in the post so I'm excited to decorate my room more. I bought flowers from the market - 72p - and mopped the floor!

Niamh and her baby Aina visited borderline which was lovely. Aina grows so fast!

This is some of the Grade 4, 5 and 6 girls practicing their dancing in the kitchen.

They forced me to join in. I have a video of it but I don't think I can upload it to the blog, I'll try.

Baby enjoys the new phone - phew!

Baby's Grandmother! Thazin's mother has come to stay at the school for a little while to see her new-ish grandchild.

All the classes had teachers again, so Phyu Phyu asked me if I wanted to do excercises with kindergarten A. They were brilliant at it.

And it was a fun way to spend the afternoon, they got really into it and Phyu Phyu joined in.

This boy was fantastic, he put so much effort into it.

Then I went to Grade 1 and all the kids had blue and purple lips! I asked teacher yan yan why and he said that they coloured their lips with pencils!

So the girls coloured in my lips purple and I made sure not to eat any of it. But when I went to dinner with the Canadian family who volunteer at Hle Bee and forgot I had bright purple lips haha.

This is the new Grade 1 teacher, she is very beautiful.

After school, one of the KGB boys' mother came to school and taught the teachers how to knit little bags.

Her son was really bored though so I emptied out the finger puppets and duplo for him to play with. His mother was very grateful and he loved it.

This is a cow. Or a bull, have no idea. It's tied up by a piece of rope that it could easily snap if it wanted to.

On friday I went to the clinic to help in the office. This is Muku and Jue Jue.

Jue wearing the driver's clothes..

Me and Jue.

Me and Saw Go.

Jue.

Me and Saw Go.

On Saturday I showed my new roommate Clair around Mae Sot a little. We went to Borderline then the stationary shop, Canadian Dave's, Tesco, the market and Hle Bee. The baby fell in love with her, just stared at her the whole time. Very cute.

On Sunday Clair, Bobo and I went for breakfast to Lucky tea shop - a Burmese tea shop. We met Daniel (our other housemate) and Rainbow, two of the Taiwanese people there. Then we went to another tea shop which is hidden in the market. Then to Phyu Phyu Win's house, she hasn't been attending school for a few weeks now and she had told people that she was going to work in Burma. So we went to talk to her about what she wants to do, she wants to move to another school. So Bobo and I are going to go to CDC school and ask them some questions about her joining the school.

Afterwards I went to Borderline and played with Than Thoo Zaw for a bit, then Niamh came to pick me up and we went to a baby's birthday party. It was really nice and there were a few people I knew there. They were serving white rum cocktails - at a one year old's birthday party. Amazing.

Today I went in the shower and the water was all spurty and wouldn't work. My roommate called the homestay owner and she came over to see the problem. The kids next door had turned off the water supply outside out gate and the water tank was empty - pay back is in order. Then I went to school and fell asleep after teaching. Fabby sleep with Meme and baby.

x

My internet crashed just as I was about to finish this blog. Good thing it sorted itself out or I would have been very angry.

x

Sorry!

I'm going to blog tonight, sorryyyyyyy!

It's 15 degrees celcius! Unbelievable!

It's nearly 10am and school's closed today for Muslim day, so I'm going to the Mae Tao Clinic to help out in the office. Eating Coco pops, yum.
I'm gonna bring wooly socks to the clinic if it's this freezing, hello winter!

x

mingalaba.

I was just telling my new roommate Clair about my cycle home from work yesterday. There was a man cycling along (very normal) but he had a huge cow on a leash and was trying to keep up with it. I had to check twice to make sure I was seeing it properly.

I'm cold! It's 18 degrees celcius here! My toes are frozen, I'm so glad I brought wooly socks and that my mum's sending a hot water bottle.

My internet's running really slow but I need to post so I get a comment from my mummy! :) Tell me something lovely mumma?

I just killed my second cockroach here. Do you want to know how to kill a cockroach? Squirt it with washing up liquid till it dies. Then you have to scoop it up with a dustpan and chuck it in the garden. The floor is covered in washing up liquid of course..traumatizing.

x

Another blog, you're so lucky!

This is a funny photo of Wei Hin bathing from ages ago.


On Tuesday I went into baby's house and she was sleeping under her cute mosquito net.
Very sweet.

This is the Hle Bee report card.

That afternoon I went into Grade 2 and was talking to the kids, then it started pouring down with rain. This is really unusual for this time of year because monsoon season is over so it's supposed to stop raining completely and get cold around now. But it was really really hot for a few days last week.

Anyway, the classroom flooded and everything got soaked!

On Wednesday, it was my day off so I went to the Mae Tao Clinic to visit some friends.

Afterwards, I went to the pet shop and held the Winter White hamsters again and also.......

a baby turtle!

They live in shallow water, but in one of the fish tanks, there was a bigger one. The owner held it for me while I took a photo.

After, I went to Borderline and spoke to GA. Then we went to a new cafe (it's in the road before Canadian Dave's road - for people who know Mae Sot). It was lovely, they bake lots of cookies and cakes, they also make smoothies and fruit drinks.

The women who run the shop are Phillipinos and they also have a migrant school. Children from their school can come and learn how to bake if they have an interest in it. I told them how excited I was so see an oven in Thailand and they told me I can come and bake any time at their shop and teach them how to bake. I'm so excited.

They also told me that I can bring some of my students if they're interested in baking, so I have asked Grade 5 & 6 if they want to do that.

How exciting eh? An oven in Mae Sot. She said that I can teach them to make normal bread because you can't get normal bread in Thailand, only sweet bread. I must learn how to make real bread first though! They must think I'm some fabby chef of something, I only know how to make chocolate cake!

Mingin Bo Bew, the school dog, had a hair cut. He looks even more mingin and you can see his bite wounds. The dogs fight all the time.

Today I got a new phone, I think it works in the UK as well as Thailand. It's a Wellcom 3319 and I loveeeee it. It holds 2 sim cards, so I can use my Thai and UK cards at the same time.

I got it from GA's friend who owns a second hand phone shop. Guess how much this amazing phone cost me?

£27!!! Can you believe it? I could never get anything like that in the UK!

Night night, Cat call me!

x