Two Weeks Worth of News

Hey All!!  I know I didn't post about two weekends ago, but it's because there wasn't really a whole lot to share.  Now I have definitely accumulated enough news to make a decent blog.  Sorry - it's jam packed!

Two weeks ago was fairly uneventful - didn't do a whole lot... The weekend was fun though, even though we stayed in Bangkok.  The Friday was nothing too crazy and Saturday started blissfully because we slept in and took our time getting out of the apartment.  Sam went into school to do some work on exams so Lynne and I set off to Khao San (our usual starting point in Bangkok apparently).  We ended up having lunch there because there was an Indian restaurant - and Lynne was craving food that she could actually eat since she's allergic to fish and seafood.  As it turned out, the food was amazing and we left by rolling ourselves out onto the street.  The rest of the day was spent bumming around and at night we just hung out in Lynne's room.

Sunday was a blast.  Having been rejuvenated by two nights of sleep Sam, Lynne and myself set out for Chatachuk weekend market.  You may recall that we have previously been here but we barely made a dent because it's just that big.  This time we went with purpose - probably to buy art - and otherwise tackle it in a strategic way.  As it turns out, we spent a large chunk of change but left with a good amount of loot including art work (for Sam and I at least, although Lynne is getting Sam to go back for her to get one painting in particular).  A very productive day that included a lot of fun and laughs.  Something that we learned: when you bring a lot of money, you spend a lot of money.  haha.  So much fun though.  It was really great to look at the art though because they're all originals on canvas - not just prints.  Mine is currently on it's way home because it was just too cumbersome and awkward to take home on the plane.

Last week was a little more exciting because there have been some changes around the school.  Mainly, my replacement arrived and so he was set to take over for me on Friday (Canada Day) while I shifted over to the music room to sub for the month of July for the usual music teacher, who is back in Canada to visit.  This meant a lot of work for Amanda because I had to have the PE exams and review books done and do all of the evaluations.  As it stands, I still have to finish the eval's for my P's but I should be able to finish that this week - yay:)

A key to breaking up the week was that on Tuesday night we went out for dinner at a place called JSM.  It reminded me of the Olive Garden when we got there, but the menu was so varied in terms of the types of food that it offered it was amazing.  I had spaghetti bolognese and it was mind-blowing.  Granted, I was craving it so that might have influenced my opinion but still.  Another thing that broke up the week was Wednesday - cheap night at the movies.  We went to see Transformers 3 and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was actually decent.  The plot was existent so it was a definite improvement from the second movie, and there was not a lot of time spent looking at the female eyecandy unnecessarily.  Because it was opening night we got to the theatre early to buy our tickets so before we went in we had our first experience with Swensen's ice cream.  So good.  I <3 chocolate and banana together.

Canada Day was great.  We had a lot of fun and the school put on a great assembly to acknowledge the foreign teachers.  The P1-3's sang Baby (by Justin Beiber) and the band played O Canada.  The school even paid to have 2 RCMP officers from BC flown in to talk to the students!  By the end of the day, everyone was bedecked with maple leave pins, stickers and tattoos.  Quite funny.

And here is where the adventure really begins because it was after school that we left for Ko Samet... again...

It was an absolute downpour when we were leaving Bangkok so the traffic was not enhanced.  If you have never experienced it, every rain storm in Bangkok affects traffic the same way the first snow fall in Winnipeg affects traffic.  At the same time as this, the election was this weekend so the traffic was bogged down because of this as well!  It took us over an hour to get out of Bangkok and an additional 3.5 to get to the pier to go to Ko Samet. 

By this time it was 10pm and the hotel I had reserved at had said that they went to bed at 10 so I was desperately calling them to make sure that they waited for us to get there. 

We finally got on a speed boat (in the rain) only to go about a k from shore and have to turn around and switch speed boats.  By this point I was just laughing, and have since decided that during our weekend trips it is getting there that is the real adventure.  This new speed boat was smaller than the first and when we got going it was not a smooth ride.  Because of the weather, the water was unbelievably choppy and we could not see a thing because it was pitch black.  This meant that every time the boat flew into open air and then crashed down in the trough of the wave, it was completely unexpected.  They also refused to drop us off at the beach by our hotel so we were dropped off at the pier and then (with their help - thank goodness) had to find a 'taxi' to take us down to where we were staying.  If you are wondering why I decided to put 'taxi' in such a manor, it's because we loaded into the back of an open pickup truck that had benches added to it.

We finally got to the hotel at around 11pm and (thank goodness) the owners had stayed.  I love TOKS so it was a great relief that we could stay there.  After all of this, you can guess that we slept quite well.

The following morning by around 10am the weather had cleared up.  After breakfast Sam and I rented scooters and went on a self-guided tour of the island.  I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a tad bit scared, and I definitely went slower than Sam, but it was a lot of fun.  Once we got of the main strip along the most popular beach (where we were staying) it was great because there was very little traffic.  We went all the way to the south of the island and then all the way to the north and along the coast there. 

At one point we decided to stop to take some pictures - dumb idea.  Sam closed the ignition cover on her scooter and couldn't get it back open to put her key in, and I couldn't figure out how to start mine.  What a joke.  This gave the Thais another chance to show us how friendly they are.  A guy who was pulling into a building by us came over to help, called the guy who had rented us the scooters and told him where to find us so that he could help us.  Luckily the island is quite small so it took the renter about 5 min to get to us and another 5 min to get us going again.  Both feeling quite blonde (no offense anyone), we made our way back to the hotel.

Following this excursion I was on a high and decided to go parasailing.  Sam was nice enough to come along and be my photographer.  It was so much fun!  It felt like flying.  According to Sam, I had a 'shit-eating grin' on my face the entire time.  It was fantastic.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting pampered on the beach by a number of Thai ladies and playing in the water.  The four of us girls had a little photo shoot while frolicking in the waves.  Hilarious.  I don't think we stopped laughing the whole time.

Saturday evening we went to Ploy Talay for dinner.  Mmm fresh crab.  We stuck around and watched the fire show since Lynne, Christie, Ian and Sean had never been there before.  It was even better than the last one we saw, even though it was windier and their various props didn't stay lit for nearly as long.

Sunday we just bummed around on the beach until1pm when the boat picked us up and start us on our way back to Bangkok.  Overall a very fun weekend. :)

That's it for now.  There will definitely be another blog for this week and the coming weekend.  Sorry this one was so long!! Luv ya.