After a dry day on Sunday I awoke to pouring rain on Monday morning.  It was so heavy that I was forced to retreat from the verandah and have my morning cup of tea inside.  And when it eventually eased off enough for me to venture over to the restaurant to get some breakfast I had to paddle across the gardens, the water ankle deep in places.

There were two new volunteers joining me this week.  A middle aged Scot, now living in Chesterfield, by the name of Cameron, had already arrived but Lena the second volunteer had been held up in Bangkok where she was having some dental treatment.  Cameron was keen to get started and so disappointed to learn that Tuesday was a Thai National Holiday and so we wouldn’t be going to the schools until Wednesday this week.  He had lots of questions to ask about the schools and the classes and we spent the morning going through the subjects we would be teaching this week.

It brightened up enough for an afternoon on the beach but as I had forgotten to take my Kindle I soon got restless and went for a walk to the north end of the beach instead.  This is where the few remaining beach bars are located.  It was immediately apparent that there had been another purge as, although there were plenty of tables and chairs set out on the sand, there wasn't a sunbed in sight.

I planned to spend my day off on Tuesday at Bang Niang.  It was overcast but dry as I set off to walk the couple of miles along the main road.  I was pleased to find that Jade Restaurant was open. This is a little eating place with lovely gardens hidden away down a country lane in Bang Niang.  I had worked up enough of an appetite by the time I arrived to tackle their full breakfast.  It never ceases to amaze me how the staff in such places, that I visit maybe twice a year, seem to remember me.  Hello teacher!, was the greeting this morning.

I continued my walk to the beach taking a slight detour to the bridge over the creek.  This rather impressive bridge, with white marble balustrades on either side, was built in 2014.  I remember discovering it that year and being amazed to find that it led absolutely nowhere.  I was not really surprised to see that there was still a padlocked barrier at the far end, three years later!  I watched a fisherman at work in the creek for a while and then retraced my steps and headed for the beach.

The beach at the north end of Bang Niang has, over the years, been a favourite.  Keith and I spent many a pleasant day there when it was just a sandy peninsula, planted with coconut palms with one simple beach bar - Nong Prew.  Nong Prew is still there but over the years there have been many changes.  Other establishments sprang up and closed down.  A Go-kart track opened for a short while.  Scored of slanting palm trees were planted along the beach which promptly fell into the sea.  Upmarket bungalows with trees growing through the roofs were constructed but started to collapse almost immediately.  Last year there was more major construction work underway as concrete walls were being sunk into the sea to protect the land from erosion and a large area fenced off for a “new hotel”.

So I had no idea what to expect when I got there.  In fact the “new hotel” had, not surprisingly, never got off the ground.  The staff at Nong Prew told me the developers were now trying to sell the land.  But the concrete reinforcement work had made a real mess of the beach.  It was now more eroded than ever.  Parts of the wall were still in place but piled up in front of Nong Prew were lumps of broken concrete and twisted reinforcing cables.  It just wasn’t an attractive place to sit any longer and so eschewing the comforts of a sun lounger I walked further north along the beach, past the lagoon and found myself a largely deserted stretch of beach for the day, the beauty of overcast skies being that you can plonk yourself anywhere you fancy without worrying about being in the shade.

Around two o’clock hunger pangs sent me back to Nong Prew for a nice lunch of chicken with ginger and a coconut shake.  There was quite a nice atmosphere there as the holiday had brought lots of Thai families to the beach.  At one point a group of monks even turned up and went for a paddle.

I strolled slowly back to Khao Lak and took another detour to explore the area where two new hotels had been built at the north end of the beach.  Sadly the path down to the beach there was no more.  It was becoming harder and harder to access the beach unless you were a guest at one of the hotels.

I had enjoyed wandering around on Tuesday and when I reached home was pleased to find that I had walked more than 10 miles.  It felt like the first time for weeks that I had had some proper exercise.  I had a delicious Rad Naa noodles with fish at Khao Lak Sea Foods Restaurant, a beer with Ken at Sakai Bar and an early night in preparation for an 8.00am start in the morning.

It was Cameron’s first day and we were both at the office on time.  There were a couple of taxis already there and clearly the South African group was going to be departing soon too.  There was no sign of our driver Kobin however.  As time passed we started to get a little anxious until we learned that one of the drivers already there was going to be taking us today, and not Kobin.

So we arrived somewhat late at the school and went immediately into the first lesson which was “Transport”.  The children were beautifully behaved making it a straightforward lesson for Cameron to cut his teeth on.  The rest of the morning went well too, despite having to transfer all our stuff between each class.  The lunch was tasty as usual and, unlike his Scottish predecessor, Neil, Cameron liked the spicy Thai food.

The craze in the playground today was transfers applied to the children's bodies to look like tattoos.  They all lifted their shirts for me to inspect them.

It was only upon setting up for the class after lunch that we discovered that the lesson pack for “Actions” which we were about to teach was missing.  The Thai teacher kept the children amused while Cameron and I searched for the lesson.  The children are always keen to help carry the lesson packs and so we suspected that it had gone walkabout.  Unable to find it, I began to think that I must have had a senior moment and left it behind in the office.  We had to teach “Occupations” instead and the teacher rushed off to photocopy more worksheets for us.

The next lesson was one that I had never taught before “Prepositions of Place”.  It looked rather complicated with pictures of cats and boxes and quite a lot of long phrases…..”the cat is under the box”, “the cat is in front of the box”, “ the cat is between the boxes” etc.  In fact once I got my head around how to present it, the lesson went very well and most the girls at least, if not the boys, seemed to grasp it well.   

As usual the day finished with a short lesson for the little ones.  They were particularly lively today and even the Thai teacher had a job quietening them down.  The worksheets did the trick however and we were treated to a final 15 minutes of relative calm.

It had been a long day but Cameron had enjoyed it, he said.  He had managed everything well with the exception of remembering to remove his shoes in the classroom.

Back at the office I was disappointed not to find the missing lesson pack on the shelves where I suspected it would be.  So it looked like we really had lost it at the school!  Then I spotted it, in a box of lessons the South Africans had been teaching.  They had pinched it from our box!!!!  Outrageous!!  Anyway at least the mystery was solved.

I seem to be perpetually hungry at the moment. After a plateful of chicken with cashew nuts in Penang curry at Lamuan Restaurant that night I felt the sudden urge to indulge in a banana pancake from one of the street stalls.  Drizzled with lots of chocolate sauce it was naughty but exceptionally nice!

It was a midday start on Thursday.  Over my morning cup of tea I enjoyed reading a newsy email from Eileen, now back in London and caught up in preparations for Christmas.  She had been following the activities on Facebook of some of the youngsters here when I first arrived.  Natalie, the 21 year old English girl had had a bad accident a couple of years ago in Northern Thailand.  She had seen the volunteering as a way of giving something back, in gratitude for the kindness she had received from the Thai people during her 7 week stay in hospital following the accident. Since leaving Khao Lak a few weeks ago, travelling alone, she had courageously returned to the waterfall near Chang Mai where she had slipped and fallen.  Apparently on the day of the accident, her friends had carried her out of the jungle and then a Thai man had taken her to hospital in his car.  Amazingly she bumped into the same man and was able to thank him properly.  She also spent time with the nurse who had looked after her in the hospital and had since become a good friend.  She said it felt good to have returned to the scene of the accident and faced her demons.  What a brave young lady!

The weather was glorious on Thursday morning and I had to drag myself away from the pool (which I still had completely to myself) to prepare for the afternoon’s lessons.  We were at the hot and noisy school with the large classes but were today in for a nice surprise.  As our taxi pulled up several teachers rushed to greet us.  This had never happened before!  Then instead of proceeding straight to the classroom, Cameron and I were ushered into the staff room where we were invited to sit down and were given coffee, water and some dubious looking sweet things.  All the teachers were in their best outfits and it looked as if there had been a meeting of the local educational chiefs.  I recognised the head of education for the district but he didn’t come to talk to us.

After a while we thought we’d better get on with the classes and prepared to face the noisy little ones.  But what a transformation - they were as good as gold and the lesson went like a dream.  How fickle children can be!  Despite starting late we breezed through the lesson and there was even time for me to introduce a card game for them to play in groups.  The girls got the hang of the game immediately and politely took it in turns to select two cards and try to match a picture with a word.  The boys fought over whose turn it was and then looked to me to tell them whether the picture and word matched.

We were not so fortunate with the next class.  They were restless and noisy and we struggled with the lesson which was “Prepositions of Place”, not an easy one to do.  Eventually we were starting to get hoarse as we tried to be heard above the din and so we just handed out the worksheets.  They surprised us though by demonstrating that we hadn’t been wasting our time completely as many of them had clearly understood and were keen to get full marks for their work.

The last class with the older children was much better and it was soon 3.30, end of school.  As we waited for our taxi we watched the children being picked up, mostly on motorbikes and often, as in the UK, by a grandparent.

We had the usual long wait at Home & Life for the children to return from school.  Ali was just closing up the cafe and informed us that it would close at 4.00pm each day.  He’s turning into a bit of a jobsworth since assuming his new role!  We persuaded him to let us have some drinks from the fridge and a banana muffin.  We then chatted with Barbara, a lady from Bournemouth who has been coming to volunteer for many years.  I have got to know her quite well and so we had a good catch up.  She is staying at Home & Life but may have a day or two in Khao Lak next week when we might meet up again.

Only the very little ones turned up for the English lesson and they weren’t particularly enthusiastic this week, for some reason.  Fortunately we had chosen a suitable subject and the class went quite well.  There were some huge claps of thunder as we were teaching and by the time we were ready to leave it was bucketing down with rain.  What a contrast to the weather this morning!  We drove home with the plastic curtains pulled down on both sides of the truck but were still very wet on arriving back in Khao Lak.

The rain showed no signs of easing and so I decided to go no further than the restaurant at Phukhaolak for my dinner.  There were not many diners and so plenty of room at the tables on the covered terrace.  I had a delicious yellow curry with prawns and pineapple and then, determined not to be beaten by the weather, went for a walk around the town.  Most people had clearly decided to stay in their hotels and everywhere was quiet.  By the time I reached Sakai Bar the rain had become truly torrential.  It was coming down in sheets.  It was impossible to see the other side of the road and everywhere was awash with water. There was frequent lightning and resounding claps of thunder.  I took a seat under the canopy and waited for it to pass.  An hour later it was still as bad.  Nobody was venturing outside the bar and many standing just watching the spectacle and videoing the storm.  Despite being under cover I was getting splashed and becoming rather wet.  The staff wanted me to move further inside but I was transfixed and was also finding it rather refreshing.  Eventually (when the peanuts became too damp to eat)  I thought I better make a move and try to get home.  I was only a stone’s throw from my bungalow and I had an umbrella but it wasn’t easy going.  The drive climbs up to Phukhaolak and there was such a river of water flowing down the drive that it was like trying to climb up a waterfall.  Then I found the gardens up to 6 inches deep in water in places and  I struggled to keep upright.  Never have I seen it so wet!  I made it safely to my bungalow however but then found it difficulty to sleep with the storm still raging on and the rain beating down on my roof.

Some time during the night it must have abated as it was dry but damp when I got up on Friday morning.  Most of the lying water had already gone and I smiled to see that the gardener had the mower out and was cutting the grass that only hours before had been completely under water.  In the UK we have to wait for days after rain before cutting the grass!

We found the office full of South African teenagers preparing for the last day of their stay in Khao Lak.  They disappeared off in three taxis and shortly afterwards our taxi arrived to take us to Koh Nok school.

We had a great morning, teaching “Occupations” to the younger group and then “Prepositions of Place” to the older children.  The latter didn’t go down particularly well although there were a few children trying very hard to understand.  When it came to doing the worksheets it soon became clear that the vast majority of them hadn’t grasped it at all.  Still it was fun and after a lunch of rice, with omelette and fried fish we chatted with the children before returning to Khao Lak.

Cameron was getting the bus to Phuket from where he planned to continue to Phi Phi island for the weekend, and so he went straight off while I put away all the teaching materials and then headed down to the beach.  The skies were blue again and it was a very pleasant afternoon.

I didn't have anything special planned for the weekend which, as it turned out, was just as well as, shortly after breakfast on Saturday morning, as I was getting my things together for a morning by the pool, my back went.

I didn't even get as far as the pool but spent most of the day alternating between lying on the floor in my room, sitting propped up with pillows on the verandah and occasionally making an attempt to straighten up and walk without bending over double like an old crone!

By the evening I had read almost an entire book and was bored.  I was supposed to be meeting Sunny.  She was looking forward to a night out after her very busy two weeks with the South African group. There was no way I could walk up to Khaolak Seafood Restaurant however and so I had to cancel.  I was hungry though and so decided to see if I could hobble across to Phukhaolak Restaurant.  Dosed up with painkillers and walking slowly I actually managed to get as far as Khaolak Thai Foods where I tucked into a chicken Penang curry.  I broke the walk back at Nature Bar but was back home and in bed by ten o'clock.

I got out of bed somewhat gingerly on Sunday morning.  There seemed to be a slight improvement in my back.  Finding that walking was now painful but possible I shuffled slowly into town to get some breakfast and restock with the extra strong painkillers available at the pharmacies here.  I did manage to get to the pool today and, once the painkillers had kicked in even walked to the beach for an hour in the sun.  The weekend weather was just perfect and there was a wonderful breeze on the beach.  What a shame that I wasn’t able to fully appreciate it.