Khao Lak, Takuapa, Chang Wat Phang-nga, Thailand
I didn't sleep well on Sunday night. I was worrying about my financial predicament and trying to work out how I could get hold of some funds. The £20 note I had changed the previous night wasn’t going to last long! The suggestion from my bank that I should use Western Union had lifted my spirits initially but I was already doubting that it would work. In order to open an account with them they were asking for a driver’s licence or an electricity bill, neither of which I had. I also applied for a Moneygram account but it looked as if they would only let me pay by card. So I wasn't holding out much hope of success with them either.
I was no further forward when I went to the office for Monday morning lesson preparation. Ken was sympathetic to my plight and lent me some more money, and there was some good news in that I was to return this week to Ban Bang Maruan School. I was to teach with a new German volunteer called Greta. She had flown into Phuket late on Sunday night. There was no sign of her yet and so I prepared the lessons on my own.
Will turned up rather bleary-eyed after watching the Superbowl. He was doing the normal Primary schools with a young girl, also from Canada, called Taylor. Nobody knew where Matthew was.
For a few hours my mind had been taken off my problems but I spent the afternoon back in my room, drinking tea, watching the gardener cutting the grass and waiting for responses from Western Union and Moneygram. Much as I hadn't wanted to, I had also contacted a friend at home to see how he might feel about sending a Western Union payment from the UK.
By evening Cliff had called me back on WhatsApp. He was happy to send funds if necessary and it was good just to have someone to talk things through with. Western Union had sent a further email asking me a lot more questions. I was starting to feel a little better about things.
I ate cheaply again at Khao Lak Sea Foods and calculated I could just afford to splash out on a morale boosting beer at Sakai Bar.
Disappointingly there was no further correspondence from Western Union by the time I left for school next morning.
At the office I learned that Greta had not arrived. Apparently she had missed her taxi transfer to Khao Lak at the airport and had booked into a hostel for a week on Phuket instead! But the teams had been rearranged and now Matthew would accompany me to Ban Bang Maruan School.
It was good to be back and the first class with P3 went wonderfully. Matthew was impressed by the children and the whole different atmosphere at this school. “America” as he soon became known was in much demand for games of table tennis at lunchtime, beating most of the children but not winning a point when playing against the competitive sports teacher.
We had an hour to relax and read before the double lesson for P3 and P4. We taught “weather” for the first hour and then the lesson that both Matthew and I remembered well from teaching together at the English Camp, ”days and months”. The children always seem noisier in the afternoon and today was no exception. Matthew caused an upset by walking past one of the boys’ worksheets and touching it with his foot (very rude in Thailand).
There was a sharp intake of breath from the whole class and he had to apologise profusely. They seemed to enjoy the lessons however and we finished with a three team race to put up the names of the days and the months in the correct order. For once it was the boys who were victorious much to the annoyance of the very bright and competitive P4 girl Nuee.
Back at home I was again disappointed to find no further emails from Western Union. I couldn't wait indefinitely to see if they would allow me to open an account. I decided it was time to take Cliff up on his offer to send me money.
I was going to send him the money via my Internet banking account. I logged on and began to set him up as a recipient. Then things got even worse. My bank has to phone me to confirm the details of a new recipient. I waited and waited. No phone call. I had no credit left on my phone! Another door slammed shut in my face. What else could possibly go wrong?
I tried to stay calm and think of the old adage “the darkest hour comes just before dawn”.
I phoned Cliff (thank goodness for WhatsApp) who sprang into action. Not only did he offer to send me some funds anyway but he also went online and topped up my phone for me. What a saviour!
Half an hour later, I had credit on my phone again, I had successfully sent Cliff my money via Internet banking and Cliff had set up a Western Union transfer which was available for me to pick up anywhere in Thailand immediately. Result!
I wasted no time in getting to the Western Union kiosk outside one of the banks, filled in a long form and then watched in awe as a pile of baht notes was counted out and handed to me. What an incredible feeling of relief!
I celebrated by going to Khao Lak Seafood Restaurant for my favourite dinner - squid stuffed with pork in green curry washed down with an ice cold beer. It was wonderful. My life was back on track again now.
Will had ducked out of teaching on Wednesday so that he could do his Thai boxing training and so Matthew had to return to the usual primary school rota and teach with the young Canadian girl, Taylor.
Both he and I were sorry about that but I wasn't too worried about going to the school on my own again.
The first class was the strange P6 foursome. They are very attentive but not very responsive. Only one of them calls out clearly “Good morning teacher…….. “ and when I ask the class to repeat words and phrases after me the best I can hope for is some sort of attempt from two of them. The third boy remains silent and Tip Tip, the girl in the wheelchair, speaks very, very softly. I persevered although it was quite an effort for us all. The subject was “Daily Activities” and included a lot of quite long phrases, “I have my breakfast”, “I help to clean the house” etc.
I am learning that, in general but particularly for these four, their written work is much better than their spoken. They had no trouble at all writing all the phrases perfectly when presented with worksheets to complete. And once again I found that Tip Tip was the only one who could read back to me what she had written (although almost in a whisper).
I decided that I would concentrate my efforts on encouraging them to speak more confidently, in the event of my being back to teach them another time.
P4, by contrast, were a dream. They too were just four (the rather hopeless boy whom Hilary and I christened “Mr Tippex”, as that was most of what appeared on his worksheets, was missing) but the girls all called out clearly and enthusiastically. I was teaching “Housework” and they too had to learn a lot of phrases. It appeared to be mostly new vocabulary for them but I had a strong and satisfying feeling that by the end of the class they had learned something!
The principal plied me with coffee, doughnuts and cassava with coconut steamed in banana leaves during my free hour before lunch. Despite that I was still able to enjoy lunch which today included one of my favourite Thai dishes, hor mok. The Thai teachers found it amusing that I knew what it was called. Apparently it was not so popular with the children who found it too spicy. Many of them tried to sneak past without finishing their food and were sent back to their seats to finish it!
I had another free hour after lunch.
I had to move from my usual breezy spot where I had been reading when the male teacher arrived with a stepladder. With the assistance of the quiet P6 boy he proceeded to put up some curtains at the back of the stage which he explained was in preparation for Friday when the “children would be doing cooking”.
My first lesson of the afternoon started with all the children falling about laughing.
As well as providing a label showing the subject of each lesson, Sunny has also made for the volunteers a second label with the subject written in Thai script. As I was teaching “Opposites” I thought it might be useful to show them the Thai translation. That was what set them off laughing. The teacher came to see what all the merriment was about and also started laughing uncontrollably. I failed to discover what the Thai meant but it certainly wasn't “opposites”! Wait til I see Sunny!
Eventually the children composed themselves, I started the lesson and the rest of the afternoon went well. They continued in an ebullient mood however and laughed and joked with each other as they worked, in voices that seemed to get louder and louder as the afternoon progressed.
Thai people appear by nature to be very talkative.
I had a duck dish for dinner for a change and was just settling down at Sakai Bar for a couple of beers when I was assaulted by a spectre from the past - Martin, the German volunteer who had been such a difficult colleague four years ago! I hung my head and tried to hide but to no avail. He had spotted me! In my five years here I have worked with many volunteers of different ages, nationalities and backgrounds and with very few exceptions they have all been lovely people. Martin was one of those exceptions. I was relieved to learn that he was in Khao Lak on holiday with his wife. His initial plan had been to do some volunteering in January but the death of his mother in law at Christmas had necessitated a change of plan……..maybe next year. Phew!
Matthew joined me again on Thursday and we had another very enjoyable day. Matthew is easy to work with and has an infectious laugh. We had lots of fun with P1 in the morning and then drank coffee with the teachers who were busy cutting up vegetables to make fancy decorations for Friday's healthy eating day.
At lunch the cook had rustled up several delicious dishes as usual, one of which was the spiciest yet. Even the Thai teachers were coughing and spluttering and exclaiming about its spiciness.
The little ones were as lively as ever for our double lesson in the afternoon. It's not always easy to hold their attention but we got through “Shops” reasonably successfully and were glad of the very good worksheet that accompanies this lesson. It contains something to suit all abilities and complete silence fell over the class as they worked through the various exercises.
We gave them a 5 minute break and then embarked on the lesson on “Fruit”. Most of the names were already familiar to them and all was going well until one of the teachers walked into the classroom and handed Matthew and myself a fresh coconut each. The top had been sliced off and a straw provided for us to drink the water. This was very kind and very refreshing but the problem with a coconut is that it is impossible to put it down without it rolling over and all the water spilling out.
So we had a very silly ten minutes during which time Matthew and I couldn't stop laughing at each other as we took it in turns to try to continue with the lesson while juggling pictures, word labels AND a coconut!
It was a hot afternoon and so I made a beeline for the pool when I got home, to cool off, and then in the evening I decided to join the posh set and dine at Phukhaolak Restaurant. I chose their yellow curry with pineapple and prawns. I could have licked the dish, it was so delicious.
There was no teaching for us to do at Ban Bang Maruan School on Friday. They were having a “healthy eating day”. When Matthew and I rolled up at 8.30am we did not know what to expect. Everyone was busy with preparations, moving furniture around, putting up posters which the children had made to depict all the different fruits and vegetables, donning paper hats each decorated with a picture of a healthy Thai dish or chopping vegetables to string together as necklaces. The kindergarten children looked very cute in their party attire while the older children had on their usual school uniforms.
The whole school assembled for the usual photoshoot. Matthew and I were given paper hats too and had to join them for the group photos. Then the children were lined up with the older children gripping the hands of the little kindergarten ones and we all marched down the drive and out onto the road. Initially I guessed this was to promote walking as part of a healthy lifestyle but it soon became apparent that the purpose was to spread the word about healthy food. At each homestead or roadside food stall the children stopped to distribute leaflets. It being a rural area there weren't too many of these and so we soon turned around to head back to the school.
Then the P1 and P2 children were allowed to change into their party outfits while the older children who would be taking part in the food preparation put on the aprons they had made from used milk cartons and hung up their banners each of which described the dish they were making and the ingredients and method. Each class was preparing something different, papaya salad, fresh spring rolls, chicken and vegetable kebabs, spicy seafood salad, fruit salad etc etc.
They set about chopping ingredients with fearsome looking blades, and pounding spices and flavourings using large pestles and mortars.
Meantime the little ones were on the stage dancing and singing some pre-rehearsed songs including a catchy number in English with the refrain “I love fruit and veg”.
Eventually the finishing touches were added to all the Thai dishes and they were laid out for the principal to inspect and taste. Many of the children's mothers had turned up by now. There were one or two dads as well but they stayed at some distance from the proceedings, as did, we noticed, the only male teacher.
All were invited to sample the food and everyone tucked in while the children stood proudly next to their creations. The children were each given a fresh vegetable spring roll which most accepted without a lot of enthusiasm. The chicken kebabs were guzzled up very quickly but most of the delightfully presented salads were left untouched! Oh well you can't expect people to change overnight but we had to give the teachers full marks for trying.
It had been an excellent event.
They pressed us to stay for lunch but we had both already eaten too much and so we took our leave, rather sadly. It was Matthew's last day in Khao Lak and it was unlikely that there would be a big enough team of volunteers next week for me to return here.
The weather was perfect again (six consecutive days now without rain) and so I spent the afternoon on the beach.
And Saturday it was more of the same. I ventured back to Green Beach Cafe at lunchtime, scene of my embarrassment last weekend, and then left the beach early in the afternoon to prepare for a walk over to Bang Niang Market. The sun was beating down fiercely and so it was a hot walk and I was ready for an ice cold mango shake when I arrived. My mission was to purchase a new purse to replace the one I had lost. Every stall was selling similar styles of purse however, none of which was quite what I was looking for.
I had more or less exhausted the few possibilities that remained these days for eating by the sea in Bang Niang and so I thought I'd have a complete change.
I vaguely remembered that a restaurant on the main beach road, called “Lucky Seafood” was always near the top of the Tripadvisor ratings. As soon as I arrived there however, I had the feeling that it had not been a good choice.
The tables were arranged haphazardly, many needing clearing. I was brought two menus (why does that happen so often to people on their own?) and found that the first half of the menu was taken up with international food, mainly burgers and pasta. My penang fish curry was average at best and then when the bill came they had overcharged me, putting two bottles of beer on the bill (did they still not understand that I had come alone?). I sometimes feel I am getting stuck in a rut visiting the same 10 or 12 restaurants that I really like, but there's a lot to be said for staying with the tried and tested places.
Sunday was another lazy day. On the beach I was amazed to find that yet more signs were going up giving information about the new regulations. Some were in Thai but there was a new one in English spelling out the penalties for smoking on the beach (a maximum fine of £2250 and/or a maximum jail sentence of 12 months!). Taking sunbeds and umbrellas onto the beach is, reputedly, also prohibited but there seems to be no move to curb the sale of the brightly coloured airbags that all the tourists are buying this year.
My week finished with a good meal at Everyday and a chat with Ken.
Next week I was expecting two visitors, my friend Phil from the pub, who comes every year and my cousin David who spends his time, since retiring, crewing yachts around the globe and who happens to be in Phuket at the moment.
With my financial problems now all but sorted too, I went to bed a lot happier than I had been last Sunday night.
2025-03-21