This morning we sit in deck chairs looking out over the blue green ocean. We're sipping instant coffee from mugs and contemplating life and the universe. Luke-warm breezes carry hints of salty ocean water through the air, mischievously knocking over chairs and umbrellas. They offer momentary relief from the tropical heat of the day. Our boys lie sprawled across cushions around low tables in the shade, eagerly staring into their electronic games. This is a morning 'off' from our usual routine here. It's a Sunday.
Our little beach ShangriLa and neighbours in Srithanu
With a gleeful shriek, 3-year old Leung jumps into the scene and immediately the peace is broken. NNNNNOO Leung! Screams Sam, whose patience levels with Leung have dropped to nothing. Leung is a boisterous 3 year old who lives here and is as naughty as expected for a healthy young boy. He grabs keyboards, sings Happy Birthday loudly all day (he doesn't know what the words mean only that we sang it to him on the day we met him, which was his birthday) and loves to roll and launch himself into everything the boys are doing. To them, he is the phantom menace, their arch enemy... but to him, they are possible attention targets in his bored and playful world, while his mama cooks in the kitchen. Justin and I mediate actions and reactions on both sides much of the day.
Pirate, the one-eyed beach dog, sits beside me as I type. She is completely trusting and faithful and is the only dog out of the 6 or 10 on our little beach to have achieved successful entry to the patio, hanging with people and not getting kicked out. She is top dog here and for this she is utterly grateful.
Pirate getting Justin love
We have had a lot of fun on this beach. Leung (3) and Coifeu (6), who both live here, have joined in with us playing with water balloons and sand-and-air balloons. Justin kicks the football around the beach with all the boys some days. Next door at the little Monkeys beach hut bar, Kai comes out and shows the boys how to spin a baton with fire on both ends. There's never any rush and a constant laziness hangs in the air.
the kids playing with water ballons on our seafront
Andy practising fire staff - taught by Kai
School days are busier. We each wake slowly and have coffees and hot chocolates and do nothing much until 9. At nine, home school begins and we start the 3 gruelling hours of math, english/literacy and topics for the day. The first hour runs smoothly, but by the halfway mark, progress slows and tempers flare. All of a sudden there are lots of arguments about when breaks should happen or snacks should be doled out. The boys say, 'at school we didn't do it like this we did fill-in-the-blank' .....well, any number of things, but always something better than what we're doing in our travelling home-school. 'Our breaks were 2 hours long'. 'Our maths was more fun'. 'We didn't have to do lessons we didn't want to do'. But we do what we can manage each morning.
When the boys' school is finished, Justin and I prepare our printouts and class resources for our english class at the Srithanu school. We teach classes for years 1 through 6. Each classroom is taught English by us twice a week. We find it challenging to create a lesson that can be used for 7 year olds one hour and then modified on the same theme for 12 year olds for the next hour. The children are of differing levels of English, they've all been taught some basics and know how to loudly shout 'Gooood Af-ter-noon Teee-cher!', but not always comprehend 'How are you?'
We sometimes get a 'Farang' child in the classroom. That is a child who has one or more non-Thai parents. Usually an English or Australian or Canadian mum or dad who has married and settled here. The Farang kids are a blessing and can translate things for us to their classmates - at least we hope that's what they're saying!
One Farang kid told us this weekend he has to attend the funeral of a friend, a 7-year old Russian boy who died after being bitten by a mosquito. We were pretty shocked to hear this - it's the only such case we are aware of here. The boy apparently was bitten by a mosquito, then began to feel dizzy and fell into a coma before dying. Japanese encephalitis. Just about the only illness that was on our pre-travel clinic list that I haven't managed to get our boys inoculated against. I'm making plans for when we get to Bangkok now!
Srithanu School in Baan Srithanu village - also, the grounds, and Wat Srithanu temple
Andy, Ben and Sam take turns coming to Srithanu schools with us and 'assist' in our classes. Ben is the most patient with the children, but loses focus and starts playing up with the naughtier boys to get them to laugh - which doesn't really assist us in the end, but the children enjoy him. Andy is a good teacher, explaining instructions and getting the children to move into a circle or clarifying an example. Finally, he gets to be bossy and authoritative in the right context! Sam doesn't help much at all but the girls love to chase him around and tickle him, so he ends up hiding behind the desk and looking all round defensively. The lovely assistant head teacher hands Sam a100 baht note sometimes at which point he gives up any pretence of helping with class and rushes straight out the door to look for the ice cream vendor parked in the courtyard. We're not sure how much our boys are getting out of this arrangement, but the kids at the school enjoy seeing them - especially when they are being a little naughty or playful!
After school we always treat ourselve with something from the vendors' carts outside. There are several bicycle carts which sell ice cream, flavoured drinks on crushed ice, steamed corn on the cob, and freshly grilled sticks of meat. A little something for everyone.
We finish this school day by jumping onto a pair of scooters and whisking the boys down the coast and off to Muay Thai boxing lessons from 4:30 til 6 in nearby Thongsala, the main town on the island. It's a 20 minute scooter drive along the hilly and curvy coastal road. We love seeing people we know all along the way: kids in our classes, the neighbours down the road, fellow english teaching volunteers from our PoD program. Already, it feels like we live here.
The boxing classes have been a good way to get the boys exercising. The owner and instructor, Chin, and the boxers at Chinnarach Muay Thai are all very good with the boys, firm and friendly. It's great for the boys to see the discipline and results of people who train hard everyday and are progressing in their sport. It's a tough sport. You only have to look at the main instructor and his 2nd in command to see the battle scars. Both have cauliflower ears and one is missing an eye from where he was elbowed in a match. It's a few steps ahead of the daily play fighting we're used to from the boys. I think it's important for the boys to see that real life fighting is very different from the fighting in movies where people are punched or thrown and don't seem to ever get injured.
We love speaking with people who are here from all over the world to live and train in Muay Thai boxing style for weeks or months at a time. There's a girl boxer from Guernsey and guys from America and Canada who like to stop for a chat sometimes. The diversity of people and their backgrounds is fascinating. There's some good personalities to get to know. The boys get tired, especially by the end of the week, but we think it's been a terrific find.
Back at 'home', Shangrila Bungalows, the owner Eiu runs a tight ship and does a great job running not only the small resort and restaurant, but is also our local coordinator for the PoD volunteer project. Eiu is very efficient and always gets things done quickly and flawlessly. She's helped us to coordinate trips to Ko Tao and she runs around the schools on the island finding placements for all the volunteer english teachers, arranging course schedules and more while at the same time raising her son Caifeu and managing a 24x7 business.
The Shagnrila bungalows are lovely. Each is just big enough for a bed and a small sofa along with a wet room style bathroom and a little hammock and cushion strewn patio. By western standards, the accommodations are a bit small and rustic, but by local standards, they are luxurious. Eiu's husband is busy building additions to this piece of paradise, while Eiu has obviousy spent much time tastefully decorating the multi level patios with a swinging bench, lots of beautiful colourful cushions, potted plants and hammocks everywhere. There is no direct path to the main road from the resort yet but her food has grown a good local reputation and people wander in from the beach and footpaths to laze about on the colorful cushions and sip smoothies or eat the best Thai curries and fried noodles in the area.
Just off the patio and more directly on the beach is the Monkeys bar. Monkeys is an eclectic little beach hut painted with images in hippy style neon colours and always playing some good mellow old rock or reggae music. The owner, Kai, has been a professional photographer and monk amongst other occupations before creating this place - which I believe leads to it being a well-rounded establishment. It may be small, but everyone we speak to seems to have heard of Monkeys bar and it is used as a local reference - whenever we try to explain to anyone where we are staying they say 'oohhhh yes, next to Monkey bar!'. The clientèle vary greatly from Full Moon partiers from the other side of the island to local Sritanu beach yogis and authors to retired folks living further inland in the jungle. Each night is different and while you may be speaking to a bloke from Russia and a couple from Australia one evening, you will find yourself in a crowd of French and Dutch folks the next. Everyone loves Kai and Set who run the place - you couldn't imagine anyone else behind the bar.
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Here we are at Muay Thai boxing for the 4-6 pm session. The boys line up along the row of full length mirrors, fists raised to frame their faces. They bounce forward and back a little mimicking their Muay Thai boxing instructor, Chin. Ben is taking this very seriously. Andy's just warming up, stretching his legs. Sam loves looking at himself in the mirror.
It's their 2nd week now and they're each getting a lot out of this. We're really happy we took the local advice and brought the boys here. We're hoping that the discipline and focus from the trainers rubs off on them and that they go away having understood basic elements of fighting stances and boxing technique. If nothing else, the quality of their play-fighting should improve!
Chin points to Sam doing a roundhouse kick and then himself, indicating that Sam is just like he was when little and he looks very proud. Sam's looking pleased for himself. He throws an extra little swagger into the next 1,2 jab routine admiring himself in the mirror ahead.
Ben and Andy pull on gloves and climb into separate rings with their instructors. Andy looks a little rigid, but has the most solid muscular build and you can see the strength in his moves. Ben's our natural play fighter and is in his element - finally there's a place where punching someone is actually ok. They're both getting some great lessons on technique. They're usually the only children here. The others are serious Muay Thai boxers and trainers that include some of the best local talent - including Chin, a previous world champion. Judging by their lean muscular builds, this is a great way to stay in shape.
At the end of each session, everyone returns to the floor for a cool-down and meditation before leaving. Cool down involves some interesting yoga-inspired streching moves. Justin and I giggle at our boys trying to sit cross-legged and then pulling a foot high up in the air to stretch out the hamstring. The instructor commands everyone to close their eyes during meditation, repeating himself when he sees Sam sneaking a peek at everyone. Everyone's quietly pensive when r-i-i-i-p, a fart cuts through the silence and even the instructor laughs as everyone turns to stare at Sam. I don't think this is the usual ending. He claimed later it was the streching moves that made him do it. I think it was the usual hot air.
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As we arrive at school this morning, we see something is different. The children rush past us, excited and chatty, bunches of bright flowers wrapped in banana leaves clutched in their hands. The teachers are all very smartly dressed and groomed today. A small offering table has been erected on one of the long patios. The English speaking teacher, Chen, walks over and informs us that it is a celebration today in honour of the teachers. Teacher Day.
Justin and I watch as the classes of children are brought in year by year until the large outside patio is filled to 85% with just a small area up front left clear. Then we are lined up with the teachers as directed at the front of the long patio. We all sit cross-legged or on tucked-under legs, mirroring the children that we face. Around us the teachers are laughing and smiling a lot this morning, the mood is joyful yet formal. Justin and I feel awkward and out of place at the front of the room with the other teachers. We feel like imposters accepting honours from the children for something that we've only been here doing a short time. This is the first day we've arrived without the boys, so we have only ourselves to worry about as we try to take in what we are supposed to do - we have no idea how to sit, when to place palms together, what to say, what will happen next.
In small lines of 5 or 6 the children walk up to the front, starting with the year 6's at the very back. They seem a little nervous as they each make their way to the row of teachers up front. Each child stops in front of a teacher and kneels, then hands their bouquet of flowers to the teacher. In the bouquet, different flowers represent diligence, calmness, cleverness and other positive attributes. As the bouquets are handed across, each child bows deeply, forehead touching the floor for a few seconds and raises back up. They are paying signs of respect to their teachers for the support and guidance they provide. Upon raising their heads back up, we are meant to say something like 'I wish you best of luck in your school' or 'work hard and achieve the best you can' (the english speaking teacher whispered this to me just ahead of time!!).
I glanced around the assembly of children dressed in crisply ironed white shirts with their clean and powdered faces (traditionally done after washing) and felt so blessed to be here in that moment sharing in the celebration of respect. On the floor around us, children from 4 to 12 years old try to sit patiently and quietly. All of this celebration is building in them a pride in themselves, their school and teachers. They are nervous about their offerings and their bows of respect - the younger ones especially are not sure how long they should keep their foreheads on the ground and some place their foreheads on my knee instead. We help motion them up after a few seconds and give our words of encouragement - but to be honest, I'm as nervous as they are, I have no idea what I'm doing!
Justin and I wish we'd taken a little more time getting ready this morning. We're a little scruffier than usual. But we follow the motions, placing hands together beneath our chins as the head teacher lights incense and speaks to the children. Our eyes dart around the room, taking in the appropriate gestures and we both hope we aren't making fools of ourselves or upsetting anyone by showing disrespect.
As the children are dismissed from the formal proceedings, they run to the grass and are bursting with energy and laughter. The atmosphere has changed a little and everyone is more playful now. Everyone is smiling and laughing as we take turns arranging into groups for photos - the children trying to make cool symbols with their hands and then cheering on the count of 3 (Neung, Song, Sam... Pepsi!).
This was such a lovely morning. Totally unexpected after arriving at the school exhausted and scruffy. The previous afternoon, we had borrowed one of the 10 new puppies living under a bungalow at Muay Thai an it had been a demanding experience. Sam had become very attached to the runt, an adorable grey and white pup and run up to me excitedly declaring 'Chin says I can HAVE this one!' an enormous smile across his face. Oh dear. After a few minutes, we agreed on a 1 night sleepover with the pup.
I hadn't known that the pups were still nursing - although their mama had died (poisoned, which often happens by nearby resorts who don't want them around). This little grey puppy needed hand feeding and cuddling constantly through the night. Of course Sam was far too young to be left to sleep with the prematurely handled pup and I became the Mama for the night. What a lot of work! By the morning I felt like I'd spent the night with a newborn human baby again: the milk feeds, the 'toilet management', the cuddling and consoling of whimpers (his and mine) - ahhh, the memories.
When it was time for the usual school day to start, Justin and I went in wrinkly shirts, hair needing a wash and just hoping to make it through the morning. You can only imagine how surprised we'd been to show up to a formal celebrations day. But in the end it was just what we needed - we walked away from school with huge smiles on our faces, thoroughly warmed by our experience and the fun class that followed.
Then it was time to return our little puppy to his brothers and sisters at Muay Thai boxing this afternoon. I was already attached - well, we all were. But to live on the island, we need to toughen up. A dog here is not pampered with an indoor life and constant cuddles and lap holding like in the west. Here, dogs live half-wild, out on the beaches with lots of other dogs. People often feed but don't name them, just to highlight the arrangement is not the dog becoming a family member. Our little pup in his 24 hours with us was constantly held and placed on towels and pillows .. we had broken all the rules!! But it was a relief to return him to his brothers and sisters, where he jumped in and licked, chewed and frolicked with the crowd
Ko Tao
and Ko Phangan both offer water taxis to explore more remote beaches. This is a great way to get away from the
crowds and find secluded little pieces of paradise. With the boys, we didn’t make it to many of
these; they prefer places that have ice cream vendors and people to talk
with. Justin and I will have to wait a
little longer to explore more of the islands.
Bugger.
While on our scooters we did
happen across a lake with water-borne obstacle courses one day. It's called the Wipeout. A free rope swing was the enticement to come
in and try the waters. Once flung
through the air on the amazing swing, our boys were never going to let us
escape without a chance to try out the obstacle course. At 250 baht per person (about 8 or 9 bucks) ,
it was a little pricey. Watching the
boys tire themselves out for 3 hours, we changed our minds and considered it a
great value.
Justin
had mentioned the idea of swimming in the local lake a previous day, but,
paranoid mom that I am, I initially said No. My usual rule is No lake swimming, No rivers either. And, no, I was
not very popular in our household!
Seriously, in some places in southeast asia, the lakes and rivers are
the local sewage outlet. I think a little squeamishness is probably appropriate. This lake, however, is actually the bathing and washing water supply for the
10 km radius, so as fresh as it gets. So we are told.
We find out from a kid in our class and the girl who works at the Wipeout that Thais will not swim in this lake. It is a funeral site. A few years back there was a mining operation deep under the site of the lake. One day, the mine
collapsed, killing some unfortunate working miners. Since then, the old mining grounds have been filled in with tons of soil and made from 120 meters depth to into this 40 meter deep lake reservoir. Thais still find it downright spooky though
and won’t go in. That said, we haven’t
seen hardly any Thais who swim – not in the oceans or lakes. We found the same in Cambodia and in
Indonesia. Some of the most beautiful
beaches in the world – but the locals don’t swim in them. I'm not sure if it is the fear of drowning (which exists), the conservative nature of the people (couldn't picture most in skimpy swimwear), or just a part of the basic culture, but the ocean, rivers and lakes are used for more practical things like fishing and washing, not swimming or sunbathing.
Andy, Ben
and Sam didn't spare much time considering this and instead became very focused on
getting good times in the water challenge.
Andy actually placed 8th on the boys’ board with a time of 2
minutes and 31 seconds. He was very
excited. The shortest time so far is 1
minute and 14 seconds on the men’s board.
Of course, now our boys want to come back again and again until they
make it to the top of the board. Men,
boys and competiveness. Never fails.
Kids queueing to participate in the Wipeout Challenge -Andy 8th on the board
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Oh, I’ve forgotten to mention the Monkeys-on-a-Rope. Riding along the dusty roads on the island,
you will occasionally see men with a monkey on the front of the scooter,
heading off to work. These guys are
called out to harvest ripe coconuts from trees – saving folks from wandering
under a tree and getting randomly knocked down by the falling bowling-balls of
the fruit world. The guys will wander
from tree to tree while their monkeys scramble up and find only the ripe
coconuts to send to the ground. When the
monkey is done with one tree, it will jump to the next one nearby. I’m not sure what the going wage is for the
monkey or the man at the other end of the rope – perhaps free coconuts??
coconut picking monkey-on-a-rope and his owner
We
managed to get in a reasonable amount of diving while here in Thailand. The Lotus Divers based up in Chaloklum were
very good and professional. The best site
we’ve been to is Sail Rock. Although we
had poor visibility on the first trip and became bored, the second day at Sail
Rock proved why Sail Rock is considered one of the best dive sites in Thailand. Andy, Justin and I were diving around the pinnacle
with huge schools of barracudas and rabbitfish.
We watched a beautiful fluorescent-green spotted moray eel weave its way
in and out of anemones and coral trying to find a new home, swam up through the
Chimney swim-through at one point and spent lots of time gazing into the open
blue water, ever hopeful of spotting a whale shark. None yet. Coming back to the boat, we spotted the
children jumping off the end and paddling like puppies to move towards us. They climbed up the ladder and grabbed onto
the rope that tied us to the next boat in line and took turns hanging and being yanked
upwards as the boats moved back and forth, tightening the span of rope.
We also went to Ko Tao island nearby for a few nights. This is home to Ban's Diving, which is the largest PADI dive training facility in the world. The whole island seemed to be an average age of 18 - Andy was way closer to most of the divers ages than Justin and I. Koh Tao proved a good spot for doing a 2 or 3 dives a day - lots of instructors, good equipment and loads of dive spots. Visibility was ok, but not great while we were there and the sites seemed to resemble one another so that it wasn't the most exciting diving. However, a clear day, still waters and different season probably do make all the difference and we can easily imagine how beautiful and amazing it must be to dive here on some days.
In Koh Tao, our dive master was Adam from the UK. The boys loved to hang out with him and he showed them really funny, scary and cool videos on YouTube - the best one was the Dive Masters divers doing a rendition of Queen's Bohmenian Rhapshody - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYwxJDPr-Pc. It had all of us laughing, now we can't stop singing the tune everywhere we go. Walking down the street, I'll find myself singing this quietly, then see someone look at me funny and realise I'm singing out loud which is even more embarrassing because I am completely tune-deaf and croaky.
We also did a little snorkelling and kayaking in during a day trip to the nearby Angthong Marine Park. The park is beautiful, reminiscent of Ha Long Bay with its huge assortment of odd shaped, green-topped little islands here there and everywhere. The waters are shallow right now and it is difficult not to swim into or on top of corals lying just beneath the surface. There was a lot of silt and we had low visibility that day and were able to see some huge rainbow coloured parrotfish but not much else. Above the water, the islands are rich in colour and texture. The island rock formations are full of character with stony overhangs, gravity-defying trees and lots of cool and shady caves. Ben and I thought the caves looked like pirate hangouts as we kayaked around them. He was very scared the overhanging rocks might fall on us, so we weren't able to paddle in for a closer inspection.
Angthong Marine Park
On the return trip in the speedboat, we ran out of petrol and stopped mid-way to refuel. Once we were underway again, Sam needed to off-load fuel and the driver stopped the boat so that Sam could pee over the edge. This made all our fellow day-trippers laugh and Sam found it tough to focus on peeing while the rest of the boat were laughing about it, but managed eventually. The boat crew loved talking with Sam, they asked him, Sam have you got any girlfriends? And he thought about it and said, Yes, a Few. Really? Where did you meet them? Hmmm, says Sam, some on a train and some in a hostel and some on an island. I think they may be asking for tips from The Sammy soon. For his sake, we hope he hasn't reached his romantic Peak at 6 years old.
Well, it's time to say good-bye. I hate to say it, but I feel teary. This has been the closest place to a 'home' in the last year and we've all grown attached to the life here. Just when we feel we've gotten to start friendships, know our way about on our little scooters and feel like part of the island ... it's time to pick up sticks and move on.
We had our final goodbyes at the Srithanu school. We had our final goodbyes at Muay Thai boxing. And a final dinner with our fellow PoD teaching volunteers. And stopped to say goodbye to the family running the local veggie cafe near school. Now all that's left is to pack our bags and catch the ferry tomorrow morning.
goodbye dinner with Eiu and our PoD volunteer friends
The school goodbye was lovely. After our last class on Thursday, the teachers had the whole school assemble like in Teacher Day and spoke a few words to us, then had us speak a few words to all the children. We were presented with beautifully embroidered Thai pillow covers and handmade crafts for the boys. The children then came up and 1 at a time knelt and bowed in front of Justin, Ben and myself (Andy and Sam were back at the bungalows). It was quite emotional saying goodbyes to all the little faces we've gotten to know over the last 4 weeks. The little ones in Years 1, 2, and 3 had to get lots of cuddles and be thrown in the air. The older year 4,5, and 6's were very polite and kind. It was so thoughtful of the school teachers to make our last day so special.
goodbye to all of our friends at Srithanu School
On the way back, we stopped to visit our friends in their home and cafe near school. Jen, from England, and her Thai husband have 2 children, a dog and kitten and run a little cafe selling juices and thai curries. We've gotten to know them as we stop by for a chat on the way to and from school and Jen has passed books and teaching materials on to us. Now its time to return the posters and books and say goodbye. It's starting to feel final.
Once home, we grabbed the boys and our scooters and made our last 20 minute ride along the shore to Muay Thai boxing for the boys' last class. We left the boys kicking and punching while Justin and I wandered around Thongsala town for a final perusal. We grabbed ice coffees and the most amazing coconut milk shake as we read the local news - which is often good entertainment as the news can get muddled a little in translation. On return, we played with all the puppies - there's only 5 left now as 5 have found homes (yiiipeee!!). The little gray puppy and the little white one were taken by a family, the 2 dark ones went to a monastery and one mixed one's been earmarked with a white ribbon for his own home.
Chin, the owner and instructor, let the boys put on his world championship belts (he was world champion featherweight in both 2000 and 2001) and we took goodbye photos. We hope to return someday - maybe next summer? And we will definitely recommend this place to anyone who feels like getting in shape or learning something new, go spend time at Muay Thai Chinnarach! http://www.muaythaichinnarach.com/
goodbye to our friends at Muay Thai boxing
So now, back at our bunglaows this weekend, all that's left is to have our final drinks with Kai, Set and Ot at the Monkeys beach hut bar and a final meal by Eiu and her crew here at Shangri-La - which by the way serves the BEST panang curry in the island! We are lazy today, doing laundry and reserving hostels for Bangkok, looking at our schedules. That is what Koh Phangan is for - chilling out, being completely relaxed and enjoying time just contemplating the clouds from a hammock.
more pics at:
