First impressions: Bangkok is not what I was expecting. It is much more developed. The roads are not a nightmare, busy but not as crazy as Iraq or Korea. There is much more vegetation with trees, palms and banana plants being common, interspersed with patches of tall reeds and scrub. Skyscrapers can be found in the middle of Bangkok but much of the suburbs are low rise flats or houses much of which is poor quality. There are many more birds than anticipated. I have already seen sunbirds, flowerpeckers, swifts, swallows, cormorants, mynas, doves and bulbuls from the apartment.


We were taken on a tour round the school yesterday and the centre piece was a stunning new Arts Centre costing over £6million and would grace any city in the UK let alone a school. It has an auditorium that is quite fantastic. The other faculties, especially the sporting ones, are also of high quality and development is still underway. The building work is anticipated to be finished when the time school opens on 20th August and thai workers swarm over the site in something that looks like scene from ‘Challenge Anaka’. Health and safety is rudimentary at best and I sit on our balcony watched them working wincing at some of the dangerous practices.

Our fellow staff have all been superb without exception and our induction couldn’t have been any better. We have eaten at the Red and White restaurant which is only 100 metres away but with both a superb range and quality of food. Our group has been challenging itself to taking one blind dish each day ie duck’s bill one day and fried worms another (a bit tough with a hint of sea salt and grit!)

We went in to Chatachuk market today which is supposedly the biggest market in the world. It is certainly vast with narrow alleyways crammed with stalls selling everything from live animals to herbal medicines. It is so easy to get lost and trying to re-find a stall is almost impossible at the moment. However I suspect we will get to know it pretty well in time. Bargaining is the norm and despite what you might think, I am a novice. We were only there for two hours and hardly scratched the surface. Bangkok is mad and vibrant but not as mad as I expected. The driving is interesting but forgiving and everyone says ‘mai pen rai’ which means chill basically. Eunice and I attended our Thai culture classes last week and this phrase was given to us. In my usual pedantic way, I wanted to know how to use it appropriately. Little did I know that a graphic illustration was soon to be provided. I was returning from visiting King Rama Park IX having had a good morning for birding adding Common Iora and Asian Koel (a black bird the size of a jackdaw and a most haunting, loud tropical call). I had given the taxi driver the location and should have realised that his expression was a little blank. Thai’s are far too polite to ask you for clarification (especially a taxi driver who thinks he might lose a job!) we set off and headed almost in the right direction. When arriving at some traffic lights, I used my newly learned skills and told the taxi driver to go straight on. Unfortunately my pronunciation left a little to be desired and he corrected me. He then proceeded to give me a Thai language class in correct pronunciation for directions, ensuring I repeated them correctly. By this point we had arrived at my destination and I told him to pull in left which he promptly did by turning into a narrow street. I then gave him the instruction jud which means to stop. At this he laughed and carried on, repeating the word and also various other Thai directional words. I said jud again only more forcefully and still he laughed and carried on repeating the phrases. I said ‘listen, I really mean jud,’ thinking how far could this go on for! He had no English so assumed it was all part of my Thai education course. By this time I was on the point of saying ‘for Christ’s sake jud!’ We had already travelled half a mile. At last he pulled into a grand hotel which he assumed I had been heading for. I got out and paid him thinking it was easier to walk back. At this point a security guard came up and challenged me and he also spoke no English so I just pointed that I was leaving. But Thai’s are nothing if not extremely polite and helpful and he rushed into the hairdressing salon and dragged the hair dresser out leaving a customer in mid cut. She spoke good English and I explained what had happened. She laughed, was highly apologetic even though she had done nothing and told me she would get the taxi driver to take me back. I pointlessly pleaded with her not to bother as it was nothing for me to walk back. She hailed the taxi driver who was still hanging around and explained what had happened. He looked extremely embarrassed and waied a number of times. The door was opened and as I slipped into the back seat I said mai pen rai and smiled. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and smiled saying Mai pen rai. The taxi driver took me back to school for free.



Today the cleaner has started. Her name is Khun Sia. The booking of her was a bit stressful with Eunice, myself a translator sitting round one side of a table and Khun Sia on the other whilst we hammered out rates terms and conditions. Finally deal was struck and she seems fine. Surprisingly, English is not as well spoken her as it was in Korea.



Yesterday, I played squash for the first time in 25 years and Eunice swam half a kilometre in the Olympic sized pool. Both are quite an achievement as we have been out of the exercise loop for some time. I was completely wiped out and sweated half my body weight as the air con was not switched on. Eunice was serene as always but proud of her achievements. I watched her swim her last few lengths as I cooled down from the squash. A huge irredesent kingfisher flapped languidly across the pool and a sunbird busily flew in and out of her nest only inches above my head.

Eunice’s worries about her asthma and the pollution seem to have been groundless. In fact she seems better than she was in UK except for some nasty bites. The temperature is high and the humidity is like going into your bathroom when you have a bath or walking into a swimming centre.