Loy Krathong 2015

This week I experienced my first Loy Krathong celebration. Each year the date of Loy Krathong moves dependent on the full moon and it also uses a traditional Thai calendar, rather than the western calendar. My understanding is that Loy Krathong is to thank the river god and apologise for making the water dirty, but it is also about letting go and moving forward, which I think is a great thing to do despite how hard it can be sometimes.

At my school students and staff can dress in traditional Thai clothing for the day and both the Primary and Secondary schools have a special assembly and time to make Karathongs. I teach in both Primary and Secondary, but ended up more involved with the Secondary celebrations due to having a Secondary tutor class and my timetable on the day itself. Scarily the Music department was asked to perform a Thai pop song, so I had a couple of days to get to grips with the pronunciation and sing in Thai. This also meant that I had to wear traditional Thai clothing. I'm not convinced that the outfit suited, but it could just be because they kept repeating that they needed to find a big size and there was only one big size left.

Students from the senior Thai classes offered some lovely performances and dances. There were also some quite comical moments that I'm hoping were intentional. Maybe the Music department performance was meant to be a comedy act. The assembly was well run and was more of a celebration of Thai culture than about letting go and moving forward, although the idea was mentioned. 

I enjoyed making a Krathong with my tutor class. Fortunately there were quite a few Thai girls willing to help me and thankfully to make the design they showed me it wasn't too difficult. I took my Krathong home and my husband and I headed to an area of water where we had been told there was a Loy Krathong celebration happening. Some of the Krathongs were phenomenal and put my efforts to shame. A few people came in traditional clothing, but most didn't. Many purchased Krathongs and some borrowed scissors to cut their nails and put the pieces on the Krathong before letting it float away so that they were really letting something old go!

Watching the Krathongs float on the water I did begin to think that perhaps it is not the most eco friendly tradition as they use pins to attach the banana leaves and then there are the candles and the incense. Considering they were being floated on a lake I'm hoping that someone was employed to collect them rather than leaving them to decompse and cause issues in the water.

Wat Thepwanaram

Wat Thepwanaram is the nearest temple to my house. It's adjacent to Phuket's wakeboard park and I am yet to see a wakeboarding monk. I live in hope!

When traveling around asia we have often found ourselves staying near mosques and have consequently been woken every morning by the Muezzin's call to prayer. Living by a temple you deal with something rather different. At 5:00 every morning the buddhist monks begin to pray. Their prayers are in the form of a chant on a single pedal note and overtime you begin to hear the overtones. My new alarm clock is totally free, if a little early. They pray several times throughout the day and always at sundown. I'll often be in the pool when they do their evening prayers and it is such a lovely sound to hear drifting through the air. Despite the fact that they wake me up it really is quite peaceful and calming. Far better than hearing the rush of traffic that never ends. I am somehow became accustomed to the noise of the traffic in China, but this peace is bliss.

There are many temples in Phuket and we do like to visit them. Wat Thepwanaram was the first temple that we visited. It doesn't draw big trouist crowds as it doesn't have a particularly large, diferent or special Buddha so it is often very quiet. The entrance from the main road is marked by the usual stunning arch painted white, gold, red, green and other strong bright colours. The temple is a little further back from the road than most others, but is not an enormous distance. 

There are 4 decorated ornate buildings at Wat Thepwanaram as well as a the monks housing. The temples are covered in gold and bright colours that are a huge contrast to the stark white walls. The ornamentation and cratsmanship is really quite beautiful and despite the perhaps ostentatious use of colour it is not so gaudy as you might think. It is somehow peaceful. 

 One fascinating piece outside the prayer hall is a Madame Tussaud's likeness of a monk. We saw lots of smaller creations like this when we were in Cambodia in an art gallery where we were told that they were likenesses of deceased monks. The skill in these is absolutely incredible as they are just so life like.

The temple appears to be a haven for street dogs and cats alike. Numerous animals find shade and kindness inside the temple walls. A local vet often goes around the temples vaccinating the animals that make their home there too. We always see snoozy furry friends here.

Monks are a wonderful flash of colour around Phuket. Their orange robes stand out against all the other colours. I love to see them just living life. They aren't in a closed order so they go out and visit people and different temples. They catch the local bus or get a ride on a relatives motorbike. They are a part of the community and somehow their presence is very reassuring.

Huge thanks to Mr. Orangedog Photography for the pictures.

Labradoodle at the vets

It has been a really tough week and a half in Phuket for our little family. Bella has unfortunately been to the vets twice in 5 days, initially due to ticks and then unfortunately due to the incompetence of the vet we trusted.

We had no clue how bad the ticks were here in Phuket until we arrived. The place we were staying had 2 dogs, one of which had short hair and this meant that you could really see the ticks. We checked Bella regularly and got a spot on treatment to try and help with the problem. The groomers we went to was at a vets and they offered an injection that would also help fight the ticks off, so we did that too. Anything that would help we did.

After having been in Thailand a month we noticed Bella didn't want to eat, hadn't been to the bathroom and was just not playing like she normally does. I took her to the beach and she didn't even get excited by the 6 horses or tiny crabs that she normally sprints after, the crabs not the horses. There is a vet really close to where we live called "Horse and Dog Vet Hospital", it's clean and the staff speak good English.

Bella had her temperature taken and showed a fever. Her blood showed two types of blood parasite were in her system and her white blood cells were practically non-existent. Bella was prescribed a huge amount of steriods, antibiotics and a liver supplement as well as having an injection to reduce her fever. Returning home Bella quickly made her way to the dental chew she had ignored for 2 days and then picked up a toy. We were really hopeful.

Fastforward to Thursday night and Bella is not wanting to eat, has become lethargic and is having some bathroom issues. I met a future colleague and they mentioned a concern that they had following using the vet I went to. They had taken their puppy to be de-sexed and when they returned the puppy they suggested that the she might have a heart problem and gave them some medication. They weren't too happy with this and went to another vet who ran an ECG, did not find a heart problem and recognised the drugs they had been given as human medication usually given to athletes to build muscle and burn fat. I then went on line and found the most horrific reviews of the "vet" I should not have trusted. I say "vet" as from other reviews it would appear that they have people without qualifications posing as vets, prescribing medication and performing surgery.

We were given a recommendation for PAWS Phuket. The place wasn't as sparkly as the Horse and Dog Vet, but they do charity work and have a good reputation. The vet called the previous vet to get the blood test results and told us straight away that there is no way Bella should be taking the amount of steroids prescribed. They took another blood test and found that her white blood cells were too high as was her liver function and gall bladder. The vet was concerned that Bella was at risk of septicemia and could potentially have long term liver damage. We had to leave Bella overnight on a drip in a crate in the OR surrounded by crates of kittens. Not her happy place at all.

The vet allowed us to bring Bella home the next day as she was eating. Unfortunately she can't take the antibiotics that are meant to be fighting the blood parasites and we have to wait an entire week to find out if there is permanent liver damage. 

Another Country Another Hair Disaster

I've been in Phuket a grand total of 3 weeks and 3 days. Amazingly I have been to the hairdresser twice in this time and it wasn't because I liked the experience so much that I felt the need to do it again so soon.

You may or may not be familiar with my hairdressing disasters whilst living China (there are 2 posts about this here and here). Sadly these disasters were not confined to China. In all fairness I had a colour disaster in NZ too. The main problem I have is that my hair does not always take colour well. I try to explain the problem in the hope that I can avoid leaving with a weird and or patchy colour.

So, the reason I went to the hairdresser so soon in Phuket was because I didn't quite seem to find time to go prior to leaving. I didn't really want to take a risk. I researched online and found a couple of recommendations and then checked their social media presence to see if there was hope of them managing an ombre colour. Decision made, appointment booked and through the door I step.

I am the only client and there are 5 staff including the owner who is exceptionally brusque. The discussion is easy, straight forward and before I know it 2 members of staff begin piling colour on my head whilst the owner sits down and does her make up...it took her the full 2 hours that I was there too. I'm not sure if I have ever had such a silent, efficient tag team of hairdressers liberally apply colour at such speed.

After quite some time sat under a fancy rotating butterfly like heater, a toner, an amazing head massage as part of the wash, a cut and then a tag team to dry my hair and I'm on my way. 

Fastforward 7 days and the root colour is basically gone and I am somewhat greyer that I would wish to be. Not really the result I was hoping for after 2+ hours and a small fortune. Thankfully they have welcomed me back, applied a different colour for free. This time the owner was having her hair curled by a member of staff and then her make up applied by another. I think she really likes her job.

House Hunting in Phuket

The last time we were house hunting in a country where we didn't speak the language we were given an agent who ferried us around until we finally picked somewhere to live. We never met the landlord or spoke to them directly at all and we lived there for 2 years. This time it has been a very different experience. 

I am currently sat on what was the outdoor sofa which is now residing in the lounge (I'll explain later) and the rainy season has caught up with us forcing me away from the pool. We arrived in Phuket less than 3 weeks ago and within the first week we found somewhere to live. We gave ourselves 2 weeks and managed to do it in 1. As mentioned we didn't have an agent and this initially seemed somewhat bothersome. I had been directed to a couple of sites to search and get ideas and we were pretty sure we knew where we were going.

From all of our research we discovered a couple of housing communities close to school with a tiny gym and pool. They even had a hot yoga studio on site and this really appealed to me. I loathe the drive to school. It includes the busiest road, the silly blocked off roundabout and 2 U-turns. The fact that we only want to have 1 car also meant that living near school would be good for Adam as I could leave him with the car. 

School advised us to basically drive around Phuket and go into housing areas, look for "for rent" signs and phone the number. We started near school and called a few numbers. The houses were generic and quite cramped with hideous, cheap, white flat pack furniture. The pool was practically a paddling pool and the gym had 2 treadmills, 2 elepticals, a small amount of weights and room for a stick insect to walk behind them. Also, every house was over budget and we weren't in love. No cafe, restaurant or beach in walking distance at all. 

The search continued with an agent sending us photos of a house that was a little over budget with its own pool that looked incredible. We set up a viewing and it was quite a shock. There were about 20 tiles missing from the pool, the roof of the gazebo was still bare building paper on the inside, the kitchen cupboards were hanging off, the furniture was covered in cat hair and was horribly aged, beaten and uncared for. The location was a random side road just off my most hated road with maye another house somewhere down there. Pretty isolated.

Continuing on we drove into a housing complex next to Wat thep wanaram and Anthem Wakepark. It's about 15 minutes to school and 5-10minutes to the nearest beach. We drove round and found a house for rent. Sadly it was already taken, but the agent said they could show us another in the same compound the next day. We continued checking out the houses and found another for rent. It was still available and the landlord lived a 1 minute walk away. Hideous bar in the kitchen, bizarre cupcake bed covers in the guest bedroom, oversized lounge furniture, an oven, pool, and some shocking paint used on the gate and all trimmings in the house. Not as overbudget and a good location with lots of roadside reataurants in walking distance, not to mention the wakepark being walking distnce.

It turned the agent wanted to show us the house we had seen with the landlord and charge a higher price in rent. So, instead of viewing it again with them they took us to a crazy overbudget show home style house with pool in Bangtao. The property was stunning. It was the best house on the block by a long way, perhaps too far. There was a garden opposite that was full of trash and several run down houses. Add the story of a friend of a friends dog sadly not surviving living in Bangtao due some people having very strong beliefs against dogs guided by a religion, this was a no go.

The same agent took us to a beautiful holiday home in Laguna. I stress holiday home. Again it was show home esque with lovely finishes and great attention to detail. Sadly you could only maybe hang 20 shirts up in the master bedroom and there was no other storage. The pool had two sunbeds in single file next to it as that was it for the space outside. This was also the best house on the block and directly outside the front door a neighbouring property had chickens and a rooster scratching around. Despite the locks and doors this tiny pot hole riddled road didn't feel like the right location for this beautiful holiday home.

We were limited on properties due to our Labradoodle and the budget was another issue. The school budget is generous, but you need to spend all of it to get all of it. Basically there is no point in going under budget. Inspired by the "House Hunters International" we decided to have an incredibly staged conversation walking along the beach to make our decision for the imaginary camera crew.

"We've seen X properties. I think we need to start by ruling one out. Which one would you rule out?"

Agree to rule out the same one.

Discuss pros and cons of the remaining properties.

Each state their choice and normally it is the same.

Hug.

So, we decided to negotiate with our one landlord direct property as he had another viewing and we wanted to get in quick! During negotiations we somehow managed to get the best internet package in Phuket thrown in and cable TV saving ourselves 2000THB a month. Not quite sure how, but that was great. We get the pool cleaned 3 times a week too. We were concerned about the furnitre and that has proved negotiable as just today we had the lounge set and obselete TV unit removed. Sadly the bar is not going anywhere.

Arriving Early

I really advocate arriving early to the destination of your new school. More time to pick the right property and vehicle if you need one. More time to work out where to shop. More time to work out how to get around. To me it just makes sense, especially if you have a dog (child replacement with fur).

We chose to arrive in Phuket early. We had to vacate our appartment in Suzhou before the end of June and the we expected the Suzhou Summer to heat up and so decided to leave 5 days after I finished work. At the time I didn't realise that this meant I would be arriving in Phuket before my new school had finished for the year. I got asked to go in for a meeting with my new Head of Department. I landed on the Thursday at 1am and on the Friday I had a meeting at 10am.

This all meant that we had to get the hire car a little earlier. I had to consider my outfit very carefully. Shoulders need to be covered at my new school and no open toed shoes are allowed. I knew that it was a staff only day, but I really didn't want to rock the boat before I'd even started my contract.

With a screenshot of the directions we headed out. I considered Melbourne to be the city of U-turns, but Phuket may actually be the winner of this award. I got really confused that the roundabout has gates blocking some of the junctions meaning that you can't actually use it as a roundabout. I really have no clue what is happening here. It basically causes the need for masses of U-turns. Following 4 U-turns, a slow moving bus and some roadworks we made it to school.

Despite being late and having to then walk into the staffroom in the hopes of spotting my HoD. Thankfully everything went well - phew. My work permit is in process too, hurray! One day closer to being allowed to ship our belongings.

We've had a romantic dinner on the beach for 3 with the Head of Secondary and today we had drinks at a different beach with the Head of Primary and some new and returning teachers. It would appear we aren't the only ones that think being in Phuket during rainy season and don't mind arriving early.

Incidentally, this school leaves you to fend for yourself a lot compared to my previous school in China. I can see that it is easier to fend for yourself here though. We sorted our phone cards quickly and looked after ourselves for our "House Hunters International" style quest, which I will talk about in another highly enlightening blog. We are still working out where to buy food cheaper than eating out, but we'll get there. I know that we'll have everything sorted by the time school starts and that way I will be able to focus fully on the curriculum re-writes. For now I will enjoy the weather, the beach and the Thai food.

Several emails, 2 Skype interviews and a decision.

Well it has been a very busy week with a lot happening. The pollution has started to climb again with a high of 327 seen on the AQI earlier this week and a climb above 200 earlier this afternoon. You could barely see the sun today as it was just so smoggy. I was forced to run with a mask on. This was going well until I got so warm that it unfortunately caused the seal on my mask to not work quite as well as hoped. It also backs up why you shouldn't run if you need to wear a mask. This proves my Dad's motto that exercise is bad for you.

If you read my post last week I am sure that you would expect me to have had numerous flattering comments about my beautifully cut and expensively coloured hair. I am afraid that I will have to disappoint you. Not one person noticed my change of hair. Despite the hairdresser's verdict that I arrived with hair that screamed "tackorama"and left with suitable hair, apparently the change was too subtle. The only other reasons I can possibly consider for no one noticing are that they either temporarily lost their sight or that they were just too jealous.

Aside from the doom and gloom of pollution and a distinct lack of compliments I have a ray of sunshine, a silver lining or some might say a golden ticket. Despite being unsure whether to stay or go I put my proverbial hat in the ring for a few jobs and spent a few days in email conversation with a school prior to 2 Skype interviews and then an offer, which was accepted. My husband and I are very excited as we are heading back to the beach and away from the smog. In 7-8 months time we will be flying to Phuket.

I had signed up for a job fair and more than one teaching recruitment site. I was intending on going to a job fair in January, though I was a little uncertain that I wanted to go through the cattle call again. It's also pretty crazy looking at the descriptions and school preferences trying to determine if you are really the person that they are looking for. There is also the added pressure of schools that do not like to employ teachers with a non-teaching spouse and the fact that I come with a Labradoodle in tow too. 

We did intend to stay in Suzhou for longer than the initial 2 year contract and we have some fabulous friends that we are really going to miss. The pollution was definitely directing us to the door. We were having doubts about leaving as we were having such a great year here. The second year is always easier as you know where you are going. You know where all of the fun places to go are. You've built those great relationships that matter. All in all we have been having such a great time. It is definitely bitter sweet leaving, but a job in paradise is too good to pass up. 

The other wonderful thing about the whole situation is that now the decision has made is that I can enjoy the rest of my time in Suzhou to the full. I am through with the uncertainties of what to do and where to go. We have some very excited friends and family who are all wanting to visit. Adam however has joking that only people who visited us in China are allowed and is in charge of bookings.

My lungs are pretty excited too!