Started the month in style with another staff beach trip. This time to the tropical island of Koh Samet in the Gulf of Thailand.

Monday 5th

They all wear a uniform at school but inside they are very different. They are tall, short, fat, thin and from many different backgrounds. We have pupils who are rock stars, TV programme hosts, sons and daughters of ambassadors, Miss Thailand and Bhutanese princesses to name but a few.

Tuesday 6th

In today's Daily Telegraph:

"...Iskander and Aisha are not the only talented members of their family. Their sister Sufiah, 14, is beginning her second year at Oxford University and their four-year-old sister Zuleika is expected to sit her maths A-level by the age of six."

Wednesday 7th

I'm trying to work out just how my salary compares to what I was getting in England. The important thing is it's spending power so I thought I'd compare the cost of some items I bought recently with what they would cost in the UK. Click here

Thursday 8th

Parasu is a friend of mine who has been studying for his Masters degree at Wolverhampton University. He flew back home to Thailand today and as he was passing through Bangkok took me out for a meal at "Bangkok's most famous Vietnamese restaurant".

The menu was a collection of photographs so you could tell what the food would look like even though you had no idea what it would taste like. As it turned out the food was delicious and nothing like Thai or western food.

Friday  9th

Did I tell you about the band who play in the night club at the end of the road? A bit like a Thai version of the Sahotas, they get the crowd dancing like there's no tomorrow every night of the week (they don't get a day off). A group of us have become regulars and have got to know the band members well. This evening the lead singer and bass player came round to my house before their evening on stage. They know a few words of English and presented me with a cassette of their songs.

Mike (physics teacher) and I went along to see their two hour set and have a few beers. As it was Friday they were really on form and for some strange reason the better they are, the more beers we drink (or is it the other way round?). Well at 11:30pm their set was over, we were quite drunk and had made friends with two dozen fellow revellers... It was then we found out that they have two jobs. as well as playing at this club they also perform at a club 20km away from 1am to 3am. Don't ask me how it happened but the next thing I remember we were all in a fleet of taxis and cars heading out of Bangkok to this other club

It was packed but we were shown to VIP tables on a raised platform to the side of the stage. Mike and I were the only farangs (foreigners) in the place. The next thing I remember was the two of us dancing with 50 inquisitive locals and eating prawns in batter and hot sauce. Our band were magnificent... 'twas just like a new year's eve bash.

Why did the taxi driver keep encouraging Mike and myself to sing at the top of our voices all the way home?... It was 4:45am after all.

Saturday 10th

Oh my head hurts.

Then I went to the market for something to eat... and saw these chickens

Now my stomach hurts and I don't fancy eating anything...

3pm: Feel fine now

4pm: Think I'll have an early night tonight though

5pm: or perhaps I'll have a nap now!

Sunday 11th

The fastest way to get around this city is by motorcycle taxi. Riding one during rush hour is a bit like shooting through the trench in that scene from Star Wars. They are the only way to guarantee arriving somewhere on time. The driver wears a crash helmet but there's no spare for the paying passenger!

Tuesday 13th

School lunches are wonderful. I ate far too much again today... makes the afternoon hard work! As well as a choice of two western and two Thai set meals there's this buffet:

Wednesday 14th

After a long hard day at school I did my first proper exercise since coming to this country. I lifted a weight or two at the gym in the Novotel Hotel. After a quick spin on the cycling machine and an even quicker excursion on the rowing machine I had a sauna followed by a very long soak in the jacuzzi. Now I'm as wrinkled as a very wrinkled prune.

Thursday 15th

Did you ever see that film "Rear Window"? Well the view I have is just the same. I can see a grid of windows facing my house and no-one closes curtains. There is a guy who is always practising his golf swings in the front room, a maid who is forever hanging up washing, a family who are always eating and various different groups of workmen who are living in the houses they are renovating. I'm just wondering through which window I'll see the murder!

Friday 16th  - Sunday 25th

Half Term! Flew (with flu) to Singapore --- Saturday night ISS International School UN Night Show at World Trade Centre .. excellent.Got deluxe room in Merchant Court Hotel thanks to contacts :-) Saw "The Truman Show" .. a very interesting film, have you seen it? Overnight bus to Kota Bharu. Culture sightseeing... Cross border into Thailand then train to Hat Yai (Big Beach). Flight to Phuket... relaxing on beach before flying back to Bangkok. Celebrated return to Bangkok with a meal at the excellent Italian restaurant in the city with Sam, Claire and Zeeta.

 

Monday 26th

For the first time since I've been here, tonight I went to the local gym next door to the school in an attempt to reduce this spare tyre that has attached itself to me. I intended to spend half an hour there then have a swim but I had the undivided attention of the two attendants who insisted on demonstrating all the apparatus. I felt obliged to follow their lead so my swim was postponed another hour.

After all that  exercise I thought I deserved a nice meal so went to the Carlesburgh restaurant at the end of the road. There I met up with two other staff members whom I will call X and Y to protect the innocent. To say X is a big drinker is like saying that Everest is a big hill, or the Empire State building is a large block of flats. Needless to say I was carried along on the wave of beer and ended up drinking a little more than I planned for a Monday night. All that good the exercise did... I think that spare tyre found me again!

Tuesday 27th

Undoubtedly this place has the best choice of eating out places I can think of. Tonight I went to a very nice Japanese restaurant. As you walk in the staff shout a welcome at the top of their voices. It is in Japanese and sounds a bit like "Popeye Sailor"! Don't think you can make a quiet exit either because as you stand up to leave they all shout something that sounds like "We've got a hay sack"!

B.T.W. I received an electricity bill today addressed to John Olive Tranter (see Singapore diary May 1998)

Wednesday 28th

The rumour is that the Butanese boy who started school on the same day as the Butanese Princess is really her body guard. He is very respectful and follows her around the school. I'll do a little bit of investigational work and keep you informed!

Thursday 29th

Parents evening ... five minutes each interview and I was full booked from 4:20pm till 7pm.

Friday 30th

Discovered "The Saxophone", an excellent live music venue in the heart of the city.

Saturday 31st

It's Halloween and they certainly know it here in Thailand. Went to three Halloween parties in one night! ... or should I be writing this in tomorrow's diary as most of the action happened after midnight. The scariest was the last function which featured a cabaret by mutilated transvestites.. It made the "Rocky Horror Show" seem like a Jacanory story.

 

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