Here I am in a nondescript hotel room in Khon Kaen, North-East of Bangkok. Why Here? I have just completed 2 days of community service - aka 2 days teaching 90 teenagers and 20 teachers 5Rhythms, both for use as a weekly dance club they can sustain and for teachers who are experimenting with their curriculum to see how/what they can integrate. Oh my god. Almost an ordeal at times.
I spent a lot of the time feeling like a cross between a sheep herder and a policewoman trying to create and maintain some sense of order and TEACH in amongst a country and age group that thrives on Chaos. The odds were against me but me and my amazing translator Aom survived and at times thrived. In the photo are some of the drawings they did; bodyparts they enjoyed and disliked moving and their response to their first Wave.
Due to my guilty conscience about how much I fly I decided to travel by sleeper with Aom from Bangkok to Khon Kaen on Sunday night after I finished teaching in Bangkok. I'd imagined the two of us ensconced in a nice cosy cabin, like ScotRail - but no, it was a loud rickety train with dormitory style berths all the way down both sides of the carriage. Blue curtains pulled across for privacy, one up one down, we rolled and jiggled our way up North. I barely slept (surprise) but lay there feeling SO happy :) Even though I go to foreign lands quite often I am met at airports, taken to where I am staying, escorted to dance studios and then to restaurants, back to where i am staying, to the studio and back to an airport. I'm not complaining - I usually get some good food and shopping thrown in amongst some wonderful teaching but what I loved about the train was feeling the freedom of really travelling. Like when i was in India many moons ago. two not so great photos below.
My first night in Khon Kaen Aom and I stayed at the country house of the mayor :) It's only been there for 2 months - was basic in supplies and rural. the photos show rice that has just been harvested laid out to dry and rice paddies in the background. With no fan or air conditioning in the room we slept outside under mosquito nets. Again not much sleep but lots of great sounds and shooting stars. I opted for the nondescript hotel room for the next 2 nights.
The last photos are from my first few days in Bangkok where I RELAXED. Stayed in a hotel that had a swimming pool, read a great book, went on a boat on the river/canals, ate my first ever shrimp by accident and shopped. The area I was staying in caters to foreigners. I felt lonely at times as there were tons of couples and a few families there but also relished just having some not-work me time. Some of the late night shopping was intense. Streets with stalls and loud bars one after the other with everything from food, clothes, jewellery, tattoos, hair plaiting, fake ID, alcohol and whatever else on sale. check out the dead fish sign - there actually were a bunch of people sitting around a large fish tank with their feet in side it :) 50 baht = £1
Tomorrow I head to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. I met a woman at the workshop in bangkok who has a yoga studio there www.yoga-chiangmai.com. We made a lovely connection, she is Thai with an english partner. I will teach 5Rhythms on Saturday and sunday afternoons and one evening session but other than that I will drink wheatgrass, attend yoga classes and relax in what sounds like a beautiful place. I deserve some time off! :)
