Phew..............

You know what it's like when you go away from work for a few days and you come back to sooooo much stuff that you kinda wish that you had never gone in the first place.......well that's how I have felt this week!! (and can I just point out that I don't work......allegedly!!)

The Andaman Trip was absolutely fantastic!! (I will be updating properly on that soon). I got back home late Friday night......I had sore legs, sunburn on my nose and my forehead, I was incredibly tired and in desperate need of a hot shower!! (I tell you......I don't think I would have made it into the society pages of any magazine had I been spotted on Friday night!!).

Anyway there have been no blog updates this week because I have.....

- Worked with JJ on the logo and look of this years Combined Women's Lunch (CWL) which is being hosted by the BWG. I was asked to do the artwork for it on Monday before I left for Andaman, said yes, and then discovered upon my return that they need it for today (we've got an extension till Monday but talk about short notice!!)
- Attended a 12 year olds Birthday Party - there was karaoke (am still shuddering at the horror)
- Met up with John, a friend of my Dad's who was in Bangkok on a business trip, and took him out for a few drinks and dinner (Fortunately he was lovely and we all got on very well!!)
- Wrote a Welfare Article for the BWG Magazine and am still chasing 9 other people for their contributions (It's only a couple of sentences I need - is that so hard?)
- Met with a representative of the Charity Operation Smile to find out more about what they do and how they do it (They are now going to be the beneficiaries of the CWL)
- Went to see Maroon Five (Who were bloody great by the way!!)
- Did more work on the CWL logo
- Went to Pakkred
- Hosted the BWG Welfare Team meeting and wrote the report for Committee.
- Had my Dad's friend, John, over for dinner before he flew back to the States
- Went to the BWG Committee meeting
- Went to the CWL meeting with JJ and we presented the art work so far (it needs tweaked but they were happy with the over all look)
- Wrote some blurb on Operation Smile which will go out with our sponsorship requests.

Thank god it's Friday - I am planning to do bugger all over the weekend....I am completely knackered!!! I've not even had a chance to catch up on everyone's blogs (now I've done a post saying that I will be updating on the Andaman Trip soon I now feel I can go and see what everyone else has been upto........)

What we did between Christmas and New Year

You want to know a scary fact?......good........cause I was going to tell you whether you wanted to know or not!! We totalled up the number of weeks we had had visitors last year and do you know what......it came to more than four months worth of guests.......that's a third of the year!!! (Don't get me wrong.....it was brilliant seeing everyone but that's a lot of guests!!!). Normally we get a two week holiday on our own but cause we came to see you lot in the UK last year (and wouldn't have missed it for the world!!) we've had a grand total of two days away when it was just the two of us and that was on our wedding anniversary!!! So, guess who decided to go away for a few days between Christmas and New Year!! (No, it wasn't Moon :-D)

So, on Wednesday Chris got up early with me and came to Pakkred to meet Mo-Cha-Ya (He said he wanted to see what I got upto when he was at work!!) She was great with him......we were both slightly worried that she would take one look at him and bawl her head off (not having seen many white men in her wee life!!) but she was great - fell asleep in his arms (honestly.....how cute are they in that picture!!). It was really quite amazing.....we got to see her take her first steps!! (I was ridiculously excited and she beamed from ear to ear......awwww)

After Pakkred we headed over to Bangkok Noi and got the train up to Kanchanaburi. (I know we've been recently but it's cheap and easy to get to and the Indian there really does do great pakora........yes we are aware of just how sad that is but we don't care). The first night we were there we just chilled out by the bar at the river, watched the sunset over the bridge and then walked along the road to the Indian restaurant where we had a fantastic meal (Guess what we had!!). The following day we got up early and arranged for a car and driver to take us along to HellFire Pass. I know that we have been there before but we had decided that we were going to do the full walk along the tracks which takes about three hours. It's heavy going - lots of stairs and it's very rocky but the museum staff keep in touch with you via walky-talky to make sure you are all right which eliminates the worry of being stranded if there was an accident. It was amazing.....and not something that everyone does so we only passed about three other people on our walk (and we managed to get some great pics as you can see!!). From there we decided to visit the nearby Khmer ruins of Prasat Muang Singh since we had never been. We both loved it.

History Stuff - (just skip this bit if your not interested)
About 800 years ago the Khmer empire stretched from Cambodia all the way across Thailand - Prasat Muang Sing is believed to have been one of the last temples built by the Khmers at the end of the twelfth century. It covers one-third of a square kilometre and it is believed that the site has not only defensive significance, it's bordered by moats and ramparts, but cosmological significance because at the heart of the complex is a enclosed shrine. It is absolutely stunning, faces east towards Angkor, is surrounded by a series of walls and covered gateways and is guarded by a sandstone stature of Avalokitesvara. (He delayed his entrance into nirvana in order to help others gain enlightenment and in Mahayanist mythology he represents mercy - the other statue at the sight is the female Prajnaparamita who represents wisdom). It really whet my appetite for going to Angkor and we were both really glad we had seen it before going as I think it would have been a disappointment had we gone after. Once we finished romping round that we went to the Ban Kao Museum which is devoted to relics from an advanced prehistoric civilisation (8000 to 1000 BC) that once settled on the banks of the Kwai Noi river. It was a lovely way to end our day as it really put into context some of the stuff we had seen at Prasat Muang Singh.

The following day we had decided to bite the bullet and visit Wat Tham Mangkon Thong - otherwise known as the Floating Nun Temple. I've mentioned this place before......you pay a Nun some money and if you give her enough she will go and float in a pond and meditate. Chris and I toyed with the idea of trying to kidnap a Taiwanese visitor (you may remember the guide book said Taiwanese were particularly impressed) but A. we couldn't find one and B. we were not sure that we would even recognise what a particularly impressed Taiwanese would look like!! Well, apart from not seeing any Nun's or a pond I can seriously recommend going.....I'm not kidding - the temple is stunning. You have to walk up tons of stairs to get to the cave which houses the old temple bit but it's seriously worth the pain and panting. It felt old and unreal and the Buddha was surrounded by old texts - it was really quite wonderful.

I have to tell you this cause your going to laugh - when we had just arrived a group of Thai's suddenly appeared as if from no-where. When we went in the direction they had appeared from we found another Buddha and some concrete steps which we climbed but they just came to a dead end and the only thing we could see what a small hole in the ground which was partially obscured by rocks. There was no way they could have passed us without us seeing them so we couldn't figure out where they had come from. Well, when we were in the temple cave we were shown round the Buddha at the back of it and the man then pointed at a hole in the side of the cave - he told us to crawl through it and that it would bring us out in a chamber we could stand up in. Eejits that we are.......we did exactly what he said and after crawling along on our hands and knees (with heads down cause there wasn't enough room to have your head up) we emerged in a chamber that I could stand up in (Chris had a few more problems) and as we walked through the chamber we spotted our exit......a rusty ladder that went straight up to the hole that was at the top of those concrete stairs (so that's where the buggers had come from). Glad I had lost weight since moving here or I might have got stuck!!

The final temple we visited before heading back to Bangkok was Wat Ban Tham (There are a lot of caves in this region many of which have been turned into shrines). Up another load of stairs (honestly by the time I got to the top my calf muscles were screaming - I never wanted to see another stair again.........ever!!!). Wat Ban Tham was founded about 600 years ago but is famous for a seventeenth century love story that played out at the cave site. A young woman called Nang Bua Klee was forced to choose between her criminal father and her husband who was a soldier and a local hero to whom she was pregnant - her father persuaded her to poison her husband (I don't know why) but he learned of the plot and killed both her and her unborn child. It is said that their spirits now reside in the cave as one of the stones inside is woman-shaped. It's a popular place for women who are trying to conceive to visit (no, I'm not one of them before you get any funny ideas!!) and they bring pretty dresses and shoes for the mother which are hung in wardrobes to the side of the shrine as well as toys for her son. The cave is incredible as you can see from the photos.

Then it was back to Bangkok by bus which was even cheaper than the train......it cost us a whole £0.80 each to get back. (Just in case anyone is reading this that is planning to get back to Bangkok this way the bus doesn't take you into central Bangkok so you have to get a taxi from the Station back into town).

Volunteering

You know something....it's such an easy thing to do and it can really make a huge difference to someone's life!!

Two lovely things happened yesterday -

I don't blog about it every week but you know that I go with a few friends to Pakkred Orphanage to visit the kids (I have been assigned to Mo-Cha-Ya (little 7 month old girl) who not only recognised me today but actually waved at me from her cot!!). Well whilst we were there today we spotted an older couple deep in conversation with Khun Som (She is one of the ladies that runs the place). They were just across the grass from where we were sitting and we thought that perhaps there were there to take home a child that they had been matched with (we have seen this before and it's just brilliant watching the little one go to start a new life). We were in the middle of speculating about this when a 20 something lad came over to us and thanked us for coming to visit the babies and that he had been told first hand what a difference it can make to their development. It turned out that he was adopted from Pakkred when he was just over a year old and the older couple were his Mum and Dad.......he wanted to see where he had started life. It was incredibly moving - I can't even begin to imagine how he must have felt.

The second lovely thing -

Every year The British Club hold a Christmas Party for kids from an orphanage that they support throughout the year. (The orphanage specialises in taking care of children who have profound hearing difficulties or are completely deaf). So Caroline, her daughter Hannah and I headed over to The British Club to meet up with my other volunteers Gale, Carolyn, Wiff and Tanya to help out. It was fab - there was face painting, biscuit decorating (which proved very popular as the biscuit could be eaten after), a bouncy castle, clay moulding, pony riding and a huge slide and all this was followed by a spectacular magic show (which involved disappearing chickens!! I have no idea how the hell the guy did it!!) and dinner. Then the guest of honour turned up (yes, Santa.....who else!!) in his Tuk Tuk (none of this reindeer nonsense!!) and gave each child a present (Which had been sponsored by the BWG) and do you know what.......after the presents had been handed out the kids were told that they could give their presents to us. Every child had made a card or a Christmas tree decoration and they got to choose who they were going to give it to - Santa got the most (which was to be expected) but all the volunteers left with a little pile. I've scanned a couple of mine so you can see them....... (The ones on the left represent the hand shape you make when you want to tell someone you love them. The writing on the hand says love and the writing on the arm of the other one is the girls name)

I don't volunteer to get thanks or recognition - I do it because I know that I am incredibly lucky and I feel that the least I can do is help someone who has it a hell of a lot tougher than I do. (especially being here where the difference between those that have and those that don't is so huge)

I had a wonderful day yesterday and it has actually put me in the Christmas Spirit (I am still singing the same Christmas Carol line over and over again but somehow I don't mind so much today!!)

I want to be a hermit!!!

And do hermity things all day!! I want to grow the hair's on my legs to indecent lengths, eat lots of garlic, spend hours drawing and never talk to anyone ever again!! Actually.......that's not true.....I just feel like I don't want to ever speak again at this particular moment in time and in about five minutes I'll probably phone someone for a blether!! (Erm.....sorry about the hairy legs image)

It's been a frantic two days!! I was up and out again at the crack of dawn on Tuesday to go to Pakkred Orphanage - I've completed my forms and have now been assigned a little baby girl (I was slightly disappointed I didn't get Japanese Punk Boy but he's already got a volunteer). She's bright as a button and incredibly curious about everything (not to mention wriggly - I think most of her lunch ended up on me rather than in her!!). Actually, she is a lovely wee thing - very smiley (She did wipe her snotty nose on my top which I could have done without but hey ho!!). I've been told that I can now take photo's of her so I thought I would put together a scrap book........maybe paint her hands and feet and get her to put them on paper so that when she's adopted her new family will have a record of her early years. One of the other girls did something similar and I think it would be a good thing for me to do and it might help me not to get too attached (You know.....a reminder that she will eventually be part of someone's family......anyway I'm going to give it a go!!). When we got back the girls suggested that we go grab some lunch and they took me to a brilliant restaurant in the Ploenchit Centre called Beirut Restaurant. Oh my GOD it was fab......I had proper hummus (the first I've had since I've been here!!), Motabel (Aubergine purée with sesame, lemon juice and olive oil), a Lebanese mixed salad and Shawarma chicken (it only cost 150 baht which is about £2).........I was in seventh heaven!!

When I got home I had a couple of hours to have a shower and get myself organised for going back out again. I met up with Jen and the two of us headed over to Sue's house - she was hosting a Smoochie Smoochie lingerie party. Those ladies know good bra's when they see them - they had a vast array of designs, fabrics, sizes and most of the bra's came with the choice of a thong (which I can't wear cause my bum eats them!! That was a bit too much information wasn't it.......ach well you should be used to me sharing by now!!) or normal pants. I bought two beautiful bra's one is cream with a very pale purple ribbon and the other one is shocking pink with black lace!! They both fit perfectly......I've got my eye on another one as well but decided that it will have to wait till next month.

Then today I had my Welfare Team Meeting followed by a open session for people interested in volunteering. So, I was up at the crack of dawn (again) to write my Welfare Report for the month and then I went through all the mail and funding proposals we have received. It was a good meeting and the first time that we had actually totalled up how many people we have volunteering - I was gobsmacked.......I started this from scratch in April and so far we have 32 people who have actually given their time and only 4 that we've not managed to place yet. I'm pretty pleased with that!! The open session went really well too - I had 15 people in total......it was supposed to run from 12 till 2 but the last ones didn't leave till 4.40pm. I have never talked so much in my life but it paid off - some have already put their names down to jobs and others are going to mull over the information then chose what they want to do......hopefully they will all sign up!!

Tomorrow I am going to learn how to cook Indian food. There are over ten of us going and we're going to be taught by a woman called Mrs Balbier - she has her own restaurant and TV show her so is a bit of a celebrity. Oooohhhh I hope she shows us how to make Dahl......I love Dahl!!

Scaring Babies and Small Children

(Actually I think it was more a case of them scaring me - as most of you know I'm not really sure what to do when it comes to small people!!)

Carolyn, who is my partner in crime when it comes to Welfare stuff, had asked me if I would make up the numbers to go on a visit to Pakkred Orphanage. (Her daughter Louise had gone once a week whilst she was here and had been visiting a little boy who she had seen blossom over the summer. She didn't want him to regress so had asked if someone would continue visiting him which was why Carolyn was trying to arrange a trip). How could I say no - They will only put a bus on if there are more than four people visiting so I reluctantly agreed to be the fifth person.

So I was up at the crack of dawn this morning (Well, 6am - which is the crack of dawn for me!!) and, with strong coffee in hand, headed up to Soi 3 to meet up with everyone. It can take anything from 30 minutes to an hour to get there depending on the traffic which wasn't great for me......the longer it took the more nervous I got........I don't really do babies and I think I amused the others greatly when I said 'If it cries your going to have to tell me what to do!! ' followed by 'There is no way I am changing a nappy!!'


I'm not really sure what I was expecting (I think perhaps I've seen too many documentaries which show footage of kids living in hideous conditions with no toys) but the orphanage was lovely!! They have about 200 kids there ranging between 1 month old and about 3 years old and it had such a lovely feel to it. The kids were clean, well dressed as they get a lot of clothes donated, there was a big play area for them with swings and a shoot and they even had a toy library which I thought was brilliant. The downside is that there are enough staff to take care of the kids basic needs but not to give them the attention and stimulation that they really need in order to develop properly. When we arrived we were taken to one of the baby areas - there must have been about 14 babies lying on fluffy mats with their milk bottles propped up on pillows so that they could feed themselves - there were only two adults there to supervise!! (The amazing thing was that not one of them made a peep - if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would never have believed that there were 14 babies in that room). (We were not allowed to take photo's of the babies but I found this one on a website about Pakkred)

Carolyn was handed the 1 month old little girl she has been assigned to (she is beautiful but does looks a little bit like a frog!!), Abbie has taken over the care of the boy that Louise was visiting so she went and got him and Jill, Allyson and I were given a baby each to look after.

So today I sat for two hours attempting to amuse a three month old little boy who looked like a small Japanese punk!! (He had jet black hair which stood straight up and had a small slant to his eyes which made him look more Japanese than Thai). Once I had got over my 'Oh my GOD it's a baby......what the hell do I do with it??' thing I decided that he was rather lovely. He was totally fascinated by me (probably thinking 'Who the hell is this weird pale lady with the funny hair??') - he lay there staring at me for ages and when I stuck my tongue out at him (well I didn't know what else to do....he was staring at me......I had to do something!!) he did it back......very funny!!!

Now, I want to say this before any of you start getting any funny ideas.....NO it did not make me want to have one of my own so you can stop getting excited/scared at the prospect!! A combination of Chris and I would not be a good idea - the hair alone would have people running for the hills screaming!!

These kids are all up for adoption (No......we're not going to adopt either!!) so it's really important that they are used to being handled, get some stimulation and get used to seeing white faces since most of the adoptions are to foreign couples. I'm going to go back and I have to say that my reaction surprised me.....I really thought I would hate it but when you see their wee faces......there is nothing else for it.......and I don't like kids!!!

For those of you that are interested - You have to be serious about going and visit at least once a week (obviously if you're going away you let them know in advance) and there are forms which you will need to complete. You will need to take a copy of your passport, your visa and provide three passport sized photo's of yourself - once you have done that you will then be assigned a particular child, given a visitors badge and all your information will be kept on file (and if you are looking to adopt and have come across this blog there is a webpage here that has some information - I have no idea if it will be helpful or not but I've put the link in anyway)