Ayutthaya and random pics

It's the third year that I have gone on the Grade 7 trip to Ayutthaya an ancient capital. It'sa  great day where the students are the tour guides.

Beautiful!

We were taught how to pay tribute to the King (not sure which one).

Some interesting bikes  

A four seater...that actually has 4 seats.

Lying buddha

A few random pics....

 Watching movies in style

On one of my more quiet running routes I come upon this Wat which always impresses me. 

We have been "trailriding" to the market since April when they dug up the street and put in drainage. Suddenly this week they made some superfast headway and it looks like we will have some smooth running soon.

Last night was the Thai festival of Loy Kratong a festival. Part of it was a beauty pageant with really young girls. Interesting.

That's it for now....

Swimming

I have always loved coaching and have been lucky enough to become involved with the swimming program and gained some coaching training in the sport. Myself and Jenn have anywhere between 10 and 15 kids from the ages of 8-11 and somehow never get tired out. We have 2 girls who come and the most are little boys. Even when exhausted after a long days, these little guys make us laugh.

Vince came by an took a bit of a video to show what we do...with the exception of the 3:30 storms that come up ever so quickly it's generally blowtorch sunny on the pool deck. Luckily, we coach on the shady side of the pool.

 

Jenn and I

It was a slow day with only a few kids who were super excited to try butterfly.


We took a few kids to a swim meet at the International School of Bangkok (amazing campus) for a weekend of fun.

Playing a game while waiting their turn.

A look at the gym where each team has their spot.

This guys has it all figured out.

Lots of fun and a great end to every day!

Vertical Marathon, Fish, Golden Mount and a Bike Ride

Each year RIS (my school) has a strong showing of teachers and students who run/fast walk/walk up 62 floors of the Banyan Tree Hotel. It's tiring but it also rewards with a fantastic view. I just realized thet the 4 of us on the left are Canadian.

These are a couple of fish vendors at our local market and although we eat mostly chicken and pork we are staring to venture out a bit. You hear so many things about how the prawns and fish are grown that it is easy to hesitate.

We found salmon this day though...we think.

Our taxi driver friend, Soon, tells me that this is delicious. It had a funny name which I forgot but I take his word for it. The middle ones...not the catfish.

Cutting our salmon. Scales flying everywhere.

My friend, Jenn and I went on an adventure one Saturday via Khlong boat to see The Golden Mount. Sometimes all you need is a destination to make a day.

 The trip was remarkably easy and the busses are making life easier by adding a basic map so you can get to the subway or train.

Riding the khlong boat.

The khlong...very last stop you can take.

We made it to the Mount which turned out to be fairly quiet and had a really nice view of the city.

The walk up.

The view: Didn't realize how wide the city was. No wonder I never really know where I am.

Bells, we rang them because it seemed like the thing to do.

Jenn, who is better at geography than me realized that we were close to Khaosan Road which is backpacker central and great for people watching. So we took a 15 min walk over there.

The Golden Mount from a distance

Beautiful temple and gardens at Wat Ratchanatdaram, which is also a school.

Democracy Monument. We saw a lot in 1 km.

Bike path = false sense of security.

Ahh, the destination....Khaosan Road.

This made us laugh.

One of my favourite places to be is on the khlong and not because it is clean or picturesque  but because it's usually quiet and there is always something interesting to see. This day, Darcy and I were trying to get to a nearby town. Success!

I'm not a fan of the pipe but it was safe enough.

Part 2 of October Break: Koh Lanta

Part two of our October holiday took us to the island of Koh Lanta which we had heard about and we felt like a bit of sea and sand. It involved a flight (can also do train/bus) and then a van/2 ferry ride to our final destination. When you get out of the airport there are may ways to do the van/ferry and many different prices and options. The cheapest being bus/ferry....the most being private van.

Air Asia...budget flying where Vince never has leg room.

Ferry on its way. The haze is due to the peat burning in Indonesia...terribly polluting.

I can't believe what they transport on ferries here. A water tower.

Scooters

Sometimes the machinery leaves doubts as to whether you'll actually make it.

The new bridge to replace the ferry.

We booked on line ages ago and all we remembered is that there was a pool and we got an amazing deal. When we arrived we couldn't believe the size of the place and it was almost empty. I actually got to swim laps in the pool.  They upgraded everyone to rooms near the main lodge to keep everyone together. No complaints. The haze is doing nothing for tourism and in fact we didn't see the sun for the whole 3 days.

Love the towel folding

The pool...almost 50m

We had a room on the second floor but first floor had access to this pool which was 150 m long....I jumped in one morning and swam it for laughs.

We rented a scooter and went for a ride down to see friends or ours who had rented a house for a week. Checking out the corrosion from the sea. It looked like they had tried to make a boardwalk type structure that didn't quite hold

Our friends an their scooters.

Rubber plantation

The beach was pretty empty and water was beautiful

A few beach pics

Fishing boat in distance.

Morning swim

Eating on the beach.

 Day two road trip was Old Town at the other end of the island. The haze was incredible.

Buying gas in a bottle begins to feel normal

The just had a blue marlin delivered at the restaurant next door...it's always someones brother who catches it. So, we indulged that nice...yummy. 

 Our little buddies....in typical Thai swim suits. Many workers here are from Burma, as are these three men.