First things first, we'd like to raise our glasses to M and L who got married last Saturday back in Blighty!!! Congrats to you both, we're looking forward to seeing some photo's on Facebook (and not looking forward at the same time...I think we missed a cracker of a wedding).
It feels like three years since I last updated the blog but in fact it's only been just over three weeks. I have one week left of my intensive (and I mean INTENSIVE) CELTA course (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults). I will write a review of the course for any of you budding EFL teachers out there when I'm done although at the moment I predict it will be more of a survival guide...
In the short window of opportunity I have bestowed upon me early on this Saturday morning, I thought I would quickly upload my daily commute from Ramkamhaeng to Silom. Silom is in the heart of Bangkok and this is where International House, the CELTA centre, is based. The first three days of the course took me two hours by taxi and by BTS Skytrain - not good. I asked E to get some advice from some lifers at her school and they recommended getting the canal boat instead. This has knocked off 30 minutes of my commute and remains to be my mode of transportation up until this point. Although, I must add, after the initial novelty of getting a boat into town, the stench and the heat is starting to contribute to my loathing of this trip. I would recommend it to anyone wishing to see Bangkok by boat though. Anyhoo, here we go...
Taxi drops me off here at 6:45 am after a fifteen minute cab journey...
Cross over the bridge and drop my change into the blind singer's cup...
Past the motorbike taxi's who whiz you down the road to the pier...
Through the Wat Si Bun Rueang temples...
You sometimes see the commuters kneeling before the monks for a blessing but unfortunately not today...
To the pier where boats leave every minute or so and that's my one...
I hop on and am always the only farang on the boat. Those blue tarpaulin sheets are there to guard you from the water that sometimes splashes into the boat. They don't always work as I found out the other day...
Over the 40 minutes or so the boat gets pretty packed...
Wiping the canal's water off my face, I arrive at Asok Petchaburi where some entrepreneurial souls have set up breakfast stalls for the commuters...
To Asoke Metro station...
Air-conditioned tube, anyone??
Arrive at Silom...
Get my breakfast in a bag...
And finally, at 8am, I arrive to plan my lesson for the day...
Until next time. If I'm still standing.
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