Trip to Pattaya

We got back yesterday from our trip to Pattaya and it was an overwhelming success. Everything started well, when I arrived at work on Friday morning the bus we'd hired was already there - and it had been pimped...I give you..."Big Bird":


It was great to see the boys faces on the (2 hour) journey - it's so good for them to see all of the different sights out of the windows...we had an earlier proposal trip cancelled by the powers that be because allegedly it was too far to travel but I honestly believe that if we had turned around and headed home after getting there the boys would still have been happy.

The resort was excellent - we had a really nice pool which was literally a couple of steps from the beach.

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed the clouds looking a little threatening in the previous picture...well, about an hour after arriving, the heavens opened and there was a little bit of a thunder storm.

We didn't let that dampen our spirits though - the guys watched a DVD (did I tell you that we also bought a DVD player with the painting money?) and when the rain had stopped we got them changed and went for a dip!

The accommodation was very good - certainly the guys won't have seen anything like it before. We had two wooden beach huts like the one you can see here.

It made a rather nice change from the tiled floors and metal bars in the wards...Another thing that was alien for the boys was the air-con - we tucked a few of them into bed like this:

And when we went back 20 minutes later they had all squeezed together in the middle of the bed to stay warm - it was very cute!

On Friday night we did a seafood barbecue. In Thailand, when you're near the sea, every meal is seafood - breakfast, lunch and dinner...At least it was fresh...in fact some of it was so fresh that it was actually still alive!

On Saturday we had excellent weather and spent most of the morning in the pool. After lunch, we checked out and went to Underwater World which is an aquarium in Pattaya (and after speaking to the manager we were able to get a bit of a discount too!)...Nung, the guy I was looking after, just kept saying "bplaa" (the Thai word for "fish) at every exhibit...maybe it was sarcasm and he was just trying to make the point that he was bored...

Of course he wasn't bored at all...he loved the whole trip and so did all of the boys we took. I must admit that their joy gave me enormous satisfaction as I hope it will to you too...

By the way Kenneth, unfortunately the Fanny Bar seems to have been discontinued - I've looked everywhere for them (to be fair I haven't asked any assistants where I can find them but in asking such questions in Bangkok might get you more than you bargained for)...that picture was taken a while ago...still, if you want a box of chocolate flavour Collon then get your orders in!

That's Life!

You know, it was never my intention that this blog turn into an episode of That's Life but some things you just can't resist...(the first one is pronouced "Colon" by the way)



Just to let you all know I have been successful with my proposal for spending some of the money from the paintings. We're going to take a few of the guys to the seaside (Pattaya) for 2 days this weekend...You can't really underestimate how amazing an experience this will be for them...They don't know anything other than the orphanage...a few of them will have been out before on a couple of trips, some may not have - I don't know...what will make this extra special is that they will be sleeping somewhere other than the wards - somewhere nice and comfortable with people who care about them...

Every aspect of this trip will be great for the guys so you can all give yourselves a pat on the back for being a part of it...I'll make sure I get lots of pictures of them enjoying themselves...

By the way, don't know if you've heard Mark and Jenny's good news but you can now call me Uncle Paul...I am the very proud owner of a brand new nephew btw!

Back from outer space

It's the news you've all been waiting for...Rachawadee Lady Boys went ahead as planned and I, "Paula" took a full part. Everything went as well as we could have hoped...we were on stage first, so when we came out everyone was sitting down and it was the first they had seen of us dressed as women (it was all a big secret) - we got an amazing response and I think they all loved the dance as well...in fact when everyone had finished we had to do an encore and we were each interviewed on stage...when asked how I felt about doing the performance I said "natural"...apparently loads of the Thai staff think I'm gay now!

Anyway, you don't really care about any of that do you? You just want to see the pictures so here they are:






After the camp a few of us stayed on in Hua-Hin which is a beach resort popular with Thais (mainly because it hasn't been completely overrun by Farangs)...it's probably the equivalent of Weston-Super-Mare in the UK apart from the fact that it's nothing like it! It was very nice to chill out for a few days on the beach...there are probably nicer resorts in Thailand but I liked the fact that there were a lot of Thais there...

It's interesting to see how they are at the beach...here it is unfashionable to be brown (so I'm really in!). I think this is because they are influenced by western culture but also because the people here who are very brown are the poor people who have to work outside...so anyway, the busiest time on the beach was about 5:30 in the evening when the sun was going down - just as the (sun-burnt) foreigners were heading back to their hotels for a shower the Thais were streaming onto the beach in their hundreds!

It was nice to get back to work on Monday after having a whole week off - I got the impression that the guys were pretty pleased to see us as well...By the way, I have a plan to spend some of the money we've raised from the paintings (which is a hell of a lot so thanks very much to everyone who has made a donation)...I have to seek permission tomorrow from the director of the charity as it will involve taking some guys out of the orphanage for a couple of days - I'll give you the full details when (hopefully) everything is sorted.

Sicknote

I shagged my knee playing footy on Tuesday night, well someone else shagged my knee on Tuesday night to be more precise...actually that's not very precise at all, perhaps I should rephrase that...

Anyway, I did a bit of damage to my ligaments so there is a small chance that I might not be able to take part in the Rachawadee Lady Boys Extravaganza! I did a practice on Thursday with a Zimmer Frame but that didn't go too well...I am more hopeful than Wayne Rooney of making an appearance, but unlike with him, the rest of the guys are going to make an embarrassment of themselves whether I'm there or not!

I wonder if a Thai massage will help...Since I've been here I've had two - both at a Blind School down the road from work...it's the (blind and partially sighted) guys at the school that do the massage, it's a good way for them to make money and it's pretty good value as well...I can't remember exactly how much it was but it was in the region of a couple of quid for 2 hours...I have to say that the 2nd massage I got has put me off for life though - you know that when someone digs their fingers into a really painful place between your muscles and you can't bear the pain for more than a couple of seconds? Well imagine that for 2 hours...

I have considered going for a more watered down massage since but it tends to be cute Thai women doing them and I don't really fancy thinking about Ann Widdecombe for 2 hours!

There's a little island just across the river from where we live called Koh Kret...it's quite unusual for the area because there are no cars at all on it...it's populated by Mons (an ethnic group from Burma) who dominated the central region of Thailand between the 6th and 10th centuries...the main attraction is "kwan arman" which is a style of pottery for which the people of the island are famous...they've been making such pieces for hundreds and hundreds of years in the ancient traditional style...here is a typical example I saw the last time I visited: