Skatbos in Thailand

We have been done teaching English for a week now.  After we finished classes last Friday and got our grades and lesson plans turned in, we left for a few days of fun.  Our first stop was Bangkok to see some of our friends for the last time and pick up our TESOL certificates.  Our mood was a little different this weekend.  It was odd to say goodbye to friends and not know if we will see them again.  Some are staying to teach and others are heading home, like us.  Everyone has a break and is starting their travels.  We said to some, “maybe we can meet up in Laos” and “We’ll be around until the end of October.”  I think we all knew that there is a slim chance we’ll all be in the same place, at the same time again.  Tim and I are also pretty done with Bangkok. There is so much to see and do but nights in cheap guesthouses on Khao San Road has its limits.

We enjoyed the little luxuries of Khao San Road one last time.  We both got 60 minute Thai massages for 200 baht ($6).  Thai massage is different than our traditional massages.  They push on pressure points instead of rubbing muscles and do a lot of bending and stretching joints and muscles.  I WAS IN HEAVEN!  Tim describes his experience like this, “My massage was a metaphor for my entire experience in Thailand, extremely painful but worth it!”  Miraculously we woke up the next day and had no muscle pain at all.

Sitting on a curb, eating a wine and cheese dinner.

Sunday we left for Koh Samet.  This island is pretty close to Bangkok and is a weekend getaway spot for the locals.  Luckily, we were there during the week.  It was really nice to be on vacation with Thai people rather than the overly westernized touristy spots we have also encountered.  While waiting for the fairy to take us to the island we found a little shop with boxed red wine and Gouda cheese, so that was our dinner.

Beach restaurant

During our 4 days on Koh Samet we layed on the beach, ate seafood bbq, slept in, watched international TV (little luxuries), and watched fireshows at night.  It was pretty rainy some days but that reduced the guilt we felt for

Dinner date on the beach!

sleeping in and watching TV on an island in the gulf of Thailand.
Thursday we started our trip back to Krathumbaen.  We have English camp from Monday to Wednesday and then our contract is officially done.  We are leaving for Cambodia the following day, October 1.  We are now working on packing everything we need/want back into our backpacks.  We will officially be homeless starting Oct 1.  It’s hard to believe that a year ago we were starting to research opportunities abroad and now we are in our final weeks in Asia.

Bungalows, they look like houses for the 7 dwarves.