The fortnight of Summer school came to a spooky crescendo
with a Hallowe’en party for the kids. On
Friday morning my group of cute little preschoolers metamorphosed into
vampires, witches and Harry Potters. At
morning song I turned around to see a Mummy arriving to the festivities, a K1
kid wrapped head to toe in red stained gauze!
I was heartily impressed by the creative effort the parents had gone to
on their busy mornings to get these fun filled ghouls ready for school. The day was action packed with games and a
visit from the infamous Mr Pumpkin Head who went from classroom to classroom
chucking sweets around for the kids to scramble for, organised chaos!
By Friday evening I was ready for a beer to celebrate
surviving my maiden voyage as a teacher.
A rooftop party followed by a trip to Bon Bon resulted in a lost
Saturday…let’s just leave it at that though, yes?!
So, swiftly moving on, I accepted an invite to visit Khao No
Khao Kheo, just 40 minutes from Nakhon Sawan.
Erm, that’s what Google Maps said anyway, but I’m not sure the bods
behind Google take Tuk Tuks into consideration when plotting routes. The journey lasted an hour in a noisy Tuk Tuk
that I was sure would croak it halfway down the highway. It coughed and spluttered all the way to our
destination. Our driver stopped at
selected locations for photo ‘ops’ and brought us to the temple set into the
hill where he waited for us to scale the steps for the most exquisite view I’ve
seen since arriving in Thailand. Looking
across to mountains and palm trees I filled my lungs with the fresh clean
air. In NS the air isn’t exactly
conducive to deep cleansing breaths.
Traffic and garbage fumes fill your nostrils, one of the first things
that hits you on arrival in NS is the stench but it easily blends into the
cluster of new sounds, sights and smells so the stench is quickly forgotten
with all the senses going into overdrive and before long you’ve gotten used to
it.
The day had a crazy element to it, as they all do here, with
the monkeys that roam free on the roads, paths, parked vehicles…and anywhere
they can get to. I turned around at the
shriek of one of my friends who had a monkey clamber on top of her head. Her shocked and fearful expression was enough
to bring me to fits of laughter and tears to my eyes, I was useless to her cries
for help but she handled it superbly, I’m not sure I’d have been so graceful
with a monkey on my head. The lady
selling monkey treats at the side of the road coaxed it down with a stick. Meanwhile I was at the periphery trying to
compose myself and come up with a believable excuse for not assisting. In my defense, I’m not the only bad friend,
another reached for her camera and set it to ‘record’. But I think it would be a step too far to
post the video here so I’ll leave you with your imagination instead.
The day ended with the decreasing patience of our driver
who, despite having no English, managed to communicate that he wanted to
leave. So, after a long stay at the top
of the hill marvelling at the view and contemplating what an awesome decision
it was to come here, we descended and set off back to NS, still bursting into
sporadic fits of laughter at the opportunistic monkey making a dash for my
friend’s barnet. Perhaps it has a dream
to be the next Paul Mitchell? Monkeys
can have ambition, non? The journey home
incorporated a pretty view of the sunset over the highway and many waves from
passing motorcyclists. Remember what I
told you about dogs on motorbikes?
Didn’t believe me? Well, BOOM,
how d’ya like these apples?
Images: Sinéad Millea
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