Christmas

I had a lovely Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve with two dear friends and Christmas day at a friends house. They were having a 'family' Christmas and I was invited.

I took along roasted carrots and apple crisp. The food was delicious and the company fantastic. It's just the thing you need when you're feeling homesick.

We also had a secret santa. It wasn't assigned, so we drew numbers then took a gift in order.

It was a great day.

Birthday Fort

Thank you for the great birthday gifts! Grandad, your gift was perfect. Just what i've been thinking about.

To celebrate my birthday I had a blanket fort party. I had a b-f party last year and it was so much fun.

It was lovely to spend time with the friends that came to celebrate with me.

Also, always a bonus is that I get to live in my blanket fort until I get bored of it. Which will be never.

I have had to modify and maintain it. Some areas fell down and so I have downsized.

An amazing climate change project

Check out the link. A national geographic photographer set himself the epic task of documenting glacial change over years in order to demonstrate how our planet is changing.

Chasing Ice movie reveals largest iceberg break-up ever filmed - video http://gu.com/p/3ccgd

Dr. Who Scarf

I was asked to make a Dr. Who scarf for a friend for his birthday. He is a serious Dr. Who fan. I of course took the challenge.

I found the pattern on the BBC website and cut it short in order for it to be usable.

This is him with his scarf.

In Art

My friend Jon Renzella has a piece in a gallery in Taichung. The opening is this Sat. The exciting part for me, i'm in the piece. It is a woodcut print.
Here is a sneak preview.

Second-hand books

Last weekend I stopped by the second-hand book shop to see if I could pick up a good English book for a student. I also found this four volume of Heidegger on Nietzsche. All four volumes in one book for NT$500. That is £10. Amazing! On amazon.com you can buy two volumes in one book for £20. Needless to say that I bought it.

It boggles my mind what I randomly find here.

Passing the time~ jigsaw puzzle

Here is the 300 piece jigsaw puzzle. I did it over the course of this last week. It is a good way to unwind after work.

I watched episodes of Jonathan Creek and QI while doing this. Good times.

Granny Gillian

Today I bought a lint remover. I have been using it on everything I can think of. It is great. It brings back memories of using my grans one many moons ago. I have a cushion and other things that look brand new. I picked it up at a NT$39 store. 

That means everything in the store us about 84p. I love that shop. I also bought a couple of teacups (with saucers) and cushions for my dining room chairs.

This all leads me to believe that Granny Gillian has been discovered. I'm alright with that.

I'm sitting in my cape, looking upon a newly completed jigsaw puzzle thinking about getting back to that scarf I have been knitting for a friend. Lovely. All I need now is a cup of tea.

The Washing Machine Tax

I caused one of my kids to take great pains to explain he was upset with my socks. Hahaha. Now that i'm wearing actual shoes I have to wear socks. The problem...I don't have any matching socks.

I'm at a loss as to how this actually happens, so I believe it is a secret tax taken by my washing machine for its services.

Below is a picture of my offending socks. It was really funny how much he hated my socks. This is my esl class, so he had no trouble telling me so.

I'm  wearing four socks, none matching.

Weekend Shenanigans.

This weekend was one of celebrating time with new and old friends. I had an awesome time hanging with folks on Friday. This was a sendoff for a friend visiting. Saturday was spent recovering to get energy to get my groove on in the evening. I went dancing with some wonderful people. That was another seeing the dawn outing. Sunday I relaxed with friends later in the day. Here are some pics.

Gills 15 Minute Challenge

Take three knives and four cups. You have to use three cups and three knives to create a bridge of sorts to support the weight of another cup.

Notes:

The three cups cannot touch.
The knives should be of equal weight (same kind).
You must use all three cups and all three knives.

Good luck, here's how not to do it.

MEAD

Oh yes, I'm brewing again. It is awesome! I know a guy who's really into brewing and had a workshop. I went along and bought a starter kit. I only have one airlock at the moment. I want a second batch on the go, so I'm going to try and make my own. Wish me luck.

I'll keep you updated with it's progress.

In the meantime, meet Rupert. He was made with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, oranges and lemons. I used a champagne yeast. It will be quite strong. I'm going to try the same recipe with a bread yeast for a lower alcohol content and compare the taste of the two.

Working in a construction site

My branch was being refurbished. Basically reducing the building by half but also making the place look nice.

The branch does look fab! However I still maintain it should have been closed during the refurbishment. Here are a couple of pictures to show what was lying around the teachers area. I tripped a few times on wires. I made my opinion know but there's nothing I could do. I'm just a minion.

I was really angry one day when the whole place stunk of glue. I got high and had a mother of a headache.

Oh yeah, and someone like me with breathing/allergy problems working in a place full of wood dust. I was not pleased.

What's done is done.

Coffee hiatus

I managed longer than a month off coffee at work. I was really proud of myself! I don't have a coffee everyday, but I do have a couple a week. Last week I was sick, so I had coffee nearly everyday.

It is good to relax before class and not stress about making time together a coffee.

Coffee and my realisation

I used my food voucher in Bangkok airport at Starbucks. Unsurprisingly the coffee was great. I got a huge coffee and a muffin. I sat down for an hour and read a book. It was great...until later.

As I have mentioned I love walking around airports. After drinking my coffee and resuming my wanderings I was struck with a wave of irritation and rage. It came from nowhere. There was no reason for it.

The only change was the coffee. I decided that I would try and not drink coffee for a while.

I have taught the past two weeks without any coffee. I have saved a lot f money, I'm a two or three coffee a day lady.

I have to admit that I have had a lot more patience with my students and my fuse has grown significantly.

No coffee for Gilly Bean. Haha. Of course I get a little tired on my busy days but the kids will usually bring me back up.

I have one awesome kid in my early mon/wed/fri class and he is like natural caffeine. He us so happy and excited all the time. It is wonderful to have students like that.

Getting back to Taiwan

Getting to Bangkok airport is the easiest thing to do. There are cabs everywhere and you'll always find one outside your hotel.

I had to wait for both my flights. I flew with one airline, I ha connecting flights in Hong Kong and all four of my flights were delayed. I'm not sure if I should give the name for legal reasons.

However, I was given a food voucher in Bangkok airport. Also for Brits, they have Boots there. I felt quite nostalgic.

I really like Bangkok airport! It has plenty of shops and restaurant areas to pass the time. It is also roomy, so even if it is really busy you won't notice it that much.

I love walking around airports and this is a good one to do it in. It also has plenty of computer areas with free Internet access. These areas have at least ten computers. Great!

Wat Pho

Wat Pho is behind the Grand Palace and it is well worth the visit.

We couldn't get into the Grand Palace because they have a strict dress code. Make sure your legs an arms are covered. If you're wearing a dress take a sarong or two to cover up with. They do have clothes you can borrow but the line is incredibly long. That is why we didn't go in, the expected waiting time was an hour.

Wat Pho is a must. It was founded in 1781 AD. It is famous for being one of the oldest Wats in Bangkok and it has the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand.

The reclining Buddha is 15 m high and 43 m long with his right arm supporting the head with tight curls on two box-pillows of blue, richly encrusted with glass mosaics. It is so beautiful.

Khao San Road

This is famous in Bangkok for lots of shopping. It is one long street where you can buy clothing and usual touristy things. I bought a lot of dresses and a few shirts here.

We stayed in this area. I loved it there because it I walking distance to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The latter to follow in another post.

However, for those who live in Asia, particularly those used to night markets Khao San Road isn't all that exciting but you have a lot o Thailand style stuff to purchase.

Bus- Krabi to Bangkok

We reserved a place on a bus through our hotel. Excellent. A local open air 'bus' collected us to take us to the Krabi 'bus terminal'. It was a ram shackled shack and it was wonderful. We had to wait there for other arrivals.

Once everyone was there we all piled onto the bus. It was a pleasant ride until we had to get off to get another to Bangkok. We had issues with seats, I ended up in one that couldn't recline, but at least it wasn't the end of the world. It did have a.c and that's what counts!

The journey was long and dull. Folks mostly slept. I would recommend taking a little reading light in order to not disturb people with your overhead bus light.

There was a bathroom on the bus. I payed 600B. A cheap ticket indeed for such a long ride. There was a stop at about 1am to stretch the legs and buy water/food. It was a rip off but if you want water you will pay for it no matter what the price.

Long tail boat. Ao Nang to Railay

We decided to check out the beach at Railay and not do a tour.

It is ridiculously easy. You got to the beach (any hotel will tell you). You can't miss the ticket stand. It will be 200B for a return. You climb into a long tail boat when there are enough people waiting to fill it.

This could mean you wait a while but we were lucky. We waited about five minutes and got ours. The boat takes about ten minutes I think. I wasn't watching the time and it felt like a fast ride.

You will get a little wet from splash but it's not much.

Railay beach is beautiful and small. If you are staying there it is quiet and looks popular with couples, young and old, and families.

There are trees along the beach for some shade. There are a couple of places you can eat and a general convenience store. Other than that there is not much to do. It was lovely to relax on the beach.

The last boat from Railay is at 6pm and it's the same thing to get back. You give your ticket to a guy at the boats and he will direct you to next boat leaving for your destination.

Ao Nang

I can't compare it to Krabi town because I haven't been there. However, Ao Nang beach is a great little place. It all runs along one long road that first leads to the beach, then turns right and runs parallel to it. There are plenty of tuk tuk drivers around, so if you're feeling lazy you can grab one of those for between 20-40B depending on the distance.

I like the walk and from just about anywhere further away it will take between 10-15 mins to walk to the corner of the beach to get a long tail taxi boat.

We stayed at the top, as you come into the area at a hotel named Haleeva. The room was nice and the staff incredibly helpful. In fact, we booked our bus to Bangkok through the hotel. It cost 600B. I will tell you about that after the journey.

There are plenty of little shops to peruse. There is a Subway, Starbucks and a McDonalds for those looking for normality. This would be a mistake, Thai food is delicious everywhere!

I ate a soft shell crab curry last night at a place a stone throw away from my hotel. It was certainly tasty.

Here are two pictures: one of the beach and the other was the view from our hotel window.

Be warned, if you are a light sleeper don't stay near one of the two mosques. There are multiple calls to prayer and if you are close enough you will hear the whole prayer time. I personally think this is awesome and don't have a problem hearing this. The earliest is around 5am.

Ferry Koh Phi Phi to Krabi

Look around for tickets as we got a single way for 250B but if you buy your ticket at the pier it will definitely cost you 300B.

There are 4 times for the ferry. Check out the blurry picture. This was taken at the pier, so the price shows all times as 300B

The ferry was direct and a little smaller than the ferry from Phuket to KPP. It was an easy ride.

When you arrive in Krabi it's easy to get a bus or a taxi into town. My friend and I stayed at Ao Nang Beach area, the taxi was 400B total and it took about 20 mins.

Ko Phi Phi- evening entertainment

Our first two nights on KPP were quiet because it was a Buddha festival. The third night Pam and I met up with a few people and had a blast! We took in a fire poi show, a reggae bar that doesn't play reggae music but it does have a boxing ring. Volunteer fighters got a free drink. One of our party gave it a try. Good for her! Then we partied on the beach. A great night with awesome people.

I learned that a regular night on Ko Phi Phi is loud, busy and fun filled. The line of beach bars in Ton Sai village provide a plethora of choice in dance music.

This means that you will hear music until very late in just about any hotel you stay in.

Ko Phi Phi Day two/three

Day two...was spent in bed due to my throwing up all night and most of the day. Methinks it could have been heatstroke. Who knows. Luckily I was somewhat alright for day three. Yay!

Koh Phi Phi

It is beautiful here!

Ferry to Koh Phi Phi

We stayed at a backpackers hostel, which was great. We got a free upgrade to our room, so we had a private ensuite.

We booked the ferry through the hostel which meant it was 400b instead of 600b at the pier. Also transport to the ferry was included. Great!

The ferry was about two hours.