Hello Thailand!

We just finished a month of work in Bangkok, which seems like an odd way to spend a "holiday". Like I mentioned last time, the main point of going back there was for Ella to get her CELTA. And for some reason, a flight to Thailand is cheaper than one to Shanghai - not to mention the CELTA is about $600 cheaper there. Weird. Anyway, Ella finished with a Pass B, which is not an easy thing to do. About 80% get a regular Pass, and only the top 1% pull off a Pass A, so it's a pretty big deal. Proud of her.

And what did I do with myself? I am now a Google Certified Educator (which is not a huge deal - just a few hours of study and $10 to take a test), but it should like nice on a CV. I also took my hopefully final exam for my US Teaching License. The results come about a month later, so as of time of writing, I have no idea if I passed or not. It was pretty difficult, and one of the longest tests I've ever taken - about 3.5 hours. So I'd rather to not do it again.

The project which is far more interesting, that I hinted about last time, is that I am writing a book. I debated if I should mention it at all on this blog, because if it becomes a project that goes nowhere, I would just feel silly. But at the same time, it's not like anyone really reads this, and maybe putting it down on "paper" will attach some obligation for me to finish it. It's sort of like an "Teaching English Abroad for Dummies" book, with how to get started, countries to work in, how to teach, how to cope, things like that. Right now it's around 150 pages, but I still have more work to do - mostly on countries I have never worked in. If for some reason you are desperate (how?) some of the content is adapted from my other "professional" blog - link on the right side. I actually was a lot busier than I thought this month, so I wasn't able to work on it as much as I would like. I don't really have any high aspirations, even if a few friends read it that would be great. My hope is to one day Amazon e-publish it, and if 20 people read it, I would be thrilled. I have no idea when it will be done, or if it will be done.

Anyway, always nice to see Bangkok again, especially old friends. It really is an amazing city to be in, but being there reminded me of just how bad my work-life balance was while there. Everything costs about the same as it does in China, I was making about 1/3rd as much, and working twice as hard. So for a holiday, it's great. As a place to live, I don't know... I would like to feel less poor. But after our busy month of cramming, we wanted our proper holiday. So hello, Indonesia. It's one of the few countries in the region I've never been to, so let's see what it has to offer.

We started in Bali, and so would begin our constant displeasure with transport. We arrived around 1am, and agreed to pay a high amount (well, $7, which is a kings ransom in some parts of the world) to go 5km. But without much of a choice, we turned in ready to start the next day at Kuta, a place we had repeatedly been told is a shitty place Australians have ruined.

Well, they're not wrong. It's sort of like Pattaya without the adult entertainment, just bar after bar and old men who are definitely not pulling off... whatever it is they are trying to pull off. It's a crowded place, but at the same time we were in "holiday mode" and were fine with eating pizza and sleeping all day. But one day we gathered the strength and went south to the Bukit, which might as well be a different country. Suddenly things are super rural, chickens everywhere, with not a KFC in sight - not that there's anything wrong with that. The first place of interest was Gunung Payung, a small beach so far off the tourist path even our driver went and took photos. It's a very secluded cove, too rocky to swim but was cool for some photos.

We had a late start, so the only other place we had time for was Uluwatu Temple. This place was really cool. Set on top of a high cliff overlooking the sea, it had some great views. Unfortunately you couldn't go all the way in the temple, but still it was impressive. We had a nice walk, got some great photos, and saw a monkey opening a Sprite - clever little guy.

After dinner at the very nice Poppies restaurant (thanks for the tip, Joe), that was about it for Kuta. Yeah, short one this time. Partially because we mostly just slept and ate the first few days, and partially because I have few nice things to say about Kuta. If you're 22 and have never left your hometown, it is probably interesting. If you have been to any tourist trap of a beach ever, you know what to expect. So the next stop is Ubud, up north in the "mountains". Hopefully it has more to offer, without all the frat boys.