Just a very short blog entry. In the recent floods many of our friends have lost everything. Their homes and businesses destroyed by the relentless water. We want to raise money to help them get back on their feet and on with their lives as normal. This will take a long time and the repercussions could last years. Our good friend Claire has set up a donation page to raise money for flood victims. If you can spare 5 minutes to look at the page and pledge some money it will go to the very worthy cause and help give something back to the friends and the Thai people who have shown us so much kindness, generosity and love throughout our time here. Please take a look and see if you can help...

http://www.donationto.com/nakhonsawanflood

  
The water kept rising and rising and soon we were really frightened. The water and electricity was off and we only had enough food and drinking water for a couple of days. It became apparent that if we didn't leave soon we were going to be trapped in our apartment. We packed a small bag of essentials each and waited for the boat. As we left our building and got onto the boat the water already had hold of the ground floor and was working its way up the stairs steadily. It was difficult opening the door against the current of the river and we held our bags over our heads as we waded through the waist deep water.

 As the boat went through the streets, to take us to the safety of dry land, the city was becoming unrecognisable. We passed many other boats and rafts full of people fleeing the rushing waters and trying to salvage as many belongings as possible. An intersection, usually packed with hawker stalls a nightmare to drive through because of the motorbikes weaving in and out of the cumbersome trucks, had been transformed into a  frantic port. People were trying to negotiate rides, money was being exchanged, old ladies were being helped up,  furniture was being unloaded from the rescue boats, there was shouting, confusion, and the waters were still rising.

 We walked up to Wat Kiriwong, the temple where we run an English Club for the novice monks, as the monks had offered us the use of the school library to stay in. As we got to the entrance we signed in as evacuees. This is when it started to become real. Evacuee. We had been evacuated. We were told that the waters weren't expected to recede for a month. A month. We couldn't get home. The water was still rising. Excitement at seeing friends and shock of the situation numbed reality for that first day and night. Surely it wouldn't be a month. This was going to be OK. It'd be a week, maximum, surely. Wouldn't it? Not a month. The water wouldn't get much higher. It couldn't, surely. Could it? It would be fine though. We could practice our Thai everyday and play cards and it might get boring but it'd be fun really. Wouldn't it? We had books we could lend one another and stories to swap and games to play and actually it'd be fine. Wouldn't it? We might even have fun. We can walk up the mountain and visit the temples that are dry and actually it's going to be fine. It probably won't be a month anyway. Two weeks, maximum, surely. Is the water still rising?

 We carried on like this for the first two days until reality kicked in and the water did keep rising. It wasn't long before it was 2 metres high across the city and showing no signs of stopping. Only the highest ground was dry and thousands of displaced people moved to the couple of streets that were above the waters. Every temple, school, college, orphanage, government building or sports stadium that was available was filled with the newly homeless evacuees. In Wat Kiriwong alone there were 1,300 people living in every available space. Water became an issue very quickly. There was enough drinking water but not enough water for cleaning and flushing the toilet. With that concentration of people living side by side without being able to maintain basic hygiene standards the next worry was illness. Aid vans came in bringing drinking water, food and medicines and volunteers were working around the clock distributing medication to the sick. I later found out that there were two reasons that the water was off. The river had flooded the water pumps and the authorities had switched off the electricity which runs the pumps because several people had already been killed by electrocution. 

Things seemed to be getting more and more serious here. And yet, there was no mention of Nakhon Sawan in the international media. Every report I read was about the terrible situation in Ayuthaya or the possibility of Bangkok flooding. Now this made me think. Why would there be reports about Ayuthaya and not about Nakhon Sawan. They are very similar situations, why isn't anyone reporting it? Ayuthaya is the home to several international factories including Honda. Were the media only covering the devasation because of the big business that was in the province? Of course. The main concern in the reports I read about Ayuthaya were about the damage to business, not people's lives being lost, not the failure of thousands of acres of rice crops, not Thai people's livelihoods, homes and belongings being destroyed, no. They were worried about Honda. In fact, on the BBC News website the flooding reports about Ayuthaya were in the Business section. Now, this shouldn't be suprising, we all know that the media tells us what we think we need to know, what is really important and what we shouldn't worry our pretty little heads about but I was getting angry and frustrated by the obvious disinterest in human life. I contacted the BBC. 


 Click here.

CNN read the report and contacted me.

Click here.

http://www.charter.net/video/play/695470/genres/news

Having informed people about what was going on here we were all feeling more positive. But Stress is very good at stealing positive thoughts. It creeps up on you when you least expect it. It stops you being able to focus on anything, find any joy in anything and takes great pleasure in reminding you of all that has been lost, the hopelessness, the exhausting work that will come when the waters have receded. It makes you short tempered, teary, ambivalent towards relationships. It steals your appetite, like it knows that if you eat you may be strong enough to fight it. It makes you ill, leaves you weak, stops you sleeping. Bullies you into submission until you really can't fight it. Stress wins and then Apathy takes over and sends you off to sleep. It makes you sleep for days and convinces you that Stress can't get you if you're asleep. Exhausted, you succumb. The waters recede little by little revealing devastation, despair and disease. You should be happy that the the river is finally retreating but Stress and Apathy have already had their wicked way with you and you're left despondent.

This has been, without a doubt one of the most challenging experiences of my life. It has not, as it might seem to the person reading this on their sofa or at their desk with a cuppa, been an exciting adventure. It has not been a holiday. A natural disaster does not end when the waters recede, the volcano stops spewing or the earth stops shaking. It lasts much longer than the news corporations report on it. 

It is still happening right now.

I wrote this 9 days ago when we had just been hit by the flooding.
Here's what was going on then...



 Well, what an exciting week it’s been. I think I’ll split the events of the last seven days so that it’s easier to digest.

Part 1

So we bussed our way down to Bangkok to take in the city and of course splurge on a new digital SLR camera. Usually Bangkok is super stressful, we have to psyche ourselves up for the madness of it all and then can’t wait to get out of there. This time was different. We spent a day soaking up the western delights of the Siam Paragon shopping mall, ate Indian, Italian and more Indian food, watched an English movie, and, of course, bought our new baby (the camera). It was wonderful. So then we had to go out and test our new toy. We spent a day wandering around the Banglampu area of Bangkok and took hundreds of photos whilst roaming the streets and popping into any temples we came across.

After three very chilled out days in the city we headed south to Chumpon and then on to Koh Tao. We stayed and did our open water divers course with Ban’s Diving Resort. We would definitely recommend them! If you want to learn to dive the price is very reasonable and included 4 nights free accommodation, free travel (bus and catamaran) from Bangkok as well as the course itself and all of the equipment. It’s a really professional set up and everyone we met there was lovely. In total we paid around 10,000 baht ( approx. £200) each, which was great value and well worth every penny. The free rooms had a fan, TV and en suite and looked onto one of the two swimming pools. Beautiful.
After learning a lot about the physics of diving, safety, equipment, emergency procedures and what not, we went for our first closed water dive session in the swimming pool. It was so strange breathing under water. It takes a lot of will power to convince your brain that you can breathe, that you’re not going to die and all is well. After learning the skills and practicing the emergency routines and scenarios we were allowed to be unleashed on the ocean.

 Koh Tao has over 20 different dive sites. As Open Water divers we can’t dive deeper than 18 metres so we only saw 3 of those sites (in 4 dives over 2 days). The first dive was incredible, only 10 metres deep, but this was the one where we were all getting to grips with our buoyancy and breathing. We saw so many incredible species of fish and the highlight was probably swimming through a huge shoal of fish. One would think that seeing a group of people heading your way would send the fish darting but they were totally unfazed by it all and they just sort of absorbed us. They surrounded us, they were on both sides and above us, it was amazing. We were especially lucky on our second dive. This dive was at a site called White Rock. By the time we reached it the sea had become quite choppy. Our descent was down a rope and it was such a relief to get under the water and away from the waves. The coral at this sight was beautiful and there were hundreds of different species of fish. The most incredible thing we came across was a turtle. When the instructor gave the hand signal for turtle and pointed towards it I thought my heart would stop there and then. They’d mentioned that now and then there were sightings of them but never did I think we’d be lucky enough to see one. He was a big Hawksbeak Turtle and he was slowly climbing up the coral, having a munch as he went. Just as we were about to move on he picked up his pace a bit and thrust himself upwards, off the coral, towards us. He then, very gracefully, swam along side us between the two of us, before heading up to the surface for a spot of fresh air. It was difficult not to leave the instructor and just spend the rest of our time with this magnificent creature but we stayed focus and carried on our way.

Dive three, 18 metres, was a dive site called Twin Peaks, we had our first go at navigation and using a compass under the water and we also did a bit of swimming through obstacles, through caves and gaps between the rocks. Again we saw some awesome fish and a couple of scary ones too. Whilst we sat on the bottom of the sea several stingrays glided past and buried themselves in the sand. Large Trigger Fish guarded their territories open mouthed, bearing their teeth, to warn us off. Our final dive was back at White Rock, this time to 18 metres, but our turtle friend wasn’t there. We did see more stingrays and were also lucky to see a Stone Fish. I say lucky for 2 reasons, as their name suggests they are very well camouflaged and even when pointed out its difficult to see them but also if you were to accidentally touch this critter you’d defiantly know about it. They pack a nasty punch and cause serious swelling and a trip to the hospital. So after our classroom sessions, closed water dives, open water dives and our exam it was over and we had our PADI Open Water Dive liscence. It was so wonderful and we met some really great people from all over the world. It was undoubtedly one of the best holidays we’ve ever had and I think we both agree on of the best experiences of our lives. We’re planning to go back in the summer to get our Advanced Open Diver, which will mean we can specialise (wreck diving, night diving, photography, navigation), dive to 30 metres, have a bit more independence and really learn how to be good divers. On our last day we took some photos and then watched Wales beat Ireland in the rugby world cup quarter finals. Being one of the minority of Welsh folks in an Australian run pub full of Irish fans, we were thrilled to see our boys kick some arse. It was the perfect end to an awesome holiday.

Part 2

So then we headed home…or tried to. Friends called to let us know that the flooding had got worse and that the main highway from central to north Thailand was flooded. Ayuthaya had flooded meaning that we were either going to be stranded in Bangkok, which was beginning to flood, or find a bus that would take us on a detour. Luckily the buses had just started running again and we managed to get back, though it took 2 hours longer than the main route. Flooding in the province had got worse and there was still more water to come as the dams had reached capacity and had to release water. The dikes that had been built were still protecting the city from the ever-expanding river. Then, this morning, at around 10am, one of the dikes broke. And boy oh boy did the water flow. It was very scary hearing the sirens go off to warn everyone and there was panic in the streets. We dashed out to stock up on dried food and plenty of water and by the time we came back many of the roads were under the water. Now, nearly 12 hours later, our street looks like a river. The current is strong and the water is rising every hour. Vehicles can’t get down it anymore and the only way to get around is by boat or to brave the filthy waters and wade. Most of our friends’ homes have been flooded and we’re so thankful to be on the 3rd floor of our building. Our water has been turned off and a lot of the city is without electricity. The worrying thing is not knowing how long it will last, how long people will be left homeless as the waters ravish their homes and businesses. There is more water due to come from upstream and now we just have to stick it out and hope for the best. We’re safe and like I said we have food and water, and most importantly, each other. Will update this again when I can next get hold of an internet connection.

It's been nearly six months since we last updated you on our adventures. We've been working hard and other than the day to day adventures that are part and parcel of being a primary school teacher in Thailand, the road and our travels have taken a back seat. However, we are now half way through the school year and have our mid-year break. So we're heading off on the road again. Actually school finished early and abruptly. I have no idea if there has been any media coverage in the UK about the flooding in Thailand, but in the north of the country it really has affected everyone. Villages, towns and cities have been flooded, the dams are near full capacity, the rivers have burst their banks and thousands of people are homeless whilst the water claims the land. Nakhon Sawan is the city where the Chaopraya river, the biggest and most important river in Thailand, is born. It is here that several rivers join  to make the great  river that runs to Bangkok. So, during the rainy season the city is always at great risk of flooding. Much of the province has been under water for several weeks now but the local authorities, along with the hard work of military personnel and volunteers, have done a great job at keeping the waters at bay and protecting the city. Everyday the temporary gravel and sandbag walls that are holding back the river, which has already reached the top of many of the permanent flood protection walls, get higher and higher. The river becomes more threatening everyday and we all sit and wait in fear every time we have a heavy down pour. The monsoons are too much for the drainage systems and the streets quickly become small rivers, several feet deep in water, from the backed up sewers. This of course means that the sewer critters, cockroaches and rats, are forced up into the streets and into peoples homes. 
Anyway, because of the imminent threat of flooding and the fact that many students are already homeless, the schools in the area have closed. Which means we're off work and can get back on track with our adventuring. Every cloud...
We're heading south to the island of Koh Tao (Turtle Island), apparently named so because of the vast amount of turtles that used to nest there. Sadly the turtles are long gone but the island remains one of the most popular places in the world for divers to get their PADi certificate. We're off next week and will update you on our scuba lessons and adventures that ensue. 
Watch this space...

It's been a while since we posted anything. We've just been too busy having fun back home in Nakhon Sawan. Last week 13th-15th was Thai new year, Songkran, which is a three day water fight. This serves two purposes, it cools everyone down as the temperatures are still rising (it is not comfortable here right now), but more importantly it washes everything bad away ready for the next year. Songkran used to be about respecting elders and being blessed by monks but it's evolved into a three day wet party. And man, we really did have fun. With far too much beer consumed and soaked through we danced all day and night and sang along to Thai pop songs. On the last day of songkran we roamed the streets with our water pistols and buckets and played along with the mass water fight. It was great fun but after we'd sat and dried off in a restaurant we were reluctant to rejoin the madness (it's impossible not to join in, the streets are packed full of people who are ready to give you a soaking!). After three days we felt we'd had our share and decided that it was a good thing that the national holiday was coming to an end. But we're still not safe, some die hard water warriors are still playing and insist on soaking any unsuspecting victim who walks/ drives past them and their hose pipe.
On Saturday night we headed to Bangkok to the airport to pick up our pal Jon who has come to visit for two weeks. We decided it would be a good idea to save money and get to the airport early and just sleep there until he arrived at 11 the next morning. Great plan, didn't quite work out like that, airports are not the most comfortable of places, we managed to sleep for a couple of hours but we were on time for Jon! We brought him back to Nakhon Sawan yesterday, here for a few days and then off to the mountainous north of the country. Next stop Chiang Mai...

Brunei.
Michael Jackson's 'Earth Song' springs to mind. As soon as we entered Brunei, one of the smallest and richest countries in the world, it became apparent that it was a country where black gold is prized over all else. We saw a lot of deforestation, making way for oil drills and housing for oil workers. It was clear from the start that neither conservation nor tourism were priorities for Brunei, in fact there is very little to do there for tourists and 3 days there really felt like more than enough.
Our main reasons for visiting Brunei were to get closer to our goal of seeing every country in the world, but more importantly to see our friend Lynette and her family who have been posted there with the army.

It was so wonderful to see a familiar face and hear some welsh accents! It was interesting to get a feel for the country through the eyes of a local. It was nice to be with friends for J's birthday too. Lynette bought him a little chocolate cake and we had a few cheeky drinks (in the house of course, the sale of alcohol is prohibited in Islamic Brunei- only the foreign workers can get hold of it). Luckily we missed the venomous snake that decided to go for a wriggle on Lynette and Jim's patio (one of the dangers of living on the edge of a rainforest which is being destroyed- the animals have to go somewhere). We were throughly spoiled by them, we even had exotic foreign food (fish and chips!) it really was good to see them. Good fun, good conversation and good friends. It was sad to say goodbye but we headed off on a rickety bus to the capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan. Lynette had warned us that it wasn't much of a city but we weren't prepared for really how small it was. The main attraction was the mosque, Omar Ali Saifuddien, which really was beautiful (even in the rain), but apart from that there really was very little to do. We ended up getting soaked as we walked back to our hotel in the rain,  what sort of capital city doesn't have taxis?
The next morning we flew out of BSB back to Kuala Lumpur and then the real journey began, bussing it back to Nakhon Sawan. We did Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth in 4 hours, stayed overnight, Butterworth to Hat Yai (Thaiand) in 5 hours, Hat Yai to Bangkok in a whopping 15 hours (due to the awful floods in the south of Thailand, really was like driving through a river), and finally 4 hours to Nakhon Sawan, By the end of it we were exhausted and aching, my ankles were swollen (DVT?!) but we were glad to be home.
This week is Songrkan, Thai new year, a 3 day water fight! And then our friend Jon is coming to travel Thailand with us. The adventure continues...

We made it. We survived the jungle.
We left Kuching on the most uncomfortable bus in Malaysia. There are very few main roads in Sarawak. Now, when I say 'few' I actually mean to say one, so we took the one road all the way to Miri, 14 hours drive away. The road is uneven and weaves through the mountainous jungle, so you can imagine it was a pretty bumpy ride. With around 5 hours sleep between us we were feeling pretty ratty at 6am the following morning, expecially when we realised we still had over an hour to go. Luckily, to cheer us up, the driver decided to put on Jackass 3D which of course lightened our mood. The joy of seeing  grown men shit and vomit everywhere is a great antidote to a bad mood. Then, suddenly, the bus filled with smoke. We grabbed our stuff and rushed to the front ready to get out. The doors were open and one man was already out and I was more than ready to get out next. Just as I was stepping out of the door the bus jolted forwards. The driver seemed to have lost control. We were all thrown forwards and then backwards as the driver braked sharply in panic. For a second it looked like the bus was going to skid into the ditch. As soon as the bus was still for long enough we jumped out and ran down the road, a safe distance away from it. It was Ok though, the driver explained everything. 
'I think the engine is broken'. 
 We stood in the rain wondering what the hell we were gonna do when a car pulled up with a grinning man offering to give us a lift the rest of the way. It wasn't far, we only had about 30minutes left of the 14 hour journey. We got in and went speeding off to Miri. 
Finally we made it to our guesthouse, unscathed. We booked our tickets to go to Mulu National Park (the reason we came to Borneo- UNESCO protected primary rainforest-  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunung_Mulu_National_Park) and then went  in search of food in the direction of the mall. Whilst jabbering away about some rubbish and laughing like a lunatic (as I often do) I tripped over a paving slab. I didn't fall on my face but my right foot didn't do well out of it and I was finding it difficult to walk. Mulu less than 24 hours away and I couldn't walk properly! Luckily it was only bruised and after a good nights sleep I could walk on it again. 
So, off to Mulu! 
We took our tiny plane out into the rainforest and were relieved to have finally made it. Mulu gets a lot of visitors, far more than Bako, and this was obvious from the beginning. Everything was signposted and the walkways were raised boardwalks. User friendly jungle. I must admit that this did take away part of the excitement of the 'jungle experience'. Being with guides and feeling safe took away the fear factor (there was no chance accidentally stepping on a snake!) but it didn't take away the beauty of the incredible primary rain forest. We had a guided walk through the jungle to the canopy walk (a rope bridge high up in the forest canopy) and then headed off to see some of the parks incredible cave system. We went to Lang Cave and then walked through part of Deer Cave. Deer Cave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_Cave) is breath taking, it is so vast. Visitors can only enter a small part of it but what we saw was incredible. It is the home to 3 million bats. Every night the bats eat 15 tonnes of insects...thats an awful lot of bat poo! The cave is carpeted in thick smelly guano, the perfect home for lots of nasty creepy crawlies! We'd hoped to watch the bats leave the cave at sunset but the rain meant that the bats called off their grand exit of the cave and we walked back to camp in the dark, soggy and a little disappointed. This morning we had a guided tour of Wind Cave, Lady Cave and Clear Water Cave. We took a boat 3km down river and saw some incredible rock formations. Wind Cave's narrow 'alleyways' strangely create breezes (hence the name) and Clear Water still has the river running through it. It was a good  2 days adventuring. We've had a great time in Borneo. 
Next stop Brunei.....

Wow! Where to start?!
We've had an incredible few days here in Kuching. After a couple of days mooching about town, visiting the worst museums either of us have ever seen, we embarked on our mission to see the natural wonders of Borneo. We splashed out on a guided tour through the wetlands at  sunset in the hope that we'd get a glimpse of some wildlife. Again, we were reminded that wild animals are shy and unpredictable and that we may not see anything. After our luck with the orangutans we decided to risk it and fork out the money. Before we'd even begun our trip we started seeing weird and wonderful creatures. At the dock were several Mud Skippers (amphibious fish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudskipper) skipping along the mud, as they do. We got on the small boat, along with our captain, guide and another couple, and we headed off through the mangroves. We were very lucky and managed to see everything we'd hoped. First we got close to a pair of  critically endangered Irrawaddy river dolphins (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrawaddy_dolphin) and then our winning streak kept on going. We saw a group of big nosed, pot bellied, Proboscis monkeys (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_Monkey) chilling out in the mangroves and then, after the sunset, we had a close encounter with a 15 foot crocodile! It was both terrifying and exhilarating to be so close to a wild animal which could kill you if it was in the mood to do so. It was even more frightening as we'd just been told that every year people are killed by crocs in Borneo. Before our trip finished we were taken to see fireflies, magically lighting up the trees like fairy lights. It was wonderful and we really felt lucky to have seen so many rare and endangered species.
Yesterday we headed to Bako National Park. The bus dropped us off at the jetty where we met our 'boatman'. He took us (along with Jenny from Berlin) down the river, through the mangroves, across the choppy estuary and into the park (there are no roads there, it's only accessible by boat). We were dropped off at the beach and strolled up the sand, past the wild bearded pigs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearded_Pig) and the three of us headed into the jungle.
There are several treks to do but we decided on the 'Short Loop' Lintang Trail.
'Only 6 kilometers? Easy.'
Or not.
The humidity was unbelievable. Now, of course one realises that the rain forest is a hot wet place, but nothing could prepare us for just how hot and wet it would be. Sweat poured off us within a couple of minutes of being in the dense jungle. The trek and walkway was by no means easy but it wasn't too difficult. I mean, without the heat, it wouldn't have been difficult. By the end of the 6km the three of us were only echoes of the enthusiastic 'explorers' who had ventured in 4 hours earlier. Never in our lives have either of us been so hot. It was unlike anything we had ever felt before. But it was incredible and well worth all of the sweat. We saw a lot of wildlife; leeches, a Wagler's Pit Viper (Which I was not happy being near! http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/waglers_pit_viper.htm), carnivorous Pitcher Plants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcher_plant), several species of evil bamboo (covered in huge nasty spines), a Stork-billed kingfisher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stork-billed_Kingfisher), Hermit Crabs, enormous butterflies, more ant species than I care to think of, Macaques (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaque), endangered Silvery Lutung or Silver Leaf monkeys () and we also got a glimpse of our favourite pot bellied big nose Proboscis. It was an awesome day and we were left exhausted and smelly but thoroughly satisfied.
So far Borneo has been everything that we hoped it would be. Let's hope we're this lucky for the rest of our time here...