"Funky's" Matt Hill writes to us from Thailand (1/2)

(1/2), (2/2).

Hey, Matt here :-) I know it's been AGES since I sent some pictures, so I finally made myself take some - you know what it's like, the weather's never good enough or you know the camera won't do it justice, but the time has come. OK, so you have to realise that these pictures aren't going to really impress you, this place isn't big or clever. Also, my digital camera disk keeps getting wet so I've had to delete loads of good pictures - honestly!!! I'll try and at least get some people in and make them interesting soon I promise. But at least they show where I am...

As for other things in Thailand, the start of my 'teaching' has been delayed 'til Monday, giving me the weekend to (try to forget about being nervous!) finally write a proper email about stuff over here. I didn't realise these cameras pick up so much detail - ugly mug! But the background was the main point... I went for a walk last weekend and either side of the road is paddy fields, some wooden huts and people working in the fields.

In the town centre, it's peak rainy season and been raining hard on and off for over a week now so there's water everywhere. In the background is the town's only fast food joint, as usual coke and pepsi everywhere. The camera hasn't picked up the shops in the 'darkness' - looking at this I realise I've got to try harder to make this place seem nice! Here is a picture near my house, I just wanted to show some of the life here. The young shepherds herd the animals that graze in public areas, quite often they'll be walking down the road, sometimes with no-one else to be seen - they seem to have learnt to walk in single file and be careful of cars...

This is inside the Burmese tea shop near me, and recently I've been coming in here twice a day... I had to take the picture when it was nearly empty, so you got to imagine it with the local people in there talking away in Burmese and looking over at me inquisitively! Often I come to prepare for lessons with my books, or after to chat with some students about how 'well' it went, about local issues etc. The tea's great, you get a small glass of really thick, sweet tea for about 10p, and a flask of more normal tea without milk. It's a local hub, and often the highlight of people's day to go chill there a bit. Right, I'd better go do some work...

Continued ....Next page (2/2),

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