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Monday 29 April 2013

Thailand Travelling Tips*


At the beginning of the year, my friend Erica and I met up in Thailand for a much needed catch-up and travelling vacay...

It was an amazing time.



I lost my shoe in a Thai rain forest,
we hiked,
I got eaten alive by mosquitoes, 

 we drank yummy fruit smoothies,
we ate some deelish food, 
then Erica had an allergy attack,

we snorkeled 
(sometimes without the goggles haha), 
and a random fish tried to eat Erica, 

we saw some amazing sights,
got massages, lay in the sun 
and mainly just pretended
we had no worries in life. 



In our two weeks of vacation we covered a lot of ground. 



I compiled a list of tips for Thailand travelling:


1.) Always have cash on you - it makes life so much easier

2.) If you visit Bangkok, be prepared... It can be really tiring and a bit overwhelming (especially if you're two girls and don't know where exactly you're going). 
The train doesn't go everywhere so make sure you know where/how you are getting to your destination.
Be firm and try not to get lost.

3.) Tuk Tuk drivers are sometimes really nice and sometimes really mean. They will try to get the most money they can from you. We had one driver that took us to some random river dock and then refused to take us back unless we paid him triple what we had agreed on. Yes that happened. It was not fun.

4.) On almost every travel blog I read before leaving for Thailand, people kept saying things like "Always ask taxi drivers to use the meter" - well I have news for you, taxi drivers would rather cut off their right arm than use the meter. We had loads of taxis pass us by because we requested a meter fare :/

5.) You need to get a Thai massage. It is a little more aggressive (expect some surprising body twists lol) than most massages I've had but afterwards you feel like jelly. 
In a good way ^^ 

6.) Go island hopping. It is totally worth it. Don't book in advance or do any online booking for tours and things. It is way cheaper to wait until you are in the area. There are so many tour companies so the competition drives the price way down.  Shop around and chat to your hostel or hotel about special offers they might have.

7.) Visit Krabi and try to fit in a few days at Khao Sok Nature reserve (stay here (Our Jungle House) it is awesome and the food is GREAT). Locals are friendly and the rain forest is 

8.) Koh Phi Phi is pretty but it is FULL of tourists - Koh Lanta on the other hand is amazing and especially lovely if you want to relax without hundreds of people cramping your style.
A lovely and affordable place to stay is the Fruit Tree Lodge

9.) The overnight train from Bangkok is not conductive for sleeping... It kind of feels like a roller coaster and my face went numb from the hardness of the 'pillow'. A friend of mine took a luxury bus for around the same price and she was much happier. It totally depends on you though. The bus takes a little longer but if you get a nice one with air-conditioning it may be worth it (think about your faces people). If you have the money just fly.

10.) You should eat as much yummy Thai food as is humanly possible 
(more if you can) and indulge in those fruit smoothies of deliciousness because they are wonderful.



Thailand is gorgeous, filled with rich heritage and lovely people.
I'm really happy Erica took the time to meet me there. She is awesome. 

If you have any other questions about Thailand let me know... :)

Email me at leecheelaughs@gmail.com

Sunday 28 April 2013

Let's take the kiddies to Wolmido


On Thursday, my school organised a special treat for the students... 
First graders (twelve and thirteen) were to visit Wolmido. Second graders and third graders were each scheduled to watch a Korean musical in Seoul.

I teach all grades, so I was allowed to choose which field trip I’d want to join. (My thought pattern was a little like this: Korean musical = no understand, Wolmido = fun in the sun). So I chose Wolmido. My expectation for the day included dreams of a beautiful island of sunshine, theme park fun and cute kiddies. But life always has this uncanny way of doing the exact opposite of what you envision.

-       No sunshine, only rain
-       No cute kiddies, only rain soaked, upset tantrum-throwers
-       No theme park fun, only a very boring museum tour

Encountered with pouring rain and the inability to ride anything in the theme park, my Korean teachers decided that we’d instead take the students to a museum on the island. From this experience, I learnt an important life lesson… It goes a little like this: 

NEVER EVER take 400 teenagers who think they’re going to a theme park to a museum.
NEVER DO THIS. Do not do it people. It was cray cray town. 

Running, shouting and illegal eating were what the good kids were going. At one point I had to coax a child off some ancient Korean sculpture. No jokes. Even I can read “do not touch this” in Korean – apparently these thirteen year olds can’t. The worst was the poor museum lady… She was so out of her depth. Later on she just stood in the corner and spoke quietly to herself… I wanted to go over and ask if she needed a hug.

After the museum craziness, we were blessed with a little sunshine and the children could finally go on a few rides. This experience was almost (but not quite) as disturbing as the museum. I don’t know what they were thinking, but I’m pretty sure theme park rides need more adequate safety measures. Most of the rides operated on a similar principle: “You see this bar? OK, hold on and don’t let go. Let go, you die.”  
 


I may be overreacting just a tad… And the little ones had hoards of fun being thrown about- so much so that they refused to leave for home at the end of the day. I stood by and silently prayed no one would die (and then that everyone would just go home).  

All in all, it was a fun and exhausting day which made for some great memories. Terry Pratchett had it right when he wrote, 

“Chaos is found in greatest abundance whenever order is being sought. 
It always defeats order, because it is better organized” 
(Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett).  

;) I love Terry Pratchett. 









Friday 26 April 2013

Some days all you can do is laugh

I teach at a Middle School in South Korea and some days I feel like I'm the only sane person around...

Kind of a little like this


On my first day, my co-teacher tried to tell me what our school would be like:

Me: So tell me about the school? Do you like working there?
 (big smile of optimism and dreams)

Co-teacher: No, it is like circus.

Me: Hahaha really?

Co-teacher: (straight face) On bad days, more like prison.

After a year at my school, sometimes I understand what she meant lol. But most days I am very happy.

Today was one of those happier, roll on the floor laughing because Bill Cosby had it right, kids do say the darnedest things. 

Here are some of the gems that I picked up in class... Hope they make you smile because I thought they were HILARIOUS (and slightly disturbing)

Me: Why do we go to the bus stop?
Student 1: To take a bus!
Me: Very good! One point!
Student 2: Teacher! Teacher! For WiFi!
Me: Wow, welcome to the twenty first century.
Student 3: To smoke (wide smile of fake thirteen year old innocence) 
Me: WHAT???

Me: Why do we go to the hospital?
Student 1: To see a doctor!
Me: Very good! One point!
Student 2: To get face cut!
Me: huh?
Student 2: Teeeeechaaaa surgery surgery surgery!
Me: um...
Student 2: Now, ugly. After, beautiful
Me: Oh plastic surgery
Student 2: point??

Me: Why do we go to Paris?
Student 1: To see the Eiffel Tower!
Me: Good! One point!
Student 2: To eat bread!
Me: um... maybe a French baguette?
Student 2: Yes teacher! same!
Me: Ok, point...
Student 3: For the babies!
Me: huh?
Student 3: baby!baby!baby! 
Me: um...
Student 3: (makes disturbing hand motions) Make the babeeeee! Baby !
Me: err.....
Student 3: Baby-MOON!!!!!
Me: Honeymoon?
Student 3: Yes teeechaaa ! same same.

My students range from twelve to fifteen - they are a weird and wonderful mixture of innocence, hormones, gangsters, and energy. Love it. 



Thursday 25 April 2013

Let's eat & be merry

I like a lot of different things

dancing, travelling, music...

But, I LOVE FOOD ㅋㅋㅋ*

My dad has this lame joke that he loves to tell... It goes something like, 

"Liane only eats once a day... 
... 
... 
...
ALL DAY"

He cracks up every time he tells it.

My mom climbs right in there too with a follow up story about how she felt like she was dying while pregnant with me because she was SO HUNGRY.
Apparently that's how I ruined her figure.

My parentals are funny.

Since moving to Korea I've had to give up my mom's Sunday lunch cooking, family braais** and Cape Town sushi (cue inconsolable crying).

But Korea has been able to hold its own with regard to good food.

Below are some photos of my favourite dishes.

This is called Bibimbap.
It is a dish which mixes assorted veggies together with rice,
an egg and a type of hot pepper paste.
It is deeeelish. 
This is dakgalbi. It's definitely a favourite of mine.
On a grill in the middle of your table, you cook your dakgalbi by adding marinated chicken pieces, rice cakes, cabbage and other yummy veg.
Drool
This is a picture I took of an impromptu teachers' lunch.
It was crazily good. Nom nom nom.
Fruit, Kimbab (the thing that looks like sushi from back home), meat wrapped in lettuce leaves and savory rice stuffed into tofu.
Korea has good food but sometimes I cheat and visit a South African restaurant (Braai Republic) in Itaewon, Seoul. It's not really the same but it comes pretty darn close!

Lamb chops, boerewors, potjie, mashed potatoes and creamed spinich.
Everyone should eat this ALL THE TIME.

If you're in Seoul and want some South African food, music and a bietijie Afrikaans visit http://braairepublic.com/

Most importantly, 

have yourself a merry little dessert...

Life is short, 
eat yummy things, 
be thankful that you can 
and 
share your food with friends



* ㅋㅋㅋ is a Korean way of typing hahaha .... The sound is kekeke which is how some Koreans sound when they laugh (no jokes)
Alternatively you could type ㅎㅎㅎ which is the Korean equivalent of the "h" sound ... 
So that would be hahaha in Korean...
That was a nice paragraph of useless info but now you know ;)

** braai is a South African word for barbecue - this involves loads of meat, beer and some sort of sport watching... We South Africans LOVE TO BRAAI

Teaching in Korea so far~~

Kids don't remember what you try to teach them,

They remember who you are

- Jim Henson


Some days are wonderful and some are not as great 
but every day a student will either: 

- smile for no reason
- say something inappropriate
- run into a wall
- ask to touch my hair
- say "I love you teacher" and run away

 and somehow it makes it all worth it ^^

Tuesday 23 April 2013

My story

My name is Liane and welcome to my blog ^^

I'm the one with the curly hair ;)
I was raised in South Africa (near Cape Town for those of you who have been there)... 
I have been blessed with wonderfully supportive parents and a loving younger sister.
A year ago I moved to South Korea to teach English (I majored in Business btw)
and am now travelling Asia in my spare time haha...

Growing up in South Africa is a interesting thing... Well, to be honest, I thought most of it was pretty normal at the time. But since coming into contact with so many foreigners and differing ideals I now realise just how unique my upbringing was.

Back home I'm "classified" as a coloured person (mixed race same same). For me this means that my heritage is difficult to trace... I'm not white, black, Spanish, French or Malaysian but I can trace my family tree back to all of these origins. I'm mixed, my parents are mixed, my grandparents are mixed, most of their parents were mixed and my dog is mixed. Hence the confusion this causes many people (my skin is fair, my eyes are dark and my hair is curly - deal with it people).

Other than the race thing and travelling, my life has been pretty normal I'd say, I had no real problems growing up and I'm one of those annoying people that actually enjoyed school, sport and all those mundane things.
I love life and laugh uncontrollably ALL THE TIME.

I was brought up Roman Catholic, and most of my immediate family are church-goers. Some of my dearest memories are of family sleepovers and my gran praying over me just before I closed my eyes and entered dreamland. It was an incredibly special way to be brought up. I realise this now more than ever.

Although I wouldn't call myself Catholic (don't tell my mom), I am a Christian and I try to live every day with light in my heart.

This is my blog of randomness, light, travels, crazy thoughts and daily struggles...




Follow Me:

Pinterest http://pinterest.com/lianeaimee/

Instagram @lianeaimee24 

Contact me:

via email leecheelaughs@gmail.com


Monday 22 April 2013

Spring is in the air

At the moment, I find myself living and teaching English in South Korea...

Although I'm loving my journey so far, after a year some things still manage to surprise me. Pleasant surprises, like spring for example...

Back home (South Africa), the seasons aren't really as defined as in Korea and it's just one more reason to love travelling.

Here are some of my spring photos ^^






P.s. every country should have cherry blossoms - they are awesome.

Words I live by...

Today, 

You are you, 

that is truer than true, 



there is no one alive 

who is youer than 

you

- Dr Seuss ^^