Thai travel is not necessarily confidence building

Some amusing / brutal encounters this week:

- heading into a clothes shop and being greeted enthusiastically with “Come in, come in! We stock lots of Extra Large!”
- on a similar vein, having a few helpful “perhaps you could try slimming” comments from Thai friends

Thai’s can be as subtle as a brick when it comes to commenting about appearances. We were warned about it in the cultural training, and it’s surely true.

I just spent 3 days in a Thai farming village without seeing another westerner or hearing much English in that time. I kind of gathered that it was off the tourist trail with the amount of commotion made when I headed to a school planting event and down to the local market. Still feeling like I have the Thai conversational skills of a 3 year old. I was very privileged to be there though- I experienced what few tourists could. An account and some ripper photos to follow shortly.

Unfortunately the farang tendency to sweat a lot makes the task of planting trees a very muddy one. I've worked out that it's not only the weather that causes thirst. A 3 letter acronym: MSG.

I have 3 nights of Thai classes left. It’s been a very full couple of weeks. I’m in an all male class, so there’s plenty of Thai talk about beer and girls. And eating in toilets? Funny but perhaps not so helpful for work communications!

By the way the new FORRU website (developed by previous aussie volunteer) is up & running: http://www.forru.org/