The week of 100 contacts has kept me very busy. The last few days have seen me wandering around various neighbourhoods on self guided walks trying to give Bangkok a chance to redeem itself from its poor start. I found an interesting street full of woodwork shops where I saw a door carved with a huge Chelsea football club emblem (Uncle Howard and Jack: it was tacky but brilliant at the same time!) and another street where every shop sold gold replica buddhas.
I finally found something nice to say about Bangkok: the food here is both tasty and cheap. In fact, I have developed a craving for rice, a food I always considered to be a boring waste of valuable stomach space.
I squeezed in time for a haircut and despite the stylist not speaking English, he did himself proud. My mime of 'It's very humid here and I don't have a hairdryer so please cut in a style which can dry naturally' must have worked! International hand gestures win again!
I went to Siam Toastmasters in downtown Bangkok yesterday and although I did not speak publicly, I did introduce myself to everyone and make small talk, something which historically has been very hard for me. My final tally for contacts will be known tomorrow, but I am sure it is more than 700. The goals for this week were set because I needed to keep speaking as much as possible and although I have put around an extra 10 hours of work in, I have been experiencing slightly more tension than normal. When I meet with my tour group tomorrow, I will be talking non stop to get the diaphragm moving again. They will all be sick of me by the end of day 1, let alone day 28! Despite slight hitches, I am quite pleased with how things are going speaking wise and am proud that I have managed to keep going under challenging circumstances.
I'm sorry there are no photos for this blog or my last blog but I dont really feel safe taking my camera around. You aren't missing much anyway! T-minus 2 days until I leave!
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
