Two Americans, two Brits and two Thais + two bottles of Sansong Rum. You know who was left standing!

Thai chess or Bakloh. Very similar in some ways to chess but also very different. I beat him twice and let him win the third one for fear of disappearing during the night! My sacrifice paid off in another way as well, he then taught me some very useful thai bartering phrases. lok dai toa lai - give me discount. I say it everywhere and it always works!

Another beach, another crocodile. Except this one actually has a dead poisonous puffer fish in its mouth! And is made from the most beautiful sand i've ever felt.

So I had to make a mermaid as well.

I climbed up on a precarious chair to get this picture, I just love the reaction on everyones faces! Especially the old windsurfing master crouched in the middle! This pic just about sums up the time in Rayong. 

Meanwhile, in the land of smiles

I am alive and very well in Thailand. Flight 911 contradicted it's name and was completely uneventful. I learnt some useful Thai phrases from the cabin staff as I was sat right next to their area. As opposed to Latin masculine and feminine words, the Thai language is about polite syllables and is extremely phonetic. Women add krah and men add krap to the end of many sentences and is also used singularly in agreement. It's a fascinating language and i've been absorbing the basics quite easily. But the intonation is going to take a while. For example, in the last week, i've discovered four uses for one word; maa. - dog, horse, come here and very! It may explain the relaxed culture. A word usually has five meanings out her. But used in different contexts they mean completely different things.

I spent the first few days in Rayong province and went to Ko Samet (Ko means island in this context). A beautiful island and completely took my breath away. Met up with 20 other teachers and lots of Thais. Too many stories to go into detail but we had a great time and is the happiest I've felt since Tignes 2007. The foreign office were still not allowing any travel to Bangkok so some people were apprehensive but I'm beyond any worry anymore so have just been going with the wind. And the wind has blown me to a new school.

I was previously headed to the Sunflower school but Plah has rearranged me to work at Pattai school teaching art and english, it's an absolutely beautiful school. We arrived in Bangkok a few days ago and have been getting set up in the area. I've gone for a flat which is 5 mins walk from the school and the lively food street. I've finished buying the essentials and have opted for fans over air con, gonna save me money on electricity and I want to climatise to the heat. It has been working. The first night was tough, the second was better and last night I slept incredibly. The heat surrounds you and my way to deal with it is to slow down my breathing, relax and drift off. Lovely. I did rent a fridge though for cold fruit and water. All in all, living in a cool place within 5 mins of the school with a fridge and paying for bills is gonna cost me roughly £150 a month. I'm getting paid well and food is so cheap I can't explain it. So I'm set up now. My landlord is called Jump (Thais have simple nicknames - Jet, Top, Jazz, Ohm, Plah, Bai, Duck, Nut. To name a few.) He has set me up with free internet, it is unreliable and very slow, but its completely free. So I'm back online and looking forward to hearing from everyone.

I start teaching tomorrow and I have three emotions, excited, scared and composed at the same time (the boy, the teenager and the adult I would say!) but I am ready. I bought a squidgy english football before I left England and I plan to use it to introduce myself to the kids and use it in a game to learn everyones names. So, it's gonna be difficult and I'm just gonna have to feel my way into this job but there have been some reassuring signs. I've been intrigued by the number 9 for a while now and it has been popping up all over the place. Turns out to be the lucky number of Thailand, I became the ninth teacher on the list to go to Pattai school when Plah rearranged it and my room number is 207. Synchronicity with the number nine without lifting a finger, just blowing with the wind.

Dan Cooper is going against the advice of the foreign office

On Monday the 24th May I'll be flying from Heathrow (which is on strike), through Europe (which has volcanic ash floating in its atmosphere), to Bangkok (which is still enduring political unrest), on... wait for it... flight number ?... you guessed it... flight 911. The signs are looking good! I'm packing a parachute. :)