Malaysian Moments

This was our April 2023 break over the holiday of the Myanmar New Year holiday called Thingyan. Our trip started with a flight to Kuala Lumpur with the novelty of actually leaving the airport. We have been through KL Airport so many times that we probably know it better than Heathrow but just never got to leave before. We were immediately struck by the large number of skyscrapers on the way to the hotel.

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Thailand Trips

We recently had a long weekend and wanted to take the opportunity to visit our friends in Bangkok. They are stark reminders that things are far from normal in Myanmar as they both work for NGOs that cannot operate effectively in the country. Like many they left the country at around the same time we did but unlike us, have never returned.

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Return to Siem Reap

One of the big advantages of working in a school in South East Asia is a long break in December when the weather is usually pretty good. Our first year we went to Indonesia diving and then to Bagan. The next year was Sri Lanka right before the pandemic hit. Our third year we were stuck in Yangon and our fourth year we were basically stuck in Thailand and spent it in Chang Mai. After 2 years this was our next and last chance to travel in the region. We decided on going back to two of our favourite places namely the temple complex in Siem Reap in Cambodia and then Vietnam.

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Job Jamboree

I think we mentioned that we had resigned our jobs and were looking for new ones to start in the summer of 2023. The international school job cycle usually starts in around September/October of the year before you want to start a new job. This is when you are asked by the school if you are intending to sign on for another year. In our case we had already informed the school back in July but jobs don’t really start appearing until mid-September so we couldn’t really do anything until then. The whole process is a bit stressful as you usually have to resign before you get another job.

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Mantas and ‘Modos

Is the world finally getting back to ‘normal’? I guess not if you live in China and especially if you’re an expat there. Lindsey looks everyday at the major recruitment site for international teachers and has to scroll for miles through the Chinese jobs before she gets to other countries. It’s not back to normal for Russians and Ukrainians and not for the people here either. One personal ray or normal for us was the opportunity to go on an actual holiday during our October break.

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New cars, creatures and careers

Ooh, I like a good bit of alliteration in a blog post title. Of course, this is all a bit contrived. There isn’t really much to say on the cars and critters front. I thought we would be getting the same car back as we had when we left but it seems the global car shortage and affects on the second hand car market is just as apparent in Myanmar as it is everywhere else. Instead we’ve ended up with a Suzuki Swift which is essentially a cheap mini. I like a high seating position and a good space for Nell in the back so didn’t think I’d like it but it’s actually quite a bit newer and higher spec than the other car. When you put your foot on the accelerator something actually happens which is a nice novelty and Nell actually fits in quite nicely in the small area at the back. Also, Lindsey got her Myanmar driving licence!

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Catch up

It’s been a while. I know the hoards of people who avidly read our blog (that’s both Steve’s and my brother (thanks)) will be relieved to see another instalment of the Gav and Schubie diary. There’s no excuse really for not keeping it up. Lindsey will say that as she did the last post, it’s entirely my fault and she’s probably right. I will say that we’ve been extremely busy but when you look at the downtime we’ve had while travelling, ‘busy’ just doesn’t cut it.

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Traffic Light Roulette

Since our last post we had a 1 week holiday which is the celebration of the Myanmar New Year called Thingyan. Normally, it is a water festival and large stations are set up all over the place for the purposes of soaking passers by. However, due to protests, it didn’t really happen this year which was a shame. Travel in the country is possible and we do now have a car but in the end we decided to stay put in Yangon.

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