Qingdao/School Shenanigans 2024-2025

Out of order as this website is not so easy to use with pictures. A collection of the best moments from Qingdao 2024-2025. 

English Department Halloween. So proud! 

 

World Book Day event. 23rd April 

Dinner with the family. 

Drinks on the floor. 

Working hard, Ground painting

Post Xmas Event relief (and beer)

Attack of the spiders. 

Hanging in HangZhou. March 2025

As luck would have it, Tim and Coin's visit included a stop in Hangzhou to meet her cousin for the weekend, which suited me perfectly. Getting to Kunming is not easy and most of the time, expensive. Also, I was able ot combine the trip with a visit to my new school to sign some paperwork and get some details about the place.

Rainy evenings

I was staying in a pretty decent hotel in the 'old town' pedestrian area of the city, about a 15-minute walk from the lake. It rained on and off the whole weekend, but it made for some pretty and cosy pictures. 

I went and met my new boss, signed a mountain of paperwork and was given a tour of the campus. It looks to be more like KFLS and completely different to what I am doing now, which, in my current frame of mind, can only be a good thing. I will be teaching G10 11 12 a range of essay writing, literature and AP Language and Composition. I have basically been given free rein to teach whatever I fancy, but within reason. I am actually quite excited! 

Because of the weather, I wasn't able to get to explore around the school too much, but after a quick 10-minute explore, I quite liked the vibe. It is different to the manicured shopping centre style I have now and has more of a local feel. Reminded me a lot of Kunming. 

Tim Chris and I at the Lake

Once Tim and Chris arrived, we went for dinner and a few too many drinks and made plans to walk around West Lake the next day. 

Tim and I, Chris behind the camera. 

It was chilly and overcast but pleasant, we walked North to South before getting to the point we were hungry and more importantly thirsty. It is a huge lake and so just walking half of it took us several hours, of course we weren't exactly walking quickly and kept getting distracted by ducks and temples. 

Our shop/bar

After our stroll, we went in search of the first place that came up when I searched "craft beer", which turned out to be less of a bar and more of a shop with a small table. The girl was friendly and even made Chris a fire when he got too cold. We sampled several beers and then went to meet Tim's mates for dinner at a highly rated Italian place.

Italian stairs

 From there we went to a small bar which we were assured was a quiet and chilled place, little did we know it was the owner's birthday and he had gone all out. DJ, buffet, drinks, the works. He is a Filipino guy who got so excited with my rave reviews from the Spring Festival and my drinking red horse. He was a lot of fun and very accommodating. 

In general, I am now looking forward to my move to Hangzhou and am more convinced than ever that I am making the right decision. I just have to make it through the next 11 weeks at work and I am free. 

Beer with the boys in Bangkok: Spring Festival 2025

Park time pre pigeon 

Park time 

 

Caught up with James, and we went to chill in a park near our hotels. 

Also had Sean in town on his never-ending search for the t-shirts and coincidentally Mark, which was nice. 

We did a lot of eating, chatting, drinking and just generally having a very good time. 

Lovely, thanks boys!

Essay writing in Laos: Spring Festival 2025

Essay writing can either be no problem, and something I can just get on with, or it is a pain in the neck and makes me ready to kill someone. Sadly, this time round was the latter.

I figured, if you have to write an essay somewhere quiet, it might as well be somewhere nice with decent food and beer. So I hopped over to Laos and set up camp in Luang Prabang. 

I have been here before, so I wasn't too concerned with sightseeing or completing a tourist list, and I have a decent idea of what is available and enjoyable.

I found a nice-looking hotel just outside of the main area that looked otherwise me to be a quiet and suitable place to work on the writing. It turned out to be even better than expected, as the place was nearly deserted. Staff left me alone to write what I needed, but ran over every time the beer levels got dangerously low. Beer Laos is one of my favourites of the South East asian beers, and now that China has decided to brew it in Banna and changed the flavour, it is far less enjoyable. 

Luang Prabang is a small, quaint, sleepy town with an abundance of bars, cafes and restaurants ideal for chilling and relaxing. My system was to write all morning, take a break for lunch, a few more hours of writing and then out for a late afternoon walk, usually with a beer and something fantastically tasty for dinner. Laos food is criminally underappreciated and misunderstood. 

I found a fantastic restaurant which had taster plates with all of the different regions and flavours. The staff at the restaurant would explain all of the food, how to eat and its origins before they would let you start eating. 

I spent a fantastic 10 days camped out writing my essay and thoroughly enjoying myself. 

Essays in Vietnam. Spring Festival 2025

Chilled rainy evening walks. 

Rainy Alleyways

After the heat and bustle of Coron and El Nido, Hanoi was just what the doctor ordered. I had another semester of university started and was determined to get as far through the work as I could before heading back to school. 

Quaint decs

Seven bridges

I have been to Hanoi many, many times and so know the place like the back of my hand. no stress, no research, no fuss. Just chill! 

It's a place of fantastic food, my favourite hotel and a new craft beer vibe that has led to some really nice beer gardeners. Two of which I set up camp and blasted through several weeks of work. 

I was lucky, too, that Don and his wife and daughter were staying in nearby Danang, so we managed to cross paths for a nice afternoon of beer and burgers. Next to Bangkok to meet James. 

Windy day on Danang beach

Philippines: El NIdo Spring Festival 2025

From Coron, I took a 4-hour ferry to El Nido, which was mostly fine but a little hair-raising at times. I was in El Nido this time last year, so I knew the basic town layout, meaning I could just walk the ten minutes from the ferry terminal to my hotel. 

Main street

El Nido is a tiny touristy place that is basically a whole area of bars, hotels and restaurants on a beach. It is pretty, but has developed a little of a 'Brits abroad' feeling in the last year. It's a bit of a double-edged sword in that the area needs the tourist money, but it loses itself in catering for the tourists. I like trying the local food and drink, which was a little harder to do in a town. Possibly just needed to head a little further out of town. I'll try again next year. 

Sesig and beer on the beach

One day, I went on one of El Nido's day tours and had a repeat of the stunning but long day in Coron.  

pristine beaches

coconut groves

El Nido Beach

After a stunning few days in El Nido, I jumped on a plane to Vietnam for a few days. 

Philippines: Coron, Palawan. Spring Festival 2025

 Finally, Spring Festival rolled around, and we were able to get away for a few weeks. After last year's hideously successful yet far too short trip to the Philippines, I knew I was heading back as soon as I could. 

View from the top of the hill

First stop this time was Coron, Palawan. Famed for its crystal clear waters, beautiful beaches and stunning sunsets. Sounds perfect! I was staying just a little out of town, but even so, it was only about a half-hour walk to the marina and the 'centre' of town. It really is a tiny place that is completely set up for day tours for the tourists, which made it very quiet during the day and chaotic first thing in the morning and again about 6pm when the boats came back. 

I had booked 4 days here with only one day trip planned. It seemed smart given how busy things had been, especially with going home and then coming straight back into finals and parents meetings, I was shattered and very much looking forward to sitting on a beach with a book. 

First day, I wandered into town before climbing the hill to catch a sunset view (see above), which was knackering in the heat but worth it. 

Second, I took on the day tours. These have a bit of a reputation for being long and tiring days despite the stunning views. Coron has 5 basic tours with similar itineraries and 'themes' but all are basically stunning place after stunning place. 

Lunch stop

I was collected from my hotel and dropped at the boat park where we were split into groups and went to rent all sorts of gear. I opted out of the kayak but did take the snorkelling equipment. Experience has told me I am not great at snorkelling as I just cant get the hang of fins. Diving was a little different but still not exactly graceful. 

Our tour started with a quick stop at a reef before lunch. The reef, although small, was packed with life and very Finding Nemo feeling. Next time I come back, I will have a GoPro or something so I can properly document the stunning colours and fish swarms in which I found myself (yes, there will be a next time). 

We then moseyed off to the next three places on our list, all of which were stunning and defied belief. I cannot take credit for these pictures, but instead of the very chatty Chinese guy with all the toys on my tour. I think in truth, he was so excited to find someone who spoke Chinese, as his English was not so amazing. Regardless, his pictures are stunning and we had a fun day. 

We finished up with a climb to the viewpoint overlooking this. It was a hot, gnarly climb of 400+ steps, but worth it. 

So. Many. Steps. 

Our tour concluded at sunset, and we were back in the marina just in time. 

Obligatory sunset picture

And another

Christmas in the homeland: Christmas 2024

 

Christmas in Menaul is a busy and stressful time. The Christmas party is a full day mess of performances and "fun" in a hotel usually attended by about 300 people. 

This year was no exception. After weeks of late nights, drama rehearsals, and speech run-throughs, not to mention all of the preparation I was having to do for the English fair immediately after Christmas. As soon as the craziness of the day was over, we went to a bar for a drink and to decompress. 

My flight home was the next afternoon via Shanghai, so I didn't need too early of a start. It still wants fun, though, especially when my flight was delayed 6 hours. Made for a very long journey. 

Once home, I was thrown straight into meeting Tom's kids and a haircut before I could get some rest. 

Jacki turned up the next day for her Christmas with the Barnes's, poor thing. There really isnt too much to do in Gosport, so we ended up just sitting and catching up. 

On Christmas Day, we went to Tom's for dinner and a few drinks. The kids were all excited and got tired quickly, but there was plenty of food and laughs. 

After Xmas, Jacki and I went to London for a sushi meal and an afternoon wandering about, enjoying the Xmas vibe. The food was incredible, and there was plenty of it! 

We spent the afternoon wandering between bars, trying to dodge the cold, and ending in a small Andy-recommended sherry bar. 

Makati and the shopping malls. Philippines Spring Festival 2024

Having recovered from the chaos of the bus trip from hell, we settled into Makati. 

Manila is made up of about 5 or 6 different areas, all of which have completely different feels and styles to them. We chose Makati as it is described as the best area for people new to Manila. It's also the nicest and cleanest area as it is the financial hub of the city. All the banks, embassies and international headquarters are in this areas so there is a lot of money. As a result, it's very pretty but had a very 'picture perfect' and manicured look. To me, it looked like so many other financial districts of other Asian countries. I could ahem been in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong and they all would have looked the same. It was fine, but as a city, I did not take to Makati. 

We did however, have some of the best food of the whole trip. As luck would have it, the old red light district which has now been cleaned up and turned into a food night time area, was only a ten minute walk from our hotel. The focus of our trip became what to eat next as opposed to what to do or what to see.  

Our battle plan was to consult youtube "what to eat in Makati" videos and we made notes. Notes which we then followed. 

As I said, there really wasn't too much to do in Makati so wandering about became walking between shopping malls and restaurants, however we managed. 

One of the days we went to the science center and joined the kids having a great time watching dancing robots and 3D videos about space and earthquakes. The science center wasn't big but we still had a good time. Actually this day was Eddy's birthday so I spent a long time trying to make a birthday video in front of the dinosaur but had to keep starting again because of the endless announcements. 

Tagaytay part 2: Philippines Spring Festival 2024.

Once we had seen the volcano there really wasn't much else to do in Tagaytay. We spent a long time in restaurants and bars with amazing views, and beer of course. Sadly the town is not pedestrian friendly so wandering about has a treacherous feel when you're on the side of main roads with cars and lorries speeding past at a few centimeters distance. 

Dan found a small theme park like place that he wanted to visit so we made our way over to 'Sky Ranch' a small theme park perched on the top of a cliff. 

We found ourselves in a serious of long queues that were all very confusing. Basically entrance is very cheap, less than 2 pound per person, but then you pay for each ride separately. Each one costing about 2 pound so it has potential to mount up. It didn't, we weren't too fussed about most of them but did go on a pirate ship, naturally, and the ferris wheel. Again, naturally. I think we might have been the only people in the park without kids. Most rides were designed for small children so we were a little too old. Theme parks really aren't my thing but the wheel gave us the most beautiful views of the lake and the volcano so I was happy. 

Outside the park, we found a very nice large craft beer place where we got comfy for a few hours. Just as we were leaving the staff took us and a few other tables of customers on a tour of the brewing operations which we thought was  really nice touch.  

Other than the park, we couldn't really find much to do in the tiny town of Tagaytay. We had some amazing food, tasty beers and met some very friendly people. All in all a very chilled trip. 

Next stop Makati, Manila. We got the bus, which turned out to be a fairly horrific experience. I don't do well traveling anyway so being in a hot, cramped, uncomfortable bus for four hours was my idea of hell. We were finally thrown off the bus on the side of a highway thing near Manila airport. We stopped in a KFC so I could calm down before getting a grab to our hotel in town. 

\