Abroad

‘I was a lone traveller, with a one-way ticket, going to a foreign place where I knew no one’

Shane Breen loves following the road less travelled in the northwest of Thailand

Shane Breen: 'Despite all of the differences, this Thai city, an hour away from the Myanmar border, feels like my second home'

Shane Breen
Thu Jun 27 2024 - 06:01

Nobody quite knows the concoction of curiosity, circumstance and necessity that leads us away from home. I never imagined my mix would bring me to Thailand’s northwestern region.

I certainly never imagined it would keep me here as long as it has, far away from my old life back home in Dundalk.

But now I’ve spent almost two years in Mueang Tak. Despite all of the differences, this Thai city, an hour away from the Myanmar border, feels like my second home.

The decision to leave was long in the making. From the day a close friend offhandedly mentioned that having a bachelor’s degree meant you could teach English abroad, I was sold. At the time, I was just finishing my BA degree in English and philosophy. I was at the point many students of literature-heavy degrees get to – I wanted real experience – not through someone else’s eyes. There comes a time when you need to close the books, get out there and live and see what you can learn for yourself.

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The reason for choosing to teach in Thailand was mostly circumstantial. In the wake of Covid-19, there were still high fees and mandatory quarantining in both Korea and Japan (two of my preferred choices). In Thailand I could sign a six-month contract and use it as experience before moving on, or so I thought.

To this day, at the end of every class, students thank me in unison, something almost unimaginable at a secondary school back home

Before leaving, I put in a year-and-a-half stint in special education at secondary and primary level in Ireland. When it ended, I set off for Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok.

I was a lone traveller, with a one-way ticket, going to a foreign place where I knew no one. The pervading emotion was one of excitement; the kind of excitement that balances itself out against a backdrop of uncertainty. It would all be new to me.

Pretty soon, I ended up going northwest and found a position as an English teacher at secondary level.

I remember those early days because everything went by in a whirlwind. Only fragments remain – families of four on a single motorbike, the morning markets by the famous Ping river, the tonal shifts of the Thai language, and the heat pushing 44 degrees Celsius at peak hours.

When I began teaching I was amazed by the welcome I received. “Morning teacher” was preceded by a courteous bow, known as a Wai; the most common greeting to showcase respect. To this day, at the end of every class, students thank me in unison, something almost unimaginable at a secondary school back home.

Mueang Tak is certainly more localised than the much-frequented tourist stops. There aren’t any mega shopping centres here and the Andaman Sea is about seven hours by car. Instead, life revolves around the street markets, roadside food vendors, smaller Buddhist temples and modern coffee shops. We have a sports centre and I spend most of my evenings on the callisthenics bars with other local Thais. Sport is everywhere and my students love basketball and playing soccer in small courts.

As time has gone by, simple things have come to give me gratitude and pleasure. The whistling breeze as I ride my motorcycle, the distant mountain vistas of Myanmar when the sun sets, and the attentiveness of students who know learning English can improve their prospects.

I would be remiss if I also didn’t mention the food. Simple dishes such as fish rice soup (kow tom blaa) and more complex flavours found in dishes such as spicy shrimp soup (tom yung goong) are culinary reasons to be grateful.

After a couple of months teaching, I met my girlfriend at her coffee hut across from my school. I never imagined that we would click as we did, nor that I would feel at home with her family as I do at home with my own. But, as time went by, those bonds only grew stronger. Even with my brief interim trip back to Ireland, it never wavered.

In the early months of my return, I used to get a bus to Mae Sot, at the Myanmar border, to visit her after work on Fridays. Now we live together in a house close to the school.

I’m now in my third teaching term. I’ve seen my students graduate and move on to universities in the bigger cities and abroad. Sometimes, I think maybe one day I’ll run into them again and they might remember their old Irish teacher.

We don’t know exactly how long we will live in Mueang Tak. But it’s been a transformative experience thus far.

On the road less travelled there is always more to learn. That’s how it’s been for me. None of it would have happened if I hadn’t taken the first steps.

I’ve very glad I did.

  • Shane Breen is from Dundalk, Co Louth. He graduated from Maynooth University with a BA in philosophy and English and now lives in the northwest of Thailand. His girlfriend is Pinya Rattanainpon.
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