Listening: One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster. The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free. You'll find a god in every golden cloister and if you're lucky then the god's a she. I can feel an angel sliding up to me.
What's my problem? Pics upload soooooo sloooooow.
Well, it's been a few days. The post I put up last night, should have been day 16, but I was a little bit tipsy. Could you tell?
Well, on Tuesday the 10th of February, I went on quite an adventure. See, since Goi and I were in Koh Samui around the time of the full moon, we decided that it would be a shame not to go an see it. I had no desire to stay overnight there, booking a room, but I did want to see the party. Also, two of my friends from Koh Tao, Doris and Marcus, were going to be there.
Being the fantastic hosts that they were, Lucky and Paul arranged for us to borrow a yacht from another resort owner to get to the party which was on the Haad Rin beach on Koh Phangan. On the boat, it was Goi, Lucky and myself, along with Paul, a "companion" of his, another resort owner and a "companion" of his, yet another resort owner and his very nice Vietnamese wife, and his friend from Israel joined by what seemed to be a "companion."
By "companion," I think it's clear what I mean. Now, I'm not Mister Stuffy-Conservative-Man, by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think that prostitution should be illegal. Like drugs, I believe that it should be legal and regulated. I've been to Amsterdam. I've seen the working girls. But the truth of the matter is that I have never seen it in action up close and personal. By this I don't mean that I was watching these older men go at it with these younger Thai ladies. But I was up close watching how these men were acting towards these women. I kind of found some of the interaction to be inappropriate and kind of insulting to the women. So, I found myself conflicted about how I felt about prostitution. It's a very strange place to be on the conservative side of an issue like this.
Anyhow, I was easily the youngest person on the boat. Goi is a little bit older than me and all of the other men on the boat were well over forty years old. The girls, well, I couldn't really tell how old they were. Maybe they were in their late twenties or their early thirties. However, from the way they were acting, and the way they were treated, it was clear that they were working girls. I have to be honest, I felt a little uncomfortable.
When we got to Koh Phangan, we shuttled over to the beach in a dinghy where overload began. Hundreds upon hundreds of people dancing. People drinking out of buckets. Lights. The smooth white sand. It was pretty damn cool. Some places were playing house, while others played trance or drum 'n' bass.
All along the town side of the beach, there were bar stands where you ordered "buckets." Buckets are just that, a bucket of booze. They're about the size of a Big Gulp from Seven-Eleven, and they're filled to the max. There's ice, about a pint of the booze of your choice (I chose vodka), a mixer of your choice (I chose tonic), and a bottle of Red Bull. I have to say that two buckets over the course of the night from ten in the evening until seven in the morning was plenty for me.
The older guys and Goi only stuck around until midnight or so, but I decided that I wanted to stay with my Koh Tao friends and dance the night away. I have to say that it was a blast, and dancing on sand is much lower impact on your joints. Marcus got hit on by a gay guy, and Doris egged him on. I think the best moment was when Doris nonchalantly got Marcus to take off his shirt and the gay guy came up to him and told Marcus that he loved him.
There was debauchery everywhere. People fucking on the beach, people passed out on the beach, people pissing into the ocean (instead of paying ten baht for a proper urinal). It was all there. There were gorgeous girls everywhere and I have to say that I fell in love a few times.
The party kept going all night long. We stopped at around five in the morning to grab a bite to eat, but when we got back to the beach, it was still bumping. As the sun came up at around seven in the morning, people were still dancing. It was a lot like back in my raving days, except instead of coming out of the building and seeing the sun rise, you saw the sun rise as you danced your ass off.
It was nice though. It wasn't quite the party that the hype had made me expect, but it was a good time. I would go back again and maybe do it a little differently, now that I know what's up with the party.
After the party, we went back to Marcus' friend's hostel and chilled out for a while before going for breakfast. Unfortunately, since I ended up staying for breakfast, I missed the eleven o'clock ferry back to Koh Samui. Instead, I had to take the four o'clock, and with the others having other things to do, I was left wandering around Koh Phangan with nothing to do and nowhere to go.
I had a few hours to kill, hadn't slept a wink, and didn't know what to do. I spent a little time in an internet cafe, did a bit of window shopping, and then finally ended up going for a massage. See, I thought that this was quite clever. I had the oil massage, which is less, how shall I say this, hurtful than regular Thai massages. So while this little Thai lady worked away on my muscles, I actually got a good hour of sleep. I thought it was perfect.
By the time the massage was over, it was time to head back to the ferry terminal to check in and be back on my way to Koh Samui.
I got back to the Samui Beverly Hills Resort at around five thirty in the evening. With one hour of sleep under my belt, I was totally knackered. Paul told me that they were planning on going to dinner at around half past six and that Goi would call me on my phone when they were about to go. I said, "Fantastic," and headed into my room for a shower and a fifteen minute nap. Right. Fifteen minutes. Let's just say that when I opened my eyes, it was eleven at night, I had missed Goi's phone call and she was even already asleep after dinner.
The next day was spent traveling from Koh Samui back to Bangkok. It actually takes a good ten hours to make the trip. If you don't have advanced ferry reservations, you end up having to wait for two or three ferries to go by in order to get your car on one. In addition the drive time between Bangkok and the port is about eight hours. I, again, used this opportunity to sleep as Goi and Lucky chatted away in Thai.
When I got to the hostel back on Sukhumvit Soi 1, I checked in and ended up meeting a couple of my roommates. One was from Australia, and wasn't all that talkative, there was a chap from Ireland who was wikkid talkative, and then there was Jennifer, a girl from Canada who had just pulled in that night as well.
I asked if any of them were going to Ayuthaya. No one was, but Jennifer decided to come with me last minute. So, the next morning, we caught a minibus from the Victory Monument, took the hour and a half ride to Ayuthaya and walked around all day.
It was hot and sunny that day. When I say hot and sunny, I mean it's like being in a kitchen with all of the burners on in the height of summer with a hundred order tickets hanging, and so bright that you might rather wear a welder's mask in addition to sunglasses. As Jennifer and I walked around the old capitol, we must have downed at least three liters of water each. There were times that we stopped in shade and didn't want to get up to go on to the next place.
But the city was absolutely beautiful. The ruins of all of the old wats and temples were truly majestic. It was exactly what I thought I would see in Thailand before I had even stepped on the plane. The ruins were so awe inspiring that I can only imagine what the buildings were like before the Burmese came in and burned it all. Many of the Buddha statues were headless, and a lot of the buildings were reduced to pillars.
Also in Ayuthaya, we saw a sitting Buddha in a temple that was about forty meters tall. It was HUGE. I remarked to Jennifer that I thought that Buddha's hand would perfectly cradle my ass if I wanted to sit up on it.
When Jennifer and I got back to the hostel, she wanted a bit of a nap before going out to dinner. I told her that I didn't think that she would wake up for it, but she insisted that she would. At around nine thirty, after the hour of nap that she said that she wanted, she was still out. I went downstairs to Seven-Eleven to get something to drink and use the internet. When I came back up, she was still out and the lights were off. So, I decided not to wake her.
Off I went on my own to grab a bite and to look for a hat. I've been looking for a hat for a little while now. I can't seem to find one to my liking though. I've been to the weekend market, up and down the streets of Sukhumvit and even to shopping centers. I can't find one. That night, I saw one that was okay, but I still didn't buy it. I guess I'm just picky.
When I got to the Asok area of Sukhumvit, I saw the first car crash I have seen in Bangkok. To be honest, it was just a little fender bender, but I was really surprised by the procedure that took place. Both cars stopped and people started yelling at each other. A police officer drove up and started directing people around the cars while another spray painted around the cars. Apparently, no one can leave until insurance assessors arrive and survey the damage. It's totally messed up. Traffic was backed up for a while.
The next day, Jennifer came with me when I met up with Goi and Lucky to go to a floating market. Goi's friend who owns a car wash knew of this market which was well outside of Bangkok. The four of us and two of Goi's friends headed out there to check it out.
We were expecting a bunch of boats on the river selling fruits and other foods, but that wasn't really what it was. Instead, it was a market alongside of the river that had all sorts of fruit and foods. There were so much duck for sale that that I felt like I had arrived at the promised land. Fruits of all sorts, and duck. Mmm. Duck.
After buying an array of fruit, we did decide to take a river cruise where we saw all sorts of cool houses built along the river. They ranged from shacks to old teak houses to new-fangled, fancy-schmancy, tacky mansions.
After we finished at the market, Lucky and Goi dropped Jennifer and I off at the weekend market. It was close to the end of the day, so we only shopped around for a couple of hours. I saw the koi fish tee shirt that I really wanted the last time I was there, but he still wouldn't discount it beyond a hundred and ninety baht. I still passed on it. I did, however, get a blue plaid very light cotton, short sleeved, button down shirt. As a matter of fact I'm wearing it now and it's crazy comfortable. I paid two hundred baht for it. He wanted two hundred and twenty, but I talked him down. I figure if I paid two hundred baht for a button down, I'm not going to pay almost two hundred for a tee shirt.
That night, Jennifer and I ended up going out with this big Irish guy named Adam to Soi Cowboy. It was the night of Valentine's day, and everything there was humming. If you're not familiar with Soi Cowboy, it's a street near our guesthouse that's famous for its strip clubs and it's sex trade. It's one of the three major red light districts in Bangkok.
Now if you've never been to a strip club in Thailand, it's a different experience. They have a number of girls up on stage at the same time dancing. There's actually very little stripping. It's not seductive. It's just naked girls dancing on a stage. Every few songs, there might be a show, like a lesbian show, or a lotion show. It's all pretty funny. Sometimes five girls dressed in the same clothes like cowboys, or nurses will come out and strip over a few songs. It's good, dirty fun.
If you go with a girl, you get even more attention. The girls at the clubs that we went to loved Jennifer. They were all over her. At this one place in Soi Cowboy called Cowboy 2, the girls were really eager to come and hang out with us. At one point, Jennifer got up on stage and danced. At one point, I was invited to go up and dance. And you know I did. Nothing like having two half naked girls grinding on you while up on stage. I don't know if I have any pics of it, but I tried to do some pole tricks. Yeah, I bet I looked like a complete fool, but it was fun as hell.
I have to say that it must have been the most fun that I have ever had on a Valentine's day. Jennifer ended up walking out of Cowboy 2 with a really nice red leather cowboy hat, a rose and a foam heart with wings on it.
After Soi Cowboy, we went to an after hours club called Spicy. The music was bumping and the girls were hot. I ended up flirting with a girl who had really cool glasses for a little bit, until she said, "you want me go home with you?" I thought about it, and decided against it as I'm staying in a hostel, and I don't know where that girl has been.
Anyhow, Jennifer and I stayed out until around three in the morning, and I was pretty zapped by the time I got back to the hostel. Because of all of the partying, we really didn't get started today until after noon. Jennifer, Adam and I ended up going to a meditation class near the Grand Palace. I have to say that it was really nice. I may have to get back to meditation. It was extremely relaxing.
Well, it's eight o'clock and only half of my pictures have uploaded. I have to meet Jennifer and Adam for dinner in a few minutes, so I have to log off. Hopefully tonight, we'll have more fun adventures.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Day 14: I'm okay.
Listening: And the lovers that you sent for me didn't come with any satisfaction guarantee/ So I return them to the sender and the note attached will read, "How I love to hate you."
What's my problem? Drunk.
I'm in Bangkok again. Drunk after hanging out with a Brit guy and a Canuck bird. Was propositioned by a thai chick. I went with a no on that one. Twas fun. Time to feed. I'm okay though, 'rents. Cheers.
What's my problem? Drunk.
I'm in Bangkok again. Drunk after hanging out with a Brit guy and a Canuck bird. Was propositioned by a thai chick. I went with a no on that one. Twas fun. Time to feed. I'm okay though, 'rents. Cheers.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day 12: A Pic Post
Listening: Awake on my airplane, my skin is bare. My skin is theirs. I feel like a newborn.
What's my problem? It takes forever to upload pictures.
Just so you know, this sign was full of shit.
Hoot did find A waterfall.
Durian just kicking around on random trees.
Durian out of it's shell. Not as bad as everyone says, but certainly not something I'm gonna go out of my way to eat more than two bites.
BIG. FUCKING. GRASSHOPPER.
Parrot fish for sale.
Deep fried prawns.
Pork stuffed squid in a spicy broth.
In case you didn't believe me about that whole crazy driving thing...
The Lotus Bar in Koh Tao.
Scott and Doris at the Lotus Bar
My dive team: me, Marcus, Marta, & our instructor Kathy.
Another one of my dive team: Kathy, Marcus, & Marta
A dive resort in Koh Tao
Hoot on a dive boat.
Do you understand how clear the water is?
Do you get why I love it here?
Me, my crazy hair, & the full moon.
And goodnight.
What's my problem? It takes forever to upload pictures.
Just so you know, this sign was full of shit.
Hoot did find A waterfall.
Durian just kicking around on random trees.
Durian out of it's shell. Not as bad as everyone says, but certainly not something I'm gonna go out of my way to eat more than two bites.
BIG. FUCKING. GRASSHOPPER.
Parrot fish for sale.
Deep fried prawns.
Pork stuffed squid in a spicy broth.
In case you didn't believe me about that whole crazy driving thing...
The Lotus Bar in Koh Tao.
Scott and Doris at the Lotus Bar
My dive team: me, Marcus, Marta, & our instructor Kathy.
Another one of my dive team: Kathy, Marcus, & Marta
A dive resort in Koh Tao
Hoot on a dive boat.
Do you understand how clear the water is?
Do you get why I love it here?
Me, my crazy hair, & the full moon.
And goodnight.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Day 12: As Barney Would Say, "Wet.... SUIT UP!"
Listening: Left my soul there, down by the sea.
What's my problem? I stretched my ear drum.
As I said before, I was in Koh Tao getting my PADI certification. Two mornings ago, I passed my PADI exam and got certified. Not an hour later, I was out on the boat with my friend Doris (who has an Advanced Open Water certification that allows her to go to 30 meters) on our way out to Twins and the Japanese Gardens dive sites again. I have to say, doing fun dives is much more... fun than doing the dives for open water training. You see more and you get to really look around much more.
Our divemaster for those two dives was Paco, a skinny guy from Barcelona who wears a bright blue, custom made wetsuit that has the Rolling Stones lips on the front of it. He brought us to this sandy patch where there was a circle of rocks on the ocean floor. In the middle of these rocks was a bit of coral, no bigger than the size of a basketball, and a family of clown fish. Divers who are in the know find a rock on the ocean floor and add it to the circle surrounding the clown fish. No divers enter the circle, because this family of clown fish are the only ones in the area, and the divers want them to stay. It's kind of a bit of conservation while still having fun and diving.
The next morning, Doris and I decided to go on the morning dives to Chumpon Pinnacle and to Green Rock. Paco told us that is was some of the best diving in Koh Tao. And it was. Even though my group, which consisted of Chris, the divemaster, myself, and two Japanese kids who spoke VERY little English. As Chris was giving the briefing, she noticed that the Japanese folks weren't understanding much. So, together, we broke it down the best we could to them.
Once down to our maximum depth of eighteen meters, we saw all sorts of fish and sea aenemone. I think that the coolest things that we saw were a grouper the size of a tower PC, and a rather large school of baracuda.
On the second dive, though, I went down to twelve meters, tried to equalize my internal pressure, and felt a little pop. After that, my ear drum felt like someone was stabbing it with an ice pick. I signaled to Chris that I was having a problem with my equalization, so we went back up to eight meters. It still wasn't doing much good, until I went back up to five meters. Then, it started to feel better, but was still sore. We tried to go back down, but again, the pain started. From there, we decided to resurface and talk it over. On the surface, it was still sore, so I decided to abort the dive and let them go on without me.
It was sad that my last dive on Koh Tao, this time around (note: I said this time around)had to be aborted, but at least I learned from my training that aborting was the right thing to do.
Back on the boat, it was just me and the crew. I plugging in my iPod and took a nap up on the sundeck. It was brilliant, as Brits would say. I have some nice color in my skin and maybe a touch of sunburn in a few places. I still have the farmer's tan, but it's better than the pale state that I have been in over the past eight or ten years.
I can't stress to anyone enough, that if you go to Koh Tao and want to dive or learn to dive, you should go to Easy Divers. The staff there is amazing. They deal with so many people every day, but they limit the numbers of people with each divemaster or instructor. There's the manager there, Jude, who is a crazy mother fucker. He's a tall, thin, Thai guy who smokes like a chimney (as 90% of the divemasters do), but he remembers every single person's name, where they're from, where they've been, if they've had any problems, everything. He's just a funny, great, good guy.
At three yesterday afternoon, I caught the boat back to Samui. I was greeted by the crew of Goi, Lucky and his partners Chai and Paul. They were already into dinner when I got back. It was the full moon out, so it was really quite nice having dinner on the restaurant's veranda. Normally on the full moon, there is a big party on Koh Phangan, the world famous Full Moon Parties on Hat Rin beach. Since it happened to be a public holiday today, the party has been moved to today. So, tonight, Chai has gotten his friend to take us on his yacht to Koh Phangan, where I'll meet up with my friends from Koh Tao and we'll party the night away.
In other news, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do next winter after I get finished with American Seasons. Since my friend Lianne won't be doing the wedding ceremony in South Africa, I'm free to save my money for something else. Since I have come to Koh Samui and Koh Tao and think that it's just paradise, I might try to come back in different capacities.
I have found out from a number of the dive instructors that a lot of them don't have work visas, and that they're paid under the table. I think that this would mean that other service related jobs may have people who don't have work visas. Maybe I could come to Samui and cook at a resort here. There are a number of western kitchens. I could also do what Jude wants me to do and go for my Advanced Open Water certification and my divemaster certification. If I go for the divemaster, I can take as long as I want to complete it and all of the dives are for free/included in the price of the certification. I could live simply on the island of Koh Tao and dive every day.
Anyhow, I have to go now. It's time to grab lunch. Hope all is well with everyone else. I'm sorry about no pictures. The uploading is slow.
What's my problem? I stretched my ear drum.
As I said before, I was in Koh Tao getting my PADI certification. Two mornings ago, I passed my PADI exam and got certified. Not an hour later, I was out on the boat with my friend Doris (who has an Advanced Open Water certification that allows her to go to 30 meters) on our way out to Twins and the Japanese Gardens dive sites again. I have to say, doing fun dives is much more... fun than doing the dives for open water training. You see more and you get to really look around much more.
Our divemaster for those two dives was Paco, a skinny guy from Barcelona who wears a bright blue, custom made wetsuit that has the Rolling Stones lips on the front of it. He brought us to this sandy patch where there was a circle of rocks on the ocean floor. In the middle of these rocks was a bit of coral, no bigger than the size of a basketball, and a family of clown fish. Divers who are in the know find a rock on the ocean floor and add it to the circle surrounding the clown fish. No divers enter the circle, because this family of clown fish are the only ones in the area, and the divers want them to stay. It's kind of a bit of conservation while still having fun and diving.
The next morning, Doris and I decided to go on the morning dives to Chumpon Pinnacle and to Green Rock. Paco told us that is was some of the best diving in Koh Tao. And it was. Even though my group, which consisted of Chris, the divemaster, myself, and two Japanese kids who spoke VERY little English. As Chris was giving the briefing, she noticed that the Japanese folks weren't understanding much. So, together, we broke it down the best we could to them.
Once down to our maximum depth of eighteen meters, we saw all sorts of fish and sea aenemone. I think that the coolest things that we saw were a grouper the size of a tower PC, and a rather large school of baracuda.
On the second dive, though, I went down to twelve meters, tried to equalize my internal pressure, and felt a little pop. After that, my ear drum felt like someone was stabbing it with an ice pick. I signaled to Chris that I was having a problem with my equalization, so we went back up to eight meters. It still wasn't doing much good, until I went back up to five meters. Then, it started to feel better, but was still sore. We tried to go back down, but again, the pain started. From there, we decided to resurface and talk it over. On the surface, it was still sore, so I decided to abort the dive and let them go on without me.
It was sad that my last dive on Koh Tao, this time around (note: I said this time around)had to be aborted, but at least I learned from my training that aborting was the right thing to do.
Back on the boat, it was just me and the crew. I plugging in my iPod and took a nap up on the sundeck. It was brilliant, as Brits would say. I have some nice color in my skin and maybe a touch of sunburn in a few places. I still have the farmer's tan, but it's better than the pale state that I have been in over the past eight or ten years.
I can't stress to anyone enough, that if you go to Koh Tao and want to dive or learn to dive, you should go to Easy Divers. The staff there is amazing. They deal with so many people every day, but they limit the numbers of people with each divemaster or instructor. There's the manager there, Jude, who is a crazy mother fucker. He's a tall, thin, Thai guy who smokes like a chimney (as 90% of the divemasters do), but he remembers every single person's name, where they're from, where they've been, if they've had any problems, everything. He's just a funny, great, good guy.
At three yesterday afternoon, I caught the boat back to Samui. I was greeted by the crew of Goi, Lucky and his partners Chai and Paul. They were already into dinner when I got back. It was the full moon out, so it was really quite nice having dinner on the restaurant's veranda. Normally on the full moon, there is a big party on Koh Phangan, the world famous Full Moon Parties on Hat Rin beach. Since it happened to be a public holiday today, the party has been moved to today. So, tonight, Chai has gotten his friend to take us on his yacht to Koh Phangan, where I'll meet up with my friends from Koh Tao and we'll party the night away.
In other news, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do next winter after I get finished with American Seasons. Since my friend Lianne won't be doing the wedding ceremony in South Africa, I'm free to save my money for something else. Since I have come to Koh Samui and Koh Tao and think that it's just paradise, I might try to come back in different capacities.
I have found out from a number of the dive instructors that a lot of them don't have work visas, and that they're paid under the table. I think that this would mean that other service related jobs may have people who don't have work visas. Maybe I could come to Samui and cook at a resort here. There are a number of western kitchens. I could also do what Jude wants me to do and go for my Advanced Open Water certification and my divemaster certification. If I go for the divemaster, I can take as long as I want to complete it and all of the dives are for free/included in the price of the certification. I could live simply on the island of Koh Tao and dive every day.
Anyhow, I have to go now. It's time to grab lunch. Hope all is well with everyone else. I'm sorry about no pictures. The uploading is slow.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Day 9: Just Not Enough Time & Money
Listening: Stepping through brilliant shades, all the color you bring... This time, this time, this time, is whatever I want it to mean.
What's my problem? I really don't want to leave tomorrow.
So here I am, back at the computer for a little bit, trying to upload some pictures for you guys. All of the internet connections on this rock are as slow as whale shit. It's not a bad thing though. Aside from not being able to upload my pictures at break neck speed, I can blog and check my e-mail with relative ease.
Anyhow, I'm on Koh Tao still. This is supposed to be my last night on the island, and it's killing me.
It took a lot for me to get here. At first, they didn't have any openings for the four day, three night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. So I ended up taking a three day, two night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. They were supposed to pick me up at the Samui Beverly Hills Boutique Resort at seven in the morning, but they never showed. Goi called them up and got the agent on the phone. She said that the van to pick me up broke down, and I would need to get a taxi, which she would pay for, to the pier. I get to the pier, and the agent is nowhere to be found. Eventually, she shows up and drives me another fifteen minutes to another pier, where I catch a ride on a charter speed boat to Koh Tao. There was supposed to be someone at the pier to pick me up, but no one showed up. So, I called the agent again. Eventually, someone showed up, and I went to the dive shop to fill out paperwork, get checked into the bungalow and start my training.
My bungalow is definitely a budget accomodation. There's no hot water, and the toilet is... manual. There's a faucet and a bucket next to the toilet, if you get the picture. The bed is hard as a rock, and there really aren't any linens besides the pillowcases and the fitted sheet. It's unfortunate that I decided to leave my hostel sheet in Samui with Goi and Lucky. Oh yeah. I left the bulk of my gear back on Samui with Goi and Lucky while I just brought my daypack. It's worked out pretty nicely so far.
After dropping my crap, I spent the next hour watching a video and going through the textbook with an instructor. By one in the afternoon that day, I was already in my SCUBA gear and in the water. Fear not, we started off in shallow waters where, even on our knees, our heads were inches below the surface. We did a number of skills training, and then headed back to the boat. After another half hour ride, we went back into the water for an open water dive to practice some of the skills that we learned.
I have to say that learning to SCUBA was a million times easier than I thought it would be. Breathing through the regulator feels more normal than breathing through a snorkle to me. To a few in the class, they felt just the opposite.
Today was, again, classroom stuff in the morning followed by a shallow water dive and a deep water dive.
*had to log off and it's now the next evening*
It was a lot of fun. We went to a the Japanese Gardens dive spot. We saw a seal puffer fish and part o the hard coral field looked like a field of HUGE red leaf lettuce.
Today (the real today now), we finished out our PADI training with two more open water dives. We started out at Southwest Pinnacle, which was gorgeous. There were tons of different soft coral. I saw a bunch of black and white striped sea urchin, and a number of giant sea clams.
This was our deepest dive of our PADI training course. We went down to our certification limit of eighteen meters. Toi be honest, one you get past ten meters the pressure equalization was much easier.
The second dive of the day was at the White Rock dive site. Upon descent, we did a few last skills training and then proceeded to swim around the coral. There were all sorts of wildlife. There were banded sea snakes, cuttlefish and trigger fish. I think I saw a grouper too. Funny thing, the underwater sign language for grouper was to extend your hands as if you're honking someone's tits, because the Aussies pronounce the word grouper to sound like "groper."
After that dive we were supposed to check certification and so on and so forth, but I opted to go out on the afternoon boat with my friend Doris for a couple more dives. The two other people who graduated with me opted to not dive, but I've caught the bug. I went on two more dives today, and I'm going on two more dives tomorrow morning before I catch the three o'clock boat back to Koh Samui.
Anyways, I have to go again. I am 100% certified now and I need some sleep.
What's my problem? I really don't want to leave tomorrow.
So here I am, back at the computer for a little bit, trying to upload some pictures for you guys. All of the internet connections on this rock are as slow as whale shit. It's not a bad thing though. Aside from not being able to upload my pictures at break neck speed, I can blog and check my e-mail with relative ease.
Anyhow, I'm on Koh Tao still. This is supposed to be my last night on the island, and it's killing me.
It took a lot for me to get here. At first, they didn't have any openings for the four day, three night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. So I ended up taking a three day, two night Beginner Open Water PADI certification. They were supposed to pick me up at the Samui Beverly Hills Boutique Resort at seven in the morning, but they never showed. Goi called them up and got the agent on the phone. She said that the van to pick me up broke down, and I would need to get a taxi, which she would pay for, to the pier. I get to the pier, and the agent is nowhere to be found. Eventually, she shows up and drives me another fifteen minutes to another pier, where I catch a ride on a charter speed boat to Koh Tao. There was supposed to be someone at the pier to pick me up, but no one showed up. So, I called the agent again. Eventually, someone showed up, and I went to the dive shop to fill out paperwork, get checked into the bungalow and start my training.
My bungalow is definitely a budget accomodation. There's no hot water, and the toilet is... manual. There's a faucet and a bucket next to the toilet, if you get the picture. The bed is hard as a rock, and there really aren't any linens besides the pillowcases and the fitted sheet. It's unfortunate that I decided to leave my hostel sheet in Samui with Goi and Lucky. Oh yeah. I left the bulk of my gear back on Samui with Goi and Lucky while I just brought my daypack. It's worked out pretty nicely so far.
After dropping my crap, I spent the next hour watching a video and going through the textbook with an instructor. By one in the afternoon that day, I was already in my SCUBA gear and in the water. Fear not, we started off in shallow waters where, even on our knees, our heads were inches below the surface. We did a number of skills training, and then headed back to the boat. After another half hour ride, we went back into the water for an open water dive to practice some of the skills that we learned.
I have to say that learning to SCUBA was a million times easier than I thought it would be. Breathing through the regulator feels more normal than breathing through a snorkle to me. To a few in the class, they felt just the opposite.
Today was, again, classroom stuff in the morning followed by a shallow water dive and a deep water dive.
*had to log off and it's now the next evening*
It was a lot of fun. We went to a the Japanese Gardens dive spot. We saw a seal puffer fish and part o the hard coral field looked like a field of HUGE red leaf lettuce.
Today (the real today now), we finished out our PADI training with two more open water dives. We started out at Southwest Pinnacle, which was gorgeous. There were tons of different soft coral. I saw a bunch of black and white striped sea urchin, and a number of giant sea clams.
This was our deepest dive of our PADI training course. We went down to our certification limit of eighteen meters. Toi be honest, one you get past ten meters the pressure equalization was much easier.
The second dive of the day was at the White Rock dive site. Upon descent, we did a few last skills training and then proceeded to swim around the coral. There were all sorts of wildlife. There were banded sea snakes, cuttlefish and trigger fish. I think I saw a grouper too. Funny thing, the underwater sign language for grouper was to extend your hands as if you're honking someone's tits, because the Aussies pronounce the word grouper to sound like "groper."
After that dive we were supposed to check certification and so on and so forth, but I opted to go out on the afternoon boat with my friend Doris for a couple more dives. The two other people who graduated with me opted to not dive, but I've caught the bug. I went on two more dives today, and I'm going on two more dives tomorrow morning before I catch the three o'clock boat back to Koh Samui.
Anyways, I have to go again. I am 100% certified now and I need some sleep.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Day 9: Paradiso
Listening: Here you go way to fast. Don't slow down you're gonna crash. You don't know what's been going down. You've been running all over town.
What's my problem? I don't know if two months will be enough.
Just a quick blog here, as I have to be back at the dive shop in about fifteen minutes.
Koh Samui was crazy. I spent a day riding a scooter once around the island, getting lost many times along the way. I tried to find five different waterfalls, and successfully only found two. I got dinged for ten and twenty Baht here and there for parking or admission to things, which was kind of a bummer. It's quite amazing how ten and twenty Baht increments can add up to hundreds of baht over a day.
Well, the scootering was fun, but I could tell it was really dangerous. It wasn't until after the day ended that I read in a tourism magazine that Koh Samui has the highest number of car crashes in the kingdom, or something of the likes. So, I don't think I'll do that again. It was hard enough driving on the "wrong" side of the road, let alone trying to figure out what's going on in the minds of craaaaazy Thai drivers.
I went to a fish market with Lucky and his partners, who are all kind of foodies. There was amazing fish available, including parrot fish. I'll get more into that another time.
Yesterday, I started my PADI training course. I have the hottest instructor ever. She's from Oz and looks like she's a hapa. She's totally tan, and just hot. I mean hot. Did I mention that she's hot? Like, yeah. So she's a dive instructor, and she tends bar for Muai Thai matches. She also used to do Muai Thai back in the day too. She's yuuuuummmmmy. And she thinks I'm a natural diver. Woot.
I've done pretty well thus far. Yesterday, my mask was kind of fuct, but I pushed through. Out of the five people who started the course, two have already dropped out, and one was having some pressure difficulties. She's staying on though. So our group is my hot dive instructor, Kathy, Marcus, the Swede, Marta, the Pole, and me. It's a nice little group. An American from Alabama and a Brazilian washed out. It was kind of sad.
Anyhow, I have to go. I'll try to update more when I hit Samui again. Also, for Paul, Here's the link to Lucky's resort: Samui Beverly Hills
What's my problem? I don't know if two months will be enough.
Just a quick blog here, as I have to be back at the dive shop in about fifteen minutes.
Koh Samui was crazy. I spent a day riding a scooter once around the island, getting lost many times along the way. I tried to find five different waterfalls, and successfully only found two. I got dinged for ten and twenty Baht here and there for parking or admission to things, which was kind of a bummer. It's quite amazing how ten and twenty Baht increments can add up to hundreds of baht over a day.
Well, the scootering was fun, but I could tell it was really dangerous. It wasn't until after the day ended that I read in a tourism magazine that Koh Samui has the highest number of car crashes in the kingdom, or something of the likes. So, I don't think I'll do that again. It was hard enough driving on the "wrong" side of the road, let alone trying to figure out what's going on in the minds of craaaaazy Thai drivers.
I went to a fish market with Lucky and his partners, who are all kind of foodies. There was amazing fish available, including parrot fish. I'll get more into that another time.
Yesterday, I started my PADI training course. I have the hottest instructor ever. She's from Oz and looks like she's a hapa. She's totally tan, and just hot. I mean hot. Did I mention that she's hot? Like, yeah. So she's a dive instructor, and she tends bar for Muai Thai matches. She also used to do Muai Thai back in the day too. She's yuuuuummmmmy. And she thinks I'm a natural diver. Woot.
I've done pretty well thus far. Yesterday, my mask was kind of fuct, but I pushed through. Out of the five people who started the course, two have already dropped out, and one was having some pressure difficulties. She's staying on though. So our group is my hot dive instructor, Kathy, Marcus, the Swede, Marta, the Pole, and me. It's a nice little group. An American from Alabama and a Brazilian washed out. It was kind of sad.
Anyhow, I have to go. I'll try to update more when I hit Samui again. Also, for Paul, Here's the link to Lucky's resort: Samui Beverly Hills
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Day 6: Flashpacker!
Listening: In my dreams I'm jealous all the time. As I wake I'm going out of my mind, going out of my mind.
What's my problem? So I won't see the west coast of Thailand
I'm soft and weak. I stayed in a hotel in Bangkok for $50 a night for the first four nights of my trip. A flashpacker is the word to discribe such people. As is the word to describe people who fly from place to place instead of taking the land routes of bus. Hell, you may even be considered a flashpacker if you take a nice sleeper train.
Two days ago, I hung out with Cara again, as well as another girl from London, a girl from Norway, and a girl from Australia. All very cool chicks. We were a bit disorganized for most of the day. I spent the first half of the day still exploring the Sukhumvit area of town, as Cara had to do some more admin stuff and wanted to meet me after lunch.
Lunch and dinner were both fiascos. Both meals, someone wanted to sit down at a proper restaurant instead of feasting off of the street, and we paid the price on several accounts. The food was definitely more expensive, definitely lacking in flavor, and the service was definitely sub par. I was disappointed. The food wasn't even worth taking pictures of.
As I have found out that regular sit down restaurants in Bangkok are tough to come by. I'm sure that there are a lot in the more luxurious areas of town or even near Khao San Road, but everywhere else, they're few, far between, and crappy as hell. Suck it up and eat out of a plastic bag. Suck it up and eat at random street vendors.
My general summation of Bangkok is the following. It's a wonderfully depraved, dirty city with a lot to offer for those who have an open mind. The food is wonderful, and the people are nice. If you're made uncomfortable by poverty and dirt, you best not spend too much time there, or spend your time in the higher end neighborhoods such as the area around Siam station. I, personally, loved browsing through the street vendors' stands looking at tees and weaponry. Some may find it droll.
I'll be passing through Bangkok again on the way back from the islands. Goi wants to spend time with her friends, and I want to see the old capitol and the floating market before heading to Chiang Mai. I'll also be flying out of Bangkok on my way out of the mainland, so I plan on taking some cooking courses at that time and buying everything that I wanted to pick up on those first few days in southeast Asia.
Yesterday morning, Goi and her friend, Lucky, who is also from Nantucket via Thailand, picked me up at five in the morning and we made the eight hour car ride down to Surat Thani where we would catch the ferry to Ko Samui.
I was told by Goi, that Lucky owned a resort on Ko Samui. I expected a quaint little place with a few rooms and, maybe, a nice view. I was wrong. His resort is AMAZING. It's reasonably big, maybe fifteen or twenty units. It's beautiful. It's placed on a cliff with some freestanding units and some with units joined together. There's an infinity pool, a huge restaurant, that I can attest to, cooks fantastic, tasty food. It's a dream. It's perhaps one of the nicest places that I have every stayed. It has a view to rival that of the cliffs of Cinque Terre, Italy, the comfort to rival that of Disney World. It's simply amazing.
I think that the most troubling part of all of this is that Lucky isn't letting me pay for anything. I feel a bit bad about it. I was telling Goi, who was equally stunned by the resort, that we have to do something nice for him. I have no idea what to do though. I mean, the guy is at home here. He's at home on Nantucket. I tried to pay for gas. No dice. I tried to pay for dinner. No dice. He did let me pay for the scooter I'm riding around the island on. WOOT!
Speaking of that, I'm riding around on a scooter on the "wrong" side of the road. To put my parents at ease, there are hundreds of scooters on the road and they all pay very good attention to them. I can go as slow as I want to and no one bats and eyelash. They simply pass me on the right. Yes, mom. I'm wearing a helmet. Yes, mom. I'm watching where I'm going and paying attention to traffic.
Tomorrow, Lucky's partner has arranged for me to go on a scuba diving package to get my PADI certification. PADI is a world recognized certification course for scuba divers. I will be approved to dive up to 18 meters, I think. It is a life long certification, and I can take it anywhere I want to dive. It's a four day, three night course over in Ko Tao. I'm super psyched. I had a number of things on my "courses to take while in Asia" list, and this was, most definitely number two on the list. It is second to cooking courses, of course.
I am so excited. Life is good. Anyhow, here's some more pics for you.
Pig face in Thailand
The scooter Linh should get
Best public toilet of 2006
Sticky rice cooked in bamboo
Forget "no dogs..." "NO DURIAN!"
The view from Lucky's resort's restaurant at night
Hoot, pimpin' as always
The pool
The units
A flower
A food
A fruit
What's my problem? So I won't see the west coast of Thailand
I'm soft and weak. I stayed in a hotel in Bangkok for $50 a night for the first four nights of my trip. A flashpacker is the word to discribe such people. As is the word to describe people who fly from place to place instead of taking the land routes of bus. Hell, you may even be considered a flashpacker if you take a nice sleeper train.
Two days ago, I hung out with Cara again, as well as another girl from London, a girl from Norway, and a girl from Australia. All very cool chicks. We were a bit disorganized for most of the day. I spent the first half of the day still exploring the Sukhumvit area of town, as Cara had to do some more admin stuff and wanted to meet me after lunch.
Lunch and dinner were both fiascos. Both meals, someone wanted to sit down at a proper restaurant instead of feasting off of the street, and we paid the price on several accounts. The food was definitely more expensive, definitely lacking in flavor, and the service was definitely sub par. I was disappointed. The food wasn't even worth taking pictures of.
As I have found out that regular sit down restaurants in Bangkok are tough to come by. I'm sure that there are a lot in the more luxurious areas of town or even near Khao San Road, but everywhere else, they're few, far between, and crappy as hell. Suck it up and eat out of a plastic bag. Suck it up and eat at random street vendors.
My general summation of Bangkok is the following. It's a wonderfully depraved, dirty city with a lot to offer for those who have an open mind. The food is wonderful, and the people are nice. If you're made uncomfortable by poverty and dirt, you best not spend too much time there, or spend your time in the higher end neighborhoods such as the area around Siam station. I, personally, loved browsing through the street vendors' stands looking at tees and weaponry. Some may find it droll.
I'll be passing through Bangkok again on the way back from the islands. Goi wants to spend time with her friends, and I want to see the old capitol and the floating market before heading to Chiang Mai. I'll also be flying out of Bangkok on my way out of the mainland, so I plan on taking some cooking courses at that time and buying everything that I wanted to pick up on those first few days in southeast Asia.
Yesterday morning, Goi and her friend, Lucky, who is also from Nantucket via Thailand, picked me up at five in the morning and we made the eight hour car ride down to Surat Thani where we would catch the ferry to Ko Samui.
I was told by Goi, that Lucky owned a resort on Ko Samui. I expected a quaint little place with a few rooms and, maybe, a nice view. I was wrong. His resort is AMAZING. It's reasonably big, maybe fifteen or twenty units. It's beautiful. It's placed on a cliff with some freestanding units and some with units joined together. There's an infinity pool, a huge restaurant, that I can attest to, cooks fantastic, tasty food. It's a dream. It's perhaps one of the nicest places that I have every stayed. It has a view to rival that of the cliffs of Cinque Terre, Italy, the comfort to rival that of Disney World. It's simply amazing.
I think that the most troubling part of all of this is that Lucky isn't letting me pay for anything. I feel a bit bad about it. I was telling Goi, who was equally stunned by the resort, that we have to do something nice for him. I have no idea what to do though. I mean, the guy is at home here. He's at home on Nantucket. I tried to pay for gas. No dice. I tried to pay for dinner. No dice. He did let me pay for the scooter I'm riding around the island on. WOOT!
Speaking of that, I'm riding around on a scooter on the "wrong" side of the road. To put my parents at ease, there are hundreds of scooters on the road and they all pay very good attention to them. I can go as slow as I want to and no one bats and eyelash. They simply pass me on the right. Yes, mom. I'm wearing a helmet. Yes, mom. I'm watching where I'm going and paying attention to traffic.
Tomorrow, Lucky's partner has arranged for me to go on a scuba diving package to get my PADI certification. PADI is a world recognized certification course for scuba divers. I will be approved to dive up to 18 meters, I think. It is a life long certification, and I can take it anywhere I want to dive. It's a four day, three night course over in Ko Tao. I'm super psyched. I had a number of things on my "courses to take while in Asia" list, and this was, most definitely number two on the list. It is second to cooking courses, of course.
I am so excited. Life is good. Anyhow, here's some more pics for you.
Pig face in Thailand
The scooter Linh should get
Best public toilet of 2006
Sticky rice cooked in bamboo
Forget "no dogs..." "NO DURIAN!"
The view from Lucky's resort's restaurant at night
Hoot, pimpin' as always
The pool
The units
A flower
A food
A fruit
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
