Day 39- Koh Tao All good things come to an end...

I looked at my clock and realized that it was 1030 and I obviously was not going to be diving today. I had wanted to an advanced open water courseat 630 in the morning, but there was no way I could wake up in time with no alarm clock and I partied way too much the night before.

And I had good luck for the whole trip but the night before left me frustrated and annoyed. I am the queen of losing electronics, and although I tried my best to keep track of things my water proof camera went missing last night. Yes, this is probably the 30th camera I have lost in my life time, so it isn't much surprize but last night I was celebrating finishing my PADI and the underwater camera most likely was stolen when I went to the bathroom. There was a 5 minute interval it was left unseen and in that time it was gone. I looked everywhere, and asked everyone. So on this morning, I was feeling really bummed and didn't want to wake up.

But, I finally got out of bed around 1130 and went to an internet cafe on the other side of the island to take care of some things I had been putting off. I had to still buy a ticket from California to Seattle, call my mom, call my bff Jenni and figure out things for the upcoming travels.

I also had been eaten alive by bed bugs the night before and had no idea how to take care of it. I bought some anti itch medicine and cream and have been slathering it all over my body, but I still feel like when I was 6 and had chicken pocks. No matter how much I try to think of other things I can't stop itching.

Exhausted from my nearly 6 week go go go travels, I finally let myself rest for an entire afternoon. I didn't even want to go to the beach because seeing it just made me sad to know I will have to leave it soon. I am not ready to adjust to a life that doesn't require mojito buckets. I don't want to wear closed toed shoes. I am not ready to be in a place that is colder than 20 degrees. I am just not ready for real life but at the same time I am ready to go somewhere else.

I layed down and slept the afternoon away and didn't awaken till the evening. I walked down to the main beach to watch a last fire show, eat my last green curry and rice meal and get my last cocktail (shark attack). I looked out at the crashing waves and ate alone while 2 cats sat at my feet purring at the beach front restaurant.

I don't know what I want right now, but I do know that 40 days prior I felt alot different. I felt scared to not know what is ahead. I didn't know what it would be like traveling alone. I just wanted to stay in Korea.

I am excted to go back to Korea. I really want to get organized and be productive and see all my old students. I want to see Young Bum and my friends from Kids College and korean friends. I just feel like I have gone through alot and learned so much and going back I don't know how I will adjust. I will not be able to wear my pink binkini top and shorts as an outfit. I won't be able to drink beer for breakfast. Well, tomorrow I start the journey back, so I better get ready.

I leave Koh Tao at 1015 and head to Bangkok with flight to Seoul at 1100 pm. So I will walk through the beautiful streets of Koh Tao one last time and think of all the great fun I have had.
Goodbye vacation!

Day 38- Koh Tao-I AM A SCUBA DIVER!

I don't know how I managed but my natural body clock was able to wake me up at 6:45, right in time for day4 of my 4 day diver certification course (http://www.padi.com/ or http://www.crystaldive.com/ . I was a bit nervous for today, because I had felt a little scared yesterday when my ear was hurting, but also I was so pumped to get to see the cool sea life.

I grabbed a whole wheat baguette and coffee from Crystal's restaurant and sat down on the beach side bean bags to wait for my instructions. It was early, but everyone seemed really excited for the dives. We checked our dive bags and made sure we had all of our supplies and then got on the boat.

We went to a new location called White Rock and jumped into the water by 8:21 am. The warm water felt nice and woke me up. As we descended into the bright blue water, I was shocked at how many new fish and things we could see. The visibility was much better than the day before and I was surrounded by even more creatures than before. We were swimming and hovering over the coral and looking at all the cool fish. This time we got to see angel fish, trigger fish and even a blue spotted stingray.

The second dive we went to a place called Twins. This dive was pretty awesome too because when we got in the water we were surrounded by all of these cool fish called Fushialee or something like that but they are silver/white with a yellow stripe on their backs. We kept swimming around and saw another sting ray hiding under a rock and then towards the end of the dive we saw a really cool fish called an Emperor Fish that was huge!

We got back to Crystal by 12 and all went to lunch and filled out the rest of the paper work. Everyone was tired, but our teacher Liran was exhausted from watching all of us and he even had to go back and teach another student who missed the morning dive because he overslept.

Tonight at 7pm our group is all meeting at the Irish Pub to watch our dive video and enjoy passing our PADI. I can't wait to see it, and I feel like this has been one of the best experiences of my life.

My trip is only 2 more days but really only 1 because the last one will be spent entirely traveling. Even thought I definitely went over budget, I have had the best time of my life and wouldn't change a thing.

Day 37- Koh Tao Diving..I feel like Ariel the little mermaid!

"OH SHIT!" I yelled, as I looked at the time on my watch.

9:15 and I was supposed to be taking my final dive exam at 9 am. I threw on a my brown zebra bikini, pink shorts, and Lao Beer tank top and raced down to the beach to meet the rest of my classmates.

I was relieved when I made it to the beach and saw that everyone was still hanging out on the bean bag chairs in the beach front bar waiting to start the exam. Everything is on beach time, so 15 minutes late isn't technically late.

I sat down next to the other American named Jack and we started our test. The whole time I was taking it, my head was spinning from the pina colodas from the night before. It was pretty simple and straight forward, but I was unable to do any of the complicated questions because I felt completely drunk.

I tried to sneak a look over at Jacks test, but he finished quickly, so I was left to guess the last few questions on my own.

But basically, to scube dive you just need to know a few simple rules and not freak out. It is definitely more complicated than this, but if you are curious this is what I thought was the most important
I guess you need to know your

EQUIPMENT
-BCD (buoyancy control device with inflator) the life vest you wear when you dive that fills and deflates to help you float or sink
-Dive tank
-Regulator it is 4 tubes that attach to the BCD and the tank (they give you air, inflate the BCD, let you know your air pressure)

HOW TO DIVE
-Just always go with a buddy and check all of your equipment.
-When you get in the water deflate your BCD (vest) and slowly go down (there are more details but that is the main stuff).
-Equalize as you go down (pop your ears)
- Once you are down just relax and chill and BREATHE!
-Just check your time and location and have fun
-When you come up to the top you have to surface SLOW SLOW SLOW and release air from your BCD because air expands as it rises

Anyway, basically that is the main stuff but there are more complicated with the safety and everything, but the most important thing is BREATHE! :)

So after we finished our test, the instructor told us to get in the ocean because we had to do our 200 meter swim test. I was still feeling the effects of the pina colados, so jumping in the water with my waterproof camera I had a great time clicking photos and joking around. Once we made it out 200 meters, we had to float in one spot for 10 minutes. It was pretty easy, but I was surprized because everyone in our class did it no problem.

We all had passed our tests and swim tests, so the next step was OPEN WATER! I was so excited to get to go out in the ocean, but also a bit nervous because I wasn't feeling the best. Me and some of the other students sat down for lunch and I had some chicken pad thai and a Singha thai beer in hopes of a little hair of the dog curing me.

We got on board a big boat and traveled north up to our first dive location. The water was sparkling, and the sun was shining overhead. It really was unbeatable.

I was excited but also scared. I didn't know what it would be like traveling up to 18 meters beneath the ocean. I thought that it would feel scary when we had to do our dive tests (taking off our masks underwater, switching our air source, following a compas) but I just jumped in.

Liran the instructor was joking around with everyone and putting everyone at ease. He has been working on Koh Tao for 6 years as an instructor, so he is confident and fun to dive with. He told us S O R T E D before we went in the water which stands for Signal, Orientation, Resperator, Time, Elavate, Descend (a pre descend checklist) and down we went.

I think there were 7 or 8 people in our group and we all were amazed as we descended down into the water below. We stuck with our partners and floated to the sea bottom. Fish were swimming around us and I really felt like I was Ariel from the little mermaid. It was a sensation that I had never experienced and I couldn't stop singing "Under the Sea" from the little mermaid in my head.

Colorful parrot fish, harlequin sweetlips, schools of baracuda, brightly colored anenomes surrounded us as we practiced our diving. We all had a great time and the 31 minutes at 12 meters deep flew by. We ascended to to the surface slowly, and jotted down our experiences in our dive log books. Then we had an hour and 40 minute break and left Mango Bay and to our next dive location called Japanese Garden.

I had so much fun the first dive, that I thought this one would be no problem, but my hangover was setting in. On the descent down, my right ear was giving me a terrible time, and I almost freaked out. Luckily, I just ascended slightly and equalized and was able to clear the blockage, but that was the only scary experience I had.

We made it back to Crystal Resort at about 6 and everyone was exhausted but happy. We had all made it and passed our first 2 training dives! The first one was 31 minutes and the second was 42 minutes. It was a cool experience to have spend over an hour living in a world that I had only imagined before.

A few of us headed to dinner at an Irish pub and laughed and joked the night away. We probably still drank more than we should of, but we all managed to get back and to bed by about 11 or 12 in anticipation of our 2 big dives the next day!

Day 36- Koh Tao Diving Day 1

Cock a doodle doo! Cock a doodle doo!

Shut up you freaking roosters! Five more minutes! I thought as I heard the crows of the obnoxious birds. I hadn't brought an alarm clock but fortunately, the roosters behind my bungalow woke me up in time for the 9 am dive class.

I went to class and listened to the boring video and filled out my worksheet. Jesus! I thought this was supposed to be fun, but I hate all of this crap! I know we have to learn how to do everything, but it is hard when I know there is a beautiful beach with crystal blue sea minutes away from me as I sat in the cold over air conditioned classroom listening to the BS PADI video.

Finally, at 1130 we had a lunch break till 1230! I didn't even say a word to my other classmates, I just ran out the door and went to the beach. I had to!

"May I have a Blue Lagoon?" I said to the waiter at the beach front restaurant.

I waited in the sand with waves hitting my toes in my bikini. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! He brought me my drink, and I felt like a bad student as I secretly got drunk on my lunch break. But I was in paradise and felt it 100% necessary!

When I returned to class, we were actually headed to the pool for real practice! We got to suit up and go under the water practicing different drills. It was fun, but the whole deal took the entire day even thought the cool Israeli instructor did his best to speed up the process.

"Miss America, you owe me 5 beers," said my scuba instructor because I had not properly drained the water from my flotation device called a BCD.

So after the class, we headed to the bar and that is where the trouble began. I started having drinks with a nice englishman, and the instructor. Jen joined us and soon we were having more than we had planned!

The night ended in a blur or Koh Tao clubs, with Mark and I dancing the night away..... Not a smart move when you have to dive the next morning in open water!

Day 35-Koh Tao...Welcome to Paradise

The bus ride from Koh Tao to Bangkok was terrible! Even thought I had slept the night before at the airport (in actuality there was no sleep), the bus was just ridiculous. I had to wait for nearly 2 hours to even board the bus, and when I was on it I couldn't get a wink of sleep. I don't know why but I was hungry and hungry and uncomfortable the whole time. I did manage to get in some good reading though, and started an interesting book called Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye, which tells the tales of a New Zealander that moved to Bangkok and became a private eye (mainly telling his tales of following callgirls that married foreigners and revealing that often they are lady boys or drug addicts).

Eventually we arrived to the port when we would all board a boat that would take some people to Koh Tao and some people to Koh Samui (islands on the east side of Thailand). We had to wait for nearly an hour and then we boarded a big boat that took about an hour or two and took us to the islands.

As I road the boat, I felt such a feeling of independence and adventure. I sat on the edge looking over into the deep blue sea and watched fish jump out of the water and saw the sun rise above the sea. I was alone, but not lonely.... just content.

When I got to the island, I had to haul my huge backpack and carry bag to the Crystal Dive hotel and resort which was only a 5 minute walk from the port. The place was hustling and bustling, but I didn't mind, because I just felt happy to be on a beach. They had me fill out some forms, and showed me to the restaurant on the resort.

I seriously couldn't take it all in. I was in paradise! Sparkling blue water, green rolling hills, and attractive people surrounding me. Everywhere I looked was incredible! The food was cheap, the air was clean, and this was my life for the next few days. It was overwhelming!

As I handed in my form, they handed me a key to room D8.

"Do you want to start today at 1:30?" asked the friendly, layed back guy at reception that looked like he had been living at the beach for the last 20 years.

"Sure!" I replied, excited to get a go on my diving.

I went to my room and dropped my bags off and relaxed. No air conditioning... no hot shower.... Hmmmmmm, I thought. Well, this is sorta backpacking life. I can deal though, I have the beach.

I went to my class at 1:30 and it lasted till nearly 6. It was boring as hell. Watching a video and filling out a worksheet. I was tired and the last thing I wanted was to be spending my afternoon in a small freezing (due to too much AC) classroom.

When the dive class finished, we were assigned homework and let free for the night. I was starving, and went to my room to drop off my things so I could get in my swimsuit and take a quick swim before going to dinner. On the way, I saw a girl from my class sitting alone on her deck.

"Hey do you want to grab a drink and go for a swim?" I asked her.

"Sure, sounds good!" she replied in her London accent, and we agreed to meet in 10 minutes.

By the end of the night, we had gone swimming had drinks, gone to dinner, and chatted about life before returning to our beach side bungalows. Her name was Jen and she was working in London at an investment bank and was on "holiday" (we say vacation they say holiday). She had been traveling with a friend but he had to go back to Australia, so she was also alone like I.

I returned to my hot bungalow and felt happy that I had made friend. But, I was sad that I had no AC and my little bungalow was hot and sticky. Oh well! I flicked on the TV and watched Discovery Channel and saw one of my friends from high school on the show Deadliest Catch about the Alaskan fishermen. It was comforting to see that even though I was in Thailand on a beach of a small island, I could still be watching TV and see a good friend from long ago.

I was exhausted though, and fell asleep anticipating my time scuba diving in the pool! :)

Day 34- Club Taco Cable Park Success, Heading to Koh Tao

No sleep, and getting to the point of crazinous, I managed to pull an all nighter in my true "backpacker" style (if you notice I actually have been wearing 2 backpacker bracelets now, despite my prior hatred of them) and stayed up all night at the Changi Singapore Airport. I saved money on accomadation and also got to use the free internet, althought the kiosk made me re log in every 15 minutes.

I got onto the plane to go to Bangkok, and was instantly annoyed by the obnoxious girls who sat next to me. Young high schoolers from Singapore on some sort of religious mission heading to another country. Non stop valley girl voices gossiping about everything and everyone. I guess it must be called a taste of my own medicine because I am sure I have pissed off many doing the exact same thing.

Anyway, I don't even remember take off because I had already fallen asleep. But I do have a special talent and can wake up for food at any time. As soon as the ringing of the food cart down the isle occured I instantly was awake and ready with my tray top down for the food. Although, it wasn't great, (omelet, potatoes, and fruit) it was free and so I consumed it in record time and was back asleep until I awoke again to an angry flight attendent yelling at me to put my seat up from the recline position because we were almost landing.

Once I got to the airport, I felt like a disaster. No sleep and the food was making my stomach sick. Despite that, I decided to still spend the day going to Club Taco Wakeboard Cable park again. I had to figure out that damn cable because I didn't know the next time I would have time to do it.

So, I jumped in a taxi and instructed the driver to take me to the spot. He still had to call the location and get directions, but managed to find Club Taco by 10 am. I bought the 4 hour pass and rented a board for the day which all cost only 700 baht (maybe about $25).

The water was glassy and smooth, and hardly anyone was there! PERFECT! I was a bit nervous to tackle this beast again, but I knew I had to do it. I thought about everything York had told me and got on the board. It felt just like I remembered, and I got the first corner no problem, then the second, then the third, and I made it around the last and then it spun my fast and I face planted. Although I face planted into the water, it actually felt more like a victorious pat on the back because I was so happy that I made it that far.

After that, I kept trying. It was a piece of cake! I was completely tearing it up and loving every moment. I wished that I had somewhere there to coach me over the obstacles because I really wanted to try to do them, but I didn't want to get to cocky and end up breaking my neck before I go on my scuba trip that I have already payed for.

I boarded for the whole afternoon and enjoyed the Singha Thai beer and snacks while I suntanned during my breaks. I got quite the tan while I chatted with the other Thai boarders who were hanging out and relaxing too.

Around 2, tons of tourists starting pouring in! Lots of beginners and people who were annoying loud. Fortunately a nice Thai girl named Pat came over to me and started talking to me and said she could drive me back close to Khaosan road where I have to go to get my bus to Koh Tao. So I hopped in her friends car and they drove me, which was super nice of them.

Now, I am waiting in a PC room about to go to dinner before I have to get on my 8pm bus that will drive me down to where I need to board a boat for Koh Tao. The whole journey should be aobut 12 hours! Well, last night I slept on a plane and tonight will be in a bus!
I am soooo backpacker huh? hahahahhahah