the past week

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OK well I'm tired of doing an entry for each day because it takes forever. Here's a synopsis of the past week:

10th (Monday)
Matt, Andy, Marieke and I had a great ride through the mountains to get to Mae Hong Son. It's just a small little town, with some great street food. We stayed in a proper room for once, and indulged ourselves in a hot shower which was awesome after the past few days of filth.

11th (Tuesday)
We headed back to Pai on our scooters, which took the better part of the day. In Pai, we stayed at this cool little place whose name escapes me now, but we sat around a campfire drinking until midnight or so. The owner of the place, named Toto, was this awesome old Thai hippie who had tons of stories. The highlight of the night (for all but Matt) was when Toto asked him, "Excuse me, I'm sorry for asking this, but are you gay?"

Hilarity ensued, but as I mentioned, Matt was not amused.

12th (Wed)
Feeling a bit hung from the previous night's beverages, the four hour minibus ride from Pai to Chiang Mai was NOT fun. There's literally hundreds of curves and dozens of hairpin curves, and it was pretty warm in the vehicle so I was extremely glad to get "home" to Libra and Dao in Chiang Mai. Matt stayed in Pai (he has like 2-3 months in Thailand, so he has the time to do that type of shit. Bastard.)

In the evening, Andy, Marieke and I all went to a Muay Thai fight. Talk about brutal. The worst/best part, depending on your moral calibration, was the fact that there were eight year olds (seriously) fighting.

13th (Thurs)
Marieke and Andy headed to Laos in the morning, so I was once again on my own. I spent the day doing some Xmas shopping for Ryan and my mom, and then the rest of the day on the internet figuring out how to set up a travel blog.

I caught the night train to Bangkok, and was expecting the worst because all of the sleeper coaches were full when I booked my ticket. It was surprisingly endurable, however, as they gave you blankets and the car wasn't that full so I could stretch my big ass out on two seats. Train food continues to suck.

14th (Fri)

I arrived in Bangkok around 11 AM, and bought a ticket to Ko Tao via bus and boat that left at 7 PM. This left me the day to kill in Bangkok, so I first went to Wat Po, or the "reclining Buddha." I had missed out on my first go in Bangkok, and I'm really glad I went to see it. The thing is huge, I think I read it's 46 m long, 15 m high, and 3 m wide. The soles of its feet are inlaid with mother-of-pearl depicting various scenes in Buddhist history (I guess). Regardless of what its depicting, it's really cool.

After Wat Po, I got a tuk tuk to MBK, this enormous shopping center. I tried to buy another pair of sneakers, but it turns out a size 13 shoe is the most elusive product you can find in Thailand. Go figure. I went and saw a movie at the theater, starring Will Smith in post-apocalyptic New York. It's called "I am Legend." It's alright. Wait for it to come out on video. Side note though, I mentioned the Thai reverence towards their king earlier... At the beginning of the movie, between the previews and the feature, there was a tribute to the king where everybody in the theater stood up. That was neat.

Got the bus, which SUCKS as a mode of transportation. There's absolutely no way to situate yourself comfortably and you're surrounded by fucking weirdos. It got into Chumphon at 2:30 AM, and then we had to wait there until the boat picked us up at 7.

15th (Sat)
I arrived in Ko Tao, and was driven to the dive shop I had booked my Advanced Open Water Course with. I was actually rather impressed with the room quality, though I've since noticed that mosquitoes must breed in my toilet because they're EVERYWHERE.

Since it was too late in the day to start my course, I spent the rest of the day reading, eating, and walking around. I actually walked down to a neighboring beach to go for a swim, and was amazed at how beautiful everything is. I had a few drinks, read some more, and had an early night... going to bed around 7. I know, I'm a pussy.

16th (Sun)
I started my advanced course at 11, and my instructor was a French dude named Vlad. He was one of the cooler French people I've ever met. He even admitted the French superiority complex, and said he didn't understand it either. We did two dives, a navigation dive and a dive to work on my buoyancy. It felt good to get back in the water, but visibility was shit so we didn't really see much sealife. In the evening, I went and grabbed a few drinks and watched the Manchester Utd-Liverpool game. Manchester won. Cool.

17th (Mon) - Today! I'm finally caught up!
Had an early morning to get on the boat... we left at 8 AM, and went to a place called Chumphon Pinnacle for my deep dive. I dove to 32 m, the deepest I've done yet, and we saw SO much! There were sharks, barracudas, a morey eel, and giant grouper... It was really awesome. On our second dive, we saw a sea turtle on the sea floor getting cleaned by a fish (it seemed to be sucking the algae off it), as well as a pair of blue spotted stingrays that were incredibly chilled out under some rocks (probably better that way). Our third dive wasn't quite as spectacular, but Vlad and I felt more than satisfied with our morning sightings so it was all good.

I rented a motorbike and drove around the island some, and I think I've decided I'll stay here until I have to go back to Bangkok on Fri night. I'm tired of constantly travelling, and I feel like sometimes I don't get to fully experience the area by moving around so much. I'm going to try and fully experience Ko Tao by touring with my motorbike, going to the bars, and snorkeling as much as I can. And I'll let you know how it goes!

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Comments

[Dad]

Thanks for the stories Nate!
Hi Son, I know it's a time drain to record your travels so well, but I'm really happy you are! Your travel in Thailand sounds awesome, even if there were a few episodes that sucked. Can't wait to see the pix when you get back. You are missing a lot of snow back home - in VT we got 18 inches yesterday, and it's funny to watch Bella dive in over her head. So, enjoy the nice weather! Take care, and be careful! Love you! Dad (Gianna says Hi!)