Bruce Willis Ruins All Films

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Before explaining the title of today's blog I will back peddle a bit and write what we've been up to. After hanging out in Tong Nai Pan Yai beach on Koh Phangan for a few days, we took a songthaew which is a truck with seats in the back and a cover that most islands use as taxis to the other side of the island (South West side). To a beach called Ban Tai. Stayed at a cool spot run by a Brit and his Thai wife. Nice relaxed joint with amazing Thai food and an even more amazing beach. Bungalow a stone's throw from the beach for 20$ a night. We relaxed and walked around town in the 2 days we were there. We also took a taxi to the North side of the island to a place called Koh Ma which is a small island connected via sandbar to Phangan. Pretty impressive, too bad it was a cloudy windy day..we still enjoyed it!

There is now just one small story we wish to tell from our stay at Ban Tai beach. One day we were walking about and came across a small bakery with no sign. We went in..and were greeted by 2 of the cutest, sweetest little old Thai ladies. They were probably about 70 years old weighing 90lbs at 4'9 each. No English...

So here we are selecting some different buns to buy when one of them comes over to me and hand me what can only be described as small turds. I look at these strange brown turds in my hand and asked her what is this? again..no English. She takes my hands in hers and smiles. Then takes one of these "turds" and beckons me to peel it. I do so and realize they are some sort of small wild potatoes. The 2 sweet ladies then look at us with big eyes and huge smiles as we try these potatoes. When we say "mmmmm" they both smile and pat us on the shoulder. So we go to pay for the 2 buns we chose (20BHT..or 80 cents) when one of them shuffles to the back and comes out with a bag with 3 other huge yummy freshly baked buns and hands it to us. I take it and say "thank you" in Thai, to which they just exploded with smiles and laughter at a familiar word. They saw us off with the traditional Thai way of placing your palms together at your chest, and bowing. They were standing outside their small bakery waving, smiling and bowing at us as we left. We left feeling amazed at this simple interaction between humans that cannot communicate with each other verbally, yet understood all there was to understand. Faith in humanity restored!

The next day we we took the ferry to the next island of Koh Tao (called Turtle Island due to it's shape).

And now..Bruce Willis Ruins All Films

B - BCD (breathing aparatus)

W - Weights

R - Releases (clips that hold you to your tank/bcd)

A- Air (duhhh, need air to scuba!)

F - Fins, Facemask, Final OK

These are called your buddy checks (you always dive with a buddy) which you perform every time before you enter the water while scuba diving. This is the silly acronym they used (among some other ones, of the dirty old man humor type) to make us remember our buddy checks!

So yes, you've guessed it...I finished my PADI Open Water course! It took me 4 days and was FANTASTIC!! I did it with Simple Life Divers in the island of Koh Tao. This island is only second to Cairns, Australia in handing out PADI cert's. What a spectacular experience! Our instructor was a bit of a party dude, so he wanted to reschedule some of our 7am dives so he could go party. Other than that it was really amazing. I was soooo nervous going into it, but after the pool sessions and theory work, I quickly got over it. The actual diving was really cool. We didn't see all thaaaat much, but still saw very healthy coral with lots of schools of colourful fish all around. In 3 of our 4 dives we had to perform the skills they tought us under water (taking off your mask and clearing it of water, pretending to have no air left and doing an emergency ascent etc..) quite surprised at how well I actually did, having not always been super comfy in the water. Now I'm hooked! and we will def do more diving once we head to the islands on the Andaman side.

Yesterday was "graduation day" and I'm kinda relieved it's over. Dave has been a little bit lonely last few days as I've been pretty much gone all day but made use of his time swimming, hiking to a few look-out points and snorkeling at what was apparently one of the best sites on the island. Schools of a variety of fish of all different sizes and colours. Can't wait for more!

We also went out with my "buddy" (a really awesome Aussie girl that ended up sharing a room with us for 2 days) and another guy from our dive group a few nights ago. All I will comment on that night is that we had buckets....a florescnet bucket filled with ice, Thai red bull (rumour has it it has speed in it..) a mickey of Sangsom whiskey and your choice of pop. We had several. Not a good morning...

But we watched an incredible fire show on the beach and met some really cool people from just about every corner of the world.

Today we spent snorkelling around the beaches and just having a nice beach day together. Then followed it up with our 3rd massage (8$ each for an hour). They massage you with elbows, knees, forearms and sometimes just standing on you. It was absolutely perfect! They ended the massage with green tea and a custard bun. We love Thailand!!! Then we booked our ferry+bus+night train+flight combo (45$ flight and 30$ for ferry+night train+bus) from here to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As much as we love the islands we're also excited to see some cool metropolis cities! We check out tomorrow morning. See you in KL!!

xoxo D & A

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Comments

[Anya]

Amazing stories and pics, thank you so much for sharing! Muah

[Kris]

Baaaaaaaziiinng

[Sveta]

thai massaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage!