Welcome back to my blog. It's Saturday afternoon, January 21 (I had to stop and think about that one) here in Thailand. There's a lot to catch you up on... Yesterday morning I checked out of my hotel (behind Khao Lak Seafood restaurant) and took the bus from Khao Lak to Bang Muang (30 minutes by bus). Once there, I called Pastor Wasan (this Thai cell phone is coming in handy) who picked me up at the bus stop (a.k.a. side of the road). We met up with the YWAM teams at the site where they are building houses, and I [View Full Entry]

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It's Thursday evening and time for a quick update... I made some phone calls this morning and connected with Pastor Wasan (local Thai pastor) and some YWAMers (Youth With A Mission - Christian organization; YWAM website ) who are building a couple of houses in Baan Nam Khem (I think that's the name!). It's about 30 kilometers north of Khao Lak and was hit hard by the tsunami. There are two YWAM teams currently in the area - one from Cape Town, South Africa, and the other from Colorado Springs. I met most of the group from Cape Town a few [View Full Entry]

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It's Wednesday evening, January 18 and I'm back from my 3 day liveaboard at the Similan Islands. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, the Similan Islands consist of 9 islands off the west coast of Thailand. It took us four hours to reach the islands from Khao Lak (the closest town on the mainland). The islands are part of a Marine National Park. They're all relatively small, and generally uninhabited (with the exception of park rangers and a few bungalows for tourists). They also happen to have some of the best dive sites in Thailand. So what's this scuba [View Full Entry]

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It's Sunday evening and I've only got time for a brief update. In less than an hour, I will be boarding a boat that I will be living on for the next 3 nights. It's the liveaboard portion of my scuba diving course (PADI open water certification). I've had two days of classroom instruction, along with a few hours of scuba dive training in a swimming pool. Tomorrow morning at 6:30, I'm beginning the ocean dive portion of my training. My entry point will be the Andaman Sea around the Similan Islands (9 small islands west of Khao Lak, Thailand). I'm [View Full Entry]

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It's Friday evening and I should be studying. Yes, unfortunately, it's true. I showed up at the scuba dive shop and discovered there is required reading. I've got 250 pages to read and they recommend I finish tonight. Hmmm, that may not happen. What time is it? 7:00 p.m. I've got my priorities straight though...I'm online and writing a blog. I did read 25 pages earlier that covered such things as buoyancy, equilization, volume, and density. See, I was paying attention. I found out that I'm the only person taking this course so I'll get plenty of personal attention from the [View Full Entry]

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Sawadee Krup (Hello!) It's Thursday evening, and my last evening in Phuket. I leave in the morning for Khao Lak, a coastal town 2 hours north where I am taking my PADI open water scuba diving certification course through SeaDragon. It's a 5 day course that includes 3 days living on a boat where I will be taking my training dives (near the Similan islands). I'm also in the process of coordinating some volunteer work in the Khao Lak/Phang Nga area after my diving is completed. I've got a phone number for a local Thai pastor that does a lot of [View Full Entry]

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It's Wednesday evening and I just got back from a day trip to Phi Phi Island. I hadn't planned on getting to Phi Phi so soon but as I was talking to Fantasy Hill Bungalow's manager yesterday about day trip packages, this seemed like the best bet. Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee) consists of two main islands, Phi Phi Don which is inhabited and got hit hard by the tsunami, and Phi Phi Ley (uninhabited) where they filmed the movie "The Beach". Phi Phi has been called one of the prettiest islands on the planet but unfortunately has suffered from substantial [View Full Entry]

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It's Tuesday afternoon and after spending a few hours in the sun, I better hide in doors for a bit. My white bod would not be happy with a sun overdose on the first full day on the island. Perfect time to give an update. Yesterday morning I flew out of Bangkok to arrive in Phuket, the largest island in Thailand (and also the most touristed). The domestic terminal in Bangkok is fairly easy to navigate but that didn't mean I didn't leave really early to account for any obstacles along my way - the first of which was the hour [View Full Entry]

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It's really hard to keep track of time out here. I was hanging out with some of my new found Canadian friends yesterday trying to figure out what day it was. Is it Sunday? No, it's Saturday. No, I really think it's Sunday. What about the date? 7th? 8th? Not sure. Well, as I sit here in front of the computer, it's now Monday morning (that means it's Sunday afternoon in California!). Yesterday was an eventful day and I have to admit, I'm a bit sad to leave Bangkok. Later this morning I have a flight to Phuket (pronounced Poo Ket), [View Full Entry]

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After the second leg of my flight (this one was over 6 hours long), I arrived in Bangkok at 11:30 p.m. last night. Customs was a breeze. Once out of the airport, I grabbed a metered taxi (the unmetered taxis try to rip you off) to get me to Khao San Road and then wandered around until I found my hotel a little after 1:00 a.m. The hotel has got some charm but it's definitely in the low budget category. I wanted to start out with humble beginnings. :) Shambara is the name of it. It's located in this little alley [View Full Entry]

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