Oh ko, Ko Tao.

It has taken me a while to get to a computer with a decent enough connection, and to find myself with enough time on my hands to write a bit about my journey thus far. As opposed to doing a retrospective here, I'll start with the here and now--Ko Tao, Thailand--since I've only got about 18 minutes before I've got to jet.

After a 1.5-hour plane ride from Bangkok and a four hour wait, a bus ride and a boat ride, I arrived in Ko Tao yesterday afternoon (Sunday). The trip was exhausting, especially since I started it off with a 4 a.m. wakeup in order to catch the early morning flight out. But once I arrived, the truly picturesque visuals made up for a lot of it. The breeze helped mitigate the sweltering humidity of Bangkok. So far I find the place strangely chock full of "Westerners," though I've not met a single American yet on my travels. This was always the case in many other places I traveled...maybe not Europe, but I find it strange here. This is a Thai Hawai'i of sorts. Laid back, island living, very low key and low maintenance. Oh yes, and lots of fruit juice stands for me to get my, all important, mango shakes at. It's hard to describe the stunning views. Imagine Asian/Chinese influenced architecture, small boats scattered across a bay, with beautifully clear, blue waters and a reef (supposedly) teaming with wildlife. I say supposedly because I have yet to really see something as amazing as I saw just snorkeling in Dahab, Egypt, but I've only yet started my PADI SCUBA diving course, so we'll see.

I got into town and was mobbed with touters. So I just chose a place that I'd heard a lot about, and another girl I'd met on the way over was going to, and decided to check it out. Tired, I settled on it. Turns out it was a pretty decent choice. I'll let you know more about that later.

At about 5 p.m., so about 1.5 hours after arrival, I sat in on the orientation (day 1) of my PADI open water diving course. I got a pretty hard sell from the instructor to try and do the SSI course, but though that may be better, I already had a PADI book from Dahab, and wasn't keen on changing my mind minutes before the course. That uncomfortable moment aside, I went into class with Max and Paul, two 19-year old Germans on their "gap year" who are traveling (individually) around Thailand. The course was being taught by Dennis, a German who lived and dived in Australia for a long-ish time, and therefore has a very particular, interesting Aussie-Germ-esque accent. It's basically an Aussie accent with the slightly more stiltled/structured German way of speaking. Anyway, mate, I guess you've got to hear it for yourself. I was a bit nervous bout my ear, which has been bugging me quite a bit, my back, my recent loss of consciousness, my exercise-induced/allergy-induced asthma, and well, my allergies in general. All in all, a big bag of "yes" checkmarks on the medical clearance, which should all so "no." So, for insurance purposes, I was told to go get a doc's clearance. After one clinic turned me away, I went to another...and for a mere $5 USD, a doctor listened to my wheezes, asked me if I panicked (I said, generally, no), and told me not to panic. I'm free to go. Oh, he did say my ear looked inflamed when I asked him bout it, but he said it was clear.

So this morning at 8:30 a.m. I went and joined my (very very young) classmates for theory lessons. Dennis is a no bullshit teacher, which I appreciate. In the afternoon we did some "confined" water diving/drills, basically in the bay area's very shallow waters. A doc told me my lungs are actually quite longer than they are for most people--in normal conditions, quite useless, but I was also told that water increase the working ability of the lungs, and...well, whatever the reason, I felt pretty good (and hope that remains the case). I got chilled a bit of the way through, and so I put on a short wetsuit. All of us had the extra benefit of another instructor, who has just been certified to teach, but wanted to observe the class. So he helped us out, which made the class nearly one on one. Wearing contacts underwater is not that great, especially when the salt stings your eyes as you do the drills, but that's the way it goes. I'd probably get prescription lenses if I did this more often. The fish in the bay were not that interesting and the reef not that healthy, to be honest, though they seem perfectly acclimated to scuba divers popping up everywhere. Literally they were swimming by my fins (which are too big for me) as I was doing some drills. Tomorrow we do more theory lessons and then go out to open water and will do some real dives. The fourth and final day we go out early 6/7 a.m. and return about 11:30/12 p.m...then prepare for the final exam that late afternoon. All in all, it's kind of nice to think a bit, even though this is "vacation." I've never been that good at just sitting around.

A note about the travelers here, many who seems more interested in the other people than the place. That's alright, I suppose, but well, not really my style. I've been eating at this awesome place called "Tuk's." The Thai food is authentic, delicious, cheap-ish (relatively speaking here), and they now know me. I have a mango shake with every meal.

Okay, my time's up. I'll update later bout Dubai and Bangkok. I'll be back in Bangkok soon enough though, so we'll see.

Chow.

IJW.