Friday, April 4, 2008

Diving in Thailand.... and home with reflection


From Laos, I decided to spend a short week in the south of Thailand on the island of Koh Tao - its off the Southeast coast of Thailand. After the exotic and personal experiences of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, I wasn't super keen to spend a week "on vacation".... since Thailand is so developed, this wouldn't give me much opportunity to experience the real Thai culture. However, it was a beautiful island, and I have a peaceful 6 days diving and reading and contemplating my feet. 

The pic above is of George and I diving... albeit in Vietnam at about 40 feet. Now imagine us diving with fish and live coral and one little blacktip shark and you have Thailand underwater.

My hut off the beach with a trusty guard dog. Dogs are everywhere.
The beach I stayed at in Koh Tao - see the coral heads in the water- nice snorkelling! I saw a small blacktip sharp near the rocks in the middle top of the picture - running away from me.
I was sitting at a table on this beach writing my journal when two guys walked up - they were checking out the resort as a potential alternative to their hotel. We talked and laughed for 30 minutes. One of them was an 18 year old, a family friend to the mid-30s guy with him. The 18 year old was heading off on his own to Vietnam and Cambodia to meet a friend. At one point we were talking about how 1/2 the wild tigers in SEA had been killed in the last 25 years, and the 18 year old said "That is so gay!" The other guy and I just cracked up - his point was made but he didn't quite get the lack of political correctness and descriptiveness using that term meant. I laughed later that day imagining  him in the Khmer Rouge torture prison museum in Phnom Penh, saying " The Khmer Rouge was so gay !!!" . Having an 18 year old niece set to travel on her own to Europe this summer, I gotta say its still a bit young to be out on your own.

Here is the view from my bed - nice,eh? Yup, that is the ocean about 100 feet from my feet. The "resort" was kinda rustic (Muslim squat toilet, no screens) but the view was amazing, and I could be up  and getting suited up for a dive in 15 minutes.  Now imagine this view at 1am when you have been sleeping for a few hours and someone is trying to open your door - I woke up when I heard this - and saw a person standing at that window feet from me - ARGHHH! I think I yelled "what?" and then just plain yelled, the woman in shadow yelled, and the two of them scurried away. I heard them in a few minutes walking nearby so I think it was a couple that had been drinking at the bar and got confused about which hut was theirs - but it scared the shit out of me - my heart punched against my chest for 10 minutes. It was a sign to leave the next day so I did.

Here is one of my cabin mates - a green lizard or gecko. 
There were TONS of geckos in the trees - I never knew till this trip what a real gecko sounded like - I was confusing the soft chirp of a green lizard with the very loud gecko call, which seriously sounds like "GECKO", (or "Chronkite " sometimes - I swear).

The night before I took a boat to Koh Tao, I spent on Koh Samui, a larger and much more developed island (ie Oahu). They have waterbuffalo fights which are pretty funny. Imagine a bullfighting ring surrounded by people - but instead of a matador and bull, you have two waterbuffalos facing off. It reminded me of the quote that war is 10% terror and 90% sheer boredom - most of the time the two buffalos would be looking in opposite directions, looking confused. In Laos, I did a hike that put me face to face with many buffalos on the trails through the rice fields - and I would crack up when meeting them. They would stop, look alarmed, move off the trail and watch you go by -then stand there with a cartoon balloon above their head saying "now, I was going somewhere, where was that?". Imagine two buffalo doing that. Occasionally, they would lock heads and horns and some blood was shed, sadly around the eyes - but for the most part, this was very low key bull fighting, thank god!

I got friendly with the diving company and some of the local expats since I was diving each day and learned a bit about what its like to be an expat in Thailand. And its not all good. Thailand is a very corrupt country (note that its former disposed prime minister is going on trail soon) and there are lots of backoffice payoffs and ineptitudes to living and working there. Be cautious when you travel in Thailand - there are lots of folks trying to part you from your dollar.

With time to kill on my hands, I decided to get my Advanced Open Water PADI cert, which means I am now legal to dive to 30 meters. I was illegally diving beyond the legal 18  meters for the last few years and didn't know it -but have a greater appreciation for how half-assed the dive companies can be that I have been diving with. This crew in Thailand was strict on buddy checks and making you assemble your own gear, a very good reminder for me. Besides Navigation and Deep Diving, I did an underwater photography section (really fun - I might have a new expensive hobby- shots from my dive are below) and Bouyancy, which I still suck at!  My favorite exercise in that section was underwater somersaults and hanging upside down - they help you get to a neutral ,not-moving bouyancy level without feeling like work.

Caught some shrimp  near their hole - they dove in in the next second.

A porcupine fish - has spikes on it and its box shaped. We christened this "Bambi" in Bora Bora since those heartshaped eyes just grab your heart! 
My best shot underwater - there are black and white Funereal Nudebranches near alot of colorful  Christmas Tree worms embedded on some coral heads. Not alot of new things to see on these dives but I really liked the nudibranches and blue-spotted rays.

Had an allnighter in the Bangkok airport before my flight home via Tokyo. Have been quite philosophical since I got back - maybe from seeing the impact of so much recent war, and from looking forward to reentering the workforce later this year. Here are some tips for people thinking of traveling in Southeast Asia if you are interested.

1. It is so easy to travel here, since so many westerners come here. English is spoken everywhere that a tourist might be. This means that you will have people very aggressively trying to part you from your money  so get used to saying No when people try to sell you something.
2. Skip southern Vietnam - its all a sprawling metropolis around Ho Chi Min City with not alot of beauty (think Cleveland). Head to Hoi An or Hue in the middle of the country on the coast, or directly to Hanoi.
3. Don't plan your short trips before you get there - you will spend way more energy and money than you need to. Any city that has seen a tourist will have travel agencies that can book you on a plane, or bus, or train, or a packaged tour for a day or a few days, immediately. There are usually several in any block so compare prices for the lowest price. I know its weird to not plan ahead but seriously, you can plan an adventure to anywhere on one day's notice at these places, including pickup and drop off at your hotel. We planned our trekking trip to Sapa Vietnam including all hotel, guides, train, meals, and village homestay the day before we left!
4. Bargain, Bargain, Bargain! If you are anything but Asian looking, assume that anyone in SEA will hike up the price to you and is prepared to negotiate it down. 
5. Get used to more crowds in transport - unless you rent a private car to take you everywhere, you will be sharing that minivan or bus or boat. The planet thanks you for conserving.
6. Get your ass to Laos and Cambodia before everyone else does - easy to travel, cheap, beautiful, sad.... they have it all. And much less commercial than Thailand, so you meet real people. 

Next up - Mexico's Copper Canyon in early June and then tentatively China/Nepal/MidEast starting in August.

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