Scuba Fail

My scuba gear near Astrid's head.

People from all over the world come to Koh Tao to learn to scuba dive. I came to Koh Tao to be back in Thailand, to chillax, to hang out with my friend Astrid, and to eat Thai food/drink mango shakes and juices like there is no tomorrow. Astrid is a scuba diving instructor with Big Bubble (I highly recommend them should you choose to come here and experience scuba diving!), and so I decided I should learn to scuba dive and enrolled in the open water certification course with Astrid as my instructor and Katti, Florian, Dustin, and Luigi as my team. Day 1 I watched the 2.5 hour video and did my homework. Day 2 from 9am - 12pm we had a lesson on scuba-ing with Astrid, and after lunch got on the boat to Mango Bay to start learning our skills underwater. That's where it all happened...

Don't try to learn scuba diving if you feel like you should rather than you want to.
 CLUES:
      a. My whole family is PADI certified and I was never interested in doing it.
      b. I think snorkeling is really boring.
      c. I love mountains, I love lakes, I love the sea, I love grass, I love trees, I love watching animals etc, etc, but I have never loved or cared for underwater fish.



Mango Bay

And so we put all our gear on and jumped into the water holding our masks and regulators. We swam to shallow water to learn the skills, but the visibility was horrendous - you saw nothing until the other person was literally on you.

1. I thought the skills trainings would be in "confined" water as in a pool (as the video suggested). I think I got a little scared there.
2. Your first experience of being able to breathe underwater is surreal. It's always weird the first day, but when the visibility is so bad and people are surrounding you...maybe you feel a little claustrophobic. Maybe I did. I've never felt claustrophobic before.

Deeper...

Astrid led us into deeper water where the visibility was bad. We all gave her the ok and started to go under. I don't know how it happened but as I held my BCD in the air and deflated, as I started to sink and go under water, my heart felt trapped, like it would explode. I was not nearly 1 foot underwater at this point. I got scared, ya'll, and it was difficult and upsetting to admit. The bubbles from my exhales were loud in my ears. I was overwhelmed and uncomfortable. I inflated immediately and went up.

3. It must have been the fear that made the bubbles so loud?
4. I was expecting scuba diving to be a quiet activity like snorkeling.

Astrid came up after a minute and asked if I was ok. She suggested I stay up and rest, and she came up in between every skill and asked if I was ready. No, no, no. I would put my head underwater and watch them and breathe, but anytime I tried to deflate and sink, the brain-heart connection freaked out.
Eventually, the whole group came up and Astrid convinced me to try the skills just with her underwater as she held my hand. It was better. Astrid looks so peaceful and happy underwater so it's difficult to freak out.
Skill 1 - massaging a cramp - successfully completed.
Skill 2 - taking the regulator out of your mouth and then putting it back in and clearing it - successfully completed, even though initially I swallowed a lot of water and we inflated and went up for air.
Skill 3 - taking the regulator out of your mouth and putting your arm around to find it again to put it back in your mouth and clear it of water - surprisingly, successfully completed.
Skill 4 - taking the regulator out of your mouth and pushing the tank up to help you find the regulator, then putting your arm around to find it again to put it back in your mouth and clear it of water.

Hmmm....

Again?

She showed me again.

Hmmm....Unsuccessful. I couldn't trust myself to do it.

5. Trusting yourself is important in scuba dive. I could not.

Astrid did a "rubbing of her tears" motion underwater, I was ashamed, we went up, I swam to the boat, they all continued. I've never not finished something. Maybe I've half-assed many things (papers, I'm talking to you) but to not finish? What a strange feeling. But you know, all the signs pointed in that direction. Scuba diving isn't for me.

Florian, Luigi, Dustin, Katti - My group and my new friends. Flo and Katti are now open water certified =) Luigi and Dustin are scuba divers =)

Raquel and Luismi - my new friends from Madrid, also now open water diving certified!

As my scuba divin' dad said in his email, "Scuba...a...who cares, maybe next time, maybe never, at least u tryed."

I'm glad I watched the video and started the course however, because I can still talk to everyone on this island about diving and we can communicate with all the signals and everything. Plus, I went on the boat again the following day and was extremely useful by taking photos of everyone in their gear and in the water. Good times!

Now on to how I learned to LOVE snorkeling...

First impressions of Koh Tao

Koh Tao is not real life. It is pretty close to paradise. It is not real Thailand, it is not real life. It's island life. It took me 5 days to get adjusted post-jetlag, post-detoxing my brain of NYC crap. Now on Day 8 I feel like I don't have enough time left! I also have no idea how much time I actually have left due to silly circumstances that have nothing to with me. Lucky for me I already had Astrid here to hang out with every night (and day, if I'm lucky and she's not working), and then I have been meeting people every day. Meeting people is easy. It's not this easy anywhere else - only when you travel. Dinners start with 3 people and end with 12 happy, go-lucky travelers sharing their experiences!

Koh Tao is an adjustment for me because it's not real Thailand. Where are the temples? The Buddhas? The monks? There are farang (foreigners) everywhere. I think there are more white people than Thais. And all the tourists/travelers are riding motorbikes in bikinis and short shorts, which would be so inappropriate on mainland. Ah, island life. And you know how island tourists are - the bar I go to hang out every night can turn into Cancun Spring Break style debauchery. It's not my scene in the first place, so I just ignore it. But it really is paradise here. And of course it is so hot and you are always sweating, so you wear tanktops and short shorts (which I need to buy. Good job me for bringing maroon corduroys that I cut into shorts). I've never been on an island for so long, but it has been quite lovely. There will be many posts about this place because I have had quite a few adventures already, and I've met some great people...and I will be here for 2.5 weeks at least (WHAT? Is this real life??)

Spirit house outside my Tropicana resort

ASTRID! =)

Packin' up the ol' bag...

Back in Thailand and it feels so good. When I went backpacking in Southeast Asia 2010-2011, some people asked about what I packed, so here's the post for that now. I admit I may have over packed, as well as packed the wrong things. I am expecting to spend 1.5 - 2 months in Thailand and then one month or less in Europe (Germany and now maybe Spain with my new friends!) so I had to think of packing for the tropics and for less tropical temperatures. I failed. Guess I'll have to go shopping.

I would like to think I (slightly) learned from my past mistake and packed a better first aid. Maybe?
Bandaids, Neosporin, Jock itch cream (you know, if I get a fungul infection anywhere, Tums, antibiotics if I get sick again, two benadryl because that's logical, Ibuprofen, and TEA TREE OIL - a God send, one of my favorite things in the world thanks to Lindsey!)

Have bad vision sucks.

I went a little crazy with the books. See, being in graduate school does not allow for leisure reading.
'The Shock Doctrine' as per Kate's recommendation in September, 'Adventures of Cavalier and Clay' as per Nate's rec, 'Body, Self, and Society: The View from Fiji' as per my professor's rec, 'Obed u lyudaeda' as per me needing to get better at reading Russian. My ol' Thai phrase book and a journal color pencils & pens.  

Back to Thailand

Arriving in Bangkok on 05.06 at 1am. Catching a bus and a ferry to Koh Tao to meet dear Astrid. Flight is in 3 hours! Gotta go!! Later gators.

One Thai Day in NYC

Jackson Heights is considered one of the most diverse neighborhoods in New York City, and therefore the country. Aside from a brief spell my junior year of high school when I frequented the 'hood to see a friend whose tonsils were removed, I have not spent much time there. One thing I have heard many times about the 'hood is that it has the best zyx food: "Best Indonesian food" "Best Thai food" "Best Indian" and the list goes on. As spring break week came to a close this Friday, I finally had time to spend a few hours in Jackson Heights, Queens to find the only Thai temple in New York City and to try some of this best Thai food in NYC. As usual, I will not bore you TOO much with my thoughts, just share with you my experience through photos =)



First off, I visited the Sugar Club which is like the NYC version of Thai 7 Elevens. It had all the goods and drinks that I liked but could not read the labels of back in Southeast Asia: Chinese iced tea, soy milk, sticky rice, durian coconut rolls, etc, etc. The girl at the register was really nice and put up with me saying how much I loved Thailand and that I am going back. She was happy for me that I learned how to make sticky rice at home!

My purchases for the price of 10 dollars. Those are chicken curry dumplings, which I unfortunately burned when I tried to heat them up on the stovetop and not in a microwave. Oops.


Me in front of Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York -  I did not go inside because I felt like way too much of an outsider and I was overly concerned with being polite and respectful. So I roamed the backyard.


Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York - so familiar with that NY twist

Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York

 

Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York - In the backyard there are Buddhas and elephants galore.

BODYSLAM is playing New York next weekend! If only I knew more than one song and had someone to go with.
PS - Their song that I like

Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York - Reclining Buddha

Wat Buddhathai Thavornvanaram New York  - That's a bamboo tree behind Buddha, and then a lovely red brick building even further behind. Gotta love New York.

SriPraPhai - One of the top places for Thai food in New York City. Hurry, hurry, hurry, take the 7 train.

SriPraPhai - DELICIOUS! Fried chives vegetarian dumpling. This is it, guys! This is it! The German and I ate these in Cambodia and had no idea what they were filled with and could never find them again. FOUND. BAM!



Tom Yum Goong (shrimp). Let me tell you, this soup has never been spicy in any Thai place I've gotten it inthis city. Let me tell you then when I bit into the shrimp, pure spicyness exploded in my mouth and I could not finish the meal. I sat across from my friend and thought, "This is it! This is that hot, burning, sensation that I had every meal with Ros in Krabi Town in the Night Market; and my life was complete.


SriPraPhai - Panang Curry with tofu. As a result of me (finally) burning my mouth on the Tom Yum Goong, I was incapable of eating this...also, I have never gotten Panang Curry so while it looked good, it wasn't the curries I am used to. Let me tell you though, it was spicy this morning when I had it cold! Always good news! Must go back and have some red curry like I always do.