Highs
~Officially becoming an open water scuba diver!!! Embarrassingly, the reality of this is that it took me 7 days to get this certification instead of 4. Oops. Who knew I had an intense fear of oceans and drowning? We had originally signed up for the class that was 4 days long, and consisted of videos, homework, 1 pool skill learning session, and 4 open water dives where you had to not only dive, but also repeat all the skills in the ocean that you learned in the pool. Prior to starting the course, I was SO excited I could pee. Sadly, the emotions changed quickly. I should've known I had rocky waters ahead (literally...) when I struggled in the dang pool. 5 hours of stress later, I relentlessly agreed to go in the ocean the following day. And the only reason I had even the slightest bit of reassurance was because we had the best instructor possible!! Javier was extremely patient with me and constantly assured us that he would let nothing bad happen. But even with his encouragement, I still had two small panic attacks on dive attempts in the ocean and never made it all the way down. After two days of contemplation on a boat and watching Chris succeed, I decided to face my fears. Thanks to Javie's patience (seriously, I would've given up on instructing me a long time ago!), I was able to complete it!!!! It took 2 days of one on one instruction with Javie, lots of anxiety, some tears (I know, Im such a wimp), and another pool session but I'm officially an open water scuba diver! And it was probably one of the most fun/coolest things I've ever done!!!! I saw barracuda, so many schools of fish, butterfly fish, groupers, rainbow fish, beautiful coral, and more! AND during my extra days of classes, Chris was able to do an entire other session and get his advanced open water diving license. Yay! So proud. I loved it so much, I even plan on diving a lot more in the future! I truthfully just wish I was a mermaid.
~Becoming good friends with our dive instructor Javier and his girlfriend Barbara! They were actually from Spain and living in Koh Tao temporarily so Javie could teach scuba. It started when, as a Thank You present for getting me through diving, Chris and I took them to dinner. Who knew we'd become bffs! We had so much fun exploring the island with them everyday. Plus they knew the best snorkeling spots! Can't wait to adventure to Spain to visit :)
~More new friends! Iv'e discovered that one of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting other backpackers from around the world. Interestingly enough, they are always guys, as guys tend to travel alone more often than girls. But we hung out with both of the guys from mine and Chris's advanced diving class and they were great! Sam was the other student in our open water diving course and I instantly decided we should be friends when he didn't laugh at me for crying in class. Him and his friend Adam also introduced us to the best Thai food spot. Jacob was in Chris's advanced class and was traveling alone. He was really nice and we went out one night to celebrate our diving success! Learning about the ways of other countries from someone your age is fascinating. Also, everything is funnier in a British accent.
~Amazing mojitos! You haven't had a real one until you've had one on an island.
~Eating incredible food next to the ocean every day. Obviously, my blog post wouldn't be complete without talking about the food we've been eating. Handmade pizza, fruit shakes, fish and chips, bottles of wine (duh). Mmmm
~Paddle boarding! This is when you rent (for super cheap, of course) a large surf board looking type board with an oar and stand on it while paddling around the ocean! It sounds monotonous but with a go pro it's a great time.
~Doing as the other backpackers do and renting a motorbike to explore the island. Have you ever seen the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movies where they travel the world and ride on mo-peds with a good looking guy? Yeah, it was just like that.
~Staying in cutie bungalows on the beach!
~Going to a real life lady boy show. In Thailand, a lady boy is basically the American version of a transvestite. Except they are extremely popular here and their shows full of dancing,wigs, and lip singing are known by all. We were extremely impressed to say the least. They look more like girls than girls do!
~Watching fire dancers on the beach! Multiple nights, we went to a bar on the beach called Next Two and would get drinks while watching this incredible talent. This group of boys were like nothing I've ever seen! They would spin sticks of flame and even a jump rope covered in flames for the stupid drunk tourists to do. Oh, and also fire limbo. Watching drunk white people almost catch on fire while trying to show off is wildly entertaining.
~Hiking steep hills for hours to look at an amazing view of the entire island! Followed by a yoga class at Shambhala Yoga :)
Lows
~Poor Chris getting food poisoning. I'll spare you the details.
~Crying over diving anxiety in front of Javier and the rest of our class (even though our other class member was awesome and became our friend). Not my finest moment. Embarrassingggg...
After an amazing experience such as this, nothing else has quite compared!! But we are still currently enjoying our new adventures on another beautiful island called Koh Lanta. I'm definitely not ready to leave the seemingly unreal island life yet! Soaking up every incredible second.
Sending love to everyone!
XOXO!
An example of one of the beach bungalows we stayed in! Simple (that air conditioner didn't work), but nothing is better than waking up to sound of the ocean
Stumbled across this little cutie on our hike! But don't let his looks fool you. He was so aggressive and you couldn't get too close or else he'd bite. Eek
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