This post is so long overdue. I'm sorry! When I left Chiang Mai, I wasn't sure if I would continue with this blog, since that was the only reason I started it in the first place. But some of you miss me I guess. ;) Hehe.
So after Chiang Mai I was craving some hardcore solitude to finish off my Thailand sojourn. Just a space to reflect & damn, I've been living on top of 5 other girls & a crazy maid for the past 2 months. In a bunk bed. So I went to a place far away where I wouldn't have to deal with too many other people. I went underwater.
Diving's always been on my life's to-do list. The risks always scared me off, given that I have asthma, fear of body-hugging wetsuits & have read one too many stories like this. But I had the time & what better way to occupy my time whilst on a beach honeymoon with myself? I can only read so many trashy romance novels in the sun. So I decided to face my fears & enrolled in the 4-day Open Water Dive Certification course. I had my pick of dozens of dive resorts, but settled on Sunshine Divers since I was their only student at that time, so all the attention would be on me (as it should be). Even luckier for me, my instructor was simultaneously training 2 dive masters, so it was like having 3 instructors to myself, while other students were crammed into groups of 8-15 people sharing 1 instructor. I felt totally safe with so many boys looking after me. Plus my instructor reminded me of Conan O'Brien.
Matt demonstrating how to equalize
How I spent my nights- Singhas & studying
Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, is Thailand's diving mecca, known for its crystal-clear waters & some of the world's cheapest dive training, & it also afforded me all the peace & quiet I could ever ask for. While most visitors stay near the pier on Sairee Beach, I went all the way on my quest for solitude & opted to stay at another beach on the southern tip of the island. Chaalok Baan Khao was island life at its most serene, & I scored myself a private bungalow on a semi-private patch of beach.
The island is sparsely populated in a 50-50 mix of locals & expats, but the lines between local & expat are blurred beyond recognition. Heaps of British people come through every year to take up diving & never leave. Burmese refugees have built their new homes there as well. I almost didn't feel like I was in Thailand anymore- I barely heard any Thai spoken & there were white people everywhere.
There was an out of season typhoon the day before I got in the water, making visibility pretty shiet. "Crystal-clear waters" my ass! I was pretty terrified actually when I realized I could only see 5 feet ahead of me & was grasping for Matt desperately (he would have none of it, the bastard). But I soon learned to chillax & breathe normally, which is the real key to diving. Each dive was progressively better, & then I really fell in love. Hard. It's so easy to get lost in the tranquility down there, weightlessly floating amongst the clown fish, manta rays, barracudas, puffer fish, & moray eels. No turtles, despite the island's name. I wish I had underwater pics, maybe next time when I'm not preoccupied with making sure I breathe properly, or about to get mauled by a fish. Yes, it almost happened. Only me huh?
During one of my pre-dive lectures, Matt showed me a pic of this nondescript-looking fish & mumbled something about mating season, territorial behavior, just watch out for a warning sign in the form of a raised fin, but everything's ok, no, nothing to worry about at all. WELL. In the water, Matt suddenly made the sign for "triggerfish." I turned around to see a heavyweight fish, about 2 feet long & fat, going at the dive master while he backed up & stuck his fins in the fish's face. I giggled-- I mean it's a freakin fish, right?-- until the monster turned & went for me & I got a full-frontal, up-close-&-personal look into its gaping mouth full of jagged teeth headed right for me in slow motion. Eek. Instinctively I copied what I saw the dive master do & stuck my fins up to block it- the marine equivalent of giving the hand, I guess. But I could feel the force of the vicious thing banging its head on my feet, & wow, he was pissed! Matt finally pulled me down out of its upwardly cone-shaped turf & it retreated. Nope, nothing to worry about at all. It was just the life-affirming experience I was looking for. ;)
Low tide
Aside from that, I finished 2 books, perfected my tan, discovered the perfect pad thai, & learned how to vacation alone. Enjoying one's own company is such a skill, & now I can honestly say, with no modesty at all, that I'm really really good at it.
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