One woman's journey through the world
Dive Eat Sleep Repeat. That’s the accurate logo of Khao Lak SCUBA Adventures, the company with whom I booked a 4 night, 4 day liveaboard of diving in the Similan Islands off the coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. With 15 dives including one night dive and two sunset dives, the day really did go from sleeping to diving to eating and doing it all again. Exhausting but well
We first heard about Koh Tao from people on Utila: a few of our friends had lived on the island and many others had visited at one time or another. Like Utila, we were told, it’s an island of diving, relaxing, and having a good time but with better food, beaches, and scenery. So when we started to chart a course south from Bangkok, we didn’t even think about going
“Freediving? I saw a sign for that class and thought it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. I have a snorkel. Why would I pay someone to teach me how to use it?” This from a surfer I was chatting with one evening here on Koh Tao after we mentioned we’d be taking a freediving class for the next two days. It’s a fair question. It doesn’t take much
Jen and I have reunited in Thailand and after a stint in Chiang Mai where Jen became certified in the first level of Nuad Bo-Rarn Thai Massage, we headed south to the ancient city of Lopburi. Temple ruins are officially the tourist draw for Lopburi but in reality, I think most people come for the monkeys. They’re everywhere: scurrying across power lines, shimmying down lamp posts, overseeing the sales counters
We rode elephants. We fed them; inspected the area between their toenails for sweat; assessed the dirt they’d collected overnight in different sleeping positions; counted the number of coconut-sized turds in their most recent dumps then inspected one for color, hydration, and smell; we washed them – the elephants, not the turds. But most importantly, we rode elephants. With my 65-year-old parents. There are numerous places in Southeast Asia to
The number of temples we’ve visited on this trip is overwhelming and a count I’ve never attempted to keep. Many blend together but a few – like each of the Angkor Wat temples – and Wat Rong Khun are sufficiently unique to stand apart. Known as the White Temple, Wat Rong Khun was built by a wealthy artist/architect beginning in 1997. In time, he plans to have an entire