i visited koh phangan for a night during a huge beach party. every phase of the moon initiates these giant gatherings, and this was a full moon. so, thousands of people on the beach, enourmous speakers pumping techno and r&b, oversized flaming jump ropes...it was nuts, but it was worth seeing. i rented a motorbike and toured the island in the morning. it's small, but there are amazing beaches and mountains.
koh tao is a small island with a pair of 7-11's and a few dozen dive shops. it's a popular scuba diving destination, so we spent a lot of time underwater. we found a bungalo on sairee beach with a handful of foreign dive instructors: a couple of irish, a canadian, and an australian. the water was clear as glass for a few days, and then it got a bit milky. during a night dive the water was full of bioluminescent plankton. so when we turned off the flashlights and shook our hands around; everything looked like it was covered in tiny glowsticks.
the most surreal experience was swimming with a whale shark. i was so close, it could have eaten me. but they're mild creatures, and they don't crave humans. they're as big as they sound; like a cadillac with fins. as i was jumping out of the boat to put on my diving gear, it swam right at me. i got a good look as it floated slowly by with a school of following fish. breathing compressed air underwater is such a strange feeling. i thought about not dying, and i thought about how we live above water, more or less unaware of the vast majority of the earth; which is covered in water. and i realized how little i know about the town i grew up in, aside from this foreign sea kingdom.
koh tao is a small island with a pair of 7-11's and a few dozen dive shops. it's a popular scuba diving destination, so we spent a lot of time underwater. we found a bungalo on sairee beach with a handful of foreign dive instructors: a couple of irish, a canadian, and an australian. the water was clear as glass for a few days, and then it got a bit milky. during a night dive the water was full of bioluminescent plankton. so when we turned off the flashlights and shook our hands around; everything looked like it was covered in tiny glowsticks.
the most surreal experience was swimming with a whale shark. i was so close, it could have eaten me. but they're mild creatures, and they don't crave humans. they're as big as they sound; like a cadillac with fins. as i was jumping out of the boat to put on my diving gear, it swam right at me. i got a good look as it floated slowly by with a school of following fish. breathing compressed air underwater is such a strange feeling. i thought about not dying, and i thought about how we live above water, more or less unaware of the vast majority of the earth; which is covered in water. and i realized how little i know about the town i grew up in, aside from this foreign sea kingdom.
Hey... This is good to hear what you have been doing. The sights and smells and sounds of Bangkok are quite memorable.
ReplyDeleteWow, swimming with a whale shark. Sounds awesome! I really enjoyed reading this entry, especially the last paragraph and your realization.
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