Hello!

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't done and update in a while, it is so fun
here with so much to do.

I successfully completed my open water diving certification with PADI,
which mean I can dive without and instructor up to 18 M. I was really
worried that the diving would hurt my ears, buy there was no
discomfort whatsoever. I cannot wait to go diving again, unfortunately
my travel partners didn't enjoy it as much ad mr, so I might have to
wait until next trip.

We are in Ko Phangan now, we have been here three days I think. The
7th was a full moon party, which had the world famous "full moon
party". It was insane, SO many people on the island. The party was
fun, but I much prefer other activities.

We leave here tomorow, I forget where we're going, but I know we will
go on a three day wilderness trek soon, so I won't be able to do my
daily updates (haha)

Talk to everyone soon!

Ko Tao

Hi.

We arrived in Ko Tao, a smallish island, but big enough for a some
motorvehicles.

We started our scuba training last night, which involved watching some
Very cheesy movies. Today we had three quizzes. And went diving I'm
shallow waters (no more than 3m)

The sensation of breathing underwater us very cool.

I think this is my favourite island so far. Right when we arrived we
ran into 3 Ivey guys playing vollywball - small world. We hung out
with them last night after our lessons and exchanged travel stories.

The island is very relaxed. And quite reasonably priced.

Tomorrow we have an exam for scuba so we have some readng tonight, but
so far it has been quite easy.

The weather here has been very nice, save for a few windy moments Whig
last maybe 20 minutes. We encountered one of these times when we were
on the boat heading home from our dive. We were relaxing in the top
deck- and the waves started picking up. I tried plying a game with
myself to see how long I could stand in yw deco without falling or
moving my feet. The big waves made it aVery difficult. Ron tried the
same, and a big roll came that VERY NEARLY sent him over the edge. It
was pretty funny and scarybat the same time.

Shawn and I have a bungallow to ourselves, and Ron and Carl are
sharing on.

The Pad Thai here is really good, an I had it for dinner two times in
a row.

In off for now, two dives tomorrow!

in Ko Samui

We flew to Ko Samui today. The alarm didn't wake us up, so we were almost late for our ferry, but we got it in time (it left at 9am)

The night before consisted of hanging out with some Quebecers we met, as well as doing jump rope (the jump rope was lit on fire)

I was the "champion" of it, so I won a beer. It was pretty exciting, and VERY tiring. They kept spinning the rope progressively faster the longer I stayed in.

Ko Phi Phi (the island we just left) is VERY small, with virtually no motorized vechicles. No cars, there are only a handful of electric/small motor vehicles used by people to collect garbage, etc.
It is a beautiful island, and we had a blast. Yesterday Shawn and I went on a longboat for a snorkling trip. We saw AMAZING fish, and it was incredible how tame they were. They swam right up to you with no inhibitions. Beautiful colourful fish, it was like I was in a discovery channel show.

We rode on what are called 'Long Boats' - traditional Thai boats. After a little prodding, the driver let me steer the boat. It took a minute to get the hand of it, but it was a lot of fun.

I have tried to be very good w/ the sunscreen, but today on the ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Krabi (where the airport was) I didn't put any on, and my body it slightly burned. Not too badly though, but there is definitely some red.


Okay I'm off. I think Ron and Carl want to go out tonight, but Shawn and I did last night and I am feeling a bit tired.

-Chris

Gps

This us whereby am according to the gps

Arriving at Ko Phi Phi

Picture from the boat that took us from Patong to the island.

I don't have as many pictures here, as they guys have really good ones
(one is waterproof!) I will have to get the pictures later

In Ko Phi Phi!

Hi everyone, a lot To wrote about but I'll keep it short.

First night was in Patong. I flew into Bangkok transerred to Phuket
and then taxied to Patong. I met shawn at our hotel, and we got a
drink and then wales along the main street an the beach. We were
offered over 60 massages from women on the street, some who were in
the edge of physically assaulting us. It's amazing how I am always
offered a "special price".

Next morning I was up at seven, and shark and I went swimming. Water
is So warm around 80 I would guess. The swim was beautiful, and at
around noon we got on the ferry for Ko Phi Phi. It is a small island,
with a vibrant night life on the beach including flaming limbo, and
firespinners. We actually met two Western studets here, one at Ivey.
We hung out with them last night, and they left today.

Today we rented kyaks and paddled around the island a bit. We found a
beautiful isolated beach with stunning sand. There were only a few
people there, so we docked grqcfully (actually our boat was turned
over by the waves) and enjoyed two hours at our private beach. A group
of monkeys came to the beach and were feet from us. If we got too
close they would chase us and we would run. We learned that f we
chased them, they ran. It was a bakc and forth game if human chase
monkey and monkey chase human.

This evening we climbed to the lookup point, where we could get a
beautif
View of the island.

It is so hot and humid here ALL the time, but now I am adjusting and
not as bothered by it.

Talk to you soon!

Airport (continued)

Still at the airport, the flight leaves in an hour. The airport here
is beautiful. Really high ceiling and a spacious feeling.

I flew with Steve to Vienna from Macedonia. Steve had to leave right
away to catch his next flight. I ran into 4 other Ivey guys (also
teaching through Leader) at the Vienna airport, the Moldovan team.
They seemed to have a good time, but the visit was only a minute long.
It was nice to see some familiar faces.

Below is a picture of "Shopska", a very popular Macedonian salad. It
consists of some type of white cheese (maybe goat) with tomatos and
cucumbers. There is also some light dressing, I'm not sure what it was.

Friday night we went out for dinner with many of the students, which
was very nice. Then, about 5 students took us out to a disco. The only
problem is that the disco doesn't Open until midnight.

We left around 4am, since Shazia's flight was at 5am.