I have been in Koh Tao for a few days and have done a few dives.  I have to admit that it took me way too long to make it to the beach.  Now I know that southern Thailand is why I came.  The beaches are beautiful, the diving is fantastic and it is so much more chilled and laid back than the other places I have been.

I have done 4 dives since I have been here and today I decided that I am going to do the rescue diver course.  It is only 3 days and will let me do a lot more if I choose.  I may have to go on a visa run and stay for 6 weeks for me to complete my Dive Master.  It would give me something else I can travel and work at anywhere.

Well, I will be staying here for at least 3 more days and hope my sunburn has gone away and I have a more permanent solution for my allergies.¬† The pollution is quite bad in Thailand and I have been having issues.¬† I have lots of pictures but I need to filter through and put them up.¬† It is quite hard without the internet on my laptop so I will see when they actually get up. I have been enjoying the free data on my phone but it isn’t perfect.

I am going to stick with this site until I have moved to a country I can actually spend time to migrate over.  There is just too much worth doing for me to sit and do it here.  Well, I have to go study how no save a person so I will post again soon.

It has been a while since I have posted because I have been trying to upgrade my blog. Doing that while traveling, treking, and sight seeing is hard.

So, a bit of a catchup of what I have been doing. I met a great group of people at the hostel. Seven of us ended up going to chiang mai together. Five of us booked a three day trek. We picked up a couple more from the inn we were staying at.

The trek was great. Our guide tama was so happy and funny all of the time. We saw some great waterfalls and amazing views. There is a video somewhere of me jumping off a cliff. I will see if I can track it down.

After the trek I made my way to pai. It is a nice laid back town in the very north west. I rented a moped for the day and have been tooling around.

Today and tomorrow I am making my way to koh Tao. A long trip but I could use a relaxing beach right now.

Ok, I have been play with setting up a new mobile album so I can upload straight from my phone.  I think I have it worked out but it will be from a different album than before.  I create a new Flickr account and have it setup so I will be uploading pictures from my phone, hopefully often.  The link is off on the right side of my page.  And for those of you that only read RSS you can click here.
Something else I noticed is that my phone isn’t charging me for data.¬† Nothing. 0. Zilch.¬† Of course, calling to the US costs about $1.75 AUD a minute but since I rarely call but chat, use maps, check email, upload pictures, etc, it turns out to be pretty much free.¬† I still am using one of my Australian numbers (I never gave it to anyone, sorry). For those of you back in the States just use my local number.

Ok, I have been told before that pants are required.¬† Or, more to the point, shorts aren’t allowed.¬† Somehow when I ended up heading that way today I forgot and was wearing shorts.¬† I ended up just walking around Bangkok for several hours.

Earlier in the day I decieded to walk to Pantip Plaza.¬† For those who don’t know, this is a tech superstore of sorts.¬† There are six levels of every type of tech I could think of.¬† I am tempted to go back there tomorrow and buy a dslr camera but I need to know more about what I want, what kind of lens, etc and I haven’t researched it enough to spend that kind of money.¬† Maybe on my way out of the country.

I am still looking at where I am going to go next.  So much to do in Thailand and I have no clue.  Maybe I should just head to the beach while I figure it out.

I am using my iPhone a ton and I have to say, having a gps and maps in your pocket rocks when you have no clue if the person driving you that doesn’t speak english and has someone else’s picture on display as the driver is taking you to the right place.¬† Also useful is the thai language app from lonely planet.¬† So nice to have your phone teach you thai, or translate for you.

Ok.  Going to an Asian country I should have expected to be more out of my depth than say, Australia.  I know the people that are talking to me are speaking English, but I have no clue what they are saying.  I am sure I will get used to the accent after a while but right now just, wow.

I am also amazed at the city.¬† I have been in big cities before but to see so much life crammed into every place is amazing.¬† The sidewalks are covered with street merchants.¬† I’m not just talking about the major roads either. Every alley big enough for them to drive a car down and still have a stand on is packed.¬† I haven’t been that far away from my hotel yet because I wanted to get my phone working first. Maps/gps are important or just really nice to have.¬† I should have a new phone number soon but of course, my number back in the states will always forward.

Later today I plan on venturing out to go see where they take me, and how much I get taken for.  I am hoping to see the Grand Palace and maybe a temple or two.  I will try to take lots of pictures but my uploading place is full so I will see where I can put them.  Anyway, more thoughts later.

So here I am. Sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I put everything I didn’t want to travel with in storage but should have put more. Cleaned out my apartment and I’m ready!

So, I am off to Thailand to play with sharks and tigers and elephants oh my! I really have no plans but that is the way I prefer to travel. Sit on a beach, get a massage, go for a hike. Sure I could do that anywhere, but why not Thailand?