Koh Samui Thailand Continued
SCUBA Diving
Saturday, March 8, 2008
It was another lazy day in paradise today. We found out from the dive shop that the weather was on the mend, so we booked SCUBA diving for next Tuesday; we are excited about this. Julia, as you may know from this website, earned her SCUBA PADI dive certification in Egypt back in December. The diving there was okay but quite cold. Here, on the other hand, the water and air temperatures are very pleasant, so I believe she will have a better experience.
The Thai Girl
Julia in the pool.
We finally made the long walk along our beach, heading as far north as we could go. During the walk, we discovered many other resorts. So this evening we had dinner at one of the more posh places and met an interesting Canadian family consisting of a very tanned and relaxed father, a very happy-looking mother, and one of their three daughters. Julia started our conversation by making the classic mistake of saying, "It is so nice to hear an American accent while we eat such a delicious dinner; it reminds us of home." Well, they had a great time explaining to us they were not Americans.
But it was nice to have a conversation with someone who spoke English as their first language, even if they were Canadian.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The male Hin Tan rock formation.
We walked to the far southern end of the beach today. At the very end of our walk, we discovered the Hin Ta & Hin Yai rocks. These rock formations, when viewed from certain angles, look like male and female genitalia. They draw enough interest to support a whole tourist street and, of course, a bar.
We have come across some really bizarre spellings of English signs in Egypt, Japan, and now Thailand. Here is a shot of Julia considering the "relexing" massage.
Today Julia and I made a resolution to lose 10 pounds. I guess the motivation has been wandering around without many clothes on. Your stark nakedness can be a compelling motivator when it comes to matters of body weight. Anyway, I will keep you posted on how successful we are in this endeavor.
Julia considering "franch" fries for lunch.
I hate to sound insensitive, but it is extremely interesting listening to English-as-a-second-language speakers communicating with each other in their version of English. Sometimes it is funny, and other times extremely painful, but the good news is that they are trying to speak English. This is good news for me, as it is the only language I know — and just barely at that.
Monday, March 10, 2008
We finally figured out what the whole fireworks thing is. Last night we had dinner on the beach and ate exquisite fresh steamed snapper and blue-lipped mussels. While drifting away on a wine, wave, and surf high, a man came walking up the beach selling fireworks. So if you paid the fellow, he would launch a rather large and menacing-looking skyrocket for you, so you could go "ooh, ahh" and everyone trying to sleep would be disturbed. We resisted the temptation.
We dropped into the Lamai market on our walk. Here is a shot of me in the market. It is amazing to us how people do not get ill here more often from food poisoning, as everything in the market had a good coating of flies on it.
We went for a long walk on the streets around the Lamai Beach area today. The weather has gotten hotter, the wind has died down, and the rain only falls in short bursts now, which all adds up to feeling even hotter.
After the market, we found a little shop that offered Thai cooking lessons. We went in and met the owner, a leathery-skinned man with very good English skills. He explained the whole process, and we couldn't resist, as we both really like Thai food, so we signed up for a lesson.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Up at 6:00am today so we could make our 7:00am transport for SCUBA diving. Finally, the weather had cleared up enough to allow us to do it. It was a short car trip to the port and then an hour-and-a-half cruise on a very fast dive boat to Koh Tao, which is a little island north of Koh Samui.
Boat Ride Video
Once there, we dropped off the beginner divers and headed out to a dive spot called the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles were another 15 minutes from Koh Tao, out in the open water.
SCUBA Video
Here is a shot from Koh Tao.
This was Julia's second dive as a fully qualified SCUBA diver, and she was still not feeling at ease with the whole thing. As it turned out, we had a great dive instructor, a French Canadian named Bruno, who really helped us both.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We had an excellent time today at our Thai cooking class. Sont Sukhavachana was our instructor, and a good instructor too. His good English skills made it easy for us to follow his instructions and take his advice.
Sont, his wife, and Julia.
First, he took us to the Lamai market, yes, the same one with all the flies, where he gave us advice on how to select meat, fish, and vegetables. He also explained what many of the vegetables were, as most were mysterious to us.
Julia and me presenting our freshly completed Phad Thai.
Sont taught us techniques and processes, many of his own invention, for each of the dishes on our curriculum. We first made Yum Moo Yang, a very delicious Thai salad, and then we made Phad Thai, an excellent rice noodle dish, followed by Thom Khaa Gai, a scrumptious coconut soup, and finally Gaeng Kiew Waahn Gai, an exquisite green curry.
The great thing about this was not just learning how to make Thai dishes or being introduced to some amazing cooking techniques, but we got to eat each course too. I highly recommend this if you are ever in Koh Samui. Click here to see Sont's website.