Oh My Buddha Pt 2

I'll be the first to admit my blogging has been less that adequate consistency wise. My utmost apologies. To get up to date I need you to travel back almost three weeks.....Time Warp!

November 18th - a day full of food. I took a cooking class with Josi and Larissa at the "Thai Farm." My menu: Yellow curry with chicken, tom yom soup with shrimp, chicken and cashew nut stir fry, pad thai, and mango with sticky rice. Wow was I full! Maybe if some of you are lucky, I'll cook a Thai meal (feast) upon my return. Most of the recipes are fairly basic and have similar ingredients. Just being in a kitchen again felt so nice after all these months of eating out, apart for breakfast.

November 23-27 - Thai Massage School. Yes, that's right. I am now certified in Thai massage. For five days, lead by our instructor Jane, Josie, Larissa and I learned over one hundred and ten different steps. Feet, Legs, Hands, Arms, Back, Neck, and Face. To do them all at once would take me probably around three hours! The hardest part was to not fall asleep in the studio. We spent just as much time being massaged (horizontal +and prone to sleeping) as we did massaging. I was surprised how much work it was. My thumbs were terribly sore, but it was pretty cool, unlike anything I'd ever done before, and I actually think I'd be able to do a lot of it back home. It's not like I'm ready to open up a business or anything, but I'm not terrible. However, I guess I'm not really that good either... but that's besides the point.

November 30 - Farewell Chiang Mai. It was truly an effort to get myself to leave this city that I lived in for almost six weeks. I felt so comfortable there and it really felt like a home. After a month and a half I had all my routines: I would go to a yoga class in this local gym a couple times a week, buy my dinners, fruit and veggies from the same women on the streets, and get afternoon coffee or fruit shakes (depending on the weather) from the same cafes. And all the people I lived with were wonderful. I did manage to pack up and move onto the next part of my trip, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

December 1-2 - Bangkok. It was the 12 hour overnight bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok for me. Fun! After being in the same house with nine other people being off on my own again, and in a massive, crazy city, was kind of daunting. I stayed right off of Khaosan Road, the main backpacker amoeba. It was a total scene. The street was filled with vendors and completely flooded with tourists. You could buy everything from overpriced pad thai to pirated movies to drivers licenses and diplomas.
My first day in Bangkok I visited Wat Po (the famous reclining Buddha) and the Grand Palace. To find each, I had to ask for directions, a few times from tuk tuk drivers. I counted the number of times that I was told a place was closed, that I could not enter because of my attire, or that I need to come back later - but meanwhile should take a ride around the city and visit some shops, all at a special discount of course!
On day two I took the bus to Siam Square to visit these three mega malls, MBK, Siam Discovery Center, and Sam Center. Amazingly I only bought a pair of much needed iPod speakers and case. The food court in MBK was outrageous, about the size of a football field, and you could find just about any type of food. Note to reader: pineapple, mango, and passion fruit makes for a great smoothie.

December 3- Today (phew, I finally caught up) Koh Tao!!!!!! Besides the transit, which of course was an awful 22 hours of buses, ferries, and waiting, Koh Tao is awesome. I am now a certified OPEN WATER DIVER. For three days I learned how to dive. And it was beyond awesome. From the early morning until dinner, I was in the course. The first day consisted of a morning of dive theory and an afternoon of practicing skills, with all the gear on, in the swimming pool. The first time I swam underwater breathing air from my tank was magical. And it only got better the next day in the ocean. We saw all sorts of creatures: a moray eel, a box fish, puffer fish, angel fish, sting rays, and trigger fish, just to name a few. Its a fantastic sensation - exhilarating, inspiring, and beautiful. I loved it so much that I've actually decided to go for my advanced open water certification in the next two days. I'll get to go down to 30 m (compared to the 18m that we did yesterday) and go on a night dive. While it seems kinda of silly to be doing all of this, because who knows when I'll get to dive again, I am just so enamored with diving that I cannot say no.