obviously, shea's biggest pet peeve about me is that i'm hopelessly impatient and do things like time her when she goes pee.
one day in siem reap, i was waiting for shea (as per usual). so i was staring her down and quietly judging her every move as she floated around the room (as per usual). i said "shea, hurry up." she said "tasha, get out of here." so, i went out to the common balcony to chill out and came across this guy playing the mandolin. we visited. he was cool. that night shea and i had planned on just packing and going to bed, but my new friend (and neighbor) and his roommates were going out. obviously, we all hit it off, and have spent the last week travelling with them, changing plans like crazy and living it up.
so who knew that the two traits that drive shea and i craziest about one another would be responsible for tying up this trip with the biggest, bestest bow ever.
these last few days have been so fantastic. every day has been packed full, and every night has been pretty well perfect. the boys were supposed to be doing a PADI course, but because of some medical stuff both had to put it off until they could check with doctors in samui, so i was diving solo. i did 4 dives, the first was a refresher dive since it's been nearly 3 years since i've been under. i hate the skills. i just want to swim and see things. i mean, i know it's good and all to remember how to do important things like, oh, put your mask back on when some dumbass kicks it off, or put your regulator back in your mouth in case you snag it on a piece of coral (which i did). but i just wanted to GO. we saw someamazing things, nothing as exciting as a whale shark (sigh) but we did see these great little clown fish that would come right up to your mask and poke around. the best is we did about 4 swim throughs - basically through some caves and rocks, which was something i've never done before. my dive buddy was kind of boring though, and wouldn't do flipper high 5s or sommersaults with me. he wouldn't cannonball off of the boat after either while we waited for the diving classes to come back up, so i had to make my own fun. plus i had to pee in the water. i loved my dive instructor though - she was thai and so funny. she gave me a bandaid for a skinned knee, she said "you need to cover. because the fish, they like. MWA MWA MWA MWA!" as she made faces of fish eating my scabs (sure enough, i was robbed of every scab on my body, which was a lot thanks to loads of bug bites).
this reminds me this interesting little fact: after i dive (and during), i have to pee SO MUCH. it's crazy. i just assumed it was the whole floating in so much water thing but apparently there's actually a biological reason for this, according to this insane french guy who was diving with me. when you're beneath the surface, everything is all compressed, including your blood. all the excess water from your blood goes through you and into your bladder, so it's constantly full. and don't go "oh gross you peed in the ocean". you all have done it, i know it. and if you pee on the boat, when you flush it just goes straight out anyway, so i might as well be having fun swimming while i'm at it.
anyway, lawrence had rented a big dirt bike and explored the island while i was diving, so the next day i rented a quad and shea and i went with him to check out some of his favorite places.
ok, let's discuss thai quads. they aren't the solid polarises or hondas we have here. no no, it's more like the ones you can buy at canadian tire for $800, with tires worn to the skin. the "roads" were insane dirt trails (yet there were trucks going up and down them) with loose sand and huge rocks. on a good quad, this would have been awesome. on this quad - it was terrifying. and shea was a nervous nellie, constantly grabbing me and making scared noises - i nearly made her walk. on the way back down this scary, giant hill i finally told her that she needed to stop squealing and entertain me so i wasn't so freaked out (every time we remotely hit the brakes we skidded sideways, and the suspension was shot so steering wasn't exactly reliable). so, she sang me some songs, and we broke out "baby got back" to lighten our spirits. lawrence was a star and kept up my morale when i was really, really not having fun. but once we were down it was all good. and the destination was so completely worth it.
there was this incredible little bay at the top of the island, with one resort with little bungalows and a great little beach and a great little bar. next time i'm on ko tao - it's my destination for sure. we snorkelled for a couple of hours (i went hunting for a black tip reef shark but never did find it) and it was awesome. i found shea a cute yukon firefighter boyfriend, but we didn't see him again after that. damn it.
that night we chilled out on the beach, playing with the poi, drinking buckets. needless to say, it got messy but was so much fun - though i was having a bit of anxiety about having to leave the next day - i'm really terrible with goodbyes and get attached to people i travel with for longer than a couple of days. i had a flight booked from surat thani and had to take the night ferry the next night. i was feeling a bit sad about going - i just wanted ONE MORE DAY.
so, the next day, i said screw the flight (it was so cheap) and i booked a catamaran/bus the NEXT day for 10 am - so, another day in paradise.
shea and kris headed to the beach to nurse their hangovers, but lawrence and i decided to make the most of out his bike and went for a cruise around (mostly looking for this elusive beach kris and shea kept going to - we never did find it, but we found another). we bought some snorkel gear and practiced some snorkelling with lawrence for when he DOES get to do his PADI, then watched sunset on the beach with the mosquitos and the mandolin. it was a chilled out last night in thailand, and it was fantastic.
and i made a plan when i was on the boat ride back from the dive. i've decided that i'm going to get my dive master certification, and we're all going to move there. shea is going to run the bar and be the fire poi master, kris will be our underwater photographer (and we'll do underwater weddings, so i'll get ordained), and lawrence will be our DJ, our dirt bike tour guide, and write and record the music to go along with the underwater videos and wedding videos for our guests. i'm working on the business plan. they're all in.
*sigh*
damn you, real world.
so, the next morning shea and i parted ways at the pier, lawrence saw me off and i sadly got onto the catamaran and headed back towards bangkok. on champorn pier i chatted with this scottish guy who was on his way from samui to bangkok to pick up his girlfriend, and we ended up hanging out for a couple of hours in bangkok while i waited to go to the airport. i felt this little surge of love for bangkok - i must be in a delirium from the past while - and took it in for the last time. i watched this western guy preach at the top of his lungs to the hordes of sinners on khoa san road, i watched the masses of backpackers lining up for the night busses and ferries to ko pha ngan for the next full moon party, i even felt a little love for the wooden frog ladies who wander around in tribal dress making those goddamn wooden frogs croak with the sticks. i must be in bliss. shea did tell me on ko tao that she's not sure she's ever seen me this relaxed or happy, at least not in a long time. it's been an amazing trip.
so now i'm in korea, killing the next few hours on the massive lay over i have here. i'm watching to see what will happen with this really gross bug bite on my arm - kris thinks it's going to hatch baby spiders - he might be right. i won't be sad to leave behind all the bugs, thanks cold weather. the colon has told me there's loads of snow falling in kamloops right now - so i'm already plotting my first night ski of the season. there's a full moon coming up - i'm thinking of having my own little full moon party at stake lake, i'll bring the vodka redbull, someone bring the buckets, we'll go for a night ski and whoop it up. sure, it's snow instead of sand and fleece instead of bikinis but in the end, it's the people you're with that make your experiences the best they can be.
i'll blog more when i get back, give you some of my perspectives and crap, if you want to read that drivel. and, of course, i'll be uploading photos like a crazy woman, so i'll post some and a link to the album. being the tremendous tech geek i am, i plan on doing something fun with the pictures, but i'll have to collect them from the various people who have more first.
and mom/dad, sorry we've been incommunicado. our room had no power point in it, shea never did buy a power converter and the cell phone has been dead for days. besides, an hour away to call or email would be an hour away from the beach/bikes/boys that we were having so much fun with. i hope you'll forgive us - in a few hours you can call me to your heart's content.
and by the way - i'm getting my motorcycle license when i get back (that means you, me, open road anne walker). i had so much fun on the scooters that i want to take some lessons and actually ride a bike - plus when i go places like this i'll have more confidence (and you know, abilities) to explore - it's the only way to experience it. it was pretty fun being on the back too - except for that time in hoi an i was nearly hit by a bus (i put my feet down when we swerved i was so freaked out. "s'ok! s'ok! just don't look!'" was the advice from the driver). i told shea when we were in vietnam after cruising around mui ne with a moto taxi that my next boyfriend has to have a bike. she thinks i'll be trolling for hell's angels next, since i like hairy men who ride motorcycles. i want to add to my skills - geez, i mean i can drive quads and snowmobiles, tractors, use a chainsaw, fly a helicopter (welllllllllllllll ok it was just a little bit and probably just an excuse for the pervy pilot to get a girl to put her hands on his joystick, but it was fun. darcy did it too, so there.), why not a motorbike? that makes me sound not very girly, but considering i have 98234 pairs of shoes, always maintain my eyebrows and use my shoe as a hammer, rest assured i'm still very much a girl.
love,
tasha.
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