Sawatdeepiimai and Happy 2555!

Thats right, its year 2555 (song ha ha ha) here in Thailand. As if using military time, kilometers, and kilos didn't confuse me enough.. its a different year too?!

I have been getting resettled into the school routine of teaching and tutoring, and a three day weekend up in Chiang Mai thrown in there, and I'm finally getting around to blogging!  Heres a short recap of my holiday on the islands!

A few days before Christmas, I made my way down to Bangkok to take an overnight bus to Ko Tao, turtle island in Thai and is most well known for being the most inexpensive place in Thailand to get PADI certified! After I went to Bali last year, I decided that getting diving certified was something I HAD to do before leaving Thailand. My plan was to head down there solo for Christmas then zip over to the other coast to meet friends for New Years.  I was excited to do some traveling on my own, I find its easier and more fun to meet people that way.  On the bus ride down south, I was sitting next to Bergen, a girl from New Zealand who has been traveling solo for five months. We got along well, as well as we could after an overnight bus ride and being stranded at some strange travel agency as well as a very rocky boat ride (tired and no food and sketchy boat rides = cranky/on edge Chelsea), and decided to split a room as our schedules travel lined up nicely.  After a day or two, I felt like I had been traveling with Bergen for weeks and that she had been one of my long lost friends.  We spent our evenings together swapping stories, grabbing dinner, drinks, watching fire shows, and dancing until the clubs closed.  It was also nice to have a friend to spend Christmas with, we got good Indian for Christmas dinner then headed out to the beach bar "Lotus" for some fireshows and buckets. Not your traditional Christmas dinner but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I decided to get PADI open water certified on Ko Tao and was SO excited!  It was a four day course with sections in the classroom with videos and quizzes and a written final exam, skills exercises in the swimming pool, and four open water dives in the sea.  There was six of us in our group and even though the visibility and weather were definitely not in our favor, Ko Tao was a great place to learn.  Along with my 9800 baht course fee, I got free accommodation for three days and my certification is recognized around the world.  I did two dives when I went over to Ko Phi Phi where the visibility was AMAZING and the coral and fish variety was breathe taking, because the visibility was so bad on Ko Tao and I was so focused on learning the diving skills, I felt like Ko Phi Phi was the first place I'd dived!  There, I saw deadly sea snakes, nemo clown fish, angel fish, barracudas, a sea turtle, and so much more. I LOVE diving and will extend my certification to the advanced open water in March, meaning I can do deeper dives and take specialty courses. Diving is basically amazing and is my new obsession, I'd love to do it everyday for the rest of my life! I even have a favorite fish, the box fish.

Diving Christmas Eve

 After Ko Tao, Bergen and I parted ways and I headed to Ko Phi Phi for my fourth time! I love this little island, great party scene, fun people, and nice beaches.. whats not to love?!  Emily, the new teacher at my school who took Jess' spot, met me down there for her first Thai island extravaganza! I went down to Phi Phi last New Years with Jess and Jenna so I was a little nostalgic this trip and missed my thai-rrific friends, but I'm glad Emily was able to meet me and we showed the island that Khon Kaen teachers know how to celebrate New Years.  I also got to meet up with my friend, John Johnsen! We went to Santa Barbara City College together years ago then he moved to Sweden.  He was traveling Thailand for the holiday with his girlfriend and we were able to coordinate New Years plans to be in the same place.  It was nice to see a face from home and New Years was thai-rrific.


Back in Khon Kaen, nothing has changed other than there is a new dinner hut right by my apartment building and it serves GREAT curry.  I'm at the last leg of the race now, only 58 more days in Khon Kaen (but who's counting?!).  I met some amazing people this holiday break which really inspired me to look into some new adventure possibilities for life after Thailand.. I haven't booked anything yet but my wheels are spinning and great plans are in the works.  I need to get all my ducks in a row as time is flying, and I'll post once my plans are official!

Happy New Year!