Chang Time

Happy Belated thanksgiving,
    Hope you gorged yourself silly...the American way...super size me. Me and Mel had quite a proper feast ourselves thank you for asking. We made buddies with the manager of a restaurant out here called Morava (San Deigo native owned) who, the absolute doll that he is, had the cooks prepare us a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner. We dined on pumpkin soup, roasted chicken potatoes, veggies, yams, blueberry sauce and gravy.... you get it. I needn't elaborate more. We're stationed in Koh Tao right now, an island in Thailand, and have nestled ourselves in here for the past 9 days...more than we anticipated but I will explain later.
   The chronological maven I am, I would like to begin this post giving you the freshest deets on our time on Koh Pha-Ngan. We came to the island just in time for the Full-moon party (high-five). We prudently decided on a period of rest and relaxation leading up to the debauchery that would undoubtedly follow, so the first 3 days there we got ourselves situated in a nice little collection of family run bungalows off the beach called the yogurt house (no they did not have a frozen yogurt shop your guess is as good as mine as to the story behind the name). We went to the beach our first day but unfortunately hit a bout of rain the next couple and spent our time walking around Hat Rin, perusing for gifts and souvenirs. That tropical rain they tell you about....first hand account. As we stood outside a store after dinner I could hear and see a mere few feet in front of us, a wall of rain rushing nearer and nearer. Bizarre.
    And then the sun came out right in time, maybe he was a little resentful at all the attention his rival Mr. Moon would be getting that night. We ate our breaky and headed for the beach along with the other Hat Rinners. All along the beach the hotels and bars had erected these huge stages and towering signs in preparation for the night. For about 10 minutes the resort next door turned on some tunes. BASS..... Deadmau5 filled the air and you could feel the beat. Everyone perked up. As corny as it sounds I knew "tonight's gonna be a good night" (sorry I had to). We overheard a group behind us without the typical Australian accent talking about "icing". Americans! Well turns out they were Canadians, our Northamerican brethren and a pair of sassy Swiss sisters. Wow talk about the fates aligning. We ended up hanging out with them all day and deciding to meet up for dinner and go out together. Full-Moon posse assemble! I'm confident my pals at home would approve the caliber of this crowd. I think I may have a whole new vocabulary thanks to Hein and Matt ( prove it, beat it nerd, yeah duh duh yeah). Some Chang's came out and a few people got iced that nooner.
     Me and Mel picked up our full moon attire, there are literally hundreds of shirts, shorts, paint, necklaces, and sweatbands all in a myriad of neon colors sold throughout Hat Rin. SO many choices....we double iced Matt on the beach and went to a lovely little lounge called Nicks for dinner and mojitios and went to pick up a bucket (yes stands on the streets mix a literal sand castle building bucket cocktail for mooners to imbibe) and get ready at the hotel. Some tunes, dancing, and artistic body paint followed (Lara, thank you for the sleeve) and we eventually cruised down to the beach. Lights, music, fire, slides, buckets, neon hoards of people. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. We danced all night long, and I mean until the sun came up. One of the coolest experiences ever. What a trip. So that was Pha-Ngan
    Koh Tao, neighbor to Pha-Ngan is well known as the scuba diving capital in Thailand. There are two main towns, Mae Hadd where our dive resort was located, and Sairee. Koh Tao has nailed it on balancing the fine line between touristy and islandy. It still has a natural untouched yet comfortable feel. We were recommended to get our Open Water PADI at Crystal Dive Resort, best decision ever. The place is awesome, its right on the beach and has a great little restaurant next door and a bar and outdoor patio everyone hangs out at every night to grab a beer or watch dive videos at. The course was 4 days long, one in the classroom, one in the pool, and two in the ocean. I originally planned to get my Open Water as a check on the list, just to say I did. Jokes on me, we ended up staying another 2 days to get our advanced. Undoubtedly a huge part of this had to do with our awesome group. We had the most lovely instructor, Tina, two Norwegian lovebirds Thomas and Victoria and a Swedish pair Anna and Hannah. We were all super nervous at the start especially when it came to tests involving taking off your mask and clearing the water out of it, all while underwater. But once we all got in the ocean it seemed to fall into place. Its just the most unbelievably calming experience to be that deep underwater. My two favorite in our advanced course were the night dive (all you can see is whatever your flashlight is pointing at) and a deep dive to 30 meters (about 100 feet). I've never seen phosphorescence before but on our night dive as we turned off our lights and moved our hands little green lights flickered all around us. Really magical stuff. We had an interesting dive straight out of The Perfect Storm. Just absolutely terrifying swells lifting us huge distances out of the water at the surface. I'm still suffering from some equalization issues. I feel like I have a pillow over my ears. Totally worth it.
    The whole diver lifestyle, as simple yet toiling as it is, pulls some strings in me though. The whole Crystal team is like one big family. Sure they live on an island where flushless toilets are standard, hot water showers are a luxury, and salty and wet is a way of life but the simplicity of it all and the wonderful people they're surrounded with every day and the passion they have for diving is really something special. We've stayed an extra couple of days there to celebrate with Team-O a big Finish bear of a man who helped us on our first dive and is graduating to be a Master Diver tonight. Unfortunately its been raining like crazy here. So much for our tans....wah wah wahhhh. But we're headed to Bali on the 5th and its supposed to be great weather over thar. On our stop over in Bangkok we're planning to hit the cinema for a little Harry Potter action. I'm ecstatic. Shout out to my friends and family at home Katie (skype check!), Barker, Blair, Gevrina (great videos), Brueland, James, Klimmy, Brookie, Thomas, Ashkan, Denys, KK, BFG, Aud Nat and Bri,  Mama, Farj, Auntie Cher and Val, Nana, if I missed anyone my dearest appologies. Hope you had a wonderful holiday. Drink a Starbucks holiday beverage for me. Thanks.
The always graceful and never awkward,
King