Copious diving schools, strawberry-banana fruit shakes, mangy dogs, beachside restaurants, alcoholic drinks that come in a bucket, tripping over scooters, daily scooter accidents, cheap bungalows by the beach, stolen flip-flops, hours spent sitting in the warm ocean, attractive young people galore, and a bar you can only reach by boat . . .
Koh Tao is a small island off the east coast of Thailand. It is the first of three islands, the others being more famous: Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. Koh Tao is known for being one of the best (and cheapest!) places to learn to scuba dive. The waters are warm (about 86 degrees F) and calm (as opposed to Sri Lanka, but that’s a story for another post).
I originally planned to come here to get my open water scuba diving certification (something on my bucket list), do some Crossfit (yes, there is a Crossfit box here!), and do some reading/relaxing.
Koh Tao Crossfit, or KTC, ended up being my favorite Crossfit box I have been to thus far. The coaches Brad and Paul are engaged and passionate, and encouraged me with positive reinforcement which is the most effective style for me. They are really involved in the success of each person that they teach. I always came away from a session feeling a little bit better at something. I improved my clean, deadlift, knees-to-elbows, pushups, and even my running. I also really liked their programming, even if there was some kind of running every day! I really miss it.
It may sound ideal to own a gym in a paradise like Koh Tao, but it certainly has its challenges. For example, there is a water shortage on the island, so there is rationing. When the water runs out for the day, that’s it.
One day I came in for the 5:15pm session to find all of the gym equipment strewn about the patio. Inside, everyone was hunched over or feverishly kicking the jigsaw floor tiles back together. Someone tried to take a shower the night before, and finding there was no water, didn’t turn the knob back to the “off” position. When the water turned back on in the middle of the night, the gym flooded.
This is the third time that has happened.
For my scuba certification, I went with SSI at a dive school called Roctopus, which is just down the street from KTC. They have maximum class size of only 4, which I thought was a big selling point.
My instructor, Natalie, was great. I feel really lucky to have gotten her and her assistant, Louisa, because learning to dive was not as easy or enjoyable for me as I anticipated.
I don’t really understand it, to be honest. I have always loved being in or on the water. I used to swim like a fish when I had the chance. I remember practically going blind once from pretending I was a mermaid all day long in my grandparents’ pool. Before this, if you had asked me what super power I would want, I always chose being able to breathe underwater.
Silly me.
Breathing underwater put my survival instinct into overdrive.
“This isn’t normal! What are you doing?! I hate this! I can’t breathe freely!” is what my brain was yelling at me as I was kneeling just below the surface, watching my instructor help my other two classmates go through their regulator skills.
I was trying REALLY hard to calm down and keep my breathing normal. Breathing only through your mouth, it turns out, is pretty hard to adjust to when you’ve never even snorkeled in your life.
Yeah . . . Probably shoulda tried that first.
There were a few minutes there I was pretty sure I would have to quit. My mind was freaking out. I was hiding it pretty well, but no matter how much logic I catapulted at the fear, I wanted more than anything to be up in the real world breathing through my nose like a sane person.
Eventually I surfaced when I had a good excuse: water in my mask (they hadn’t taught us how to clear that yet). I talked with Natalie and Louisa briefly, and they helped me feel like it was a completely normal reaction, and no big deal. I remember saying “I just keep thinking there are a million people that do this no problem, so I can do it too”. Natalie nodded and said I could take my time, that I just needed a little more practice, and that it would start feeling normal.
She was right. I took my time on the skills, and eventually breathing underwater did come normally. However, even after all of the practice and many dives, while underwater I still felt like it was a challenge I was facing and enduring, not really an enjoyment. I’m not sure if that will change with more experience and seeing more sea life, but I’m going to give it another try or two while traveling. After enjoying the snorkeling tour of the island a few days after getting my certification, I actually missed diving, so perhaps it really will just take me more time.
My classmates were Kurt from London and Fleur from the Netherlands; both fun people.
Other than Crossfit, diving, and snorkeling, I spent a lot of time on the beach, sitting in the bathtub-like, calm, idyllic ocean getting random and absurdly shaped sunburns due to misapplication of sunscreen in various locations, or sitting in a beachside restaurant eating cheap and delicious Thai food, occasionally seeing the most gorgeous sunsets of my life.
Napkins? Ha ha ha, you’re so funny. Try one sheet of single ply toilet paper . . .
Remove your shoes! But watch out for the famous flip flop thieves of Koh Tao!
Below are a few photos of my bungalow about 25-30 steps to the beach. This cost a little over 10 dollars a night. It was a fan-only room, which wasn’t a problem after a refreshing cold shower (also not a problem at all to my surprise, since the heat really does get into your bones), and a bucket-flush toilet system.
Also, you are not allowed to flush toilet paper in the toilet. You use the bum-gun (kitchen sprayer next to the toilet; surprisingly effective) and if you must use TP (you better bring it with you), put it in the trashcan by the toilet. If you want to shower, you better remember to close the lid of your toilet, otherwise your seat will be covered in water the next time you go, because the shower head is right there. It also helps to remember to move your TP and trashcan out of the way too.
All of the above is quite normal in SE Asia. I am just grateful when I see a western toilet, even if I appreciate the squat practice provided by the rest of the world’s brand of “toilet”.
Other than all that, I spent a lot of time reading. That is another one of my goals this year:
Read at least 52 books, most of which being older classics I’ve always meant to read.
Right now my total for 2014 is: 18
In the 3.5 weeks in Thailand I read the following:
The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde) *****
The Idiot (Fyodor Dostoevsky) ****
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) ****
Born to Run (Christopher McDougall) ****
The Lonely Polygamist (Brady Udall) ****
The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath) ****
Persuasion (Jane Austen) ***
On the Road (Jack Kerouac) ***
On Writing (Stephen King) ***
Next up . . . Sri Lanka . . . Oh, Sri Lanka, how I love thee!
These pictures are gorgeous!! That bathroom reminds me of the ones in Eastern Europe...
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