Cam t'Asia

Recently I was lucky enough to get my open water diving certification from  Big Blue Diving  on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand. This island is known for good diving, and also happens to be one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified. Since I love swimming and animals, I figured I would probably enjoy diving, so despite the high cost for someone traveling on a budget, I went for it. The course was 4 days long, and we were split into groups of 6 to do it. 5 of the 6 people in my group were Canadian, and we were all around the same age, so we got along swimmingly. The course consisted of teaching sessions (watching videos, reading materials, informal lectures with the instructor), learning skills, and, of course, doing actual dives. On land, we learned about how the air we breathe at depth is different than the air on the surface and why that matters. In a nutshell, we learned how not to blow up our own lungs, which I thought was pretty beneficial. Most of the in-water sk

The journey to Koh Tao from Bangkok wasn't going to be the simplest. I had to get to the train station from my hostel, which was about a half hour walk, then take an overnight train to the southern city of Chumphon, where I would be dropped off at 4am, get on a bus to the ferry terminal, take a ferry to the islands, and find a dive shop on the island to stay and do my open water scuba diving course. I walked to the train station, where I found my platform, got on, and found what seemed to be my car and seat. I was supposed to have booked an upper bed in a sleeper car but I didn't see any beds, or any upper part of the car, so I had no idea if I was in the right place. Eventually a Thai lady appeared with her son, who was about my nephew's age, and sat across from me. The boy promptly grabbed one of his books and pulled himself up next to me, opening it up for me to read to him. Any stress I had about possibly being in the wrong car or on the wrong train instantly disappe

It smells amazing here. Almost everywhere, at almost all times of the day. That's because seemingly every 20 feet, there's a food stall where someone is cooking up delicious fresh food. Pad Thai and spring rolls in the touristy areas. Meat skewers, curries, stir fries, and more everywhere else. Chili peppers, sweet herbs, lemongrass, mango. I can't get enough. The lady at the travel clinic advised me not to eat the street food here because it would make me sick. I obviously gave her a bit of an incredulous look because she quickly revised: "...okay, at least don't eat it for a little while ." I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen either, and I was right. My compromise turned out to be to start with a pad thai, because I figured fried noodles would be one of the safer things I could eat. It was delicious, and I don't even really like pad thai that much. Since then, I've had a few different curries, some spring rolls, and an amazing crab s

I was chatting with a girl on the rooftop patio of my hostel yesterday morning. She was nice and we had a mostly pleasant conversation, but a few things she said really bothered me. I asked her where she had been before here, and she answered that she'd been to Cambodia. I was excited to hear more, as I plan on visiting there in a few months. So I asked her how it was. She heaved a huge sigh. "Expensive." Expensive.  Really? That's the one  word you're going to use to describe an entire no doubt beautiful country with tons of amazing things to see and do and people to meet? She continued: "Phnom Penh and Siem Reap were touristy," as if to say don't even bother going . Later on, I had mentioned that I plan to go to Koh Tao after Bangkok to do some diving. "Yeah, I'd like to do some diving too," she said. "But I'm thinking of doing it in Koh Lanta where like... not everyone  goes." Well, fuck. Clearly my life choic

The first few days of being on my own in a big city has made one thing abundantly clear: because I'm alone, I'm going to be a mark for tricks and scams wherever I go, way more so than when I traveled with friends. It started as soon as I got here with the cab ride from the airport to the hostel. I had read about that one in advance so it was easy to dodge. Since then, I've been approached several times a day by people on the street, using mostly the same tactics: coming up and shaking my hand, asking me where I'm from, saying anything to get me into a conversation with them. I smile and oblige if I'm not in a hurry, even though I know what they're doing. It's hard to shake the habits of a polite Canadian. They try to find some way to connect with me: "Canada? My aunt's girlfriend's foster son has a dog who was born in Canada!" We chat for a minute, and then they start their sales pitch: my clothes are wearing out - wouldn't I look gr

"What the fuck am I doing?" That was the theme in my head leading up to Monday morning. It varied in meaning minute by minute: sometimes it meant "I'm an idiot. This was a dumb decision. I should stay home and put this money into savings and go back to work."; sometimes it meant "I'm so unprepared. How am I going to survive for the next 8 months? What if this or that happens?"; sometimes it meant "I'm pretty awesome for doing this - who does this? Who am I?"; but most of the time it was some mix of those. I haven't been as nervous or as excited as I was stepping out of the car and getting on the plane in a long time. The first day here was tough: not only was I battling jet lag, but I felt very lonely and isolated. It really hit me that I was going to be away from everyone I loved for a long time (other than a few visits and meet-ups). I had only ever traveled with friends before, so doing it on my own was going to be a huge

I decided to only bring a pair of sandals with me on the trip, which was weird for me because I'm a shoe guy. I went to a shoe store in Kitchener the day before I left and found some Tevas on clearance, so I decided to buy them. The $120 they cost wasn't super ideal, especially since I had already racked up some other unexpected pre-trip costs in the weeks prior, but I was hoping it would be a good investment. I needed them to be comfy for the long walks that I planned to do. I wore them with socks on the plane. Don't judge. It was cold in Toronto and Chicago, and even a bit chilly in Tokyo. The first day in Bangkok, I needed to get some flip flops. My flips at home give me blisters if I walk in them for too long, so I elected to buy some here, where I figured it would be cheaper. I read that to go in most places in the city, you had to leave your shoes outside, and that expensive shoes would get stolen. (This has definitely proven to be bullshit so far - I've only

TL;DR: it was long. It took three plane rides and about 27 hours to get to my hostel in Bangkok from Pearson. The first one to Chicago was only a few hours and had the best thing happen: one of the seats in my row was empty. Except the guy in the middle seemed to instantly fall asleep and didn't move over, so it was almost worse than having someone sitting in it. I was more upset at this than I should have been, probably because he was also wearing a George Costanza gortex jacket and hogging the arm rest. Bastard. I had a pretty tight connection in Chicago - about an hour and 15 minutes. The lady who checked my passport at the gate seemed impressed that I not only made the connection (she asked me if I had to run to get to the gate), but also that I had time to snag a personal deep dish pizza from the food court at O'Hare. I think the people around me on the plane hated me for the first 5 minutes as I scarfed it down. Worth it. I was scared for the 13 hour flight to Tokyo