Saturday, August 26, 2006
Farewell to the Island
Well, what was supposed to be a quick Open Water Diver course as a bit of an interlude on my travels round Thailand became a two week stay and a bit of an obsession. I'm now a qualified Rescue Diver (which is Padi's way of saying I know a bit of first aid and how to look for dead / drowning people underwater) with 21 dives in my shiny little logbook.
More importantly, I've found something I love doing. I'l still be going back to New Zealand on 1st September as planned. I was seriously considering changing the date of my flight and staying here for a couple of months, living in a small somewhat grotty bungalow, diving almost every day, and working towards instructor certification, but if / when I do that I want it to be something I go into as a conscious decision and not just something that randomly happened.
Plus I do want to see my family and those friends who are still around, stock up on vegemite, go snowboarding, pick up my laptop, apply for PhD scholarships, think about applying for a real job, and organise my backpack a bit better (the things one needs for two or three or more stationary months are different from those needed for a few weeks travelling around.
It's funny, I came on this trip to Thailand trying to work out which door of the ones I already knew about I wanted to go through. I didn't plan to build a new one. I'm not certain it's what I want (another reason that I will be getting on the 1430 ferry this afternoon, so I can make my decision somewhere that I can't see the bright blue ocean out of my bedroom window and am not surrounded by other people who also have the diving bug.
Well, that said (not that I really said much) I think it's time to go sit on the beach and read a book for an hour or two. It's a hard life, as they say. :)
Plan from here is get the ferry, then backpacker bus overnight to Bangkok, then train or bus to Kanchanburi (of Bridge over the River Kwai fame) for two or three days, then back to Bangkok for a day or two before flying back to New Zealand and the real world (or as close as I can come to the real world before going in to some sort of allergic shock).
More importantly, I've found something I love doing. I'l still be going back to New Zealand on 1st September as planned. I was seriously considering changing the date of my flight and staying here for a couple of months, living in a small somewhat grotty bungalow, diving almost every day, and working towards instructor certification, but if / when I do that I want it to be something I go into as a conscious decision and not just something that randomly happened.
Plus I do want to see my family and those friends who are still around, stock up on vegemite, go snowboarding, pick up my laptop, apply for PhD scholarships, think about applying for a real job, and organise my backpack a bit better (the things one needs for two or three or more stationary months are different from those needed for a few weeks travelling around.
It's funny, I came on this trip to Thailand trying to work out which door of the ones I already knew about I wanted to go through. I didn't plan to build a new one. I'm not certain it's what I want (another reason that I will be getting on the 1430 ferry this afternoon, so I can make my decision somewhere that I can't see the bright blue ocean out of my bedroom window and am not surrounded by other people who also have the diving bug.
Well, that said (not that I really said much) I think it's time to go sit on the beach and read a book for an hour or two. It's a hard life, as they say. :)
Plan from here is get the ferry, then backpacker bus overnight to Bangkok, then train or bus to Kanchanburi (of Bridge over the River Kwai fame) for two or three days, then back to Bangkok for a day or two before flying back to New Zealand and the real world (or as close as I can come to the real world before going in to some sort of allergic shock).
