April 20th, 2008 - Pol dropped us off at the airport and we caught our flights to Bangkok. This was wear we split ways. I had a direct flight from BKK to the island of Koh Samui while Kat was going through a land-locked city of Surat Thani. Both of us were going to catch boats. My boat only took an hour and a half and I was in Koh Tao by 2. Kat was catching the night boat and wouldn’t arrive until 7am the next morning. ouch!

The boat ride was amazing. Passing the hundreds of small islands that look just like large rocks jetting out of the ocean was some beautiful scenery but one of the coolest things was passing the island of Koh Pah Ngan while reading the book “The Beach.” As I was reading the book on the top deck of the boat we were passing Koh Pah Ngan and in the book they were doing the exact same thing. On a boat, starring out on Koh Pah Ngan! It was a wicked cool moment that probably seems retarded to anyone else reading this.

I called my friend Will, who I was originally going to couchsurf with until he set me up with a certification class at his dive shop which included accommodations, and he came to pick me up in a “Taxi” which is just a local with a pickup truck.

A short ride later we arrived at the Dive Shop and will got me setup with a room and the paperwork for class.

I stayed in a little bungalow about 20m from the beach, it wasnt anything fancy but hell I wasnt going to be in the room much anyway. It was clean, had a fan and bathroom, although the bathroom was a Thai style toilet.

What exactly is a Thai-Style Toilet you say? It is a toilet w/o any running water. You do your business and you use the hose (usually!! with in reach of the can) to fill up a bucket, and then you pour that water into the toilet and it “flushes” itself. Very strange the first time you see one but it quickly turns itself into an entertaining game, at least after a few Tiger Beers!

Settled into my room I walked back to the Dive Shop to talk to Will and fill out some paperwork and watch the required video for dive class. While filling out the paperwork I met Karen. A Canadian girl living in Tokyo teaching and hopefully moving onto a new job there. We parted ways but decided to meet back up for dinner and drinks. I killed the rest of the afternoon reading my book, which I was unable to put down for 3 days. Those of you who know me probably wonder if I can even read since i do it so rarely but The Beach was awesome. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was living the book but whatever, I liked it. Thanks Kat!!!

Karen and I met back up and we went to a local bar where you sit on large pillows on this deck which is over the water. It was an awesome scene and we had a great conversation, just getting to know each other and talking about how we got to where we were today while drinking Chang beers and eating from the local BBQ for about $1.25 each!

It was getting late so I walked her back to her bungalow and headed back to my room to my surprise when I looked at my clock it was only 11pm. I passed out anyway…