Thailand: Step 1

Thailand: Islands and Water

After Bangkok I traveled south to Ko Tao, a small island off the eastern coast. There I spent five days learning how to dive and am now a certified open water diver!! Craziness, seeing as I have a small fear of water. . . I guess I'm slowly getting over that one :)

The view from my bungalow- the diving classroom -

me in full gear, looks cool, huh?!

Our dive instructor-

I then moved down for two days to Ko Samui, another island, though much larger and busier. It sported the stereotypical sleezy strip of girly bars and the like, but also had beautiful beaches, and I even got to soar through the canopy of the mountain jungles on a cable course (basically, cables attached between trees at 75+ feet above the ground, then I was strapped to the cable and flew my way through the air! Great fun :)

After a day of travel, I have now landed myself in Phuket. Bangkok-like and busy with lots of

neon lit streets and bars with loud music. This is not the Thailand for me. I am hoping to find some more remote areas of the island to explore and enjoy. . .

Sunset on Patong Beach in Phuket

Back in AK

Well, time flies when you're having fun!! My six weeks of travel are over, and it is hard to believe that I've even been back in Fairbanks for a full week already. This week has been little more than recovering from the jet lag- it hit me hard- others that agree that traveling east is much harder than going west. When I left Bangkok I left on the 21st of July and traveled for 38.5 hours, and arrived in Fairbanks on the 21st :) I thought it was great gaining a day, but then I've spent the last four recovering from my travels, so I guess I needed more than one extra day :)

I am here in FBKS for another two weeks before heading back to Unalakleet. I've been helping out around my sisters place, and helping Ted process some of the Copper River Reds he caught this last week. And Onan has been so much fun, and even my younger sister is here with her husband on their honeymoon vacation to AK. So there is a lot going on here, between my jet lag naps and crazy sleeping habits :)

When I return to UNK I start my new job. For those that haven't heard, I got the mentor job and will now be helping first and second year teachers in their positions. I will go through a week of training before I return to UNK and will find out more about where I will be traveling to at that time. I'm very excited about the new job and am looking forward to the new challenges that will come with it.

As for the traveling pictures, I will be posting my email updates and adding a few select pictures to them over the next couple of days right here on the blog. I have TONS of pictures- so if you'd like to see more let me know, I'd be happy to share them :) If you have any questions about them, let me know by sending a comment or emailing me :)