The Southern Thai Islands

I arrived late at night (8ish) to find Ko Pha-Kgan was well, Israel in Thailand. All the stores were in Hebrew, all the restaurants served falafel, everyone on the streets (even the locals) were speaking Hebrew. I don't know how or why this is the case, but it is. I met up with Ravit, and we had dinner, watched a tribal fire show, and headed to bed (no, nothing happened).

The next day we decided that we would both be in Israel soon enough, and that we should enjoy Thailand. So, we headed to Ko Tao to take scuba diving lessons. We found a company called Bans, which offered courses in Hebrew, so the two of us signed up to take lessons in Hebrew. We were joined by 2 Israeli guy, and obviously had an Israeli teacher.

Everything was in Hebrew, unless it was really important, and then it was repeated in English for me. The course was 4 days, with 4 dives, and a couple of classroom sessions. Overall it was fantastic. I really loved diving, and everything that went along with it. I wish it was less structured and we couple just go around, but I guess that's why you get a license.

While I hung out with Ravit a bunch, it was obvious that I wasn't getting anywhere. So, one night I went out with the Israeli guys. We ended up getting messages. However, the ladies refused to give me a message. They insisted that I get all the calluses off my feet first. While I didn't want to do that, thy eventually told me that they would do it for free as a part of the message, because I suppose I needed it done that badly. Well, soon enough there were 5 ladies working on me. one on each foot, one on each arm/shoulder, and another massaging my back. It was really hard to tell what was going on, because so much was happening at once. They ended the whole thing with a 30 minute foot massage, and then they stretched me out in every direction pretty much all at once (remember there were five of them, so I was being bent in just crazy directions). I don't know how to describe the whole thing, however I can say it was amazing. At the end, my feet looked great (like a normal person's), and my whole body felt great.

The next day I finished the course, watched a film of our dive, and went to dinner with the group. Ko Tao was nice, and honestly I felt like I accomplished something.

Well, off to Bangkok...