The Bardens in Bangkok

I am not in India anymore, and Gerad made it to Bangkok in one piece! It was awesome to see him turn the corner into the hostel and give me a big ol' Gerad hug! We celebrated his arrival by sampling some Thai beer, catching up and listening to a Thai guy try to sing Western music, of which he should get an A for effort! Gerad had some trouble sleeping and was wide awake at 8 AM…I could have slept until 6 PM because I got no sleep my last night in Delhi partying with Gundula, Shive (the guy from Belgium that we survived the strike with happened to be in Delhi at the same time!), two Italians and an Indian! I sucked it up and we went out to explore Bangkok.

Our first stop was the Wat Pho temple. I had been before, but Gerad seemed to enjoy seeing the massive reclining Buddha in gold leaf, the other hundred+ Buddhas and other Buddhist temple things! From there, we took a river boat taxi and the sky train out to the weekend market. It was crazy hot, ridiculously crowded and overwhelming. We walked forever looking at all the random things for sale and got lost trying to escape! A tuk-tuk took (ha ha) us to the boxing stadium where we watched seven Muay Thai fights (Thai boxing in Thailand). The fights were actually awesome to watch…lots of punching, kicking and kneeing involved. We picked winners…I won 5 of 7…should have joined the Thais in gambling! Gerad had to suffer through a fish foot massage for losing. The jet lag caught up with him and he slept through most of the championship fight. Very funny to see him passed out on the concrete floor in the middle of a boxing match!

We made up for lost sleep, got Thai massages and did a little shopping on Monday. We were lying next to each other in the room while getting our massages. Every time I looked over at Gerad, I started giggling. That evening, we took a 10 hour overnight bus ride south. Then, we jumped on a ferry for a couple of hours, final destination: Koh Tao. On the way, we somehow managed to lose/have stolen 6,000 Baht (roughly $200 USD). Not a great way to start off our island adventure, but our hope is that whoever found or took the money needed it more than us and will use it for something good. We’ll also be more careful with our money going forward!

Koh Tao is a small island, about 3 hours by boat north of Koh Samui…aka paradise. Koh Tao (Koh means island in Thai) is a great island for diving. Gerad started his open Water dive certification training on Tuesday. Despite a minor freak out he had 12 meters underwater yesterday, he graduates tonight! We have spent most of our evenings with his classmates…two Aussies guys, an English guy, and an Irish girl...they are a lot of fun! While he’s been in class, I have been thoroughly enjoying the beach, fantastic Thai food and good books….what a drastic change from a week ago in Varanasi! He’s going on to do his advanced certification, so we’ll be here a few more days. We’ll be able to dive together once he finishes his advanced!

All in all, the Barden children have not caused too much trouble as of yet. Gerad has been a diligent dive student. Something tells me we’ll make up for it after his graduation tonight! Mom, you’ll be happy to know that the Junior Mints and Oreos that you sent me were enjoyed by everyone on the overnight bus with us. Thank you. Also, we are eating well, all bodily systems are functioning and we haven’t killed each other. Gerad will now provide some commentary of his own on the first week of our little adventure together…!

Hello folks. Thailand has been an amazing experience so far! My flight was a little on the long side, but it was well worth it when I saw Jamie. As she said, we had a few beers when I got there and finally went to sleep after a 24 hour flight. Bangkok was pretty interesting, a lot different smells and people selling anything you can imagine. I gave some thought to buying a few new suits for the job I do not have. All in all Bangkok was nice, but I was ready to get to the beach!

Koh Tao is amazing. I have enjoyed getting my open water scuba diving certification, of which I finished today! Tonight my classmates and I will have a few hundred beers and enjoy our accomplishment. Then, on Sunday I start my advanced certification, which is the next level in the diving world. It has been an awesome experience to be able to learn how to dive on the other side of the planet. Yes, as Jamie so graciously mentioned above, I did have a little melt down on my first scuba diving experience of my life. Scuba diving is MUCH more mental then I thought. I started breathing too fast, which sent my mind into panic hyperventilate mode. At the same moment, I decided to go up and see how things were going on the surface no matter what happened, which can be extremely bad. I gave the "there is something wrong" sign to the instructor followed by the "I'm going up" sign. I thought my scuba diving career was over before it started and at that moment it was fine with me. However, my instructor, which is an amazing individual from Israel, grabbed me, pulled me down to him and looked into my eyes. Now that does sound like a romantic moment, but it was not. Believe it or not it actually helped. He calmed me down and my scuba diving career was back on track. I love it and should have done it a long time ago. So far, Thailand is beautiful, the people are very nice, we have meet a lot of people from all over the planet, and have not gotten sick!! Mom, we are fine and safe, you have nothing to worry about!! Hello Rage!! I am sure there will be more to come as the adventure continues......