I’ve really enjoyed writing a sort of serial account of my first experiences in Bangkok and beyond, but I’d like to move into shorter and more frequent accounts of my day-to-day activities. From this post on, I’ll try and update as close to daily as I can. For this post though, I’ll give you a little pictorial narrative of my Nai Harn Beach experience and then just fast forward to ‘now’.
Since I arrived in Phuket and settled in at the All Season’s Resort…
I shopped here for odds and ends and meals between training classes:
Had the best and spiciest meal I’ve had in Thailand:
I swam out to this island on my second attempt and snorkeled around it. The channel between the shore and the island is between 60 and 80 feet deep and you can see all the way to the bottom, which blew my mind.
Thought this was fascinating and terrifying:
Marveled at the luxuriousness of the local taxi stands:
Had quite a few dinners with my training partners:
Drank several gallons of this frosty beverage:
Took an expensive Song Thaew into Phuket Town:
Played some vicious games of pool volleyball:
Got served by the Black Mambas:
Kicked it by the pool almost every afternoon:
Met some really inspirational world travelers:
Walked by this house everytime I went up to the legendary Reggae Bar:
Got used to using a new type of toilet system:
Spent several nights at the Reggae Bar with my new good friends:
After so many beers reached a point where this was an obviously appropriate hat and where my friend Ian turned into John Belushi:
Took a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Don (Phi Phi Island) where they filmed the hit movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio. This was along the way:
The Crew on the ferry, plus Becca, an Aussie we met on the ride:
Passing an inlet to another beach:
Arrived at the port and waded into the small town:
Hiked up to our hostel, the Rock Backpacker:
Took this post-card-worthy photo:
Ate some amazing squid stir-fry:
Took a long-tail boat out to some cliffs and jumped off ‘em:
Went snorkling:
Investigated Monkey Beach:
Signed up to fight for a free bucket (yes, bucket) of booze:
When all was said and done, my career win-loss record shot up to 1-0. Victory was mine:
Had one last swim at Ko Phi Phi Don the day after:
Eventually moved into teacher practice week, where we went to local schools and taught lessons. These were some of my kids:
1938 called and they want their school house back:
It was actually an honor and a privilege to teach at this school, which really was beautiful in its character and flaws. The students are also exposed to Bhuddism as part of their curriculum:
After a hard-working week of teacher practice and lesson plans, our last night on the island was before us, and like many nights before, we went to Reggae Bar and hit it hard:
Before we knew it, we were saying our goodbyes and catching up on everyone’s plans for after Phuket -where we were living, teaching and for what age levels:
After an easy bus ride back, the Bangkok 2.0 chapter began, and right now, I’m loving every minute of it. This is the view of the skyline from my apartment:
After about a week into Bangkok 2.0, I had my first day of school:
It wasn’t until I got to work when I realized I hadn’t called my parents to listen to their first-day-of-school speech, which I always loved the mornings before my first days of school through each grade, but I thought about it frequently throughout the day, about being a little fish in a big pond now. Only now the pond was half way across the world and I can’t understand the other fishes’ language, but it gave me comfort none the less…
