Archives for October 2013

Note:  I have been posting a bit out of order, as I want to get my thoughts out on the meditation, but I am also a bit behind on things from earlier in the trip.  So please bare with me.  Thanks! -------- Vipassana meditation is, pardon my French, a total mind fuck.  You are asked to focus your attention on observing your respiration, or sensations on your body, but your mind doesn’t like to focus. In fact, it REALLY doesn’t like to focus. Yup, those voices in your head that may come out … [Read more...]

Upon leaving Koh Tao, I had originally planned to head up into northern Thailand, but on a whim, decided instead to head south into Malaysia for a week.  That is one great benefit of not setting your itinerary in stone ahead of time by booking flights, accommodations, etc.  So instead of heading towards northern Thailand, I caught a ferry in the afternoon from Koh Tao to Chumpon on the eastern coast of Thailand.  There I took a bus to the train station and on the way met 3 guys from Boulder, who … [Read more...]

For the next four days, I had a whirlwind of scuba diving training.  The PADI “open-water diver” course includes a combination of readings from a coursebook, classroom style lectures, “pool dives” (which we did in the ocean, but in shallow water) where we would learn different techniques, and ocean dives (where we went to greater depth) for further practice of diving techniques. Scuba diving may seem dangerous if you have never done it before, but the safety instruction is very comprehensive … [Read more...]