On the trip I've been able to get quite a large amount of reading done. Thanks to long bus, train, boat, and short airplane rides and a lack of a whole lot to see at night I've flown through a number of books. Over the last five weeks I have been able to read:
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Power of One
Three Cups of Tea
The Alchemist
The Time Travelers Wife
I thought I'd write about my reading as the Power of One and Three Cups of Tea are actually very inspiring books. The Power of One is a fictional story about a boy growing up in South Africa during the beginning of apartheid. The book has some pretty amazing stories about the small things the boy was able to do in his time in South Africa. While fiction it did make me think about the power of one and what can be done by just one individual.
Randomly the next book I picked up was Three Cups of Tea which to me is the Power of One personified. The true story is about a mountaineer who finds himself in a remote village in Pakistan after trying and failing to summit K2. After staying in the village and seeing that the children of the village did not have a school to take lessons he decided to make a promise to pay back the hospitality of the village by building them a school. For three years the guy works on the getting a school built while basically living in the back seat of his car. After he gets the school built and gets a benefactor he makes a career out of building schools in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the building of these schools he is so hands on that he with the help of the villages makes this miracle happen. It was an incredible story that is about the most inspiring thing I've ever read. I recommend the book to anyone.
While traveling in Cambodia I also got the opportunity to go to a concert in Siem Reap hosted by a Swiss doctor. This was also a hugely inspiring story. I'll probably blog a little more about this in a different post but I thought it interesting that I was reading all about the Power of One and then saw it actually happening. The Swiss doctor built six hospitals in Cambodia that provides full treatment to all of Cambodia's children absolutely free. 90% of the donations to fund the hospitals is from private donations. This one guy's ideas have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in Cambodia. Just amazing!
Reading and seeing this in action makes me wonder about all the friends of mine that have been active in the peace core at one point in their lives. I know the impact that they have had on the communities they worked at was huge and life saving. I really admire all my friends and all the others who have chosen to do such a great service to the world.
For me personally, I want eventually to spend time while traveling the world to give back and volunteer for a few monnths. It is the least I can do. The big thing is finding the right time to do this. This year it is not that time but it is one of my lifes goals to do this and to try and do it soon.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
I am a Scuba Diver
One of big things to do while traveling in Thailand is to go Scuba Diving. Some travel guides say that Thailand has some of the best diving in the world (I really don't know what to compare it to but what I saw was pretty spectacular. The great thing about Thailand is that you can dive and it won't cost you a fortune. In the US to dive the dive courses are usually over a six week period and can cost quite a bit once you add up some of the basic equipment costs and the course material itself. Ko Tao is the worlds most popular place to get a diver certification. There are at least 50 dive companies all over this small little island and the cost of the certification is the same no matter which dive operator you go to.
I haven't always wanted to get my diver certification. In fact I thought I never would have the opportunity to get my certification because I sink when I am in the water. I see other people in the water and without moving anything they are able to stay afloat in the water. Not me. I am immediately sinking as soon as I'm in the water. In order for me to stay afloat I have to use a huge amount of energy and before long I am just way to tired to stay in the water. I would consider myself to be in pretty good shape and it kills me that I can't stay in deep water very long. For a little while I thought it was just a fear and I had to overcome it. Not so, there are other people out there who sink like me. My body is just different than those people who can lie and float all day long without using any energy up.
As I have traveled these last couple years and have met many people with dive certificates I started to ask some more questions about it. Turns out you don't have to be all that great a swimmer. Once your underwater you do have to be in good shape to get yourself from one place to another but you don't have to worry about drowning since you do happen to have a oxygen tank strapped to your back. Seems pretty obvious now but before I just couldn't see myself surviving underwater with the way I swim.
As I learned more about it and have seen some spectacular footage of diving on the TV it became one of those things I need to cross off the list in my lifetime. And since I arrived at the dive capital of the world it seemed it was now or never.
I signed up to dive at a place called Scuba Junction to get my Scuba Schools International Diver Certification. Over three and a half days and 9000 baht (about $240) later I would get my certification. Scuba Junction was recommended by some friends who had done the same course a year earlier. Scuba Junction is a great place to get the certificate done as they keep the class size to four people or less. Some of the dive sites have classes of 10. For me who was nervous to begin with I was happy to sign up to get a more hands on instructor. The timing was actually pretty good for me in signing up because the day I started it was just me and the instructor. I got one on one instruction and that was huge to calm my nerves. The first day I was party thinking it would be great to meet some new people while I get the certification and spend three days with them. After the first day I was pretty happy to have the one on one as it definitely helped me get through the class a lot easier.
Over the three days of water instruction I was in the water six times, twice to just learn some skills necessary to be able to dive with one other person. The next four times were dives around Kho Tao coral reefs practicing those skills and enjoying the beautiful underwater scenery.
I haven't always wanted to get my diver certification. In fact I thought I never would have the opportunity to get my certification because I sink when I am in the water. I see other people in the water and without moving anything they are able to stay afloat in the water. Not me. I am immediately sinking as soon as I'm in the water. In order for me to stay afloat I have to use a huge amount of energy and before long I am just way to tired to stay in the water. I would consider myself to be in pretty good shape and it kills me that I can't stay in deep water very long. For a little while I thought it was just a fear and I had to overcome it. Not so, there are other people out there who sink like me. My body is just different than those people who can lie and float all day long without using any energy up.
As I have traveled these last couple years and have met many people with dive certificates I started to ask some more questions about it. Turns out you don't have to be all that great a swimmer. Once your underwater you do have to be in good shape to get yourself from one place to another but you don't have to worry about drowning since you do happen to have a oxygen tank strapped to your back. Seems pretty obvious now but before I just couldn't see myself surviving underwater with the way I swim.
As I learned more about it and have seen some spectacular footage of diving on the TV it became one of those things I need to cross off the list in my lifetime. And since I arrived at the dive capital of the world it seemed it was now or never.
I signed up to dive at a place called Scuba Junction to get my Scuba Schools International Diver Certification. Over three and a half days and 9000 baht (about $240) later I would get my certification. Scuba Junction was recommended by some friends who had done the same course a year earlier. Scuba Junction is a great place to get the certificate done as they keep the class size to four people or less. Some of the dive sites have classes of 10. For me who was nervous to begin with I was happy to sign up to get a more hands on instructor. The timing was actually pretty good for me in signing up because the day I started it was just me and the instructor. I got one on one instruction and that was huge to calm my nerves. The first day I was party thinking it would be great to meet some new people while I get the certification and spend three days with them. After the first day I was pretty happy to have the one on one as it definitely helped me get through the class a lot easier.
Over the three days of water instruction I was in the water six times, twice to just learn some skills necessary to be able to dive with one other person. The next four times were dives around Kho Tao coral reefs practicing those skills and enjoying the beautiful underwater scenery.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Time to Blog
Ok, so it is about time I get to doing some serious blogging. It has been a while and I am really not sure if there is anyone out there that still reads my blog since I really don't write that much. In any event I have some motivation now to start blogging and to write about more random moments, describe more of the things I am seeing, and just some general what I'm up to. So for those that are following get ready for some blogging.
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