My day started out pretty typical considering I’m in Pai. I woke up around 10:30, which would make it the 3rd day in a row that I missed breakfast at the guesthouse. Im renting out a small garden bungalow in Pai for the week where the owner serves free coffee and fresh fruit in the mornings but I haven’t been up early enough to try it. It’s all good though, I was in the mood for a big meal anyway.  So I decided to grab lunch at the Pai Cafe. I grabbed a seat on the patio and checked out the menu. Most of the food that is served here is Western, what I mean by that is it ain’t your typical rice and noodle joint. Don’t get me wrong, I love rice and noodles but after being in Thailand a few weeks I needed a change in my diet. It was perfect because the Pai Cafe serves burgers, pasta, sandwiches, nachos, you name it.

I ordered myself a coconut before finally deciding on the Chicken Avocado Burger. Coming from California I am pretty loyal to my California Avos and I rarely like to step out of my “Avo Comfort Zone” due to some bad exeriences at places like Yankee Stadium (whatever you do don’t add the guac on your nachos) and others but I figured I’d give it a go with trying some Thai grown avocados.

While I was waiting for my order I noticed trucks driving up to the cafe every couple of minutes. They were dropping different things every time. First it was tomatos and lettuce, another time the truck dropped off some meat. The final delivery that I saw was a huge sack of fresh green avocados. I was thinking to myself, “this dude just came in his tiny truck and dropped off the ingredients to my lunch.” By the time I saw all of this I was dying to get my order.
When it finally came I was so impressed. The burger was huge. There was a good piece of chicken on the burger and good amount of avocado on the side for me to add. “It comes with fries?” I wasn’t expecting that but my order came with freshly made french fries. Today was shaping up to be an other great day in Pai.

After lunch I took a walk down the Pai square and noticed a little massage parlor advertising a 1 hour Thai massage for 150 baht (about $4 US) so I decided to stop in. “Sawadi ka” I heard as I approached the entrance. ‘Sawadi ka’ is the phrase a female uses to greet others (for men it’s ‘Sawadi kap’). The Thai language is so difficult but try to learn some and use it, it will earn a couple of extra points when interacting with the locals. I laid down on the massage mat and the nice lady began to work her magic. I don’t know what it is but I do some of my best thinking when I’m getting a massage. I know I’m supposed to relax but I sometimes I can’t stop my mind from wandering off.

While the nice lady proceeded to make prezil out of my extremities I started to think about what I wanted my next step to be. It’s been a year since I quit my job to travel the world and so far I have had the time of my life. One thing I learned throughout my journey is that it’s not so much about where you go, it’s about who you become that truly makes the journey special. It feels like I’ve been on this race around the world trying to collect flags to put on my map and I want to change gears for a bit. I want to settle some place and get really good at something. By the end of the hour I had made up my mind. I finally decided what I want to do next. I want to become a Dive Master.

I earned my PADI Open Water Diver Certificate last year on my trip to Koh Phi Phi and from then I knew I wanted to continue further and what better time to start than now? And what  better place to train than Koh Tao?

I booked my flight and ferry for the 6th of October that will take me from Chiang Mai, in the north of thailand, to the beautiful, sunny island of Koh Tao.

This is a new journey for me and I haven’t figured it all out yet but I’m excited to start  something completely different from what I’m used to.

If you have any advice or tips for someone wanting to become a Dive Master please comment below. Thanks for the support and I will update you all soon.

Jeremy

Do what you love,

Do it often,

And always travel with an open mind.