Motorbikes and bull sharks and mango lassis, oh my.

So it's been a while since I have blogged. To be honest I have been avoiding it for days. Mostly b/c I didn't want to tell the world about my stupid motorbike wreck, but I am over it now. Unfortunately it's not much of a story but here goes. The day after I finished my scuba certification course (which was great! swam with several  bull sharks, yeah), I decided to rent a motorbike with some friends and explore the rest of this island. However, all my friends backed out at the last minute. I was gonna bail too, but then felt that I needed to do it anyways b/c I was consumed with the thought that if I went alone I would crash the bike. Everyone on this island you see other backpackers covered in bandages from their bike wreck and the guidebook warns a lot about it, for this island in particular bc the roads are so bad. But I have this thing about conquering fears when they seem unfounded.

Well, this fear was apparently well-founded. After a really nice paved drive to another big beach, I felt that was not enough and I needed to take this putt-putt, skinny-tire contraption offroading to another, more deserted beach. I though, if all the Thais and cool surfer Norwegians can do it, so can I! Having a lot of ATV and 4x4 experience I was actually doing ok for a while, but then I came to a patch of super-steep, super gravelly road. It was also at that moment that I was looking at the view of the beautiful cove below and not at the road.  And before I knew I was lying on the ground, bleeding profusely with the bike uphill from me, wandering what jut happened. Luckily, I was going about 3 mph when I laid the bike down. So all I really got were a few deep gouges (not even stitch-worthy) and a lot of road rash on my hands, right arm and right knee. The funniest part was that as soon as it happened and I was standing there on the side of the road looking at the bike, blood soaking through my shorts and dripping down my leg, I didn't feel upset at all and in fact, though to myself, "Well, now that's out of the way!" Like I knew it was my destiny to wreck a bike along and could do nothing to avoid it. Heh.

So I went home and cleaned and patched myself up (infection is really common here bc of the humidity).  The worst part was going to pay the piper for the damage to the motorbike. Seeing as they don't sell insurace for rentals here, I ended up spending the equivalent of 500 bucks to repair the very superifical scratches to the bike.  It ran just fine, not even a flat tire, but they actually replace all of the scratched parts with brand-new factory parts so that they can charge the next guy for his scratches to their seemingly-new bike.  I was able to talk them down a bit being apprearing so pathetic in all my bandages, and my Brit friend Dave tried to get their sympathy by telling them that I worked with sick children backl home and had been saving for this trip my whole life and that this expensive wreck would end the trip for me. Surprisingly, the Thai ladies at the rental place did not seem to buy that. All in all, it was a stupid mistake and a pricey lesson but I didn't beat myself up over it too much (which I usually do) and didn't let it get me down for more than a day or so.

B/c of the injuries though I had to stay out of the water for a few days. But I still wanted to complete the advanced dive course, so I decided to just cool it here on Koh Tao, not a hard decision. I moved out of my nice big bungalow with a king size bed (about 15 bucks a night) into a cheap dorm room where I don't get much sleep (people leaving for early dives everyday) but I have made lots of friends. I did go on to complete the advanced course and keep my wounds infection free, so things are looking up. Today, I am finally leaving the island with 3 new friends on the night boat (you sleep out on the deck!) and tomorrow we will arrive in Khao Sok National Park. It is one of the oldest patches of rainforest in the world and has tigers and elephants and waterfall galore.  Then it's on to Rai LAy beach on the west coast, a famous rockclimbing spot with limestone cliffs straight down to the sea. So that should be fun.

And no more motorbikes I assure you.

P.S. Sorry for any spelling errors. Internet is expensive, correcting mistakes is time-consuming, and I am lazy.


Food Log: I have been getting lazy about this bc it's all good. So I think I will only include my favorites or the really wierd stuff.

Laab Catfish - not really sure what this was, but very good and typical Esaan food, a southern Thailand regional people.
Goy Lek - this was the sauteed liver and tripe of a pig. there was a little stone inside one piece of the stomach that the pig had preseumably swallowed not long before his demise.
BBQ barracuda, marline, and king mackerel. the fish here is amazing and there are all these little places where you sit at tables set up right on the beach and pic your piece of fish then they grill it up for you.
Sauteed Morning Glory in oyster sauce.