ALL RUMORS ARE TRUE. Scuba diving is as amazing as they portrait it. The moment you go under the water and realize that hey I can actually breathe here is pure bliss. A little bit of trivia first. What is common between rock climbing, scuba diving and meditation? The answer is that all three put your right in the moment of HERE and NOW. Meditation achieves it through a patient and diligent practice. Slow, but the most effective way in the long term. Rock climbing does its magic by its sheer intensity. When you look for a next pocket hanging on a 10 meter cliff, there is no opportunity to be lost in thoughts. As for scuba diving, once you go under the water, body sensations become so apparent so you cannot ignore them. It puts you right in touch with your body and makes you aware that actually is going on inside it. Most people are not aware of their breathing in the daily life (are you now?), but underwater there is no way you can dismiss it. Same with tactile sensations, the resistance of water and differences in water temperature create such profound body sensations that you cannot help but to observe them. Plus every sensation you perceive is so vastly different: light, sound, gravity and tactile feelings. No room to be lost in thought here either.
Tropical marine flora and fauna is beautiful here on Ko Tao and as PADI course material states in 10 minutes spent underwater you see more wildlife than in 10 hours in a forest. So true. It is like Finding Nemo, but only in real life. Fish of all colours, shapes and sizes in various flavours of funkiness. Eye-candy all the way. I did scuba diving in a pool in Finland once before and the instructor praised diving conditions in Finland and downplayed diving in tropical countries. His reasoning was that there is so little to see in Finland, so if you see a barrel or something along those lines, you will remember it for the rest of your life. Hmm.. I guess they have to make money somehow.
As for more material remarks, it pays off to shop for the best price at least here in Ko Tao. I paid 9500 baht for the course lured by an online deal, which gave me 300 baht off if I booked it in advance. That includes four nights accommodation. Upon my arrival here, I realized that I could have done it considerably cheaper and with more perks included. The lowest price I saw was around 8000 baht. Two British guys who I did a course with paid 9000 each and that included 6 nights accommodation, free breakfast and one free dive. Same company, same course, just a different deal. I eventually managed to blag free breakfast coupons using the standard “but they told me” technique. Well, at least I had a chance to successfully apply social engineering skills in action. And one last thing, the Finnish Ko Tao Divers appears to be unproportionally expensive comparing to other diving shops. No accommodation included in the price and they even charge for the obligatory PADI material separately. Seems to be the case of paying premium only because it is Finnish.
I spent a total of 35 days over three visits on Haad Yuan, by far longer than in any other place I have visited. Now the time has come to move on and continue with my journey. I was cautious to come back here on the second visit, as I was afraid I would spend all my Thai visa here completely paralyzing my journey. But as things have their own way to get in order, I actually looked forward into leaving this time. Next on the agenda is Koh Tao and an open water diving course.
One important difference of Haad Yuan to other places is that I actually lived here and not just visited. I tried to stay in a dorm in Sanctuary on my second visit, but it did not feel right. Own bungalow is a must, never mind the higher price. However, the Sanctuary dorm had its own charm with its thin mattresses equipped with mosquito nets on wooden floor. Sort of like posh asceticism. I also had to come up with a daily routine here, unlike in most places where daily schedule is just chaotic. Early wake-up, meditation, ashtanga and swimming to kick off a day. Even earlier start on Saturday because of Guy’s Bar. Wake-up before the sunrise, a coconut for breakfast, 6-8 hours of dancing and a lunch break. Just like an ordinary work day. Open mic night on Thursdays, a movie night on the beach and an occasional concert on Sundays, all in Sanctuary. Fanuzzi live last Sunday was phenomenal. The guy had all the place dancing by the end of the night.
It will be surely missed. Things like continuous low-maintenance beach mode. Falling asleep lulled by the constant sound of the ocean and jungle. Absence of cars and motorcycles. Walking everywhere barefoot (thus solving the problem of missing flip-flops). Walks from Haad Yuan to Haad Tien, which would take a ridiculous amount of time because of all the people I met on the way. Morning swims in the rough sea. Secret menu items in Bamboo Hut (e.g. Benjamin’s breakfast or Mike’s salad)Â Dinners on their platform around the sunset. Dance jams in Blooming Lotus. Exhausting hikes to Had Rin through the jungle just to get some groceries. And amazing people.
There is one feature common to nightlife everywhere. Anywhere you go, there is a club playing crap music and serving overpriced drinks. In Ulan Bator there is this club, Metropolis, that looks like a standard European megaclub with trendy, but soulless design, decent PA and a big screen. All this is enough to forget that you are in the heart of Mongolia and not an European capital. Naturally they play generic radio hits and serve overpriced drinks. Going out in China was not any better. Much more variety and polish, but the baseline rule was applicable to most places I visited. No variety on the music front unfortunately, more or less same selection of  radio hits and “evergreen” classics as in Mongolia. After several nights out, I got the feeling that going out in most places seems pointless, as you will get this surrogate generic experience, which is no different from one place to another. Sanlitun in Beijing or Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong – different cities, different cultures, different clubs, but the experience is eerily similar. Finding something different while traveling can be challenging to downright impossible. In Beijing it took three attempts to locate a club which would not play all the latest radio hits, but something more substantial – Yue Club, an underground club with no frills decoration, but good music. In Shanghai I was more prepared and avoided the game of “let’s try our luck going out by a guidebook recommendation”. I did my research beforehand and ended up in Cotton Club for amazing live jazz and Shelter for fine minimal techno. Singapore’s very own Zouk is a prominent exception to this baseline rule. Exquisite interior design, spacious dance-floor, massive sound-system and most importantly quality music make Zouk really stand out on the worldwide clubbing arena. Zouk’s reputation attracts globetrotting DJs on a bi-weekly basis, so every weekend offers something fresh. I heard about Sven Väth playing in Zouk by a sheer accident, while being in Penang completely lost in plans and having no direction in my travel. First I discarded the idea to travel a ridiculous distance to a completely opposite direction to see a DJ . Then I started toying with it. And finally it made a perfect sense. 730 km there and an equal amount to get back all by land, well why not, I’ve got time and having seen Sven Väth already twice I knew what to expect.  Sven Väth is one of those names, which hardly ever disappoints, nor this time was an exception. This year marks 30 years of Sven Väth’s career as a DJ and the man is still full of energy and enthusiasm for quality music. He delivered a four hour set filled with techno and minimal verging into a plain weird territory and finishing with some neo-trance. Personal highlight of the night was Peter Dundav’s brilliant Distant Shores that was one the finishing tracks. Superb music from start to finish and furious dancing all night long, until feet started to ache. Just what doctor ordered. 1460 km by land to visit Zouk and see Sven Väth? Yes, totally worth it.
No, I have not got certified as a yoga teacher, but the transformation is more subtle Рmy possessions slowly leave me by giving away, losing and breaking. Whether I like it or now. At some point in Yangshuo I took a look at my beloved hoodie and made a realization that I had had for many years and maybe, just maybe it is time for a new one. Bah, the next day it is gone. No idea where or how. Same fate waited for my faux Billabong swimming shorts, which I had had for more than six years. They were still in one piece, but I got this idea in the back of my mind that all things come to their end sooner or later. Approximately one month later they were gone. Again, no idea where or how. Just gone. Mono no aware in action. A microfiber towel left me at some point too (I did not like colours anyway). After several unsuccessful tries to find a similar towel in Thailand and Malaysia, I eventually replaced it with a sarong, which is much more versatile and useful than a towel. My Lumix LX5 camera fell victim to sea water and eventually got replaced by Canon Powershot S95, which coincidentally I like much more. I lost two water/tea bottles, both in Thailand. It is most certainly not a time or a place for drinking tea here. Singapore greeted me with a loss of one Hagl̦fs shoe. They were securely attached to my backpack, but somehow when I made it to the hostel, I could not find one of the shoes. I bought them last summer or more like it felt like we found each other. Heavily discounted, my favorite colors, last pair and just my size. One of the most comfortable shoes I have ever used in fact. No blisters at any point too. They will be surely missed. The last in the series of losses is a broken blade of Leatherman Skeletool. I was opening a coconut with Skeletool yesterday and some point the blade just snapped in two. An interesting thing that I experienced no anger, no regret or no disappointment of any kind. No reaction at all in fact, just silent observation of the fact. The most important thing that I got the coconut opened and if to believe a local restaurant owner I am of the few persons who got a coconut open with an ordinary knife. Even though it cost me a broken blade. Fair game I guess.
So there you go all this damage in the span of almost five months. I used to think that I know how to take care of my things, but travelling in this mode seems to be very destructive. Looking back at the history of my stuff, I got this idea that most of lost things I did not like that much or did not need, so in a way they did me a favor by finding a new owner. The only regret is the shoes, but it might be a blessing in disguise which I cannot yet see. The time will tell.
As a traveller I get to use ATMs of different banks in different countries a lot. As a geek I like to pay attention to small details and especially usability. The most common problem with ATMs is that they give you money before returning your card, thus opening a door for forgetting your card in the ATM. Some ATMs try to solve this problem by beeping after you get your money thus reminding you about the card. The solution which makes no sense whatsoever, when it would be much more logical just to return card first. Another problem worth mentioning is an over-confusing user interface requiring unnecessary user actions. Why do you need to answer mundane questions all over again every time when you are about to get cash. It is like most installers in the Windows world, making you press buttons with no purpose. Anyway, In Singapore I had a pleasure to use a Citibank ATM, which blew my mind in terms of usability. The money withdraw process goes something like this.
You insert your card. First, it greets you by your name. Now this is a small, but very nice detail. I bet it is technically trivial to extract information about your name from your card, but how many ATMs actually bother to do that.
It checks the card and then asks you to remove the card to continue. This way there is absolutely no way ATM would snatch your card. Simple and effective.
You select withdrawal amount
You enter PIN code as the last step.
You get your cash.
There you go, no tedious questions, nor unnecessary actions. There are only two steps which require your action: withdrawal amount and PIN code. As minimal as it can get. Compare with most ATMs where you at least four-five steps for the same procedure. Well done, Citibank.
In Nokia Ovi Suite days I was responsible for implementing UI of the software. Even that we had a comprehensible specification describing all parts of the UI, there were many open issues and just things that could not be specified. I got into a habit of thinking things through and how UI would be used by end-user instead of how it should be implemented from a technical point of view. At that time I had an epiphany that most of user interfaces we had to deal with on a daily basis are simply implemented without any thought on how it would be used. The result is often an over-complex UI with unnecessary information overload and too many parts requiring user attention. To see something like this Citibank ATM is always a pleasure. Something that is not simply copied making same mistakes all over again, but seeing a thought and effort behind the end result.
