Category Archives: Her Story

Build Yourself A Home On The Road Less Traveled

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 I have no shame in admitting how obsessed I am with my everyday views and adventures. I sometimes can’t justify not sharing with others the beauty that surrounds me on my side of the world. I always love to hear everyone’s opinions and read your responses on what I share with you. I read a lot of you tell me how I’m “living the life” and although I don’t necessarily agree with that phrase, as I believe I am just living my life, I understand it coming from an outsiders view. But one recent comment really got me thinking. “This is just a short time of your life, enjoy it while you can. You’ll be back home before you know it” Someone had said this on one of my recent posts. It makes me wish there were more open minded people in this world. People who aren’t afraid of making their lives an adventure. Who aren’t afraid to call somewhere unfamiliar home. It’s interesting to me, how someone can call this a short time in my life. Maybe I want this to be the long haul, and why can’t it be? 

Mike and I have had “the talk” way too many times these past few weeks. We have been trying to decide what to “do next”. Do we stay, or do we go? I have been trying to use logic and rationality to choose my answer. “We go” I’ve been arguing. “We go”, I say, so we can have stability when we return to the states. So we can have enough money to settle down on an apartment, car, and basic living needs. We can find jobs and work our asses off, “we go”, I’ve been arguing. 

But I haven’t truly been thinking as rationally as I thought I had been and because of that I’ve changed my argument. Now, I say “we stay” 

We already have a place to live here. We have jobs, two bikes, and basic living needs. We have mountains surrounding us and perfect dive sites below us. We live in paradise, we can work our asses off here just as much as we can work in the states, and though we’d make more money there, we make more memories here. I was looking for a rational future so we could fit in with the rest of the American society, instead of looking at the rational now that we’ve already started building. 

We stay, for our own well being. 

We aren’t afraid to call this place our home. We are two people just like you, except we bought one way tickets to a tropical island, and we’re making it work. We are making our lives here work, we are living our lives, not living the life. (What even defines “the” life anyway?)

So with that being said, it is official. We will be staying on Koh Tao for another 6 months, and than we will go back to the drawing board. 

We moved here with no set plans, one goal was for Mike to get his Dive Master, a professional divers certification. Now with that goal coming to a completion, it’s time for the next goal. I’d like to hope that it’s my turn, Mike has shared with me his passion for diving which I’ve learned to understand and love now on my own. My goal is to get on his level, he’s introduced me to the waters and I’d like to see myself becoming a professional diver along with him. We are here in Thailand, living day to day. We are finding more friends and more comfort on this island every day. We are home. 

Thanks Christine Albanese!

    

 

From Koh Tao to Saigon: It Started Off According As Planned 

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It started off according to plan.
We hopped on the night boat at 11pm on Sunday night which was headed to Chumphon. We were assigned a bunk bed and each given a pillow and blanket. We headed to the roof, sandwiched ourselves between the blankets and cuddled as we dozed off under the stars sharing an iPod. We woke up a few hours later, uncomfortable from the steal boat we lay on and went down to our bunks. We cuddled in a twin bed and immediately fell back to sleep. I woke up first around 5am after hearing the boat horns and realizing we were at port, I woke Mike up. We gathered our backpacks and headed to shore. At the pier a van was already there to pick us up and take us to the bus stop. An hour passes and we are on the 9 hour bus up to Bangkok. We settle in the back handicap seat with no seat in front of us hoping no handicap personnel would load on, luck was in our favor. We got comfortable,
shared the iPod, dozed off to sleep. The hours passed, we took a few toilet stops, one lunch stop and finally made it to Bangkok. We find ourselves in a giant Bangkok bus station, we see a sign that says “Taxi” we walk there and catch a cab to the international airport. It started off according to plan. 

   

  

    
 We get to the airport, we find our check in counter and get in line. I hand the woman our passports. 

“Visas?” The woman asks

I show the woman my visa debit card. 

Mike and the woman look at me oddly

I realize I messed up big time. Tourist visas. It was so clear now, of course we needed tourist visas to enter Vietnam. For some reason I thought we got them on arrival, wrong. 

The woman is friendly and gives us advice, I am thankful we decided to bring a laptop along. We log into the airport free wifi and Google emergency Vietnam tourist visas. We fill out the information and go to pay. My debit card was declined. Mikes debit card was declined. I go to call my bank on my phone and assure them, again, that I am traveling SE Asia and it is me using my card, but my phone is out of minutes. I use a pay phone, I get disconnected midway because I am out of coins. We get coins, I call again, we pay for our emergency visa, the company emails me and says we are 30 minutes too late, and they will continue our service at 10:30am. We talk to the woman at the ticket counter, she gives us a flight for the next afternoon, we book a hotel in Bangkok and get a taxi out. We decided a night in Bangkok, although not according to plan, does sounds fun. Than we see the news, a bombing about 20 minutes away from our hotel room. We decide to stay in, we order a banana split through room service. I take a bath, we go to bed. 

It’s a new day, we are starting off fresh, today will go better. 

We enjoy complimentary breakfast, take a swim in the pool, receive a confirmation email for our visas, the hotel prints out our papers for us and transfers us back to the airport. 

     

   
We wait on one line, we are told to go wait on a different line. We pay a fee for missing our flight and switching to today. We go through security and get a little confused at immigration when our tickets were taken, we finally understand we need to fill out a departure card, we than swap that card for our tickets back and continue to our gate. We eat lunch, have a drink, board the plane and share an iPod. 1 hour and 30 minutes until we are in Vietnam. We get ripped off on our taxi we take to our hotel. We get to our hotel and realize we are in the ghetto of Vietnam. The staff does not speak English, we do not feel comfortable. We sit on our creaky bed in our 17 century themed room and connect to the wifi. We trip advisor a hotel in center city and agree to take our loses and upgrade to another hotel. I go to pay with my debit card, declined. Bank of America will hear it out from me, again. We decide to just go to the hotel and book a room in person. This side of Saigon is what we were expecting. A city, with French architecture and bright lights. This hotel is what we’ve been missing as we’ve spent the last 3 months on a hard bed in a tiny bungalow without a flushing toilet and a fan. (Don’t get me wrong, we love our little home) it’s nice to sleep in air conditioning, under a comforter, take a real shower, flush the toilet with out using a bucket and even enjoy English speaking cable television in bed. We head out and enjoy the city looking for dinner, we realize that city expenses are a global thing. We decide to enjoy this week anyway and try not to focus on price tags. It takes me a little longer to do the math and understanding of the dong. 20,000 dong is only 1USD, but makes me feel so much richer. We walk around looking at menus, and a French man walks up to us, gives us a flyer and invites us to his roof top restaurant. We agree and enjoy a drink with a view and some good lamb and steak. We watch an adorable elderly couple salsa and clap as other couples join in. We are exhausted and head back to the hotel. 

       

    
 As much as I always seem to be seamlessly going with the flow of things, I like plans. Planning is my comfort and helps me rationalize. But no matter where you are in the world, how much research you’ve done or who you are with, there will always be bumps in your journey. It’s how you handle those hurdles that really show your true character. Ho Chi Minh City is chewing us up and spitting us out but we’ve added a new stamp to our passport and memories in our hearts and for that I am thankful that we have finally, as planned, arrived in Vietnam. 

Stop Following Society And Start Leading The Way Down Your Own Damn Path

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Growing up in a western culture and American society many people would call themselves fortunate. I on the other hand find it terrifying. The American society has shaped our lives to a T. People who don’t follow the same paths as their peers are looked down on and questioned upon. You’re expected to graduate high school and move on to university right away. You’re expected to get a job, settle down, and have a family. All of this is absolutely okay and I know plenty of people who have followed that path but that’s not for me. I’ve lost sight of that trail a long time ago. I love learning new things. I think knowledge is the most powerful tool that you can acquire. I am free spirited. I love to read, I love to learn, I love to explore, I love to feel myself grow. Why should I be expected to spend thousands of dollars that I either don’t have or could use to support myself, in order to learn from appropriate “academic standards”. In order to be socially accepted and fit in with the “societal standards”. Why can I not get a handful of jobs because I didn’t purchase myself  a little piece of paper with a few signatures on it. Call me crazy but I honestly don’t care what job I have or what company I work for. I care about how happy I am and what I can do for the man next to me to make him even happier every day. I admit, having money is important. If you can’t financially support yourself than you’ll find yourself at a stand still or a down fall. But don’t take the corporate job because of the pay check. Don’t take the editorial job because your major falls in their category. Take the job because it makes you happy. Take the job because you enjoy the location and the people around you. 
Again, don’t get me wrong. I would love to finish my degree and have that accomplishment but I just don’t see myself rationalizing spending money on such materialistic standards. I rationalize spending the money I earn traveling, eating good food, and supporting my families living. The job I take to get all that? I honestly just don’t care. As long as I am happy and enjoy doing what ever job I am doing, I will be content with it. 

Right now I’m scooping ice cream on a beautiful island. I meet new people every day, I get to scuba dive on my hours off and I even am lucky enough to wake up every morning to a handsome man. As a 23 year old is society impressed by the fact that my resume consists of waitressing jobs and ice cream scooping? Who the hell cares. Why does it even matter! I have found myself at a point in life where I am the happiest I’ve ever been, and a lot of that has come from working for $9.00 a day at an ice cream stand in the gulf of Thailand. 

So what am I saying here? I’m saying I am a 20-something that has trailed off societies expectations. I’m saying that it’s okay to take a job that society might not understand. I’m saying we are society, and maybe it’s time to dig out an alternate path to take when the one you’ve grown accustomed too just doesn’t make sense. It’s time to stand up for your happiness and realize that if you’re not happy with your job, chances are you’re not happy with your life, and if you’re not happy with your life than you’ll never understand how it really feels to be alive. And in this world today, we desperately need more people who feel alive. We don’t need more psychologists, lawyers or doctors. We need story tellers, explorers, and compassionate friends. We need people who are not just living but are feeling alive and radiating that energy toward a society who has lost the true ways of fulfilling their lives. 

   
 

The Hidden Truths of Moving Abroad With “The One”

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Who ever says relationships are easy is either lying to you or is seriously just a really lucky bastard. 

Living with your significant other in paradise is a blast, but the truth is, it’s not always paradise when it comes to your relationship. 

First of all, a relationship needs to be cared for and worked on every day. You need to make sure you love yourself and are happy enough with yourself and than share that with your partner. 
You learn to compromise and you learn to live in a way where you can rely on each other to make life easier for both of you
You learn its your job to pack the beach bag and it’s his to shake the sand out of the bed every night 
If you do the dishes he’ll take care of the ant colonies and bugs around the house 
If you keep the clothes organized he’ll take the laundry down 
If you take out the recycling he’ll take out the garbage 
Together you share home base. You learn when the other needs silence. You unshamefully watch Adam Sandler movies on repeat together & you always bring two juice boxes to bed with you. 
You occasionally leave little surprises on the bed for your partner to come home too
You argue and you want to strangle each other, there comes a time when you swear you’re sleeping at a hostel that night
But you always wake up together, cuddled in one another’s arms. 
You may eat breakfast and lunch at different times but you can bet your ass that dinner will be enjoyed together, whether that’s  talking about your day while enjoying a drink and playing cards or if one of you is too exhausted from the sun, you get take away and enjoy dinner in bed while watching 50 first dates, again. 
Relationships take time, effort, compassion and compromise. 
Relationships are a job. You get paid in love and admiration. You need to work hard. Every hour of everyday. You need to learn to trust and understand your partner. 
You need to understand what makes your partners heart happy and soul free. You need to encourage your partner to share their abilities with the world. Never shame the one you love or make them feel uncomfortable. You are their number one fan and the biggest cheerleader for your partner, regardless of the situation. 
Yes, you’ll have to get over the tampons in the bathroom bin and the facial hairs left in the sink. The weird habits and seemingly odd behaviors. Your privacy will bear no borders and your comfort levels with each other may gross out the onlookers. But you don’t care, bodily functions happen, you understand. 
Living in paradise with your significant other can be an extraordinary chapter in your life as long as you understand the commitment to finding happiness in yourselves and being able to share that happiness with each other. 
Sitting on the beach, watching the sunset, jamming out on ukulele together after a day of work. Now that’s my paradise. What’s yours? 
Find your passion. Share your talents. Be happy. Love unconditionally and whole heartedly. If you can’t find your adventure than be the adventure. Live in the now. Tell the one you love how you feel and always thank them for choosing you back. 




The other 75% of the World 

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Germany, Canada,  Australia, India, United Kingdom, Scotland, and America. On 1 dive boat today, I connected with 23 people from 7 different countries who all share the same curiosity as I. We want to see the rest of the world. By rest of the world, I don’t mean only how we’re all on Koh Tao embracing new cultures. I’m talking about the other 75% of the world, what lays below the horizons and under the seas. 

Rewind:
Everyday I set my alarm for 7:00am and every day I wake up exactly 32 minutes earlier. This morning was no difference, the only difference in waking up today was the fact that it was my day off from working and I had my first course at New Way to get my PADI open water dive certification. I woke up nervous and excited for this new adventure. Mike made us a bacon, onions, and potatoes scram and toasted up some bread we got from the bakery. As we sat outside eating our breakfast together, all we talked about was diving.

“Just think Cass, if you didn’t go diving, you’d only be seeing 25% of our world”

Something about what Mike had just said really stuck with me all day
After we ate we cleaned up, and headed up to the dive shop for my class. Since Mike is a Dive Master Trainee (DMT) at the shop, one thing he does is sit in on courses, to see how they’re taught. Which is also awesome that today I got a glimpse of what he does every day while I’m at my job. For the first few hours this morning we did book work and knowledge reviews. We finished around 10:30am and had 2 hours to kill before it was time to get on the boat. We went to a little restaurant and ordered a coconut shake, large water, Singha(which we didn’t really order, but the brought it out and Mike drank anyway), calamari, fried noodles with chicken and cashew chicken stir fry. After finishing lunch and paying our 480 baht bill ($14 USD) we had more time to kill so we walked around the stores in Sairee.

When we got back to the dive shop, we loaded on to the bed of the truck and were off to the pier.
The 2 Chinese girls, Canadian man, German man, and I learned more open water skills as other people in different classes worked with their instructors and jumped in the water. It was pretty shitty weather for my first dive, but it was still fun.
When I first jumped in the water I was uncomfortable breathing with the regulator but apparently that’s natural. The 7 of us (5 students, our instructor, and Mike our trainee) swam over to the shoreline where we could stand to practice some skills. It was comforting having Mike there. He said I did a kick ass job under water, and was exactly what you’d expect as a new student dating a dive master. (Although he may be a little biased)
Being under water for the 25 minutes was really mind blowing to me. We didn’t really see much because we were working on skills but it was insane to me that I just spent 25 minutes of my life under the water and here I am now, alive and breathing.
When I went skydiving before I came here with my friends, I freaked out. My friend Moe told me how she’s always wanted to fly, and that skydiving was the closest thing to get her there, so she was excited to finally be able to fly.
I thought of what she said as I was on my dive. Under water I felt like I was flying, I reminded my self not to be fearful or nervous and that “this is now, this is happening” I needed to live in the moment, take in my surroundings and really appreciate what I was doing.
It was awesome. I understand why Mike wants to make a living out of it, and I haven’t even gotten to see all of the beauties in which he marvels about.
When we got back to the boat, it was really stormy. The wind picked up and the waves approached the boat head on. The Dramamine that I precautionary consumed thinking would save me from moments like this really bit me in the ass. I was so sea sick. I felt shit faced. The whole boat ride home I laid on top of the boat, trying not vomit, so dizzy and very unhappy. 
I laid up there listening to all the different stories everyone had to share with each other about where they’re from, what its like back at home and how they ended up on this boat today. I wanted to contribute and ask more questions but I was struggling alone with raising my head high enough to brush the sea salted curls off my forehead. When we got off the boat, we went back to the shop, learned how to clean our equipment and we were done for the day. Mike dropped me home and then went out to get some sandwiches and apple juice, he came back and we ate them and by then I felt pretty better so decided to write and as usual Mike is serenading me on ukulele. Tomorrow I wish I could be off finishing my course with the rest of my class from today but I’ll be back at the resort holding onto my receptionist duties so I’ll just have to jump into part two with another class on my next day off. Hopefully the seas will be calmer and I’ll get to engage with the other divers a little more. I wonder what countries they’ll come from.

Oh Sh*t

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It’s almost been three weeks since starting this new “Thailand chapter” in our lives. We’ve adjusted to life sans airconditioning and driving on the left side of the road. We’ve learned our way around the island and can tell you some bangin’ sunset spots. We’ve met Mary-Jane, watched some She-mans shake it, and our biggest accomplishment which happened yesterday, a backpacker said “it’s nice meeting locals while traveling” talking about me…have I already made it as a local? I’m still working on my military time skills and recognizing that 12/06/15 means it’s not December 6th but it’s more obviously the 12th of June. But just as quickly as we decided to purchase those one way tickets back in March, we are finding ourselves quickily fitting in to this lifestyle and we certainly don’t see ourselves wanting to leave anytime soon. 



This weekend was as eventful as it was uneventful. I was lucky to not only find myself with 2 days off in a row but was excited to score them on a Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, it was my turn to get the shit end of the stick. Quite literally, Mikes food poisoning made its round to my body and I had never missed the comfort of my own throne and extra soft toilet paper, possibly even missed the luxury of flushing the toilet with out using a bucket, so badly. 
Saturday:
We woke up around 8 and headed off to get breakfast before Mike went off for a Dive. I happily enjoyed  a double shot of espresso and a fresh coconut. Mike swears we were eating next to Bonno from U2, I told him if it really was Bonno than he should go tell him how we didn’t appreciate his whole shitty album automatically downloading itself onto our iTunes. 
Eventually Mike went for a dive and I hung out in Sairee, walking around and reading my book on the beach. I successfully unlocked my phone and was able to get a Thai number and 3G hooked up to it. I bought myself a mask and snorkel, with the anticipation of starting my diving on my days off at New Way this week. Than I hung out at the dive shop waiting for Mike to come back, drinking a large Singha and playing cards with some of the guys.    
We got back to the bungalow, took quick showers and headed out for dinner and some weekend drinks. But that plan went to shit real quick.  (Am I punny today or just disgusting?) 




Just like when the monsoon rolled in Friday night when we were about to watch the sunset on the beach, my stomach failed me just as our meals were coming out. We left, stopped for extra water and Gatorade and laid in bed watching The Dark Night for the 7th time this week. (We forgot to bring DVDs here, and only have 2 movies downloaded on Mikes Mac. #firstworldproblems )
Sunday 
We woke up for breakfast, but after being up all night I was in no condition to be out and about. We headed home from town and I went back to sleep as Mike did some course work for the dive class he’s taking. I woke up in the afternoon, pretty bummed to be spending my day off sick, and insisted we go snorkel at the beach. That was fun for 20 minutes until that idea also, went to shit. 
We came back up to the bungalow and I went for another round of The Dark Night as Mike did more course work. 
With the data on my phone, we can now get on the Internet in our bungalow. We checked the Koh Tao for sale Facebook page, and today we finally picked up a hot plate! We also met up and checked out a dirt bike that may be a little more expensive than I think we should spend, but we will be buying it tomorrow. Mike brings up a valid argument that when we leave, we can sell the bike and hopefully get back what we put down. 
As I update you about our weekend, we are sitting outside with mosquito incense burning and Mike is serenading me on ukulele. He almost convinced me that there was something hissing inside, I’ve got to stop falling for all his jokes.
I’m feeling a little better now, so we’re going to head out to the market so we can start taking full advantage of our new hot plate! 
Tomorrow I’m back to work and Mike will head off for an afternoon dive. 
Hopefully this week is smooth sailing and we don’t have to put up with any kind of shit. 

Working hard or hardly working 

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It’s hour 5 of sitting here. I am the new receptionist at a very high end resort on the southern more secluded side of Koh Tao. My job is to check guests in and out, show them to their rooms, and other basic hotel receptionist things you could think of. As I sit here on my second day, my mind is racing and I begin to question everything. How did I get here? Is this where I want to be? Where would I be if I werent right here, right now? 

I find that life is the biggest series of little events, all linked together, and all unknowingly correspond with one another to lead you to where you are in this very minute.
I can think of the event that may have lead me here. It was the day I met Mike, I was working as a waitress at Chilis at the time, and left my shift early because I attended my friends funneral earlier that day and was just not up for working. When I got home, I laid  around on my couch and recieved a text from some friends going to a food and truck festical at the winery. I decided I might as well go, it was doing me no good sitting at home. When i went, I obviously instagrammed a picture. That’s when Mike  (Who’s number I didnt have, and how he had mine is still a mystery) sent me a text asking if I were still there and told me to come meet him by the live band. And that was that. We’ve been dating since. That chain of events, has lead me to this man. Who has his own chain of events that lead him to me, and somehow all of these things have interconnected and lead us to here. Living together abroad and just figuring it out. Not knowing that every action and decision we currently are making will inevitably lead us down the next path that life is meant to take us down.

To get to my job I take the bike about 5 minutes down to the more south side of the island, and park it in a small alley. I than walk through a resort than onto the beach. I walk the beach for a few minutes and it leads up to a concrete bridge. The bridge looks like a sidewalk, no walls or boundaries and a steep fall into shallow waters. The bridge leads you to a restaurant, where you take your shoes off, pass through, than put your shoes back on and continue to a wooden bridge. Than you walk some more beach until you hit a path leading to the forest. Follow that path to the resort, walk a plethora of steps and you make it. Saturday is my day off. I have a morning date with a coconut shake at the beach and hopefully Mike will be done diving in time to join me for an afternoon hike.

Bungalow Basics

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Bungalow life and island life correlate to each other in the matter of simplicity. It’s as easy as stating everything here is simply just, simple. Our days come as easily as riding the tides and moving with the current. 



The bungalow is simple. 
You walk up the semi-rusted steps onto the balcony, you take your shoes off and open the door. Straight ahead is the bed, directly to the right is our “kitchen” area and next to that is our bathroom. Along the wall is a big dresser closet that holds our clothing. We have a nightstand, a fan, a tv stand sans the TV and we are surrounded by 9 tall windows, not including the little one in the kitchen and the little one in the bathroom. We have a ceiling fan which we still aren’t sure if it’s even helping and we have a floor fan, which is our knight in shining armor.





 
The kitchen is petite and I’m still not positive if it is worthy of being called a kitchen. It has a mini fridge and a leaky sink. We bought a water boiler, which I will assume you understand the uses out of that. We’re in the process of buying a hot plate/ electric grill so we can eat out less. We have cereal, PB&J, bread, Nutella, cup of noodles, and trail mix to snack on. The dishes are always clean, except when mike finishes using one and I’m not around. (Don’t worry babe, I’m not complaining-just explaining) 




Our bungalow bathroom is different than any bathroom I’ve seen in the western culture. It compares in the fact that we have a sink, shower, and toilet yet the way to use these utilities differs pretty interestingly. It’s all just all so simple. The toilet is a bowl, essentially a toilet bowl. It brings on the true meaning of “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down” next to the toilet bowl is a faucet, with a bucket underneath.
To use: 
Step 1: do your business
Step 2: if it’s yellow, let it mellow. 
Step 3. If it’s brown continue to step 4
Step 4: turn on faucet and fill bucket with water, turn off faucet. 
Step 5: after completing your business, take bucket and pour into toilet until everything has “flushed”
And there you have it crowd, in just 5 simple steps, you now know how to flush a toilet by yourself! Cheers!
On the other side of the toilet is one of those things you get to rinse your bum hole with, not mandatory. 
We have a sink, with one little stand on top for our toothbrushes and deodorant and a little round mirror. 
The shower is just a shower head with a nob, it also has another box where we can adjust the heat, but living where we live, we look forward to our evening cold shower together (save water, shower together!)
The shower head is adjacent but a little to the right of the toilet. No walls, no boundaries. A little drain sits in the corner. 
Our bed is equally as hard as sleeping on the floor. We sleep on a sheet, with another sheet sometimes on top of us, sometimes between us, sometimes crumpled where ever it ends up in our tossing and turning of our hot uncomfortable slumbers. But somehow every morning we wake up between 6:30-8, ready to take on the day. 
There’s little baby lizards running around our walls, we’ve found one cockroach prancing around our kitchen, and there’s spiders under the kitchen sink. Good thing I’ve got Mike to kick out all my unwelcome visitors. 

Welcome to the Island life, as simple as it gets, and as easy as it comes. 

While you were out 

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No better way to start my evening than watching a grumpy old Thai man spew words at me I don’t quite understand and waving his arms up at me in the up most unfriendly manner. I get it guy, beach is closed, but I want to go to the restaurant! For a split second, this man startles me. He keeps yelling at me in Thai and pointing to another path. I place my hands together as if I’m going to pray, smile, nod my head and walk away. In my head I told the man to piss off, what’s the big deal if I cross a few feet of sand, buddy? Looks like there’s actually someone on this island that isn’t getting laid. 

Anyway, I finally figured out I had to take the path I’ve never checked out before which lead me up to the back of the restaurant, Aow Leuk 2. It happens to be the closest to our bungalow with the strongest wifi connection and the best coconut shakes on the island.
I had a very laid back day but I guess when you’re living on an island, every day is a very laid back kinda day.
Mike started diving today which I’m not so secretly very jealous of. He gets to spend day in and day out in that gorgeous water doing exactly what he loves to do. I’m so happy for him. There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing the people I love happy, and ladies and gentlemen, the man I love is radiating happiness.
So today Mike was off to his first dive, taking the bike we rented in my name, meaning I was essentially shit out of luck today on transportation.
After Mike left, I lolly gagged around the bungalow for a little bit. Sweeping the floors and rinsing out the cereal bowls. I decided to head to the beach around 10:30. It’s about a 2 minute walk from our bungalow to the beach path, and than another 10 minute walk down the path to the ocean. It’s an easy walk down, but when it was time to come back up I sure as hell got my fat ass kicked. Moving here, living in the jungle and on top of a mountain is going to be the best work out of my life.
My boyfriend missed a good beach day, it was full of petite foreign women walking around with their tops off, rolling in the shallow waters, and drinking changs. For a second, I considered taking my top off and letting my girls feel free but I wasn’t trying to get boob-burn and my boyfriends the only man I really care for checking out my rack. So my top stayed on and I read my book for a while. After getting sweaty and dying to go in the water (even though I’m not supposed to submerge my stitches) I rebelled against the clinical doctors order and jumped right in. I swam with the fish for a little than went back to the coast line and laid in the sand as the little waves crashed over me.
Heaven.
Eventually I realize my stitches are grossly oozing and head up to the restaurant (the same one I’m currently sitting at) and I order my favorite coconut shake and some fried noodles.
 I read my book more, and check a few emails. I secretly miss Mike already, I feel pathetic.
I pay my bill and can’t find a shady spot to nap, so head back up to the bungalow. It’s an uphill battle, but I make it back home in about 10 minutes, dripping sweat I hop in the shower to rinse off. I realize Mike has stopped home for lunch because there is a dirty dish in the sink and an open jar of peanut butter sitting on the fridge, don’t worry babe, I’ll clean up! I finally lay on my bed happy to not be sharing the fan with anyone and I PTFO (pass the F out)
When I wake up, I think about bringing laundry down the street to be cleaned, but I opt out.. There’s always tomorrow.

I head back down to the beach, where my story began. I’ve found my spot in the restaurant, ordered my coconut shake and sit waiting for Mike, hoping he gets my note. And about an hour after I got here, I turn around to see my handsomely sun kissed blonde. So I’ll end my day for you here because my best friend is home for the evening and I’ve been waiting all day to be able to sit and talk with him!