Accomplishing my only goal

Just kidding, no whale sharks this time. But yes barracuda!

In the vein of keeping travel as free and organic as possible, I only set one goal this year: to learn SCUBA diving.

And after 4 days of PADI class at Koh Tao, Thailand, I’m now a certified open water diver!

It was simple, really, finding a proper dive school and having $300 on hand.

Like many goals, it was just a goal with no real impediments. I just had to go out and do it.

And now, having seen more fish and coral in my life combined, where does it all leave me?

In retrospect, the goal was more symbolic than anything else. To dive, I would be far away, somewhere tropical, so the water would be warm and welcoming, and in a different world. And that’s exactly what it was.
It represented living without anyone’s approval but mine.

And now 7-8 months in, it feels like it’s about time to take a path back. I’ll come full circle on some things that I had started, and be home before you know it!

Make, Do

I’m a peculiar traveler. I try to exclusively engage in things that fall under these 2 categories:

1. Make.
2. Do.

This is the messenger bag I made.

Materials

Liner – Angry Birds bag I used for teaching at the rural Siem Reap school, Cambodia.

Outer layer – polka dotted 1 meter cloth from Ho Chi Minh City central market, Vietnam.

Side panels – table mats from Bangkok department store, Thailand.

Skills learned

Sewing by hand, particularly the backstitch (stronger).

Patience.

A benefit of slow travel is the relaxed time to do such ridiculous things 🙂

Thai massage school

At Old Medicine Hospital, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Practicing the first steps of Thai massage. Yes, that is confusion written all over my face.

Just put yourself out there

In an episode of This American Life, a guy reported success in applying a “good guy discount” on his purchases. It goes “Hey, can you give me a good guy discount on these shoes? I mean, you’re a good guy, I’m a good guy, so can we work something out here?”
I haven’t acquired the linguistic flair to pull this off during my travels, but I’ve been able to get benefits using other playful means.

Show interest
I was thirsty for tea in Hanoi one night and saw that a tour office had hot water going. I went in, inquired about tours and enjoyed a couple cups. I learned more about the country, planned out travel routes, and I gave them hope that they’d sell me a tour. Everyone was happy (OK, maybe they weren’t that thrilled when I didn’t put down any dong, which is their fun currency name, not a euphemism for anything :).

Parlay
I’ve traveled slowly and have been able to eat at restaurants or stay at guest houses for multiple days at a time. By establishing a track record and some rapport, I’ve usually been able to express genuine gratitude for their services and receive great recommendations on additional things. For example, in Hoi An I went to the same lovely restaurant for multiple meals and the owner gave me recommendations on good beach spots and helped ask for discounts at a hotel for me.

Make a sincere effort
It literally pays to invest the energy to learn the language. At a Bangkok street food vendor, I rehearsed and delivered “how much does this cost?” Now having just learned the number system, I excitedly counted aloud on my fingers (nueng, saang, saam,..) trying to figure out what she just demanded. Then when I correctly gave her 80 baht she returned me 5! Effort = 5 baht saving! High five!

In our travels it’s easy to look and feel like walking dollar signs, especially in the tourist-dense areas. Instead of resigning to that status, I’ve found that it pays off to become likeable. Take the effort to make a human connection. You never know what you’ll get.