The next day I rented a scooter and went to explore the island. I started out down the west coast to a small town called Kata which is the only respectable surf in Thailand at this time of year. I then crossed to the east coast, stopping along the way at the top of a mountain with a huge marble Budda on it. I then when north along the east coast to Phuket Town to grab some lunch at their Vegitarian festival and to check out the port town. I then circled back to the north west for the sunset and another adventure on Bangla Road.
The next day I traveled across Thailand to the West island chain and the dive meca of Koh Tao. My first day there was spent jumping back and forth between my resorts beachside pool and the beach its self. The next day I started my Advanced Dive Cetifiation, doing 3 dives and 2 theory sessions. The first dive was navigation, where I had to use my compass, visual markers and the suns angle to lead a dive through a cool site called Japaneese Gardens. My next dive was a Peak Buoyancy Performance dive at a site that was man made to practice the very skill. It was like an underwater playground for divers, with things to swim though, hover on and weave under all to practice your buoyancy control. After a dinner break my final dive of the day was a night dive. After watching the sunset from the boat, we dove in, torches in hand to begin the dive back to the beach. I was leading this dive as well so I had to keep the correct heading even in the dark. At one point we turned off our lights and thrashed about agitating the bioluminescence in the water. The combination of it being pitch black, being weightless and the twinkle of the bioluminescence made me feel like I was in space.
The next afternoon I had two more dives and theory sessions to complete my certification. The first dive was a deep dive to let me feel what it was like to be 30 meters under water. You can become disorientated and colors change at that depth. After testing my skills at the depth we ascended and continued on an amazing dive at a site called Red Rock. Koh Tao is such a popular spot to dive because of the rock formations, and no where is this more apparent then Red Rock. It feels like you are diving though an underwater city with skyscrapers towering over you. My second and final dive was a wreak on an old WWII gun boat. It was deep as well and had an amazingly preserved turret gun on it that you could sit on. We then continued the dive off the bow to a little panicle called Pee Wee.
The next day I caught the ferry to Koh Phanang. Where I spent the day lounging on the beach. The next morning I took a boat out to a dive site called Sail Rock for two great dives. The rock is in the middle of the sea and mushrooms down into the water making it a haven for thousands of fish. That night I went to one of the parties that the island is famous for, The Half Moon Party. It is held in the jungle until sunrise with everybody dancing in day glow paint.
The following afternoon I took a boat/bus combo to Bangkok arriving the next morning. That day I explored the city and the many famous temples that surround it.
The next day we took a taxi to one of the famous floating markets where we got lunch from boats floating by in a canal. We then went to the biggest market in SEA only coving about 10% of it in the 3 hours that we were there. I then jumped on a night bus bound for Chiang Mai.
The next morning after arriving in Chiang Mai, I rented a scooter and did a 100km loop through the hillside villages. I stopped along the way at the Tiger Kingdom to play with some humongous tigers.
The next day I took a tour of an Elephant camp where we got to feed, ride and bathe them. I felt bad that all of these huge animals were in captivity in this camp, but all were rescued from far worse conditions and were now treated like kings and queens and lived on average longer than in the wild.
Today I took a bus to Pai and the northern hills of Thailand. It is a beautifuly clam place that is a nice break from all the big cities I have been in recently. I will spend two more days here and then cross the border into Laos. 
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