Traveling to Thailand had always been on my bucket list after hearing my Uncle speak of his time there years ago. I was able to find an internship that was based in Ao Nang of the Krabi province. There are a lot of events that happened in my weeks there but I’m going to touch on some of the most memorable for me.
The internship and experience was to work on coral restoration and data entry for a marine biologist that was in charge of the research. I would scuba dive several times a week to gather data on the health and diversity of different reefs around the coast. The other days we had guest speakers, were researching some other aspects of marine work, teaching in schools, or restoring mangrove areas.
Getting certified for Open Water Scuba Diving was a major accomplishment for me and I think one of the most memorable parts for me was my last dive with my instructor. He was an awesome dude. He had one side of this long hair dyed blonde and the other his natural black hair. I could always find him hanging or climbing on some part of the boat and he had this incredible outline of the map of Thailand tattooed on his back.
He was extremely knowledgeable though, and loved to push his limits as we followed white tipped sharks and fish around rocks and small caves. The best part was finding some seahorses. Shocked was how I felt at first, for some reason I always expected them to be bigger than they were.
He waved me over to some sea fans we were looking over, and there it was hanging on with its little curled tail was a very small seahorse. It was a light orange or yellow coloring and blended right into the vibrant red sea fan. We found a few others and it was a moment of amazement to see a real coral reef and the life living among it.
There was one other sea creature I was amazed by, a giant clam. I wouldn’t have even noticed it, buried half in sand and hidden among all of the algae and coral. We floated just above it as my instructor pointed it out to me, I didn’t get it at first but then he waved his hand over, creating a small current of water streaming down and the clam opened and shut a few times. It was a decently big one and something I never expected to see with the fact they are becoming endangered.
One other memory for me was a trip to Railay Beach, which was a short boat ride away. I had just arrived in Thailand so most people already had hotels and stuff, and with limited money I decided to just go there and sleep on the beach if I had to. Right before then, another girl showed up and decided to jump on board with my idea. We explored the area and had a bunch of fun drinking, eating, and enjoying the beach. At one of the hippie vibe bars, we met two guys who we spent most of the night with. Towards the end we sat on the beach together and when one of the guys asked where we were staying, we said there was a hut a bit further away in the forest that we planned to sleep in (we had found it while wandering around). He was kind and said no way, he had a sister and would be upset if someone left her so he told us to sleep in his hotel as it was just a night. We went back to his luxury villa, much nicer than a normal hotel, and all crashed into the kind bed that night.
The next day we chilled at his hotel, sunbathing and swimming around in the pool. It was a very generous action by him with no expectation for any money back. We had some more laughs and explored more all together before my coworker and I had to head back for work the next day. It was one of the major examples of kindness I’ve seen in my travels that I hold closely.
There was one more life changing event that happened to me in Ao Nang. This was something I never expected and it took months/years to really have its impact. I was at this club or bar in Ao Nang with my coworkers one night. The night was young when the bar was shut down and as we were all jogging down the stairs, I joined back up with one of my coworkers who was talking to this tall, handsome man from the U.S. We all moved the party to the beach and I completely wooed him with my discussion of engineering textbooks. I had an early morning dive with work so we agreed to meet up after that to head to this temple with a cool view. Come to find out, we’ve now been together for three and a half years.
