More Plans for 2006 April 8, 2006
Posted by Martin in : Education, Health & Sport, Overseas Travel, Thailand , add a commentOnce Lisa returns to the UK my new life starts again. Tik is now living permanently with me and we have an exciting year planned. For the three weeks between May and August Tik and I will study in the mornings. I will continue my gemology diploma and Tik will take some IELTS English classes to improve her writing skills and her chances of working or studying overseas. Our afternoons will be spent exercising at the gym, playing squash, swimming, playing badminton and I will return to Aikido. I am also likely to continue with learning Thai and starting private Brazilian Ju-Jitsu classes.
Learning to Crawl Again April 6, 2006
Posted by Martin in : Health & Sport , add a commentTik’s been learning front-crawl in her classes and yesterday I attempted it myself. Today whilst Tik and Lisa relaxed in their rooms I decided to try it myself. Usually I’m a breast-strokist (?), I used to need to swim wearing glasses when I was young so although I’m a strong swimmer, and although I must have learnt front-crawl many years ago, swimming with breast-stroke was always my choice.
Gone Fishing February 22, 2006
Posted by Martin in : Health & Sport, Thailand , add a commentA group of Thailand’s gemology elite spent a full day out on the outskirts of Bangkok at a fishing lake. This lake is man-made and is full of catfish. This was the second occasion I’ve been fishing – the first was a year ago in Koh Si Chang. This time we had two private fishing huts between our group of six and we were taking this sport seriously.
Day 4: Two Perfect Dives November 14, 2005
Posted by Martin in : Education, Health & Sport, Thailand , add a comment
The effort of being up, bright and early by 7:30 was outweighed by the perfecticity of the water. It was so calm at times that it looked like some industrious bastard might have just paved over it. Zigor - our instructor was delighted that water visibility was at 30 metres and that in the past 4 years he’s only experienced such clarity half a dozen times.
Day 3: Diving Exam & Our First Two Dives November 13, 2005
Posted by Martin in : Education, Health & Sport, Thailand , add a commentOur morning class comprised of seven of us. As Priya and Jennifer were a day behind us, our class was merged with another. There were two Irish girls, and two Irish guys, all about the same age as us. We spent a lot of the time working from a quite complex dive table which determined how much nitrogen we would absorb, how deep we could go, for how long and also how long we needed to de-pressurize and rest between dives. It was the most demanding part of the theory course although we could work together and in all honesty we won’t be planning our own dives for some time anyway.