Find something close and keep it (my best tvc yet)

Here is my supermax razors ad. This was easily one of the most enjoyable and rewarding TVCs I have filmed.

I have been writing a little bit more emotionally lately as my current adventure is coming to a close. A contract in Singapore has come and gone, Bangkok flew by, and then another 8 days in Singapore visiting. This is something I have kept hush hush. As of right now, June 16^th I am sitting on my Air Canada flight back to Calgary.  Wait what?

Well father’s day is Sunday, so I thought what better gift to get the guy that has everything, than to be connected with his son he hasn’t seen in 7 months.  Now it’s not a complete surprise as they are expecting me on the 18^th. But with the enlistment of a wonderful brother and soon to be sister in law, they arranged to catch a “movie” tonight.  Big thanks for helping pull this off.

Well back on task, in my recent post “ A reason, a season and a lifetime” I reflected on much of what I have come across with regards to friendships while in Asia. And while you can’t always pick out a role, you can recognize what it is. Sometimes it’s a flash in a pan and before you know it, things disappear. Other times, even within a few days you can pick out someone that will last longer.

A perfect example of this is my guardian angel Mel. I met her at my first fashion show in Singapore, a completely chance encounter blossomed into an unfathomable friendship that I am sure will last. She has taught me a lot about the industry but more importantly life. Who knows I may have even taught her a thing or two as well. 

In the 8 days I spent in Singapore visiting, it was supposed to be a relaxing holiday. That is was to some extent, however I kept myself busy. I failed to recognize on my journey back how many friends I really wanted to see. The unfortunate thing is I am sure there are some I missed and I apologize for that. 

Amongst all the reminiscence, I still found time to meet some new friends. Some great friends at that, the negative of being a social butterfly.  I wish I could have had more time, as we all do, there is never enough time in a day. 

I didn’t even find time to hit the gym. Only once was my body rocked by the steel and sweat that I love so much. Not to say that I went without exercise though. Even when busy visiting, sometimes a simple suggestion of a walk instead of that Iced Mocha Frappucino can do the body good. I easily walked 2 hours a day during that entire week. 

All that walking goes against the stereotypical Singaporean mindset.  Everyone seems to take the escalator queuing up to go upstairs rather than taking the express lane known as the staircase.  Anything over a 5 minute walk is out of this world. It’s impossible to get completely used to the heat, but honestly a 20 minute walk is close.

A whole new world

Scuba diving is a mind-blowing experience. Obviously breathing underwater isn’t natural and for me this was the biggest challenge of everything I did. Learning to breath again, literally.

In all honesty breathing underwater isn’t difficult, but what I mean is learning to chill out, relax, maybe even have a game or two of rock paper scissors. Sitting in 1 M of water I realized, that this was my challenge. After about 40 min underwater practicing safety techniques like how to clear your mask and replace your regulator we discovered I suck at breathing. For me I knew immediately that this was due to anxiety. I would inhale fast and exhale hard. Turns out you can get very far with that kind of breathing. But as things continued, I became more calm and much more efficient at conserving air. By comparison in that 1 m for 40 min I used 120 bar worth of air, my final dive, about the same actually but it was at a depth of 24.5 m.

Hold up how do you mean you became more efficient if you used the same amount of air. To sum it up and keep things basic, you require more air at greater depths. It has to do with water pressure and the air molecules being closer together.

As we continued through the open water course it was great, although I had a slip up and think I accidentally ingested some gluten.  What a bummer that was to miss the final 2 dives with my classmates and newfound friends. Curled over in GI pain I waited on the boat for them to kick butt. Fortunately I was able to finish the following day.

The next couple days coincided with a change in plans. The original plans were to hit Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party. Due to some negligence on our behalf and unforeseen circumstances, it would have been just me going to the full moon. Instead I opted for my Open Water Advance.

Push it to the limit. Okay well not literally to the limit but pushing the boundaries for sure. I thought why stop at 18m, there is so much more to this deep world.  During the next 5 dives, I would see a WW2 shipwreck, a Jenkins Ray, 29.5m depth, finally get a better control of buoyancy and breathing and also learn to recognize specific fish, coral and invertebrate. 

For me that buoyancy and breathing is my proudest moment. On land I am very calm, slow and steady breathing and have a resting heart rate around 45-50. Underwater, I suck wind and my heart was pounding. As a result my depth could vary by a couple meters at any given time, and I could uncontrollably surface. Not good, not safe either. By the end of this particular dive lesson however, I was able to hover inverted while writing my name on a slate placed on the sand. I also was much better at hovering for my safety stop. 

Much of my life I have lived as a natural at sport. I can pick up sports quickly and play well. Water is the one that has eluded me. My swimming isn’t top notch (I certainly won’t win any races), but I discovered I could stay afloat on my own power for at least 10 min as was required, as well as I swam my first consecutive 200m.  

Take those feats, and roll with them, you never know the new things you will discover. If I had avoided diving because of my less than stellar swimming, I would be walking around with my eyes closed to the entirely awesome beautiful world. 

This one is in the bag

I truly planned to continue talking about my scuba adventure and Koh tao, but life has continued on and there is new material out.

Long story short with Koh Tao. I loved scuba so much the rather than just going half way and stopping with an open water certification, I continued to greater depths (literally) and worked my way to my advanced open water certification. This allows me to go to 30m vs 18m but also taught me so much more. My breathing under water is much slower and controlled. I saw many more fish, coral and a couple wrecks. The experience was a blast and very enlightening. But with all good comes a bad, doing a beach exit I scraped my leg on some coral. While I will survive it was painful and has gotten a little infected.

Well here are some new pictures. Enjoy!

The tides change

It has been a crazy past week for me. Odds are that I will have to break this up into many posts. One week in Thailand outside the comfort of a contract and Bangkok has shed a new light on my entire world.

May 31^st my contract extension ended, free me from the lockdown of city living. I immediately took advantage of my newfound wings and headed to Koh Tao. At first it appeared I would be alone on my adventure, but with some smooth talking from Kevin and a little from myself, we convinced my Brazilian buddy Arthur to break free and join me. 

The new 6 days would be filled with firsts for me. Excluding public transit systems (BTS, MRT, LRT and Subway) I have never been on a train. That all changed with an overnight sleeper train to the pier city on Chumpon. I swear the guy serving us on the train had the sole intention of getting everyone hammered. For myself a single Singha was just enough to hit the spot. Meanwhile the dozens of backpackers in my car seemed to enjoy beers by the half dozen.

Finally around 4:30 am, we arrived, in a half dazed, sleepy almost comatose state we lumbered off the train only to wait an hour and a half for a transfer bus. If that’s what you want to call it. The bus more closely resembled a flat bed truck with rails and a makeshift roof of canvas. Piled in by the boatload, I felt like I was an illegal immigrant trying to slip past customs, although for us there was nothing illegal and the thai company was taking advantage of the relaxed laws in Thailand on the number of occupants per vehicle.

Boarding the ferry things continued to keep us on our feet, or for some their hands and knees.  The sees were rough and the ferry had a shallow rounded bottom not designed to take waves. As evident by much of the boat, neither were the passengers. I am not one to get sea sick, but this was the closest I have ever come in my life to that. The 13 hour adventure eventually landed us on the beautiful island of Koh Tao.

 Where is Koh Tao? Why Koh Tao? Koh Tao is a small island located in the gulf of Thailand. Translated the island name means “Turtle Island” but unfortunately with the intrusion of beaches by humans much of the turtles have left. The primary attraction of the island is the scuba diving. Upon discussion with a few people and some internet research I registered for my Open Water PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and received complimentary accommodations.

I hate wasting time, so we started the theory part of our training 2 hours after our arrival on the island. Just enough time to venture into a bowl of Thai Green Curry, knock back a mango smoothie and drop off my bags.