Adventures with May and CarmenBargaining We are still pathetic at it. Our strategy is simple: take a wild guess at what the price is supposed to be and 'negotiate'. My friend just asked me if I took tuk tuk from the hotel to the beach. I answered yes. He said ohh 100 Baht right? ONE HUNDRED? We bargained with the goal of 300 Baht. It happens like this: Me: How much back to Surin beach? Tuk tuk driver: 400! Carmen: 400? What about 300? Tuk tuk driver: But I have to drive back! Carmen and me: Ahhhh. *nods in agreement* Okay 300 Then we used the 300 Baht as a benchmark for the rest of the trip and got ripped off alllll the way. Hahahahaa. Sometimes it goes badly the other way around. Carmen: How much for the DVDs? Hawker: 100 Baht Me: 100 Baht! Carmen: What about 60? Hawker: How many are you buying? Carmen: 2! Hawker: HA! *turns away* we confidently march off... to come crawling back the next day Scuba Diving We went on a day trip (7 am to 7 pm) to the Phi Phi Islands for scuba diving. The owner of the shop was eyeing us suspiciously throughout, probably convinced we would drown and he'd get sued. They enthusiastically push us into the water. Me, Carmen, Instructor and a random guy in our group. The Instructor and guy slowly sink into the water. 5 minutes later Carmen and I are still bobbing in the waves at the top. I am pressing the control buttons on my BCP but still floating. 1 minute later the Instructor emerges, takes off his mouthpiece "Deflate, not inflate, May" "Ah of course" I said. Sometimes there was nothing to see underwater. The dives are an hour long and sometimes nothing interesting is really happening. I use the time to inspect my manicure which has already been ruined. The instructor sees me, is confused, thinks something is wrong. "Okay??" he hand signals to me "Okay" I signalled back reassuringly. Meanwhile Carmen is giving hand signals that nobody besides her understands, cause she forgot them all and made them up. The instructor looks at her confusedly before checking her air meter himself since he had no idea what she was trying to signal. A turtle swims by. I am excited. The turtle is floating above me. I see him peer down. He changes direction and swims downwards towards me. I remember Adam's story of his turtle biting the other turtle's unmentionables off. TURTLES HAVE SHARP TEETH. I panic and don't want to be the loser attacked by a (smallish) turtle. I swerve to the left. The turtle calmly glides by, probably laughing to himself. The other guy in our group decides not to do the third dive because of 'back pain'. BACK PAIN? He was sick of waiting at the bottom while the instructor comes near the surface to retrieve either me or Carmen who almost always floats on top when we use up most of our air, since we do not have enough weight nor skill to stay down. Our 100th dive is supposed to be naked. At this rate, we will be two 65 year olds swimming naked. Anyone want to join us? | 
