My first mini-breakthrough moment today was being able to do the back crawl! Well..my strange non-straight version anyways of doing something resembling rotating shoulders and arms and managing to stay afloat and kicking. Today is swim number five and my favourite pool yet...because it was 1.4 meters the entire way and empty! LOL I guess not that many people swim in resorts at 8am in Phuket.

The girls went diving today and I would love to dive, except for the small detail that I really need to be comfortable being in water that goes over my head. What I did today was purposely go underwater and look around, it is amazing how much better one feels when you can see. Thank God for googles. More and more I am realizing that maybe I am more of an introvert by nature, extrovert by training. I didn't mind being alone today, even though eating by yourself at a restaurant is still a bit funny. I still can't do it without a book at hand.

No matter what continent, not feeling well sucks so I was also glad to just be able to relax today. I didn't realize how stressed my body has become (my period was over 10 days late!!!). Whenever I feel under the weather like now, I miss the comforts of home and the feeling of being taken care for by somebody else.

Phuket is the side of the island that the tsunami hit. Most of the buildings I see are fresh and new. Looking at the deep blues and green hues of this tropical paradise, it is difficult to imagine the wreck the waters brought only a few short years ago. Do you believe in ghosts and spirits? How many lost souls, no one knows. Without tourism, there is no way this town would have been rebuilt so quickly and I think of the regions that maybe aren't so lucky to be blessed by foreigners in this way.

I was saying to the girls yesterday as we boarded the boat for the James Bond Island tour how I wanted to meet a cute boy in Thailand. What do you know but by the end of the day, a cute Thai boy (a bit too dark for me, but cute Thai boy nonetheless) gave me as we were leaving the boat, a rose made out of two straws (red and green). As Tiff and I were talking today, SE Asia has been great for our egos. Already we are taller than most of the girls. LOL. We went "canoeing" Thai style at two of the islands yesteday and it was super cool and great...except for the fact that the whole time I was thinking "I am going to fall off" (it's like this plastic boat with shallow seats not the deep wooden canoes that I'm used to in Canada!) and "damn I can't swim in this open water". Fortunately, no accidents and going to see these limestone caves, with its lonely lagoons and low openings (the tide goes in and out really fast) that we had to lie down flat to get to...was super cool. As was the jellyfish and other of nature's wonders in the waters. Honestly though, I was so nervous and I guess this is the stress my body is finally releasing today. You don't know how scared I was though when we were inside the lagoon and the tide was rising and our guide said that he had two occasions where they had to swim back because the tide was too high for the canoe to get through the opening. That would have been so NOT COOL. Whew.

Twelve more days in Thailand...maybe some morning I will have a breakthrough and suddently be able to do the front crawl with more than two breaths before collapsing. Rhythm, rhythm...