Today a Thai lady at a dive shop politely reminded me to talk slowly when talking to Thai people. This is very hard for me to do. That said, all business transactions can be completed with the universally understood "hello" and "OK." The Thais here say "hello" all the time to get your attention: "hello pad thai pad thai," "hello taxi," "hello massage," or simply "hello hello " The people are pretty laid back, though, and aren't too pushy about selling stuff. But they seem a bit jaded from dealing with tourists all the time.

The businesses here are all one-stop shops. The streets are lined with convenience stores/travel agents/currency exchanges/internet cafes. The same is true of the restaurants, which are all associated with resorts and have huge tome-like menus that run the gamut from Thai to Western to Italian to Mexican. They do it all well, but nothing is outstanding. I haven't tried the Mexican.

Some more observations: the resorts are all operated by Thai families, and they all have a dive shop on site, which have farang (foreign) divemasters and instructors. Don't Thais dive? And here's one more: The island has a large population of dogs and cats, and all the females are either pregnant or nursing. The dogs all sleep in the sand, on tables, or on the road. One end of the beach is controlled by a group, and every once in awhile they have a confrontations with the group that controls the other end, which involves lots of barking. Except for the barking, the dogs are all well-behaved, and don't bother you too much when you're eating. The Thais chase them away if they beg, and they seem to take care of them. I thought it was slightly funny that one of the resorts was playing the song "Who Let the Dogs Out," since the concept of a dog being "out" is foreign here, since there are never "in."

As you can tell from this rambling entry I didn't do much today. I did go into the main "town" of Mae Haad, pictured above, which consists entirely of dive shops, restaurants, and convenience stores/travel agents/currency exchanges/internet cafes, and found a dive shop with the -7 mask I need, so tomorrow I will be diving again. I feel like I'm cheating on Scuba Shack, since Henrick and Nills say "hi" to me and ask me what I'm up to when they see me, but they screwed me around enough.