Koh Tao weeks 5 & 6?

And just like that our time on Koh Tao has come to an end.

It’s been an epic six weeks. I got the advanced dive certification and am intending to use it to wreck dive in Bali.

I got to shred (twice) at the Good Vibes open mic and @rickculbertsonbkk and I laid down some sweet harmonies.

I ate this meal at Coconut Monkey at least 30x.

Despite what appears to be an unending vacation I actually worked. A lot.

Happy with the progress on Jan goals. Fell short on a few but made a solid dent.

Decided to make this a monthly ritual and made some new ones for Feb.

Hard to believe we began this crazy adventure in Athens mid-Nov.

The big news is my 4.5yr run as Director of Sales for Pagely is coming to an end. I’m taking some time off then devoting my energy full-time to the @CharityMakeover_ project I started. I’ve teamed up with @benlakoff to make a run at turning this into a global movement. (BTW Please somebody have a connection at Instagram so we can evict the @charitymakekover squatter and not have an underscore in our handle).

Pagely has enriched me on multiple levels and I am grateful to have worked alongside some badass human beings doing my work from all over the world these past 4yrs. What an incredibly epic ride it has been. Tomorrow begins a new chapter in Bali. (at ?????????? ???????????????)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MYZtuHYgb/?igshid=1kcnx8x6mpq32

This weekend I got my Advanced Open Water diver certification and overcame my fear of deep diving.

I did a total of 5 dives including a night dive where we saw an octopus, a bunch of weird fish and bioluminescent plankton. We turned off our flashlights under water and in the pitch black waved our hands to agitate the water and 1000’s of these little shimmering creatures lit up in the wake of the disturbance- it was an unforgettable alien-like experience.

This last month has been one of conquering multiple fears. My friend @rickculbertsonbkk taught me the basics of how to ride a scooter and I’ve been using it to get around all the past week gradually beating my fear of 2-wheeled vehicles.

@helensimkins and I found a spot on the other side of the island where people live in these little houses on stilts right about the bluest water.

We discovered @savagekohtao has a killer Sunday pool volleyball scene.

I’ve eaten 90% of my meals at @coconut.monkey and can’t stop ordering their Buddha Bowl. If I had to eat this dish every day for the rest of my life I’d 100% be okay with that.

I finally finished Gary Keller’s “The ONE Thing” book, implemented his methodology using a mind mapping tool and started applying his focusing question to my own goals. So far so good. Too early to testify to this but it’s a useful lens to guide what you work on next. Highly recommend his book (check his podcast interview with Tim Ferriss for a sample of what he’s about).

In other news I’ve been steadily improving @iceman_hof retention times and can now hold my breath for over 4min. W00t.

We’ve seen amazing sunset upon sunset…?

…upon epic sunset on this beautiful island. The coworking space has been legit with 200/300MB internet up/down and has provided a productive space to do my work for Pagely. Here for another two weeks then headed over to Bali to meet up with friends there. Hope your 2020 is off to a good start. ? (at Koh Tao Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7h7mVmH-sa/?igshid=1583zo9h84fwj

Koh
Tao Week 3 update:

Our merry band of 30 or so nomads has boiled down to a
smaller group. We all did New Year’s together and people have been peeling off ever since.
New Year’s here was a pyro’s dream: they basically just lit everything on fire in the bay
(minus the boats). This is a group shot of us on our snorkel adventure day.

Asmaller group of us took a boat to Nang Yuan Island and snorkeled around. We saw lots of
parrot fish and the little guys who look like Nemo. My nightly banana pancake is bringing my
dessert abs in nicely. @benlakoff is jealous.

We played an improvised version
of poleish on the beach using bamboo poles. cc @c_birdie28 @chase_n @gamebird415

@centeredbygratitude invented a new way to roast marshmallows.

I discovered a new style of handmade frozen ice cream cc @cpelican4

We had our
farewell get together at a negative edge pool bar overlooking a rain storm and did a jam
session at sunset.

The small group of us that now remains all moved to the
south side of the island and did a month-long lease and locked in a coworking space. The
workspace has a hammock that requires daily stress testing to make sure it doesn’t fall. I
grudgingly volunteered for that duty.

We found a place a few minutes walk down
from our workspace where you get fresh bowls with your feet in the sand while listening to
reggae and overlooking the water. If ever you can’t find me, start your search here.

This weekend we all scootered to the SE side of the island and swam a total of a mile
to Ko Kong Sai Daeng island (which we later learned is dubbed “Shark Island”). good thing we
all had cuts from barnacles

Our small stalwart crew are the lone carry overs
from Nomad Cruise X and will be in Koh Tao another two weeks before heading to Bali. Shoutout
to @rickculbertsonbkk for helping me conquer my fear of scooters this weekend and getting me
some independence with a scooter.

BTW my semi-annual update email went out last week.
Find it here at the bottom: scrollinondubs.com/about (at Koh Tao Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7QAem0njU_/?igshid=1w3y9lyh6kasz

Sawat Di Khrap from Koh Tao, Thailand.

We’ve been here a week now watching sunsets like this one pretty much nightly.

Christmas Eve was the day after we arrived and they had this whole fire show dance party on the beach for it.

We’re minutes from a bay with crystal blue water and there’s now a group of about 30 holdovers from NCX in town.

This was a harrowing ride through a jungle area up to the Mango Viewpoint.

Worth it though for the sunset there.

A couple of our people have joined the Crossfit gym. This has been my gym the past week.

I got a refresher PADI course and have done 3 dives here. We did an early morning one yesterday that got cancelled due to poor visibility but the second one was pretty fantastic.

Photo cred courtesy @kohtaodivers

I’ve been largely unplugged from everything and reading a bunch. I finished “Courage to be Disliked” at @hnshah’s recommendation and it was a good one. It’s one that I feel like I need to re-read – it was simple yet profound and one of those that gets deeper the more you think about it. Daily Stoic is one I’ve been reading daily per @benlakoff recommendation so technically I “finished it” today but I only started a week ago ;-)
“The One Thing” is one that keeps popping up. It’s by Gary Keller (guy who founded Keller Williams) – I just heard his pod interview on Tim Ferris and am about halfway through his book.

This is the big tree under which I’ve been doing most of my reading. I’m looking forward to getting back into work mode after the holidays. Our group is doing open-ended travel at this point but a chunk of us just locked in a one-month lease in Koh Tao so will be good to get a more permanent base and routine to start off 2020. Peace to all and prosperity in the new year. I’m sending out my year-end wrap-up email shortly so if you want that make sure to join here: https://scrollinondubs.com/about (at Koh Tao Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6uuGBknfR8/igshid=1f42wnf2vqco1

?Sawasdee krab from Bangkok ?. We left the desert of Dubai last week and came here- this is my first time in Asia. photo cred @benlakoff

We walked around and saw a bunch of the old town yesterday.

A lot of pointy buildings…

Beautiful gold Buddha statues…

Massive shrines with chanting Buddhist monks…

And one of the most epic sunsets over Wat Arun and the Chao Phraya River (I’ve never seen the sun so red).

We took a water taxi through the city which is nice because you can bypass all the traffic. This city reminds me a lot of CDMX but it goes all night and has a crazy electric vibe.

We had drinks on the rooftop of a 40-story building…

And some of us ate scorpions.

We’ve been staying in a hotel that’s just €30/night but you’d think it was €200/night by the amenities & service.

The adventure continues with these wacky @nomadcruise vagabonds. Next stop: Koh Tao for the holidays.

FYI I’m about to send out my 2019 year-end wrap-up email with a bunch of learnings from this past year. If you want in on that be sure to add yourself here: http://scrollinondubs.com/about (at Bangkok, Thailand)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6X9cNqnDvT/?igshid=1mj1g0qin1nof

#NomadCruise X with these 250 hooligans is a wrap.

The last week of the cruise we docked in Muscat Oman and explored the bazaar.

Got a solid sunset in at the rooftop of the W…

Nearly got arrested for holding an unlicensed gun show

Then we disembarked in Dubai and wandered around the most decadent mall you’ve ever seen.

70 of us spent all day today doing fun things in the desert as a surprise bday party for Denisa. First we tried to roll a bunch of Land Cruisers on the dunes without success…

Then we did some sand boarding (aka eating a bunch of sand)….

Then we rode some camels around…

And finished with dinner in the desert.

This has been an epic past couple weeks meeting some incredible people. Later Dubai. Next stop: Bangkok and a long-awaited dream to see Thailand. (at Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Gfa08HL7l/?igshid=v5tyxua942z6