- PJManning ☕️🏄🏻♂️👨💻🍷✈️
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- April '24
April '24
Thai New Year 🥳 💦 🔫 😅
![pjmanning](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/b928ec8f-946b-427d-a8aa-ac44e28ed8ac/meSmallCircle.png)
4 months, 4 New Year celebrations 🙃
Here's what's been going on...
Got my Bareboat Skipper sailing certificate in Phuket
Celebrated Thai New Year (Songkran 💦 🔫)
Explored Phuket, southern islands, and the Gulf of Thailand
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8206d460-de5f-445c-819c-9e1533911d6b/00a944fa-57a7-43d9-806b-bf8e7383866d.jpg?t=1714929202)
Shot of the cat we called home from the dinghy, anchored at Phi Phi islands
Thailand 🇹🇭
If you’re like me - you’ve undoubtedly heard time and time again from friends, social media, etc. about how dope Thailand is.
Well…
Here it is one more time - Thailand is fuckin dope 😆
I mean honestly, there is so much to love about this country…
Bangkok is a top-tier city
Best food night markets I’ve ever been to
Cheap, delicious street food everywhere
Beautiful buddhist temples
Unreal shopping malls
Crazy party scene
Best islands/beaches in the world (and A LOT of them)
Thai massage - enough said
Super spiritual (94% of the population is buddhist)
Among the best food in the world (same level as Italy & Mexico for me)
Deep, rich culture (only SEA country never to be colonized)
Some of the happiest & most peaceful people in the world (similar to Balinese)
Ohh yeah and legal weed 🌿 😆
Of course there are a few downsides anywhere you go, so here’s a few things I experienced over the past month…
It’s hot AF - but there was a record breaking heatwave in SEA 🥵
The traffic in Bangkok is absurd. Not like Indonesia/Vietnam motorbike craziness, but many cars and I guess only a few major highways for a super spread out city
Jellyfish. As beautiful as all the islands and beaches were - the jellyfish around Phuket and Krabi were pretty intense.
Well this may be personal but…no surf 🌊
I could talk for hours about the past month but instead here’s a few photos that may push you over the edge to buy a ticket…
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/819c566f-9344-4ed7-bc1a-d4c68f731bf2/IMG_6127.jpeg?t=1714929394)
Posted up at some cave for the night
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/90c30f35-cad6-4930-a0a1-0f95a85d28f8/448edf50-fe3a-4029-8805-cf262f084e1a.jpg?t=1714929175)
Doing some chart work while cruising
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Thai New Year (Songkran) - essentially a 3-day nationwide water gun fight
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/bf4f1f09-8203-4b04-8057-fd147aebd6e3/IMG_6522.jpeg?t=1714929796)
Koh Tao viewpoint in the Gulf of Thailand
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/2266d3c1-2a9b-44c1-817c-89a8208542c9/IMG_6491.jpeg?t=1714929734)
One of my favorite meals of the trip - Khao Soi
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/4a6c80bb-bb4c-45dc-a295-7c4f40e75f34/IMG_6615.jpeg?t=1714930451)
Digs for the week. Unbelievable views and snorkeling.
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/9742bb54-6151-4528-ad0f-535d2ade31a0/IMG_6654.jpeg?t=1714930864)
Kayaked to this island off Koh Tao (Koh Nang Yuan)
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/8338963b-ebf6-4605-8311-9286eba1f923/IMG_6683.jpeg?t=1714930889)
If you know me, you know… 😆
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/887c24f3-26a5-4b6b-8230-53f41e44b82f/IMG_6753.jpeg?t=1714930969)
Feeding Trunkie McTrunkface on Koh Pha Ngan
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/0e999277-817c-4d7a-b910-d8ecd53bc1d2/IMG_6861.jpeg?t=1714931010)
It just happened to be full moon while I was at THE full moon party beach sooo…
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WORK
Had a nice 10-day break while getting my sailing certificate.
While it was great to have a break off work, it didn’t feel like a break because the sailing course was SUPER intense. It was up at the crack of dawn, classroom, practical, sailing, and then when 5pm hit and we anchored/docked, we went straight to the marina/bar for beers for 3 hours 😆 then back to the cabin to try and study for an hour drunk before passing out. Rinse and repeat.
So yeah by the time I was done with ‘break’, I felt like I needed a vacation before getting back into work.
I dabbled with 5G internet on the boat…and it made me think - if I had the dough - I would 100% get one of these catamarans and hook up a Starlink to that bitch and be calling in from the Maldives/Ments/etc.
PROJECTS
SURF
Waves of the month...
There were so many contenders this month: Basque Country, Portugal, West Oz, Shipstern, Padang Padang, but in honor of the GOAT retiring here’s a minute and a half reminder that Kelly surfing at 90 will be better than you will ever be…
Where to go in May...
Canoa, Ecuador
Surf
Remote Work
Watching
Reading
Product of the Month
The saddest aspect of society right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.