Hello Thailand!

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After I last wrote, I headed to Penang- an island off the Western coast of Malaysia. I spent two nights there. It was nice, pretty cheap and relaxing, but after I walked around a bit, I was ready to get back to the beach. There were a lot of mosques, temples and such. Really nice but I just wasnt feeling it. That was really obvious to me when I looked back and realized I only took about 5 pictures of the whole place! Besides, I was really anxious to get to Thailand.

So, I headed to Ko Tao, an island on the east side of Thailand near Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand. Ko Tao is regarded as the best place in South East Asia to obtain your diving certification. So, thats what I did. I completed 6 dives with an instructor (one was in the pool so that really doesnt count). Anyway, the diving here is really nice. There are lots of things to see. I saw tons of brilliant fish, a turtle while he was eating, sting rays. My skin was peeling a bit from my sun burn and the fish were eating it. One of them bit me really hard on the thigh and freaked me out. I had to take a break after that!

The weather is great and its nice being out in a boat and in the water. The course was 4 days, so after that I just took a break and hung out on the beach for a few days. The beach on the part of the island where I am isnt that great. The sand is kind of slimy and rocky and you can walk out for ages and only have 6 inches of water to swim in. Freedom beach is much better. Really nice sand. Still, the water is shallow. The best swimming here was when we went to the dive site.

I also rented a motorbike and drove all around the island. It was a little scary at first, but I got used to it. I think I would love to have one of those motos at home, it was really cool. And everyone has one. I saw whole families on them. One guy had his dog on it with him. I though that was pretty funny. I was trying to figure out what the training process was like to get the dog to jump up and sit on the bike.

There's a bunch of stuff to do on Sairee Beach where the main pier is. They have parties all over the island every night. I have a video of some of the fire throwers, but for some reason I cannot upload it. If anyone would like to see it, just send me an emial and I'll try to email it to you.

Other than that its just been relaxing on the beach and hanging out at night, meeting people, drinking :-)

Hope you're all well. Will write again with more pics soon.

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Photos

My feet!
off the boat on the way to ko tao

Dinner!
the food here is wonderful!! this was a BBQ of pork, chicken and beef with a baked potato and salad. Only 250 bht; about $8

view from the dive boat
this was one of the dive spots we went to. lots of activity near the rocks and coral.

beach where i stayed
the rock formation all the way on the right is said to resemble a sitting buddah

thai bbq
you can walk up and pick the exact fish or other creature you want. they also had chicken, beef and pork. I had a small whole tuna. really good but too many bones.

bbq thai beach style
tons of salad and dressings, pickeled cucumbers, etc.

thai bbq
they had a ton of diffenet chinese & thai dishes- chicken w/cashews, fried rice, noodles, potatoes, stuffed pork and chicken breasts...

me with lots of beer...
in my hands and in me!

freedom beach
you wish you were here!

Comments

[Kathleen]

Yeah... I wish I was there

[Pat]

How is Thailand?
Wow, what is going on with the civil unrest there? Is it as nice as they say? Blog back! Pat