The eclipse and Koh Tao Diving

I really wasn't looking forward to heading back into China after the
fun I had had in Hong Kong but was excited to be seeing the eclipse
and meeting up with Sarah and Tim again.
I flew back to Chengdu (my original plans had been to overland it via
Yangshuo but that changed with me staying longer in Hong Kong). It was
an easy flight and then taxi back to Sims. I headed straight for the
bar and unsurprisingly found Sarah and Tim there!! Met up with their
travelling buddies Paul and Tina and we ended up going out for hotpot.
It definitely had brains in it and I am not sure on the other
ingredients (and really don't want to know!) it was way too hot for me
to eat and the Sichuan peppers are weird, they make your tongue and
lips numb and tingly like dentist anaesthetic.
It was a really early start the next day to see the eclipse. We
decided to go to Leshan to get away from the smog of Chengdu.
Unfortunately it was a really foggy cloudy day so we didn't really see
the eclipse. It got dark for about 5 minutes and the atmosphere
changed and the birds went quiet but we couldn't see the sun at all.
To add insult to injury apparently they had seen the eclipse in Chengdu!
After a really scary ride back to Chengdu (we had a psycho driver who
liked swerving all over the road) we chilled in the hostel before my
flight to Thailand the next day.
My arrival in Bangkok was fairly unexciting and it was easy enough to
get to the hostel where I was spoilt with my own en-suite room! I
managed to head off the next day to Koh Tao so really not spending
much time in Bangkok. It was a long overnight journey consisting of 1
motorbike, 3 buses and a ferry! Guess that's what I get for going on
the cheap ticket. I was also more than a little pissed off to find
that someone had been through my bag whilst it was in the bus baggage
hold!
Koh Tao turned out to be a little paradise. I found Crystal Dive
straight away and signed up for my PADI open water course. I was a bit
nervous about taking my mask and regulator off under the water so was
in the pool with my mad German instructor Carsten about an hour after
I got to the island. Thankfully I took to it like a duck to water
(sorry couldn't resist!) and spent the next couple of days doing my
theory training and pool work. I was very excited to be getting into
the sea for my dives and they didn't disappoint. I saw a plethera of
fish including barracudas, moray eels and manta rays. We completed all
the skills underwater and then somehow I was a qualified open water
diver.
Working out my timings and money I to stay on for my advanced open
water course. This was another 5 dives over 2 days and was tremendous
fun seeing dozens of beautiful fish and stunning coral.
It was with some reluctance I left the island to head back to Bangkok
although with lots of excitement over Lloyds imminent arrival. I had
booked us into a lovely hotel which of course I was obliged to stay in
to check it out before he arrived!! :-) I filled my time catching up
on emails and a little bit of pampering including a massage (ok so she
was evil and it felt like torture), manicure, pedicure and haircut all
for less than £10! Very excited to be seeing him!

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