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Published: August 21st 2006
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Buddha Rock in Koh Tao
The view from in front of my bungalow Wow, was it ever nice to breathe the fresh ocean air again. The journey was long, but incredibly smooth. The bus system in Thailand is amazing. I think I am damn lucky as well though. I am pretty sure my journey to the south could have been a lot longer had I not had a couple of friendly thais help me out. Once in Bangkok from Phi Mai I landed myself on a city bus that was heading to the southern bus terminal... or so I thought. Turns out it just passes near the terminal. Luckily a thai man who spoke a little english was heading there as well so he got me off the bus and walked me to the terminal. Oops. Who knows where I would have ended up. Yes, I'm a lucky girl.
I hopped on a bus south 5 minutes later and after a looong day of travelling found myself in Chumphon. The next day I got a boat to Koh Tao and that day I started my advanced dive course. Holy whirlwind.
It was so good getting back into the water. I was dreading it at first because unlike the private instruction in Koh Chang, I
oncoming storm
The daily 1 hour rainstorm heading straight for Ko Pha Ngan was onboard the dive boat with about 25 other people. It was a gong show really. But as soon as I got in the water I was stoked. It's such an amazing feeling being under there, despite the "city"of scubadivers! It is a little ridiculous how busy it is. In my 3 days of diving I saw some great stuff.... baracudas, trigger fish, sting rays galore... lots of other amazing fishies... no sharks though 😞 I think it is now a life goal to see a whale shark. You hear people talk about it and it really would be unreal. I had my first night dive which was a little creepy. Very cool though. You get to see tons of sting ray, sleeping trigger fish, and some giant baracuda as well. Definitely a unique experience.
When I finished up my course I headed straight for Ko Phangan with a few people I had met and we found a quieter beach up in the northwest. Haad Rin is THE party beach on the island and home to the infamous full moon parties. I had a couple of nights out there and it is pretty insane! I didn't end up making it
Mae Haad Beach
hard to beat the beach front bungalow views! to the full moon party - yes, I know, I'm lame. I somewhat regret it because I guess you should just experience it, but for many reasons, including a hangover from the night before, heavy courses of antibiotics, and the sheer craziness of it, I stayed hidden on the other end of the island. The group of people I had been with came back with mixed reviews, although I have to admit I still do regret it slightly. On the other hand it left me hangover free to spend my last day on my motorbike on one last exploration of the island. The island is so beautiful. Riding around was definitely the highlight for me. The road to Haad Rin is pretty windy and steep at times but the views are incredible. I attempted the offroad ride to the secluded beaches in the north east, but as I started to lose traction down the rocky dirt road and found a pickup suddenly thundering towards me I thought it was quite likely I would wind up in the emergency room with brutal road rash like so many other unfortunate backpackers.
So, Ko PhaNgan was a mix of everything for me -
the bucket ladies
fierce competition for your bucket business! some parties, some relaxing, some random motorbike exploring. I was also really hoping to get in a few more dives, but a lousy ear infection held me back. Just one more reason to come back to this part of the world ... they're starting to stack up!
2 weeks later...
So I'm in Sydney, Australia now... After the islands I headed back to bangkok and spent a few days shopping... wow. I shopped a lot and spent more money than I'd spent in 2 weeks I think. It's hard not too when you put into perspective how incredibly cheap things are. In hind sight I wish I'd bought more. Especially since I'm freezing my ass off over here! I lost my only sweater the other night at a pub and I'm heading down to Melbourne tomorrow where it will be even COLDER! ahhhh!
So I'm signing off this blog for a while. I may give an update here or there if I'm feeling inspired, but I think I'll take a bit of a break. My loose itinerary is to head up the east coast and find work... Wish me luck!
Take care all, and thanks for following my adventures
and for all the supportive emails!
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