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Published: January 22nd 2009
Holy Toledo, where do I even start? To sum it up, we are having fun! I know our blog posts have been few and far between, but really, can you blame us? Put yourself in our flip flops. There's no wireless on the beach!
Ok Ok, so lets cut to the guts shall we,
It all happens like this, starting where we left off, on Jan. 11. We were on day two of our scooter rental, and loving it, exploring the beautiful island of Koh Pha-ngan (pan-yang), we headed off down the concrete road toward Ao Thong Nai to check out the northern side of the island. We were unaware that many main roads in Thailand like to change to dirt, sand, and a mixture of the two from time to time. We found ourselves hungry and nobody can explore beaches hungry! We ate at a great little restaurant where foreigners had called it their place of employment and had a great lunch. After we left the not so sunny north side back down south towards our 'home base bungalow' at Power Beach Resort. Power Beach is where we made or first bunch of traveling buddies, some Aussies and
a few Kiwis! They were great! So, for supper, we weren't sure where to eat, so we stopped at the busiest place we could see....yeah, turns out it was a 'do it yourself' BBQ. It was all fun and games until my vegetarian girlfriend couldn't handle meat being grilled in the same location as the tofu and the grease from the lard and my meat dripping into her soup broth, which may, or may not have been chicken based.... We won't do that again. Nobody got ill, and even I was questioning whether or not I would see that meal again... After that meal, Kate and I finished off the day with at game of crib that she tried to teach me how to play, I'm still not sure if I know how to play, and for those of you who are competitive, yep, she beat me.
Jan 12. It was our last day in Koh Pha-ngan, we took part in more scooting adventures where we saw some of the most amazing waterfalls! There was one place in particular that the King liked to visit regularly and he even has his name engraved in one of the big rocks!
I cannot even begin to explain these streams. The boulders the stream winds around are huge! The stream just runs around them right through the middle of the jungle. Its quite the sight to see! Very, uh, beautiful, I guess would be an appropriate term...
Later that evening Kate and I headed off to Haad Rin (place of the full moon party) for some supper and to watch the movie "The Beach," which, coincidentally was filmed here, in Southern Thailand! It was a wonderful dinner, and that's it for the day.
On the 13th of Jan Kate and I embarked on the worst boat trip I have ever been on! I was sure the boat we were on was headed for certain doom - after every wave it hit, it would pitch from side to side and it seemed I was looking straight down into the waters of the Thai Gulf. There were many people on that boat ride that took part in "Puke Fest 2009" it was so dubbed later on. Needless to say, we made it, and as it turns out, what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, or at least leads us to know that
we don't ever want to be on another sea voyage like that ever again! Once we reached the shores on Koh Tao there was a driver waiting there with my name on a sign and he whisked us off to Carabao Dive Resort. Now, we were a little let down when we first arrived in Koh Pha-ngan, because our accommodation didn't seem to have the same look as the brochure, but this time when we arrived in Koh Tao, we were pleasantly surprised to see our accommodations exceeded our expectations! That was sure a relief. We checked in and then got started right away with our scuba diving course! What was required of us the first evening wasn't too much of a hassle, just a 2 and a half hour movie that was all about diving and the first three pages of our homework had to be completed for the following morning by 9 am.
The very next day, on Jan 14, (I promised I wouldn't skip a day) we met Will, our dive master! He was a great little Frenchie, from where else, but France, he taught us everything we needed to know to pass our course which
was scheduled to take place over the next few days. We spent 3 hours that morning going over the basics of diving and what was to be expected later that afternoon when we got to dive! The diving was great! It's amazing that even though the water was 26-27 degrees Celsius, after being in the water for 30-40 minutes you'd be frozen! We learned that the body actually loses body heat about 25 times faster in the water than in air...hmmm, who would have guessed? After our very first couple dive expeditions, we made it back to our room, washed, ate, finished pages 4 and 5 of our homework and went to bed. What a day!
This day was written-exam day. After another 2 hours of class time, we wrote our exams. I think its the first time since probably a 3rd grade spelling B where I got 100%! I found that Will was a great teacher and that I was really able to listen to him and follow along quite easily. When we dove that afternoon we went to a depth of about 10 metres (33 feet). We scuba'd down and around coral, rocks, hundreds of fish and
experienced a strong rip current which propelled us through the water with no effort at all! The power of the ocean is quite amazing from that point of view. This particularly was Kate's favorite dive - I don't blame her! For dinner, it wasn't really out of the ordinary until I put a salad dressing on my salad which was far to spicy to handle and I went to bed with a spicy hot mouth and a sore tummy. Perhaps I'll taste-test the dressings more thoroughly next time...
The morning of the 16th was an early one. Up at 6:45 to get to the boat for 8am for first our 18 metre dive (60 feet) and another 10 metre dive. The visibility wasn't great, only 5-6 metres, (so pretty much IFR) but again, like the first handful of dives, a blast! We had another diver (Mara) that tagged along with us this day who brought his underwater video camera to capture the footage. We saw Nemo and family on the 10 meter dive, and they, like in the movie were living in and amongst a sea anemone. It was the last of our dive days finished up with a
huge dinner with the graduating class, a trip to our dive instructor's house where we shared stories of our respected homelands, and a fun event called the 'Castle Party'...We figured it was so-named probably because it looked like a castle and there was a party there.
The last day in Koh Tao was filled with rest, snorkeling, scooters, and a lovely dinner on Sairee beach.
On Jan 18th we boarded a boat to go to Koh Samui. This boat ride was WAY better than the last boat ride I described. We played cards with Darcy and Dan (some of our Aussi friends) and shared a couple of beers on our mid-morning journey. They got off half-way to Samui at Koh Pha-ngan. We arrived in Samui just the two of us with a plan to head down to Lamai and see what kind of a bargain we could get on a room. After checking a few spots we had read about in our travel books we settled at Wish Bungalows which had a nice and relaxing beach right out front that led to pristine waters. For the rest of our day we explored Lamai, found nice little restaurants for
lunch and dinner. Dinner was really nice, and was had on a huge oceanside patio, with trees filled with lanterns and fireworks that tourists would buy and shoot off over the bay. I guess that day I must have had my "I want to spend all my money today" shirt on, because every time we would pass buy a tailor, I would be harassed. In some cases got involved with an awkwardly long handshake they wouldn't let go of. They would call me "my friend," "buddy," and say "please to meet you" before they even knew your name...Needless to say, I wasn't coaxed into purchasing anymore suits, and I was awfully lucky to have Kate to guard me!
So, that was a very long blog post as you can see. Don't get your hopes up on the next one being equally as long. As it is, this took me 3 computer sessions to write, and on a shoestring budget, internet time is costly! Look forward to another post soon. We are still here in Koh Samui and just trying to find a way to get a visa extension so we can stay in Thailand another 10 days or so.
We miss everybody at least a little bit, and look forward to your lovely, and sometimes witty comments (Dave). Talk to you all soon!
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momcin
non-member comment
Can I come and join you! ha-ha
Wow! It sounds so wonderful! I am so happy you are having fun and I am so proud of both of you for achieving your diving certificates! 100% Ty? Take it from the water to the air and you will by flying - no pun intended. lol :) Thanks Kate for protecting Ty from the awkwardly long handshakes and what may follow! Anyway, I am glad you at least said you miss everbody "at least a little bit" Brie's last, very detailed and exciting email message actually included "i feel bad for saying this, but i don't miss home!!! Im really glad to be here." Her stories are equally as colourful and informative. We will continue to live through your words and pictures as we sit here huddled under the dismal low cloud skies of Ktown.......might have to go see Megan at Tropical Beaches for some vitamin D! Love you! Will wait patiently for the next blog.