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Finally I have arrived at the famous Ko Samui island, which is supposed to be a medium between the very touristy Phuket and Phi Phi and the very quiet Pan Nhgan. I am sure all these exotic names will not tell you much, but I can assure you after being a few weeks here, the Thai geography is very easy. The names sound like childrens expressions, that they might use when playing with their cars or dolls. Hey miss barby this is your phi phi island, where you can enjoy some sun and go for a ride with ken in his new ferrari...
Ko Samui Enough of those stories, lets come back to the islands of my choice.
After a 1 3/4 hour of ferry ride, already being shipped with lots of tourists I arrived at the port in Ko Samui, were no taxi driver seemed to want to take a single women to its destination. This is a very unasian behaviour, which I found out, was due to my little payment as I am just one person. Happily I jumped on a local drive in a truck (again one of those were you feel like a
Flower Carving
I loved this idea of carving out of a soap flowers. Mh, that smells nice. cattle) and headed towards my Lamai beach, were I promptly found a bungalow accomodation in my price range. Wonder!
Yes I have to agree that Ko Samui is pretty touristy but as a backpacker it is still possible to travel on a budget but enjoy the luxury of the 10day holiday makers. Just a minute walk along some well taken care of road and restaurant at the beach front, I had the perfect location to sun bathe, do yoga, go for a morning swim and long walks along the beach. All in all I would call in a heaven of relaxation. Mixed with fresh fruit, wonderful meals at my restaurant and newly found friends from Canada and America I enjoyed a blissful 4 days in the sun.
Most of the pictures show a day trip that we four have done to look at local seights, such as waterfalls, temples, shopping and so on. I have to say, I ten times more enjoy those day trips than the readily set up ones for tourists. Sitting in the back of a truck, ducking for tree brenches, hiding from rain, but therefore feeling a sence of adventure in tourist paradise.
Waterfall
Fresh water waterfall, what a bless after a hot ride in the back of a jeep. Ko Tao I could not keep my feet still leading me to fulfill another of my dreams - diving. Since I have started to travel doing my PADI divers certification was a must. Thus I headed to Thailands divers paradise Ko Tao. A smaller island up north from Ko Samui, without sandy beaches but rocks, offering a varied sea life and corals closeby.
Since my experience in the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia I had a worried mind and stomach if I will actually enjoy that experience. Just to bring you up to scratch to Ali and my introductory diving experience: it was raining hard, the waves were over a meter high and we constanstly threw up, so that I could not even go less than a meter into the dive and Ali only 3m.
Now after this I was welcoming that I happened to have my own diving instructor (a swedish guy, very relaxed) as I arrived at a time were other groups were filled and no new starters coming.
Perfect, my three day session of morning lessions on diving theory and afternoon diving trips could begin.
I was quiet surprised how fast I
Elephants
Elephant rides are very popular here in Thailand, but I do not find it nice to chain an Elephant to the ground, just to tame them... learned to deal with a totally new world of breathing from a tank (which is scary at the first breath, not to use my nose or the fresh air I was provided with for over 29 years now), learning to control my byouncy under water so I do not swim up and down the whole time (especially not using my feet and gravity) and finally to take in all this new underwater life. Already on the first day my instructor decided I was ready for a 8m dive, where we practised taking the mask off and put it on under water (especially tricky with contact lenses on), share breathing equipment and the new sign language. Other tests and training followed every day.
The best part were the videos to learn the theory, which I found quiete entertaining. My good concentration lead me to take my theory test already on the second day at lunch time. Well I should have looked more at what I was doing during eating a big cheese omelett, as I ticked two wrong boxes, but knew the right answers afterwards. Anyway 98% is a very good pass too. 😊 I can tell you that food is
mumified monk
One of the big attractions in Ko Samui is the mumified monk. After his death he did not decompose and locals decided to put him up to the meditation position. essential when you dive as you burn lots of calories under water due to the pressure, movements and different breathing.
I would like to start telling you about the variety of fish but I have no pictures to show them, so I just say my biggest amazement. I saw a reef shark circling under our bodies at a depth of 18m. Surprisingly I was not scared at all, but I guess I would be if it would be really close...
After 4 days of Ko Tao it was time already to move on and meet my best friend Grit from Berlin further North on mainland in Hua Hin. Another ferry and bus ride....
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