Thailand 2006

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Tao
December 10th 2006

Published: December 20th 2006

I thought I would give you all a taste of why I’m leaving on my next big journey. The thrill of meeting some of the most amazing people ever and finally finding an island that perfectly fits my persona perfectly. Not to mention the fact that I get to dive for a year for nearly free, is definitely another big plus.
Thailand has always been a country of beauty, culture and great food, that’s not why I went, it’s just a bonus. I wanted to go traveling to a country where getting around was easy , beaches were great, and the water was hot, and I new I could find a quiet little place that I could lay around do nothing and not feel bad about missing out. Boy did I get a surprise, I never actively searched out all these ridiculous parties that I found myself in, I just never said no very many times.
My trip started out just like any other that I’ve been on, one hell of a long flight landing in a country that I have no clue where to go. The great part this trip was having Brian to meet me and

New friends that changed the world

help me around for the first few days, didn’t hurt that he’s a foot taller than anyone else in Thailand and easy to pick out in a crowd. The first couple of days in Bangkok were an eye opener to say the least, the city is huge, packed with people, towering elevated highways, and smog, smog, smog. You can buy absolutely anything there, and do almost anything you could think of. One of the great highlights of those first was getting to watch a major Mui Thai contest from the front row. I had no idea that it was so vicious, and that heavy weights were 135lbs. Those were some very scary little dudes.
Enough of Bangkok and off to Koh Tao for what I thought was to be some R&R. We had to fly to Koh Samui on route, as we were flying over the island Brian and I were laughing at the poor people staying in the hotels that seemed to be right at the end of the runway, you can just guess where we ended up. It was a great place to stay and the 6:00 flight was a good alarm clock since our ferry to

Sarie, Koh Tao

Koh Tao was first thing in the morning. The Lonely Muppet Guide says that Koh Tao doesn’t have much to do if your not a scuba diver, man did they get that one wrong. Within fifteen minutes of being on the island I knew that I had found the spot that would be my home for the majority of my trip. Brian met some dude that mentioned that Asia Divers was a very good company to sign up with.(that guy should write for the lonely planet, they’d get a few more things right) We met up with Dom, one of the dive instructors, he showed us around and was a star about helping us get started. It wasn’t long in finding out that everyone at Asia Divers is a HOOT. Everything on the Island seems to happen on the back of a motorbike so we rented a couple for about $3/per day. Brian got all set up to start his dive course and I started to get to know a few people that in the end would change my life, I think for the better, but my liver may have something to say about that. Sitting at the bar, eating

Eddy, Dom, Charly, et Moi

Claire’s chips, with Tim, Eddy, Dom, Giles, Cozz, Charly, Tay, &Helen (Al you were getting a new foot at the time) they mentioned that the Koh Tao Festival was starting tonight and I should meet them there, just my luck, go to a place to have a break from constant parties and land right in the middle of a 3 day fling. The festival was great, good food, beer, and new people, what could possibly be better. All these people guaranteed that I would be coming back.
After 5 days on Koh Tao it was off to the Full Moon Party on Ko Pha Ngan, it’s going to be hard to explain what a whirl wind of people this is. We met up with some travelers and headed off to check Hadd Rin the night before the Full Moon. I had heard that buckets of drinks were the way things were done so following like a lemming I was right there in the mix. It was kind of nice to get the lay of the land before the real party started. The next night I got my eyes opened to see what everyone for years had been telling me

My first dive

to go and be part of. 20000 lunatics, many in various states of consciousness, all having the time of their lives. Even though it looked like bedlam, everyone really did seem to want to get along and just have fun, you don’t often see that many people in such varying states without some dummy turning it into mayhem. The party goes right on through the night and into the next day, I never made it, 5 am and I was ready to head for home.
We had a flight to Bangkok the next day to head to Pattaya, to check out the Vegas of Thailand. This is going to be quick, I have pretty liberal views and that place was even too much for me. My shadow will never darken that doorstep again.
Onto one of the true highlights of the trip the Bangkok Rock Festival, another gem that my new friends on Koh Tao gave me the heads up on. Franz Ferdinand & Oasis and 50000 screaming fans and me in the front row, not to bad for my first concert(yeah I’ve been a little sheltered) If I had known that concerts were like that I think

Night before the Full Moon

I may have made time and gone to a few more. Met a great couple that showed me how things work and we figured out how everyone was smuggling in beer, this was a hoot. There was a 5m no man’s zone that was patrolled by security, your friend stands on the other side with a bag of beer, all while being watched, and waits till the guard loses intrest in staring at the two of you. Then when they turn around your buddy throws the bag behind the guard over the gap to you, then you run like hell and get lost in the crowd then meet up later for the spoils. It’s hilarious nobody seems to care after the deed is done only while your doing it.
I’ve now been in Thailand for almost a month and it just keeps on getting better, as long as you don’t let the little logistic issues get to you, and you just roll with it, things always seem to work out. Which brings me to the Visa Run. I had to go and get another 30 day entry visa to finish my 2month trip, there are companies that help you

Full Mooning

do this. I didn’t chose to use this, I had lots of time and had schedualed 3 days to go from Bangkok, to Chumpon, to Ranong, to Burma, back to Chumpon and back home to Koh Tao. That was the plan, that wasn’t what happened. The bus from Bangkok dropped me off at a bench (not a bus stop) at 4 in the morning in Chumpon, without anything said except “You get off here”. After standing there for a minute I asked one of the Motorcycle taxi riders how do I get to Ranong. He said “I take you bus, 100bhat” remember this is 4 in the morning and my thoughts aren’t exactly running in straight lines. I say let’s go, we end up at another bench 10km later and get the old you wait here bus come later. No time just later. So I lay down by the bench and wait, I wish I had video of this, after a half hour the taxi riders started talking to me and trying to get their jokes across, some did and they were pretty funny, time and place kind of things. About 5:30 the bus came, not the air/con mini bus

Full Mooning

I had been told of but a big bus with nobody on it just me, an old lady and the two bus drivers. I asked the bus driver if the bus went to Ranong all he did was nod and gave me the thumb to the back. Ten minutes of driving and finally the co-driver comes up and asks for money, I still don’t know what he said. I just held up a few hundred baht and the guy took 200 off of me. I finally fell asleep for an hour and woke up to the shock of my life, the bus had filled up with locals, and not one spoke English. I really am starting to feel guilty about only speaking one language and taking it for granted that everyone usually speaks English. Anyways I woke up with no idea where I was, I wasn’t lost just hadn’t been here before so I just rolled with it. Turns out that Ranong is at the end of the road, and it ends with a real bus station, quite a welcome sight. So the Ranong bus station at 7 in the morning is not all that tourist friendly, meaning that there

Oasis in Bkk

isn’t as many people to help you out as there may be at 10. still there was still help it just took some blank staring and confused looks on my part to attract the attention of a guy that asked if I needed help. More to the point he said “Weesa Run” I said oh yeah, pretty soon a guy pulls up on a bike and says “we go” I as usual say OK, and proceed on what I thought was the wildest ride of my life. Immigration had just opened up I did my thing to get stamped out, went outside only to be met by some guy dressed very nicely saying “you need boat, I have boat” again I give him the OK let’s go. The trip over to Burma was fairly uneventful but by now the lack of sleep is really starting to get to me. When we got back I paid the boatman found my taxi dude he gave me the we’ve got to hurry, I thought we hurried on the way here, boy was I wrong. The guy drove like a lunatic trying to make it to my bus before it left. I think that

Oasis in Bkk

they held it for me, these people are great they go out of their way to make things that you need to get done, done even when you don’t know what each other is saying. All the way back to Koh Tao was more of the same, I got took for a little bit of a ride with the bus fare on the way to Chumpon but that’s not worth the writing. The entire trip to Koh Tao that I had figured on taking 3 days ended up taking 20 hours, what a ride, every step I needed to make got made and it gave me an extra two days in paradise.
Back on Koh Tao I settled into dive courses and evenings out with friends. My regular diving symptoms are rearing their ugly head, ears are pooched and needed to take a few days off to let the swelling go down, and my sinuses keep on blowing out on resurfacing, it really doesn’t look very good, but not a big deal and it goes away after about 20 dives. The best course that I did was my Rescue Diver & Emergency First Responder, Padi is usually so full

Oasis in Bkk

of fluff that it was nice to get into the more professional side of recreational diving. That was the course that made me decide that doing my Dive Masters and possibly Dive Instructors course was the right decision. The diving here is fabulous, sometimes it gets a little crowded but that is to be expected when it comes to diving mecas like Koh Tao.
My free time, which was often was spent talking with people, napping & even forcing down the odd beer. Often in the afternoon a couple of us would be sitting around having a visit, when along would come another pair, then another and so on. We called it our expanding table, pretty soon all of the tables were pulled together and our social events were about to be planned. One of the real gems that I found was a restaurant (Finlandia), that a great friend of mine works. That would be you Corinne. Over the next month I probably had dinner 10 times there, it was kind of nice to eat something different from time to time. I really love Thai food a little switch up is good for the soul. One of the funniest

Visa Run

dinners I had was at a Sushi Bar that had just opened up. The staff was great, just a little new at the game. We ordered this,this,this and this, and got that,that,that,and that. It was a hell of a laugh, and still great food. Our group had a lot of great dinners in particular the first at Finlandia and the last at Jamakirri(I probably spelled that wrong). Those dinners will stay with me forever, nothing beats time spent with people that really make you feel like every minute with them is making you a better person.
I’m now at the point that my journal stops, not because I’m going home but because I just kept on forgetting to keep up with it. So here it goes with the year old memory. Get up and swim, go for a couple of dives, have lunch, nap, dinner, get blind drunk at night, go to bed. Next day repeat. I could go into all the crying and bitching about how much was hating the thought of going home, but since I got my wish of a leave from work, all has worked out in the end.

Additional photos below

Photos: 33, Displayed: 31