An Island In The Sun

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Hi Folks!

Sorry it has been a while but we have been busy enjoying ourselves!

Just a quick point on the photos you need to go into the gallery section of the site and view the pictures, you may need to download the comments seperatley. Hope this helps.

We are now in Koh Tao after spending a brilliant week chilling out in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai was very different form Bangkok in the pace of life. It has a brilliant night market which runs from 6.00 pm to midnight. On the first night visiting the night market we heard an American lady who was stood in the middle of the market, bear in mind that it is now dark ask one of the stall assistants for directions to the night market. We couldn't stop laughing! Contrary to what we have been told about Thailand our lady boy count is only up to nine, so they are either really convincing or it is not as popular as we were lead to believe. Although Rik keeps volunteering to go to the shops a lot he he! Chiang Mai was the best place we have been to, although Koh Tao is very good for different reasons.

On to Koh Tao we go. The trip down was a nightmare, it was a first come first served in respect of seats on the flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, so in great human spirit everyone charged for the gate, not even letting the old on first. The pilot had obviously watched Top Gun before departing as we did everything but the barrell roll, although he did attempt the loop the loop. When we thought we were safe after landing he switched into formula one mode. We didn't know planes could corner that fast! We then had to spend nine hours in Bangkok airport waiting for our flight to Koh Samui. That flight was nice and calm after the previous one. The airport at Koh Samui was amazing, it was a little wooden shed with a wooden luggage belt. The poor ground crew had to load the bags on, while we're convinced a trained monkey was turning the belt! We spent the night on Koh Samui and departed for Koh Tao the next day.

We had to get the ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Tao which took about two hours. We managed to top up our tans in this time while listening to an English man trying to woo a young American girl. He failed when he forgot where his house was on Koh Tao!

When we arrived on Koh Tao we were squashed on to the back of a Toyota truck with all our luggage and transported to Bans Diving Resort. Vik was signed up instantly for her open water course. The open water course was good apart from having to take your mask off underwater and then clearing it. Vik thought she was going to drown at first. After completing the open water Vik decided the Advanced open water course was the way to go. The sea conditions were terrible with one dive having to be abandoned! Vik completed the Advanced yesterday so we are going to go diving together when the conditions clear up. There are a few whale sharks and reef sharks around Koh Tao so we are going in search of them. If you don't hear from us again you know where to start looking he he.

Anyway we are now going to chill out. We will give you an update soon (well maybe ha ha ha).

Vik and Rik

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