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Published: February 24th 2007
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Following the monastery we all agreed we deserved some time on the beach. We visited three Thai islands, each one beautiful and tropical but famous for different things. Ko Samui is known as a consumer meka, Koh Pha Ngan for it's partying (full moon parties in particular) and Koh Tao for its scuba diving and snorkeling. We spent most of our time in Koh Tao where we took a 4 day PADI diving course with a shop called Easy Divers. The company came highly recommended and I would definitely pass on this recommendation. We were all a little nervous at the thought of breathing underwater, but as always a little nervousness makes it all the more exciting to try. After spending the morning in the classroom we set out to a beach to practice all the necessary skills in 2-3m of water. None of it was nearly as scary or hard as we expected, but in saying that, both our instructor (Chris) and master diver (Martin) were excellent. They did everything in such a calming way that we just mimicked their behaviours. In the following days we had some more classroom work to do, 1 confined water and 2 open water
dives.
The open water dives (when the boat dropped us off in the middle of the ocean instead of close to land) were by far the best dives. That was where we saw the most fish and sea life including a massive school of barracudas's, a moray eel and a reef shark. We were only certified to go 18m and all the sharks (they were harmless) are usually deeper than that, but we were lucky enough to get a blurred view of one below us. I can't even begin to describe the cool creatures we saw underwater but we did purchase a fun video they made of us and everything we saw. One of my favourites looked like an underwater Christmas tree. They grew in multiple colours and when you brushed your hand near them they would disappear into their little holes.
Even aside from the dive course, Koh Tao was our favourite island. It felt like we were on a tropical island in the Carribean only it had a distinct Thai atmosphere mixed with the western comforts difficult to find in the rest of Thailand (ie. food and toilets). At night, every restaurant/bar on the beach would
Bottle Beach
This was not our Munchies Tour boat...thank goodness. set up cushions, tiki and xmas lights, little tables and create sand formations to hold candles. They also had a number of talented fire entertainers. If you're looking for a chill tropical holiday where you can also get a bit of culture, this is definitely the place to go.
Now for Koh Pha Ngan, the party island. After the dive course we ventured to Koh Pha Ngan to see what all the fuss was about. We had purposely avoided the full moon party but unexpectedly arrived in time for the half moon party. After seeing some pretty sketchy bungalows, we decided to splurge by opting for an luxurious bungalow; meaning it had TV, AC, hot water, and a fridge, and the room was beautifully clean with no chance of bed bugs! It cost us 1800 baht per night which is about $20 per person Canadian. Not bad for a room you would pay at least $200 for in Canada. We spend the first day on the beach among half naked women and men in itsy bitsy black speedos. Gross! Aside from the speedo wearer's, this was clearly a beach of beautiful people.
The main strip was all shops
and restaurants. Every restaurant would hand you a novel for a menu and served both western and Asian food. Since all the menu's were generally the same, most people would choose a restaurant by what was playing on the big screen. They all had one playing the latest movies or endless episodes of Friends (I got my fix!). As nice as it was to find a little touch of home with some good English tv, it also made eating very anti-social.
On our second day on Koh Pha Ngan we decided to do a bit of exploring. To do this we signed up for a boat tour that went around the island and stopped at a waterfall, the very secluded Bottle beach and a snorkeling spot. The first thing the tour guide did once we got moving was pull out a cutting board and big butcher's knife. I thought, "wow it's pretty early for a snack, but I could go for some pineapple." That was until I realized he was preparing the weed for the day, an unlimited supply to anyone interested. I looked a April and Celia and said, "Wait, what was this tour called again? The Munchies
tour???" We must have spent too much time in the sun to not have seen that one coming. I wonder how much of our tour fee was flushed into everyone else's high.
That night April and I decided to have our first night of partying. We had met three Irish guys on the boat tour and asked them if we could tag along with them to the half moon party. There are lots of stories warning traveller's of safety issues at these parties so we didn't feel very comfortable going alone. Before we made it to the party we sat out on the beach where we tried our hand a fire twirling and were also attacked by little boys trying to sell us beautiful lays made of orchids. It was pretty sad that they were being forced to do this at such a late hour. We finally arrived at the party which seemed to be located in the middle of the jungle. The drinks came in sand pails and they had people painting glow in the dark tattoos on everyone. The scene was more like one of a rave so April and I didn't stay very long. It's funny
how sometimes the pre-party ends up being more fun than the party.
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Steph
non-member comment
Wow!
Wow Heather, that is crazy! Congrats on the snorkelling, I'm still trying to work up the courage to go surfing... sounds incredible tho. Your hotel room looks awesome too, way to find such a steal ;). I definitely laughed about the 'Munchies Tour', that is so bizarre!! I think I would have been ticked there was no pineapple hahah. Keep posting your adventures!! I love them all so far :D xoxo Steph