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Published: August 8th 2007
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Ko Samui
The start of a big night After the ride to the airport the plane ride was somewhat subdued. We arrived on Ko Samui early Friday morning and decided to stay at Chaweng beach, initially we were a bit disappointed with the beach as the tide was in making it very narrow, and the only way you can access the sand is by going through resorts.
It didn't take long though until we found a couple of beach bars and moved into island mode, by the time the tide was out the beach was transformed and we were very merry and ready to find some dinner. Our search for food led us back along the now big sandy beach, to the many open air seafood restaurants. However being the budget conscious backpackers that we are, we opted for the free BBQ which was taking place at the opening night launch of "The Best Bar". The money saved however was soon drunk and led to what was our BIGGEST night in Asia, Trace was so hung-over the next day that when she made Matt pull their rented jeep over, she didn't even realise she was spewing next to a dead cat.
By the Sunday it was time
to head off to the ferry for the two hour trip to Koh Tao; Trace had stopped vomiting but was still not feeling the best.
Once on Koh Tao we were met by one of the guys from Buddha View, which is the dive school we had organised to do our open water scuba dive certificates with, and headed off to the resort. The trip only took a few minutes in the back of the Ute and gave us an insight into how laid back the island was, and how friendly everyone was.
After a run through on what we needed to do for our dive certificates, and an explanation on how we could start any day we felt like it, we were shown to our room which was included in the price of the course. As you can imagine it was not the flashest of rooms, but then again it was an improvement on places we'd stayed in the past so we unpacked and headed out for a look around.
Once again there wasn't much of a beach but we didn't mind as there were plenty of places to eat and drink, and everything was within
a five minute walk of our room. Matt was especially happy with the BBQ which was set up each night for dinner that had on offer the largest prawns ever seen, it also contained a large selection of Thai and western dishes served as a smorgasbord. Although it all looked great Trace was going downhill quick and by about 6:30 she was back in the room and on the toilet, her hangover had progressed to full blown Thai belly. Her temperature sky rocketed and the next 48 hours for her were spent as a blur between bed and the bathroom. Matt however went swimming, had a good look around and hired a kayak to go exploring around the headlands.
By the Tuesday afternoon we were ready to start diving, we were put in a group with 8 other novices and given the nick name the A-Team. We were really lucky as all of the dives we did to make up our Open Water Dive Certificates were done in perfect weather, with good visibility and an average water temperature of 29 degrees. We loved it so much that we didn't think twice about staying on to do our Advanced Certificates;
these dives included a deep dive to 30metres and a night dive.
On the night dive Matt got himself more brownie points with Trace than he ever thought imaginable. The weather was really rough with really poor visibility as we were out in a storm, and then whist we were diving Trace's torch died leaving her in the dark. She was a bit freaked but as soon as Matt realised what had happened, he automatically gave his torch straight to her- even though it meant that he would then be left in the dark, he didn't even think about it, he just came straight to her rescue.
We stayed on at Buddha View for a couple of extra days after we finished diving, then it was back to Ko Samui on the ferry and on to the airport for our flight back to Bangkok.
A word of advice- if you ever get on a ferry and they come around with complimentary sea sickness tablets, spew bags and tissues before you leave the dock, you are in for a really, really, really rough trip. If this happens TAKE the tablets as even if you’re not sick from the
boat, the sight and smell of the rest of the boat losing their lunch can defiantly lead to nausea.
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Marja
non-member comment
Matchew - this is making you sound all nice and loving with the torch thing. I'm scared.