Koh Tao!

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This morning I grabbed another wonderful breakfast at my guesthouse: scrambled eggs on toast, with granola, muesli, and yogurt. I then packed and headed into town and waited outside of the 7-11 to be picked up by a songthaew (a pickup converted to have a roof over the bed, and two benches. Okay, back to the 7-11. I waited outside of the 7-11 for about half an hour, and while waiting a 50 year old drunken Swiss man with a beer in hand who spoke perfect English sat down on the bench next to me and started chatting. I felt like Ryan, but hey, there wasn't anything better to be doing. He went on a long rant about George Bush, calling him "worse than Hitler" (have to disagree with that one), and then mentioned that he was caught with weed some time around the Full Moon Party, and was 'fined' 65,000 Baht (a little over $2,000). Sucks for him! Good thing I don't smoke, because that's a lot of money for a bacpacker (or anyone). Well...I guess it's better than going to a Thai prison. The Swiss man also crashed his bike 3 weeks ago (he's been on the island for 5, doing who knows what), and definitely had the scars (still healing) to show for it.

Well, the songtheaew picked me up around 11:30, and took me to the boat dock, where it was all madness. Alright, back to the boat dock. There were hundreds of backpackers, all trying to get tickets and cram onto the ferry. I was in the middle of the pack, and while waiting in line talked to some Dutch people who had just spent 5 weeks in Phnom Penh. Wait...that's the amount of time I had to travel through Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. 5 weeks in Phnom Penh??? I thought the Brits spending 2 weeks was ridiculous, and even 3 days is too much! I told them I spent two days there, and they told me I REALLY missed out. Okay, what'd they do? Smoked a LOT of weed, and watched lots of movies. I guess people have different ideas of 'vacations'.

Iluckily made it onto the boat. Some were left behind, but there was a second ferry. I opted to sit out on the deck - it was nice out, and if the boat sank, I might have been able to swim to safety. Listening to peoples conversations, it appears that this crowd is very different from the crowd traveling through Laos. Those traveling in Laos seemed, to me, to be real 'backpackers' - ridiculously stingy, with a head n their shoulders, and a desire for adventure. Here, it's much more of a party crowd. To start, there are many backpacks, but also a fair number of suitcases. The girls seem a lot more ditsy, and there are a lot of bleach blondes (not that that's any indication). A lot seem to be on package tours too. If they're not on a tour now, they just got off of one, or have booked a tour through Cambodia. That's not 'backpacker' to me. They also seem to be much less stingy - more willing to pay money for alcohol, pay money to party, and pay money for nicer accomodation. I guess that's why southern Thailand is the most expensive region I've been in so far.

When the boat embarked, several people selling packages at 'dive resorts' approached me, offering packages for a 4-day open water certification, including accomodation. All of the packages were the same, and about $300. I talked to some Canadians who told me they were headed to Buddha View, and one of them had been there before. That was enough to convince me to go there.

I arrived at Buddha View, and was greeted by an Aussie. Wait, a Westerner working in Thailand? Actually, EVERYBODY working here is a Westerner. It appears the only locals employed are the ones in the restaurant. I guess most people wouldn't trust a local to take them scuba diving, and prefer a native English speaker to teach them. I really can't blame them, and admit it even makes me a little more comfortable. I just feel bad that my money isn't going to the local economy.

I was taken to a cute little bungalow that is nicer than where I have been staying the past week. The fan works, it's spotless, and although the toilet doesn't flush (you have to pour water in it - typical), and there isn't any toilet paper (there's a hose next to the toilet though), it's pretty nice.

This afternoon we were given our PADI books, and watched an hour and a half long movie. That was the only class for today, and then we were let loose on the buffet. One large scoop of any thai food is 40 baht ($1.30) - not cheap, but not expensive either. Chicken satay on a skewer is $1. King prawns are $4 each, but they are HUGE, and I may have to try one, just one, before I leave Thailand. It will be odd eating one though, after writing a big paper about how detrimental the aquaculture industry in Thailand is to the ecosystem of the mangrove swamps.

While inspecting the buffet, a girl tapped me on the back, and it was Rachel - the british girl I tubed down the river with in Vang Vieng, when the three guys she was friends with drank shroom shakes. Small world. I paid for my dinner, and joined her at the bar she was hanging out at. It turns out she's been on Koh Tao for the past two weeks, and plans on spending another month here. A MONTH? I asked her if she's diving every day. Nope. She doesn't dive. What does she do? She pointed at the bar. Not much of anything. She kindof just hangs out. The guy she was sitting next to has been in Koh Tao for 15 months. Doing absolutely nothing. Shoot me.

It's hard not to sound condescending when you're asking someone how they're spending their vacation, to find out they're not doing much of anything. My incredulity and bombardment of questions trying to figure out exactly WHAT one does on Koh Tao for a month must be a little abrasive, but it's just too interesting to me. Or maybe it's not interesting at all. After 5 minutes of sitting with her, I decided to go find people in my diving class and eat with them.

I found two guys at a table, and asked to join them. A few minutes later two girls joined us, both of whom appeared to be the girlfriends of the respective guys. For a few minutes I felt like a 5th wheel. Only later did I find out that neither are girlfriends, but rather travel buddies, and they're getting sick of traveling with each other. They were happy to have another guy to talk to haha. One of the guys, a Scottish chap, was in Afghanistan for 6 months working artillery. It sounds like he was in a lot of really sketchy situtations, and mortar fire was an everyday event. Wow. He also claimed to have drank 20 whiskey buckets the night before the Full Moon Party. That's at least 100 shots. Impossible. But....his girl vouched for him, and supposedly a crowd was counting. Wow.

I then chatted with some Canadians for a while, who will be doing the same trip I just did, but in the opposite direction.

That's about all for today. It's midnight, and I have class at 9:00. Horray for activity! Even if it is class. I think the morning is spent in the classroom, and then we go to the swiming pool to learn the scuba basics. The next two days we get to do real open water dives. Supposedly there have been lots of whale shark sightings. Cool!

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