Advanced Diving Course & Relaxing in Ral Lay Beach

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August 14th evening..

I lazed around the rest of the day and read my scuba chapters. Excited to go to bed early for my big day ahead of me. AND that is when the beach party's got started... My place was dirt cheap b/c there were actually 2 dance clubs in my room.

After 2 hours, I couldn't handle it and knew i needed sleep so I packed my sleep stuff up and headed out for a new accomodation. Most places were dark and closed and ppl partying on the streets and in the many bars and the hotels I found were super prciey!! I walked for like 45 minutes.... found one place. It was a hotel on top of a snooker/pool place.. few Thai guys playing pool and me desperately looking for a place to sleep. 700 baht (aka 20 bucks a night.. Damn it) It was super nice and quiet but I didn't think he understood the wake up call. No watch and lost the alarm clock I bought over here. Soo, back to walking. Then a security guard was like I'll take you to a quiet nice place with a wake up call. Guess where?? Pool Place!! Anyways, he understood the wake up call and finally peace and quiet and a decent 6 hours sleep.


Aug 15th
Met my local Thai instructor, Cham. I was going to get one on one training. Excellent!! I was nervous about first dive b/c it was deep one (30 m) and ppl can experience nitro narcosis that deep (drunk, high feeling, or panicky, or crazy.. take out air regulator and give to fishes (extreme example maybe? etc.. ) The dive was fabulous!! NO Narcosis... Visibility incredible.. lots of schools fishes, eels, weird fishes. I was soo excited to be diving again. But, my ears were bad b/c head cold. On the way up it was not so pretty in my mask.. gross!! Poor Cham.

Then, 2nd dive.. navigation with a compass. I sucked at that. I had to do my straight line and my square twice. But, am loving it down there now. Felt more confident and comfortable. Ears still bad unfortunatley.


A 5 hour break until 3rd dive, night dive! Nowhere near as nervous for this one as deep dive. (which I was told was not the norm). It was Cham, myself and our dinghy driver. Yup, we entered the water in a dinghy. Drove out to a bigger beautiful boat to collect dive gear and watch a beautiful sunset. Then it was pitch black and we got back in the dinghy. We geared up and had to enter the water by doing a backwards tumble in. I was most nervous about this. It was soo cool!! We could just see ahead of us with our flashlights. We saw a gigantic baracuda and it followed us for a bit. Also, a big huge crab in its shell. I had to navigate again. EEkkk.. Straight line and back .. just me and the black ocean.. much better this time... It was an exhilarating experience! Then, our driver cooked us up a real southern thai meal, Cham informed me. It was spicy!! Got back to dive shop at 9ish and straight to bed.

Aug 16th

My snooker/pool man forgot to wake me up but I woke up at 730 am feeling refreshed. Packed, got a delicious cappucino and museli and yoghurt and fresh fruit from D's Book shop (all over Asia.. cheap books and can trade etc..) to take on the boat. Unfortunately, my ears were still paining so I told Cham I was going to have to take my time descending and equalizing. Today, I had my 2 fun dives. Photography and bouancy control (which I needed b/c would occasionaly hit the bottom and bump into coral and didn't like other divers getting too close to me.. haha!!)

First dive of the day was probably my worst. Nose running a lot so I had to clear my mask a lot and clear my ears constantly and was trying to take pics. I gave Cham the camera out of frustration. Our dives were lasting 47-59 mins but I ran low on air a lot earlier and had to go up. It was super choppy on surface. It was still awesome but wasn't as enjoyable.

My last dive was great again.. my nose didn't run as much and although my ears hurt, cleared earlier. My bouancy improved soo much! I was now a professional diver.. (well.. ) I was floating and gliding through the water and could hover just above the surface or side of a coral wall without panicking I would ruin the coral by hitting up against it. It was fabulous!! My kick improved too and I had tons of oxygen left after an hour. I said my goodbyes to the dive crew, bought a t-shirt and headed for the boat to Rai Lay beach.

I arrived at 5 pm. Spent quite a while looking for the perfect spot and found it!! It was not on east or west rai lay beach but up in mountains. called Hillside Bungalows. My bungalow is huge. A double bed with a 'princess' mosquito net over it. My own bathroom with a cold shower of course. There's a coffee shop/climbing place, 2 bars, a fab rest and my bungalows. Soo secluded. I met the owner of the coffee shop right away (Chau). We chatted, I drank a coffee and he sang BoB Marley. Then Chau, few Thai boys and I walked down to watch sunset on West Railay. Soo soo pretty!! But, my camera broke.. soo frustrating.. it says lens error... Canon better fix it.. I bought a windy camera and cringe everytime I take it out for a pic

Bed by 8:30 pm.

Aug 17th/08

Massage first thing, Bfast at beachside restaurant, tanning on beach, coffee in a cute spot with cushions and wooden benches, more sun, shower, down for sunset again on West, masaman curry supper while watching Chelsea football match and sleep at 830 pm again.

Loving the new pace of trip....

Aug 18th/08

Up at 630 am. Bfast at cute coffee nook I found yesterday (french toast with honey, yogurt and fresh fruit!!). Then hiked to Ton Sai beach (path next to my bungalow) 2 km but what a hike!! Very steep.. signal has got nothing on this bc no stairs and straight up... Cool hike though (through jungle with lots of noises... snakes.. eeek!!) Then, lied in sun. Enjoyed an amazing torture massage ( may hike back tomorrow for another one) , lied in a hammock and had lunch. Then, hike back for my Thai cooking class!!

At first I was chopping and thought Ok not fun!! haha... I warned the nice local Thai expert that I was a terrible cook. She was super sweet and encouraging. We prepped everything for 2 apps, 1 soup, 1 main and dessert. It didn't take long at all!! An Aussie came up to sit to use his laptop so I shared my spring rolls. I had lots more food coming! It was delicious and she gave me a book to write it all down. I just hope NL has the ingredients. It's 3 hours later and I'm still stuffed. I gave the rest of my food to boys who worked at the Bungalows.

I headed over to the bar for a beer, a lie down on the cushions and to watch the climbers. It was incredible to watch and take it all in. Its soo chill here. Chau told me he would help me tomorrow if I wanted.. maybe not too high???? I have done the indoor clmibing Women's course at Wallnuts.. haha


It's 818 pm and about my bedtime... I kind of like getting up early and going to bed early... maybe I'll eventually be able to do it at home....

I have one day left tomorrow and then Bangkok the next am for my start to my journey home that night. I could definitely waste away another week or so here chilling and meetting ppl and exploring.. but am excited to see familiar faces...

NIk

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