The dry monsoon... Phuket to the Thailand islands...

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It feels like it has been ages since i last wrote a blog when really it has only been about a month or so. I'll be honest though, the break has been really nice, and to get myself to sit in front of a computer for more than a few minutes has been a challenge. Of course, i like to keep you all updated, but i just think the Thailand island pace of life is now flowing through my veins! Arriving in Thailand was the beginning of a new chapter in our travels as the two of us have now become four. No, we haven't started mutating after drinking the local tap water... Miss Pooce and Mr Couch has been shipped out to us for a few months of fun.

Cheryl and myself arrived in Phuket a few hours before our chums landed from the UK, greeted by torrential rain and overhead electrical cables. Things were not looking too great as a) this is the monsoon season, and b) Pooce and Couch are not going to like arriving to the weather they hoped to leave at home. We found a place to stay right on the end of the main strip at Patong Beach. A mixture of restaurants, bars, pingpong shows and fast food stalls. We spent our first day walking around town and strolling along the drizzling beach, but Phuket doesn't really seem to come to life until night falls. Once under the cover of darkness, the families hide away in their hotels and the freaks come out. Every stretch of pavement that is not filled with food stalls is lined with ladies, and lady boys, of the night. They can be quite forceful in attempting to get your attention too, not shy of trailing you and slapping your behind until you tell them to leave you alone! All the hassle is nothing that a few bottles of Chang can't handle. The local brew is labeled as 6.4%, although we keep being informed that it can be anywhere up to 13% and the alcohol content varies from one bottle to the next. One full day and night in Phuket was enough to realise that this city is not the Thailand we came here for! The following day we took a long boat trip around the mountain islands of Phang-Nga bay, stopping off at Koh Panny, a gypsy stilt -village, and the James Bond island (the real name of the island faded away after the release of 'The Man With The Golden Gun'). We also stopped off at a series of limestone caves, home to a giant reclining Buddha and an extended family of cheeky macaque monkeys who entertained us by catching every single nut that we threw to them, without fail.

After waking up to another grey day in Phuket, we gathered our belongings and took the short boat journey to our first look at Thai paradise, Koh Phi Phi (we seem to have left the miserable weather in miserable Phuket... to the day i write this we have only seen rain on two afternoons... monsoon season they say?!!). As the boat came in to the jetty we spotted what had to become our home for the next few days, a row of little bungalows right on the beach, tucked away in a secluded corner. Luckily they had vacancies, and cheap ones at that... always a good thing. Phi Phi island was one of the worst hit islands in the 2004 tsunami, and much of it has not been redeveloped to its previous overcrowded state, meaning that there are many cheap bungalows dotted around in prime locations. For most of our time spent here we did a lot of nothing. Kayaking, snorkeling and the odd bit of volleyball being the only time we used more energy than that used when lifting a bottle of beer. We soon found some cool bars to hang out at and saw the first of what has turned out to be nightly fire shows in every single place we stay. At the half moon party (any excuse for a party), we saw some guy launch a fire poi about 20ft in the air and then catch it between his toes, that was not too bad. Other than that, the shows have been a bit lame to be brutally honest, but i still haven't managed to convince Cheryl to show them all up! One morning Couch decided to find out if he really is allergic to bananas and drank a banana milkshake. It is true, he definitely is allergic to bananas. Either than or he can inflate his face in the freakiest manner for hours on end at the push of a button. After a while we moved a whole 2km to a more secluded beach called Long Beach. We hired snorkels one afternoon and saw a black tipped reef shark about 30m off the coast. I say we, but what i actually mean is that i saw it and nobody else did... once again. I tell the truth!

After days and days of being hassled, we finally crumbled and paid up for a snorkeling boat tour around the two islands that make up Koh Phi Phi. The first stop was for yet another monkey interaction which didn't go as smoothly as the previous. Lucy knelt down to feed a little monkey and got jumped by a 4-strong angry mob, leaving her with bite marks and shaky knees. How very dare they? We stopped off at a couple of snorkeling spots but the masks didn't seem to do their job and so i just spent most of the time diving off the top of the boat. As the afternoon drew to a close, we were told to swim from the boat and climb onto the rocks we could see being battered by waves on the shoreline, as the trail through the caves led to Maya beach, the beach used for the beach shots in the film centered around a beach... The Beach. It would have made a cracking photo if it wasn't for the hundred or so people swimming in the bay, and the fifteen or so boats bobbing away. Damn you Hollywood.

After a chilled out week on Phi Phi, it was time to head to Koh Phangan to prepare for the full moon party, the world's biggest beach party. We chose to stay within hit and run distance from the epicentre and randomly found a nice little place in Bon Kai, on the west of the island. It was a really nice quiet spot on an empty beach with hammocks to chill in whilst sipping smoothies and reading through their extensive collection of National Geographic back issues. It was home to a top restaurant that served perfect meals ever single time, providing the all comfort you need after the hectic nights out. The party is made up of about ten big sound systems blasting out of various bars all the way along Hat Rin Nok's white sandy beach. All the area in between the bars is full of stalls selling food and cheap booze. The most biggest rigs blast out none stop trance, but techno, breaks and dnb were also represented so we managed to avoid all the OTT euphoric mess! The nights leading up to the full moon, the partying is already in full swing, although the crowds are a little smaller (on the actual night there were around 30,000 people) and the police are not out to play. We made the foolish decision to go and party the night before the full moon and completely overdid it (well, Couch and myself did, the girls were sensible and called it a day at a sensible hour). I think we drank one too many buckets that night, the majority of us not really being able to give it our all on the full moon itself. We still had a good time both nights though, finding the festival feeling that we thought we would miss out on this summer. One of the most amusing parts of the night had to be when we stumbled across the 'safe sleep area'', a section of the beach where you could go and spin out / crash out under the safe eyes of volunteer carers!

After a day or two recovering, we began to heading north on the island and stayed on another really peaceful beach called Thong Nai Pan Yai. We spent a while there, just doing nothing at all. It was great. Actually, we went to check out a waterfall one day and found that someone had built a makeshift concrete dam halfway down it and was siphoning off the water! On the stroll back, we ended up passing through some weird little artist's retreat and spent a while chatting to the guy who lived there, admiring his artwork, secret garden and huge tree house. From Thong Nai Pan Yai, we took a water taxi to the secluded Bottle Beach, and then continued along the coast to Had Yao, yet another amazing beach with some wicked snorkeling at a reef just off the coast where we were lucky enough to see our first octopus! We stayed at a bungalow recommended by a mate and when checking in we were surprised to see a friend from Oz sitting there, a guy called Paddy who is from Emsworth and shares a few mutual friends! Chicken oriental (rhyming slang for 'mental').

Lazy life on the beach is all good, but too much of anything can get boring... so, i slapped everyone into shape and we all hopped on the ferry to Koh Tao for around a week of scuba diving. Again, we went for somewhere that had been recommended, as recommendations always seem to serve us well. Rather than stay at the hectic and expensive main beach, we headed down to a nice little sheltered beach in the north called Chalok Bon Kao. Lucy and Couch have never dived before so we got them signed up for their open water course, whilst Cheryl and myself put our names down to start our advanced diver course the following morning. Scuba diving in Koh Tao is near enough the cheapest place in the world to become certified, and the dive spots are up there with the best. There are so many dive companies operating there that they all fall over backwards to offer you the best deal, throwing in free beach side accommodation comes as standard. For our advance course we had to take two compulsory modules and three electives. The two compulsory are navigation and deep dive. The navigation dive was a blast. We got given big wristwatch compasses and a rough sketch of natural reference points before being taken through a 60ft deep underwater maze by our instructor who then told us to find our way back to the boat before disappearing into the distance. The following day was the big day i have been thinking about (dreading) since i first learned to dive - the deep dive. The deep dive module required us to dive to 30m, a very deep 100ft, and perform a series of tests to see whether we are effected by nitrogen narcosis, a condition which can make people do some very silly things when in a very dangerous situation! Luckily, neither of us showed any signs at all, although i kind of feel annoyed because i wanted to experience it! We were told before the dive that shark sightings were common at this dive site and we struck gold. A few minutes after settling on the sea bed we were circled by a few grey reef sharks, the biggest of which was well over 2m long, slowly cruising by and watching us with curious eyes.

For the chosen part of our certification, we selected peak performance buoyancy, diving naturalist and night dive. Peak performance was a good laugh, perfecting our ability to hover and swim through tight spaces. For the naturalist dive we had to lead our own dive, taking down identification cards, a pencil and slate, required to locate different corals, vertebrates and invertebrates for our instructor. The night dive was unbelievable. We set off just as the sun was setting and began to ascend just as the sky became dark. Each diver has a powerful torch in one hand, diving in complete darkness, other than the area which you choose to illuminate. We had been to this dive spot once before but in the dark it takes on a completely different form, it almost looks and feels and if you are floating through an alien landscape on another planet (sounds cheesy but i don't know how else to describe it!) You would think that the fact you are unaware of your surroundings may get your heart racing, but the night dive was probably the most relaxing dive i have taken.

While Couch and Lucy finished off their training dives, we hopped on their boat and went for a few fun dives to increase our dive tally. The visibility in Thailand is the best i have seen, at most sites you can see up to 30m at all depths, feeling like you are swimming in a giant fish tank! At one of the dive spots a few of us were diving off the top deck of the boat and i bumped into an evil little friend i hadn't seen since Fiji... the jellyfish. The little b****** got me right across the arm and hand. When i got back on the boat i found Lucy being attended too as she had just swam into his evil brother whilst on her dive. Doh.

The following day both Couch and Lucy finished their course and officially became certified divers. After a day of rest, we got together with a few friends we have made through our courses, and convinced the dive shop to arrange a 3-dive day trip for us so that we could do some fun dives together. We went to three amazing sites, the first being Sail Rock, just off Koh Phangan, which is rated as the top dive site round these 'ere parts. Loads of schools of large fish including barracuda, tuna and snappers. The top thing about this site is the rock chimney. Three metres wide, it begins at 8m and drops vertically down to 18m. We started at the bottom and swam up through it on the way back to the surface. Sweet as. The second and third dive were a bit closer to Koh Tao and at both sites we were the only people there, always a bonus. We saw loads of interesting fish here including giant groupers, scorpion fish and the rarely seen harlequin sweet lips (i know this probably means nothing to you but google them and have a butchers...). The day ended on a bad note unfortunately... oh yes, another jellyfish. I swam into this little bugger's tentacles at about 11m and had to use the tube of my regulator and my inflater to get him off. My breathing went to pot after the confrontation and i barely had enough air for my safety stop... not good. I rushed up the last 5m but had no signs of decompression sickness so its all gravy. Two jellyfish stings in two days. Harsh.

So now we are both certified advanced divers with twenty dives under our belts. Next stop - dive master! As i write this i am sitting in an internet cafe on another island, Koh Samui. Our visas run out in a few days so we are going to pop to Burma to get a fresh stamp and then probably head back over here for more diving! That's all from me for now. In the words of Jerry Springer - until next time, take care of yourselves, and each other. Adam x

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Photos

A room with a view
Looking out of our bungalow window, Bottle Beach, Koh Phangan.

Koh Panny
The sea-gypsy village.

Deep in thought
This little monkey and his friends came to visit our bungalows and raid our rubbish bins every morning in Koh Phi Phi, leaving us with a nice mess to wake up to. Ahhhhh.

Ready to take the plunge
The first fun dive with the four of us together. 'Couch, your mask is on back to front mate'...

Our bungalows on Koh Phi Phi
Look hard - the little brown things at the bottom of the cliff!

Full moon party refreshments
Design your own bucket. Binge drinking, Thai style.

Refreshing.
Couch and myself taking the quickest route from the boat to the water.

Sail Rock
It may only look like a little rock out in the ocean but this is one of Thailand's top diving spots. Its strange to think that just below the surface are hundreds of thousands of tropical fish!

Comments

[Kerry]

Feels like it's been ages...?
Thats cos it bloody well has been! How exactly am I supposed to live vicariously through your blogs if you dont blog? :P Gratz on Advanced Diver Status must be so chilled to hang out with the sharks. Jellyfish seem to like you though! Have a Goog one mate