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Officially Divers!
Hello everybody!
We are now in Koh Phangan., more about that later. I just want to give you an update on what we have been up to the past few days in Koh Tao.......DIVING!!!!
Diving is one of the most strangest experiences I have had, knowing that you cant actually breathe normally without the huge tank on your back and that if you surface to quickly your a gonna!!!
I had real problems equalising the pressure in my ears as we went down, it was so sooooo painful!!! Andi didn't have much of a problem. It took me a while to get down but I made it every time which was good. It really is another world down there. Its strange to think the coral is actually alive, there were so many colourful fish and just some really strange things on the sea bed...sea cucumbers.......trigger fish that chase you..........and lots lots more!!!!
One one of our dives there was a bit of confusion as to when and how we were surfacing, Andi went off too quickly but then realised and came back down. I then went up, again to quickly but no one else seemed to come up. When the instructor finally got to the surface Andi was still down just hovering. Anyway it wasn't very nice as I had blood all over my face as I had surfaced too quickly as I didn't get rid of my air and if you didn't know air expands as you get closer to the surface so I shot up like a rocket.
I felt really dizzy and sick and my ears hadn't popped so felt really poo for the rest of the night.
We went down to 17m and both passed the course but after each dive I felt dizzy and sick because of my ears. It was a good experience though!
Our room was pretty basic with a toilet that we had to flush ourselves with a bucket, so you can guess there was no hot water. The Island didn't have a great supply of electricity and it would cut out every now and then.
We did find a great place to eat!!!!! We could chose our own fish and watch it being cooked on the BBQ which was really cool!
I will let Andi have his say now
as he is waiting impatiently!
Lesley
Hey Peeps!
So, apparently, I'm an air pig, which basically means I breathe too much, like fat people in stair wells or paedophiles in nurseries, my stairwell of doom was the bottom of the sea! Though I think with good cause.
Apart from the horror stories of decompression injuries (the Bends etc) coupled with the irrational fear that gangs of Sharks have been savouring this one opportunity to get 'the gangly one with the freckles'! Jan, our instructor told us there were these über aggressive fish called trigger fish! Great...
Luckily, things went ok and any trigger fish stayed well clear of my rippling six-pack (that Jan confiscated later on).
Diving was sensory overload, utterly incredible... It really was another world! A world you can't touch as well apparently, after I accidentally whacked some coral with my air tank and I got told off.
We had originally planned to do the Full Moon party of course, but after arriving here (Koh Phanang) and witnessing the horrendous state of the beach on which it was held (glass and rubbish everywhere), I'm glad we fooked it off.
Koh Tao wasn't particularly fantastic, the Diving most certainly was! Thailand, however, is most certainly a victim of it's own success with tourism.
The Tourism trade here is expanding much much faster than the country can keep up with it. Signs of this are everywhere ranging from the sewage systems that pump directly into the sea (from toilet to beach in some cases), the natural irrigation of the forestry is being destroyed by loggers, leaving silt and mud to run off into the sea. Probably the most prominent evidence of this though, is the fact the country smells like there's a giant turd in the oven somewhere, it really has to be seen or rather smelt, to be believed! There is rubbish absolutely EVERYWHERE!
What was clearly once an amazing and beautiful country has sold itself down the river...
Our Jungle Trek starts in 6 days time in Northern Thailand, but back to the tourism thing once again, pretty much everyone we've spoken to has done it, so we're now waiting on baited breath of the possibility of seeing the-lesser-spotted camouflaged McDonalds sitting behind a bush!!
We'll obviously let you all know more, as and when, but from
my side kick and I,
Hey! I'm not your sidekick!! Thanks for reading!
Take Care
Andi
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MUM
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Fishes in the sea
Hi Andi and Lesley NIce to read your Travelblog and see your Photos.What an experience to swim under the sea,something not everyone gets to do.Did you see Nemo???.It sounds a bit smelly there ,but then Lesley you are used to smelly things following you about,Ha! Ha!.You both look well in the photos and seem to be enjoying yourself. Dad phoned Woodlands school today and spoke to Jackie and she is going to text or phone Laura to send her E-mail address to us.Nick is in the army now ,Tank regiment,in Germany where you were.Everyone here is ok Paris is coming round in a minute to stay the night,that means I have to get up early,whippeeeee.Take care of each other. lots of Love Mum and Dad.xxxxxxxxx