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Published: April 21st 2008
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Monks collecting alms
Michelle giving the monks their daily food at 6am Hi!
How is everyone? We hope that you're all keeping well. I'm a bit behind on the blogging so this is a bit of a catch up.
The morning we left Luang Prabang, Laos, we got up extra early (around 5.30ish am) in order to see the Buddist monks collecting their alms (their daily food). This is done because the monks aren't allowed to buy themselves any food so they live off the food that is donated to them by the locals each morning. It's quite long and complicated why this is done so I will try to make it short and sweet....
Basically Buddists believe that suffering is caused by desire and the want for material things. In order to eliminate this suffering, whilst ordained as monks they take away all luxuries and just live off the basic essentials. They don't have their own accommodation, they live in tiny little cells with nothing inside, a lot worse than prison (they have no playstations!) They don't have their own clothes, they always wear robes. They're not allowed to buy their own food, therefore they survive off food that is donated to them each day (normally just plain
Monks collecting alms
This is a daily ritual for the monks rice). Every Buddist male must become a monk at one time in their life and they believe that if they can live happily without desire for things...Buddha will reward them.
Whilst I don't believe in all of the Buddist beliefs, I do think that Buddism is one of the nicest religions around. They don't believe in fighting (before anyone mentions...the Tibetian monks have a different religion to the Thai buddists) and they're not pushy about their religion which is good.
Anyway, after giving the monks their alms, we got the bus to a small and relaxed town called Vang Vieng, Laos. As I mentioned in the last very short blog, we were both a bit ill in Vang Vieng with tummy bugs so unfortunately didn't get to see and do everything we wanted to do here. However, we got a really nice feel for the place...it was very laid back!
After Vang Vieng, we got a bus to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. As soon as we arrived here we could see that the New Year celebrations had really taken off. All the Lao locals were now off work/school for the New Year holidays and were all
Vang Vieng
Views from our room in Vang Vieng, Laos over the streets playing loud music, dancing and throwing water all over each other. Unfortunately we couldn't get any pictures of this as we feared for our cameras life if we took it out the bag as water was flying everywhere! It was a lot of fun to see this and, yes, get involved as the locals threw water and talc en powder all over us. The day before we left we popped out of our hotel in the afternoon just to collect our laundry (a 5 minute walk down the road) and got absolutely soaked and covered in powder....it was funny at the time but wasn't so much when we got back to the hotel to find that our DRY laundry was now again soaking wet...oh well!
The city itself wasn't at all like a capital city as it was very laid back, more like a large town. We saw the New Year celebrations out until 16th April and then headed towards the border back into Thailand.
After pretty much two full days of travelling we arrived at our current destination, a small island in Southern Thailand called Koh Tao. We love it here!! We got the midnight
New Year celebrations in Vientiane, Laos
This is what happened to us when we tried to collect our laundry from 5 minutes down the road!! ferry over to the island which left the Chumphon port at (you guessed it!) midnight and arrived on the island at 6am. This was certainly an experience! We got chatting to a couple from Damascus who had travelled all over the world and so got some really useful tips from them. The boat had tiny, thin mattresses on the floor which we were supposed to sleep on and no working fans or air-con. We also shared the boat with a family of about 10 huge cockroaches. So after very little sleep we were happy to see the island approaching threw the window...it looked very picturesque and worth the journey here. The day we arrived Michelle was starting her Open Water PADI scuba diving course, thankfully it didn't start until 1.30pm so I got chance to catch up on a bit of sleep before starting it. The first day just involved classroom and theory work so I went down to the reception to meet my instructor and other classmates, and was very surprised to learn that there was only me and one other guy starting the course that day. This was good news as it meant that we had one instructor
Midnight boat to Koh Tao
Stu and some friends we made from Damascus on the midnight boat to Koh Tao between only two of us. My buddy, Nik and I had fun watching the course videos and answering the short quizzes about it. We finished in the classroom at around 6.30pm.
We met the next day at 8.00am, ready to dive in the swimming pool for our confined water dives and learn the skills. Our instructor, Marije, was really good and she explained everything really well...I always felt very safe with her. After doing a beginners dive in Turkey a few years back and really enjoying it, I was apprehensive as to whether I would enjoy it as much as I had remembered. The instructor showed us how to set up the equipment, and after doing it 3 times ourself we were ready to jump in! We had to jump into the deep end of the pool, as soon as we were in the water and breathing under it, both me and Nik knew we were going to enjoy it. We did all the skills needed for the confined dives in one morning and our instructor rold us we were doing our first two open water dives in the sea that same afternoon...we were very excited!!
Everyone on
Diving in swimming pool
Michelle preparing for her first jump into the swimming pool with the scuba gear the boat was very friendly and we anchored in beautifully clear and warm waters...we could see the fish from the oat before even getting in the water. Our first dive lasted around 45 mins...it was great. Marije made us feel very comfortable and confident in the water, it was a fantastic dive. Again our second dive lasted around 50 minutes and we saw some amazing fish.
The next day, we did our final theory exam in the morning and we both past (49 out of 50...exams always seem easier when it's something you enjoy!) and in the afternoon we did our final two dives. Stu also came on the boat with us and did some snorkelling. We had our dives filmed (including our skills tests at the bottom) and we're going to watch this in the bar tonight...I'll probably purchase it if it's good :-) So I'm now a qualified diver and starting my Advanced Open Water course in a couple of days which I'm really glad about as I wasn't ready to hang up my flippers just yet! My buddy Nik has also decided to do the Advanced course so we can still be buddies.
Tomorrow me,
Open water diving course
Me and my buddy Nik getting our first instructions from our fantastic instructor, Marije. Stu and Nik are all taking part in an enviroment day...me and Nik will be diving again to clean and inspect the underwater coral for damage. Later in the day, we will all take part in releasing baby turtles safely into the water, as a lot of the time the babies don't actually make it into the sea due to silly and selfish tourist behaviour. That night, we're all going to a BBQ at the other side of the island.
Whilst we've been here we've met and spoken to many people who either keep retunring to the island time and time again or have moved here permenantely after a short visit here. When we first arrived we had heard about the "Koh Tao virus"...when you catch it the island just keeps drawing you back to it! We didn't think much of it at the time, but now we certainly understand what everyone was talking about. The people are so friendly and you soon feel part of a community, the scenery is stunning and the island is still quite undeveloped...making it very peaceful and relaxing. We really love it here (don't worry we're not planning on moving here!) and have
already planned to extend our stay here a few more days.
Thanks again for all your messages, comments and emails....it's really nice to hear from everyone and we think of you often.
We hope that everything is okay in England (or wherever you're reading this from!)
Lots of love, Michelle & Stu xxxx
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Grandma Leatham
non-member comment
hi
I'm really enjoying reading your blogs and they are beautifully written i might add! I'm planning your jurney on my map and its getting quite full of crosses for the places you have been. I''ve also got a thomas cook brocher and the scenery is beautiful!!!!! missing you lots, keep the blogs cuming and good luck with the advanced diving exam love from us all Grandma, Hilary, Alex, Victoria ect x