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Published: October 17th 2008
After the madness of Bangkok we thought it would be a great idea to head to the south east and head off to the Samui islands. We went to Ko Tao first- a smaller island that is famous for its diving. This did not excite me because we all know how much I hate fish. We took an overnight bus from Bangkok that arrived at 4am. We then had to wait until 7am to board the boat. That was fun! We made it safely to Ko Tao and found that accommodation was going to be a bit difficult. There were tons of guys trying to sell us room/diving packages on our boat to the island, but we chose to ignore them and head off to the south part of the island on our own. We had heard that this was the more budget section. Well after getting there and paying 50B each for a taxi, we found that the prices were similar or more for crappy accommodation. We could instead head to a better part of the island and stay at a gorgeous resort for the same price IF we promised to dive. Well Megs, Chris and Jeff were diving for
sure, but considering I had done it before in Australia and hate fish I was still up in the air. We paid another 50B to get to this part of the island and arrived at Coral Beach Dive Resort. It was beautiful, right on the sand and had nice bungalows for cheap. It would cost about $100 for each of us to dive and the other 3 signed up, but I was still hesitant. After a day of sleeping in and lounging around the resort on the beach, I decided to do it. I was in- we would dive in two days. The next day we woke up to rain and were totally bummed out, considering all there was to do on the island was lay on the sand. We waited until about 1pm when it cleared up and rented motos to head to the south part of the island to relax on the less crowded part of the sand. We arrived at a small beach called Freedom beach and set up shop. The boys got some snorkel equipment while Megs and I opted for a one hour Thai massage in a beach bungalow. We had plans to head to
Shark Bay after this for some snorkeling with small reef sharks, but the weather proved to be bad and the visibility was nasty so no sharks for us. Jeff and I managed to successfully rent our first moto with no crashes, but the day did not end w/o some sort of drama. While trying to get her bike unlocked, Megan knocked it over into another moto and ripped a hole in the seat- GREAT! We have the worst luck with these things- and this was not even a proper crash!
We waited to turn the bikes in until it was dark and everything went fine- we are quite lucky with this and I am just waiting for our luck to run out.
We went to bed early to rest of for our big day of diving the next morning. We woke early and met our dive instructor, Ivan (but I liked to call him Vigor because of his thick accent). We went through some quick safeties of diving and then entered the pool to practice with our equipment. Both Chris and I had been on an intro dive before in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef, but after a
few years I was glad I had the pool practice. Plus I got to get used to breathing normally in the regulator BEFORE I freaked out and saw fish! We practiced how to use emergency air from our partners, taking the breathing apparatus in and out and clearing our mask of water. I thought I did pretty well.
We then had an hour lunch break before heading off to do the real thing. Our first dive was at a spot called Japanese Garden. It was full of coral and really pretty. I was a bit nervous because of course I hate fish and Ivan had to tell us about trigger fish- a fish that does not like people down there and will charge at your head! NOT FUN! I was tearing up by the time it was time to get in the water, but I survived. I actually did pretty well and we were all able to dive for 45 minutes at over 30 feet under water. I even had tiny fish eating at the moto accident scab on my knee, but did not freak out too much!
Our second dive, I did not fare so well. I
Jeff underwater
No... we do not have a water proof camera, but the water is so clear Jeff can hold the camera out of the water and take pics
still did ok, but my air was running out much quicker than the first dive. This dive was centered around a huge rock underwater, where tons of fish and coral live. Honestly, there were millions of fish in the water with me- this is not an exaggeration! Therefore, I used up more oxygen. Plus, we saw 3 trigger fish and as soon as Ivan gave us the sign for those my breathing increased. I felt a little disoriented a few times and kept bumping Jeff, but we still managed a 40 minute dive- not too bad considering I was freaking out most of the time. All in all, I did ok- considering how much I hate fish. I think I got over my fear just a little bit that day. Jeff fell in love with diving- like we all knew he would and plans to get open water certified when we head to the west coast of Thailand. I enjoyed it, but I guess it's just not my thing. I'll stick to getting a tan!
That night we headed off to Lotus, a beach club on the sand. There are tons of little chill bars right on the sand
with bean bag chairs and flame throwers. You sit right on the sand and watch the fire show and drink a beer. We absolutely loved it. This is how I imagined the islands of Thailand to be. It was super relaxing and super fun all at the same time.
After chilling on Ko Tao, we headed to the larger island of Ko Samui. Our ferry ride there was quite interesting as a huge water spout tornado formed in a storm and we watched it from the boat hoping it wouldn't come any closer. Luckily, we arrived in Ko Samui safely without going to Oz.
Ko Samui was a lot bigger than we had expected and finding cheap accommodation was quite difficult. After an hour of searching, we ended up finding a nice place down a small alley. Luckily there were four of us, so we were able to get a large AC room with TV, DVD player, hot water and two huge rooms for cheap cheap! It was the nicest room we had in a while. Since we were exhausted from our trip, we decided to buy some cheap DVD’s in town, have a nice dinner and make it
a movie night. (I'm sure this is exactly what Megan had planned when she came to Thailand!). Our DVD player failed to work that night, so we were forced to watch Fox News' coverage of the election and all the scandal going on.
The next day, we decided to get away from the crowded Cheweng Beach we were staying at and head to a more secluded beach a bit up the coast of Ko Samui. This beach was quite nice and in a cove which made it nicer to swim at than our dirty beach. Still, it did not compare to the beauty of Ko Tao and we were a bit disappointed. The next was a big day for us- we were taking the ferry to Ko Phan Nang for the world famous "Full Moon Party" so we needed to rest. We stayed around Cheweng Beach and lounged on the big crowded beach before finally getting nap in to prepare for the night. There was a little confusion about whether or not the party was actually going to happen due to a Buddhist holiday, but we talked to some travel agents who insisted the party was confirmed for that
night and bought our speed boat tickets to Ko Phan Nang. We would leave at 11pm that night and take 1/2 hour to get to the island. The full moon party lasts until 11am the next morning so we knew it was going to be a late night. We had also heard some scary stories from the full moon party which included tons of broken glass and many people on drugs. We knew we would have to take extra precautions and make sure we were all safe. We even decided to wear tennis shoes (yes on the sand!) to avoid getting our foot split open from bottles! We had met up with Angela (the Hawaiian New Yorker we met in Pai) and the five of us headed to the pier. When we arrived at the pier there were tons of people and we were given a number and told to wait till our number was called to get our boat. Thirty minutes after we were suppose to leave Megan and I were quite tired of waiting so we decided to have a chat with the people who were running the show. We "calmly" explained to them that we had been
waiting a while and wanted to know how much longer it would be. Of course, this is Thailand so you can't get an answer and therefore we didn't leave until we had one. I think they were tired of dealing with us and told us that our party of five could get on the next boat coming in. YES! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! We were on Ko Phan Nang by midnight and walked into the craziness that is the full moon party.
There are tons of beach bars lining the sand and everybody spills out onto the sand for dancing and drinking. We began hoping from place to place in search of some good music and realized we just kept walking. As we walked I was amazed at the amount of passed out people there were lying in the sand. It was actually a game to make sure you saw everyone and didn't step on anyone sleeping in the sand!
After dancing the night away until about 6:30am we were completely exhausted and over the whole thing so we headed back to the pier as the sun was coming up. Of course, there was a line to get back on
the boat that took about an hour, but by 8am we were in bead back on Ko Samui! As you can imagine, we didn't do much the next day, but sleep and eat McDonald's!
That night we had a great dinner to celebrate Megan's last night with us. She would fly to Bangkok to catch an early morning flight back home the next am and we would head to the west coast of Thailand. It was great to have a good friend out here with me just to hang out with and talk to. I would be lying if I said I didn't get a bit homesick when she left. Luckily, I have my parents coming out in a few months and plenty of things to keep me busy until then. I cannot believe how quickly time is going and how long I have already been gone. I have come to realize that everyday when I wake up, this is no longer a vacation- this is my life and it is truly amazing!
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Nins
non-member comment
BAHHHHHHHHH
omg so fun its been too long. WISH I WAS THEREEEEEEE ur the bomb