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Published: October 20th 2006
It's been a while since our last update, sorry about that! Life on the islands is a bit slower than the real world!
After leaving Bangkok we headed straight to Koh Phangan for the imfamous Full Moon Party, which was really crazy (basically a music festival on a white sandy beach, Thai-style). There were a lot of people passed out on the beach the next morning, Joanna and I were convinced we had poisoned ourselves drinking Thai whisky several days before, so we took things a bit slower and enjoyed the fire dancers and sloped home at a half-decent hour.
After leaving the party beaches of Haad Rin, we spend a week or so seeking out the perfect white sandy beaches from the brochures, which was harder than expected, most of them are so remote we had to get taxi boats to places where there were no roads. Still, absolute paradise once you got there compared to Haad Rin which was a bit like the Beenidorm of the east (although no where near Koh Samui, by the sounds of it). There's not much in between either full-on hedonism, or seculded bays with limited electricity during the day - so
Bottle Beach, Koh Phangan
The view from our beach hut - almost the perfect paradise, but we will keep searching...we choose the latter and had a lazy week improving our tans, getting thorugh a vast library of book, and arguing over which two-letter words you are allowed in Scrabble. Very, very relaxing, but sometimes a little damp as Thailand treated us to days of beautiful sunshine with monsoon-style rain showers at night.
Four days ago we took a catamaran to Koh Tao in serach of more relaxation... which didn't happen. The temptation of unbeleivably cheap diving courses and the general vibe meant that we quickly signed up for our PADI open water courses... God knows why as Joanna can't even put her head under the water in the swimming pool! Possibly a disasterous move...
But worry not readers, we are here alive and well today as certified PADI divers (ie. we can now go diving to 18 metres on our own whenever the fancy takes us... a very scary thought). We have to thank Steve, our Dutch instructor, who managed to change us from terrified wrecks to half-decent (ie slightly wobbily) divers! We've had a great four days, and the atmosphere among our group has been really great. After a day learning to 'scuba' in the pool
After Our Last Dive
Sense the relief in our faces! (ie. how to breathe, which was a useful skill we all agreed) they quickly got us into the sea and we had four forty minute dives over two days, the deepest to 18 metres. The dives themselves were amazing and we saw so many fish - some scary, some cute. The beautiful weather also helped as it meant that the visability was great and that the water was the calmest they had seen for months. We have to say we were still petrified on our last dive, not sure we'll every feel as confident as Steve wanted us to be - flipping ourselves off the side of the boat into a summersalt with a full tank on your back doesn't seem natural on your fourth ever dive, but hey - we did it!
Sorry, we couldn't afford the dive DVD (yes, we had a camera man with us!), but we promise to draw you all diagrams when we get back of us forward rolling into the water 'James Bond style' (cue music) and freaking out when massive maray eels set their beady eyes on us underwater!!
Bring on the Barrier Reef!!
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andrew
non-member comment
everyone turns into their mother
Glad to get an up date on your travels and pleased to hear there was no unfortunate stingray incident. I assume you heard about Steve Irwin, James went to a fancy dress party as him shortly after. Not necessarily tasteful but certainly head turning. I have come to the conclusion that TravelBlog is the work of the Devil as it only serves to point out how dull and uneventful life back home is. So in retaliation I would like to point that on the third picture you have adopted a typical "Mums" pose; food in one hand with bizare gesturing and the classic eyes closed for the camera. Appologies to Wendy and Mum if she ever sees this but you both know what I mean, something of a Harris sister trait. Good luck with future travels and please feel free to report all bad weather, animal attacks, loss of luggage and any tropical diseases you may contract. Love Andrew Bitterdike. xxx