Published on
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 in
Koh Tao.
I love this place.
We’ve all quickly taken to our various dive courses, spending the days learning and diving and talking and eating and enjoying the beautiful scenery, both above and below the surface. Nights have been spent at a variety of beach bars and restaurants, with an eclectic group of people of all ages, backgrounds, and origins. It’s a lot of fun. The big group of us doesn’t scare people away, and in fact it seems to attract a lot of people traveling by themselves.
Yesterday was the final day of my SSI Advanced Adventurer course. I can now dive to 30m, at night, and use a dive computer to help me plan the dive… it doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a lot of fun and well worth the effort. We haven’t seen a whale shark, which isn’t so awesome, but I have swum with barracudas and giant groupers and a myriad of other sea dwelling creatures. It’s strange how much I like diving: I hate the beach, I’m not a fan of swimming in the ocean, and the sand shits me to tears. Somehow, this is different.
Last night we celebrated our various levels of qualification certification with a few drinks… this got a little messy and I suspect there were a few sore heads around today!
Published on
Sunday, September 20th, 2009 in
Koh Tao.
It’s been a fun filled few days… apologies for the bad typing: I’m using a Thai keyboard and the keys are half broken.
After emerging from three hours of sleep on Friday night, we left our hostel for the bus to Chumporn and the ferry from Chumporn to Koh Tao. The bus was intolerably hot and I wasn’t sure if I was dying or falling asleep. The air conditioner had broken and even the Thai dudes on the bus were hating life nearly as much as we were. It was six hours of absolute misery, and disembarking from the bus to the sweltering heat of a Thai noon was a welcome relief from the glasshouse.
We met a few cool people on the fery and we’ve been hanging out ever since, along with a few cool people spread between the various dive courses and refresher courses we’re doing. Our group of eight has swollen to a group of between five and fifteen. Last night we spent the evening eating on the beach, watching fireworks and getting to know our new German, Canadian, Dutch, American, English, and Kiwi friends. Good times… though better for others. Filer and Mark showed up at the hotel at 4am. I was home by 1, and up at 8… those guys haven’t emerged. Yet.
It’s hot. Really hot. The weather has been perfect: warm sunny days, and slightly cooler evenings with a nice breeze and thunderstorms on the horizon. Evenings are beer and food filled, with tales of the day spent diving. It’s awesome. Photos to come when I can be bothered… life here is all about maximum relax, minimum stress. Life is good.
Published on
Thursday, September 17th, 2009 in
Bangkok.
After a long but fairly comfortable Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bangkok, we breezed through customs and immigration an were unleashed on Thailand. Kind of.
We’re all here, having met over the past few days. It’s hot, humid, and crazy. We’re just far enough from the tourist ghetto to be relatively quiet and close enough to be convenient.
I don’t have any photos yet… Bangkok is merely a meeting poin for the rest of the adventure.
We leave for Koh Tao at 6am tomorrow… ouch!
In just 12 hours, I fly from Adelaide to Melbourne where I will meet with two friends before boarding our flight to Bangkok. We are expected to arrive in Bangkok late in the evening… which is meant to be relatively cool!
Over the coming days, we will all meet in Bangkok. Early on Friday morning, we depart Bangkok for Koh Tao.
The trip wouldn’t be complete without a little drama, and it’s happened before we’ve left. An enormous plastics fire sent a plume of smoke over the Adelaide skyline earlier this evening:
