This little beauty is my favourite place in the world… That I’ve been. It’s a small island about 45 minutes away from Koh Phi Phi by long tail boat. The beaches are whiter than white and the only things on the island are a ranger hut and a small fishing community. The tourist boats stop coming after 3pm and for a small fee your allowed to camp (twice we camped over and twice we had the whole Island to ourselves). Watch our Travel Video – Bamboo Island Camping.

3 reasons to camp on Bamboo Island:

• It is a paradise Island with nobody else there.
• The coral reef just off shore is some of the best snorkelling I’ve ever done.
• It’s right under the nose of the tourist trail but still most people opt for camping on MaYa Bay (THE Beach from the movie “The Beach”)

2: Motorcycles on Highway 1, Laos.

Again it’s another one that most tourists in Laos will pass along but almost none will stop. For me the part of the road between Vang Vieng and Luang Probang is just breathtaking, I’ve heard it gets better the further north you go but if you rent a motorbike and ride it yourself you will see just what I’m talking about – doing this made me re-evaluate the way I travel and made me wonder what I had missed while on tourist buses thundering through the heart of a place. Watch our Travel Video – The Long Way Laos.

3 reasons to ride Highway 1:

• The scenery is epic and the road passes through some beautiful villages.
• A night in Phou Khoun will open your eyes to what real Laos village is like before the tourists arrive.
• Cresting the mountain and looking down to Luang Probang sat on the mighty Mekong is something you’ll never forget.

3: Thong Reng Beach, Koh Phangan, Thailand.

And finally, yet another place that is within spitting distance of the backpacker trail. It’s so close to Haad Rin you can almost see the lights but that’s what makes it such a quiet place. Just around the headland no more than 10 minutes by long tail boat this small cove has it all – cheap beach huts, great food and the feeling of being deserted on a paradise island. Thong Reng beach is one of the few places that as I’ve arrived I’ve thought
“I could live there forever.” Watch our Travel Video – Koh Phangan.

3 reasons to find your way to Thong Reng:

• It’s too close not to go and Koh Phangan has so much more than just the party.
• It’s home to a beautiful resort called Treehouse, with huts right on the sand.
• When you get there you will want to throw your passport into the sea and never leave.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Emerson

“Any man can spend his time making money… But there is not a man in the world with enough money to buy more time”… Big A

As you may or may not know we did eventually come to a decision about what we were going to do – either stay in Sihanoukville with all our mates and work on Koh Ru or go back to the UK… Well we are going home!

It was the sensibly choice really (not that we really do sensible) and a few things swayed it for us, if it hadn’t been such a quiet low season and we could have got more work then we would have probably stayed but as it is – there wasn’t and we’re not. So if your reading this from the UK then see you soon!!!

Armed with our decision we spent the last few days setting the homeward bound wheels in motion, flights needed to be changed and things needed to be planned. It was actually a day of mixed emotions, we are very attached to the people and places in Sihanoukville and after a week or more of thinking we were staying, suddenly going home was a hard thing to tell everyone there. But we then had the elation of being able to tell everyone back in England we will be home for the summer… Despite the sadness of leaving Sihanokville and all the amazing people there we knew instantly that we had made the right decision and put it away so we could carry on having fun with them all before we left.

With only a few days left we spent them wisely – top daytime priority was to get oily and horizontal on the beach so we could return to the UK golden brown – texture like sun. Sessions had another re-launch party, this time for the all new menu so that was a must and just like every other night at Sessions bar we all ended up completely pissed and having a large one. Oh and for the record the food was absolutely superb!

The next night was a slow starter and with no real plans we all sat about at Monkey Republic having a few jars. Jimbo (of Sessions fame) was working and that’s a man that likes it lively, so faced with a bar full of people half asleep he decided to have a cheese night, cheesy music that is. 1000 riel per song request and within half an hour shots were being lined up, people were dancing on the bar and we had already heard such cheesy classics as Meatloaf – Bat out of hell, Duran Duran – Rio and the theme tune to Cheers…

The night ended with Georgie cuddling the bin next to the bed, trust Jimbo to be able to drag a party out of a half dead bar with only a handful of ex-pats in it… Top night

That leads us to yesterday, or last day In Sinhanoukville for the foreseeable future. We spent most of it on the beach and it was a scorcher, not a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating as hard as we have ever seen. We had Otres beach almost to ourselves and the sea was warm, sparkling and crystal clear. A beautiful last day on a beautiful stretch of white sand… What more could you want. Georgie was a bit over keen and when we got back to Monkey in the late afternoon she started to feel as she put it “strange”. Nonetheless we had things to do and places to go, first stop was the pharmacy for all those things that require a prescription back in the UK but in Cambodia are easier to come by than a newspaper. Next up, return our moped (shitty little thing wasn’t a patch on the beast I had in Laos) and get started on the arduous task of packing, something told me we’d be in no fit state to do it by the time we went to bed.

In fact I think it was the fact we were headed down Sessions again for dinner… Dinner turned into a few beers and then people started getting silly, mainly our friend Kate and Georgie, they gold of a bag of tinsel and bin bags and for some reason made me a bin-bag suit complete with a tail, wings and a tie… I think the idea came from a drunken conversation the two had had the previous night and for some reason I fell foul to it… But I will say this – I rocked that bin bag suit all the way back to Monkey, I looked damn good! If not a little like a rubbish covered Fred Flintstone.

We went back to Monkey for a few more beers and a few shots then Scott finished working and we all went back to Sessions where once again things got a bit messy… We staggered out around 2am, had a few teary goodbyes with lots of hugging and handshaking and then we were gone…

We will definitely go back and it will be for a longer period but it just wasn’t the right time this time round.

Once again we have had the time of our lives in Sihanoukville and it’s all thanks to one of the best bunch of people we have ever met, they are all so warm and welcoming, friendly and fun and it was really hard to leave that all behind yet again, but we made a decision, the right decision and we can’t wait to get back to the UK to see everyone again and start planning our wedding…

Our bus left this morning at 7:15am we managed four hours sleep, were still rather pissed and feeling very much worse for wear but trust me it was all fucking worth it!

If anyone in Sihanoukville is reading this then thanks again and thanks for everything we actually love you all with all we’ve got…

Thanks Lee

Thanks Scott

Thanks Duncan

Thanks Lucy

Thanks Grumpy Dave

Thanks Stuart

Thanks Clare

Thanks Kate

Thanks Eddie

Thanks Dave

Thanks Mr Thy

Thanks Tac and all the others at Monkey

And last but certainly not least thanks Jimbo, for me at least it was hardest of all to say goodbye to one of the soundest blokes I’ve ever met – top lad!!! MAD FER IT!

Because there are just too many pictures of our last days in Sihanoukville I have slapped a slideshow up for your viewing pleasure… Enjoy.

Life in Sihanoukville is going pretty good, we have been struggling with plans on what to do next and it’s been hanging over us for a while now but finally we have some stuff set in stone. The very very original plan from way back when was always to end up here in Sihanoukville and try to find some work… But of course that all changed all over the place. With all sorts of ideas flying around somehow we have managed to come full circle and ended where we planned to – in Sihanoukville looking for jobs, we have a sort of interview later today for both of us to manage a small Island resort an hour off the coast called Koh Ru on Bamboo Island, we have been there before and to be honest it’s a paradise. We are still at a bit of a crossroads as to what we actually want but if we get a job offer we can then make a proper decision… If we don’t, then its back to the UK with us. So thats the final plan of our whole trip – fifteen months and the end is very possibly in sight.

As for life in Sihanoukville we have been hob-nobbing with the ex-pats and travelers alike, Sessions bar had a re-launch party after a recent face lift and teamed with an afternoon of free beer it ended as most nights down at Sessions ends – in a big mess. I blame the free beer at 5:30pm, I mean what’s a man to do, all self control goes out the window when someone re-fills your glass and asks for no money! 7:00pm came around, by which point Grumpy Dave and I were well leather-ed (Georgie apparently has self control when it comes to beer) the free beer dried up and so did our interest. We popped back to Monkey Republic for some big food to soak it all up then headed down the beach to tackle the free BBQ and new shot bar at Sessions… Georgie had to put me to bed by 11:30pm, I had watched a rather large Russian sink six shots in a row and decided I would show him who was boss, bear in mind I had already had a few too many courtesy of Jimbo, Mike (Canadian friend) and Grumpy Dave but I got seven lined up and sank the lot… I’ve never drunk so much that I can’t remember anything the next day and let me tell you I’m not really a fan, apparently the shots were a cocktail of absinthe, tequila and whatever else was to hand and the next day I was rudely awoken by my very first proper hangover. I can’t even remember leaving Sessions but it’s OK because luckily Georgie filmed the whole walk home and everything for a giggle… She has since shown most people we know.

The hang over lasted a whole day and most of the next and the only time we really managed to get out of Monkey was for free beer time, this time though I exercised some self control in the name of self preservation!!!

Apart from that we’ve been busy on the job hunt and trying to get to the bottom of what we really want to do. We had a nice afternoon with all the ex-pats at a BBQ yesterday and I thought maybe after that we would be much more eager to land a job but I don’t think it worked, once we knew we going to head home we both started to get excited and now there is a possibility of a job we really don’t know what to do… We will wait to see if this fella wants to leave the running of his business in our hands and then decide but to be honest if not then we will go home happy as Larry to see friends and family again and happy in the knowledge that – we’ve seen amazing things, been to beautiful places, met the best bunch of people and blown a lot of money having the time of our lives…

]]> http://happytimeblog.co.uk/cambodia/sihanoukville/060709-sihanoukville-or-bust/feed/ 3 http://happytimeblog.co.uk/desktop-wallpaper/july-2009-desktop-wallpaper-now-up-for-grabs/ http://happytimeblog.co.uk/desktop-wallpaper/july-2009-desktop-wallpaper-now-up-for-grabs/#comments Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:46:30 +0000 Aaron Bradford | HappytimeBlog.co.uk http://happytimeblog.co.uk/2009/07/05/july-2009-desktop-wallpaper-now-up-for-grabs/ July’s Desktop Wallpaper Download is of Bamboo Island, A small and uninhabited Island near Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. We were backpacking through Thailand and while on a day trip we stopped off there. It was paradise! We went back to Phi Phi and arranged for a nights camping on Bamboo Island, we were the only people there! Bamboo Island is my favourite place in the world, if I never travel again I’ll be happy with knowing I’ve been there!

Widescreen (1920 x 1200) | Standard (1280 x 1024) 

With almost a week of Sihanoukville monkey business now behind us it feels like we never really left. The days following our glorious return were spent out on the very fine and well kept Independence beach, although it’s technically a private beach owned by a very flashy hotel we have never had to pay to use it and we never get any hassles there either.

The nights however were a different story – beer fueled rampages, tower after tower of Anchor beer and for Toby a couple more nights sat around the blackjack table. Georgie and I left the casino to Toby and a few other people we have met and instead soaked up that Monkey Republic atmosphere we have been so very addicted to.

Toby had to leave and head back to Bangkok early Tuesday morning so of course we had to have a real bender on Mond ay night to see him off proper, it’s a shame he had to go so early and we will miss having him tagging along but he has places he needs to go and if we were to back to Thailand again we would be broke… So we’re going to stay here in Sihanoukville for a while.

Sadly though Lee is off on a mammoth ten week holiday and last night was his last night with us, we started the day as usual… Coffee and recovery breakfast but by the time the afternoon came around we’d recovered just enough and caught wind of a local rival bar offering free beer (100% free no catch) between 5:30 – 7:00pm… I have only ever seen two free bars in my entire life but I have never had the chance to  take full and proper advantage of them… I felt if nothing, that I owed it to Toby to drink his share too, also it worked out perfectly with Lee’s leaving party which was arranged in town for 7:30.

Georgie took a little longer than usual getting ready and I sat at the bar talking to Grumpy Dave (the sausage king of Sihanoukville) working up a very unhealthy thirst.

Dave headed off to go and get started and I rushed Georgie along, by 6pm we were there and the beer began to flow. Bless them, I don’t think they anticipated the thirst of a bunch of tight arsed backpackers and expats to be anything like it was and with  everyone shouting at passers by “Oi you… Free beer” the place was soon rammed and I don’t think the tap stopped once until the first barrel was empty… Thats when things started to heat up because in the time it took to change the barrel everyone had finished off their beer and was demanding another – they had created a thirsty, beered up mob and the only thing to calm us was more beer. 7pm came around a lot sooner than any of us would have liked and with that a good slice of customers who had just been walking down the street to do laundry and stuff staggered off to finish whatever they were up to before we dragged them in. By 7:30 we had all finished up our freebies and it was time for us to get to Lee’s party.

Georgie, Grumpy Dave and I staggered down to a Tuk Tuk and rolled into the Khmer restaurant Cabbage Garden spot on time but thoroughly pissed. All the Monkey staff were there as was half of the Sihanoukville expat community, we kept the beer coming and ordered far too much grub but it was a cracking meal and it came in at only $6 a head… Somehow it didn’t seem fair – having drank and eaten our own weight in beer and excellent food but only forked out $12…

Back to Monkey for a few more drinks and last goodbyes to Lee which had Georgie welling up and then off to bed, as Grumpy Dave left he slid over to me and said “same time tomorrow boy”

to which I replied “of course sir”…

Well… The night before full moon was supposed to be one of rest and relaxation in preparation for the big one but it just wasn’t to be… Sarah was feeling the strain and went to bed good and early and Georgie and I decided we would just pop along to Glacier bar on the beach for a little one while she span some fire. Of course the problem with having a little one on Koh Phangan is that it never really stops there, it’s always cheaper to get a bucket than a couple of drinks and lured by the budget thats what we did. Georgie span some wicked fire – really getting into it and pulling off new tricks all the time and I slowly worked my way down the bucket.

Feeling all excited having played in front of the biggest crowd yet Georgie was a bit wired and one bucket turned into two… And so on!

Again somehow we managed to end up thoroughly pissed dancing like fools until Georgie realised she was far too drunk to carry on and we wobbled back to bed.

FULL MOON PARTY day!!!!!

It started horizontally on the beach as usual in a combination of tanning and recovery, only ever venturing off it for food. By midday the beach was rammed with people who have probably all crawled out of their huts because the sun had started to heat them up just us. It was a beautifully clear day and as the sun started to set the previous nights effects of the buckets had started to lift and with it the excitement and crowds grew, we sat on the sand and watched the sky turn vividly pink while the full moon rose out of the sea above us and made the sea sparkle.

We got some grub and then started the mammoth task of getting painted up… Bear in mind that I’m with two girls who love to faff and can’t make their minds up for shit… I think we managed to get all good and ready in a record three hours, which trust me is a big achievement! Georgie went for the standard more is more approach to body paint, Sarah went for a subtle line of hearts from top to bottom and I went for my world famous under water themed full sleeve – we looked the nuts!

While I was waiting for the girls to get ready I managed to sink best part of a bucket all by myself so by the time we stepped onto the sand I was already half pissed. We looked the part, I certainly felt the part and the beach was THE part – already crowded with party goers and vibrating from the thumping bass it was glorious. Having slowly worked our way up to it for a week we wasted no time and got bang on it. We started with a quiet drinkipoos at Glacier, watching some fire and of course Georgie had a go too, she played to the biggest crowd she ever has and they loved it! She went down a storm!

We finished our first bucked and then went along to see Sanny for a proper bucket – word is that some unscrupulous bucket sellers fill their buckets with cheaper spurious booze, I’m not saying Sanny is one of those sellers, all I’m saying is one of Sanny’s buckets always sees us alright.

Drink, drink, drink – Dance, dance, dance… Again.

A new addition since the last time we were at full moon was a couple of first aid tents, to one side of each tent was a large fenced off area carpeted with crash mats and even well before midnight they were full to bursting with people who had passed out and were throwing up all over themselves… It was an awesome sight and the perfect advert against binge drinking, bless them it was such a spectator sport people were passing by and taking pictures of the worst ones… It was like a big petting zoo of beached whales just rolling about and groaning. We sat for a while so not to burn out to soon and bumped into a guy we had met a few months ago in Lombkok called Benji – a great guy and loads of fun, we chatted to him and his girl for a while about where we’ve all been and what we’ve all seen but before long the buckets had battered Sarah and before she got as bad as the beach wale brigade she staggered off into the night to go and pass out in the dignity of our beach hut.

Georgie and I stayed and partied with Benji and his Mrs until the wee small hours when finally Georgie had had enough too – like a gentleman I walked her back to our hut and put her to bed, then headed back out through the crowds and the UV displays to dance some more with my Lombok buddy.

I was under orders to go and get the girls when the sun started to rise so I said my goodbyes to Benji and staggered off down the beach to our little hut. I tried to wake the girls but they were having none of, it they were still far too pissed and the hut had a stale air of fresh sick about it so I got myself a beer and sat on the beach watching the sun rise over the still pounding beach, the wreck head ravers dancing in the sea and the now exposed lovers rolling in the sand… It was beautiful but I too was completely done-in and knowing that I probably only had an hour or two of quality sleep before our hut turned into the oven I dragged myself off the beach and went to bed in a spinning room.

I’m sure you know exactly how the following day went… Hard!

Ousted from our room by 10 am because it was, as predicted, like an oven (perfect for a hangover) we took refuge on a beach under a shady palm drifting in and out of sleep all day long. We managed to book our tickets away from party central Koh Phangan for the following day while we had a few moments of energy and ventured out for dinner – but that didn’t last long and an early night was the only option left. All in all our time on Koh Phangan and at the full moon party was awesome, we were glad to have ventured away from Haad Rin if only for a day and this time round I’d managed not to get fighting with anybody at full moon which is always a bonus but as always I was sad to be leaving. The full moon party was every bit as good as last time and I’m pretty sure Sarah had the time of her life in amongst all the thumping music, white sand and cheap grog.

Hangovers gone we were faced with the sweaty trek across the peninsular to Koh Phi Phi and the less said about that journey the better…

Tan update…

I’m literally the colour of chocolate, Georgie is golden and Sarah is a little pink in places but getting there. As you can probably tell we are bang into the Haad Rin routine, lay on the beach recovering by day – drink too many buckets and dance too much by night.  Wednesday was just such a day and come the evening we took a walk up the beach for a couple of buckets and a fire show, they got the football board out again and this time Sarah was with us – so they both queued up to have a go. The barmen instantly recognised Georgie and the chap with the ball rubbed sand on it to try and put her off her game… Would you believe it didn’t work!!! Yet again she managed to put the ball straight through the toughest hole without so much as touching the sides and yet again we got a free bucket of fun. Now I know Georgie can’t kick a ball to save her life and I know the odds of getting a ball through a hole that small, from that far away, on sand are pretty much stacked against and to do it once must be a fluke… But twice? In her defence – she aimed to do it, she did it and then she did it again… Must be skill!

It’s a little hazy but I’m pretty sure Wednesday night on Haad Rin went a little something like this…Bucket, bucket, bucket, dance, dance, dance, bucket, bucket…etc.

Thursday we managed to pull ourselves out of bed in good time for a little field trip we had planned to another beach on Koh Phangan called Thong Reng, where the new Treehouse lodge is located. We stayed at the Treehouse Lodge in Koh Chang when we were there last and loved it so much that we went everyday for every meal and even partied there, so we we felt obliged to check it out.

We strolled down the beach and picked up a longtail boat to take us the twenty minutes around the east side of the Island – half as long as going by car. Sarah hadn’t yet been on a longtail boat so it was mucho mucho fun all round, bouncing off the waves with the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair. From the sea the  bay where Treehouse is located looks rocky and poky but once we’d thrown ourselves over the side and waded, in it was beautiful! The actual beach wasn’t very long but it stretched way back into a shady palm tree forest dotted with bungalows  and a small beach bar, pure white sand framed each side by large rocks that lead up towards untouched green hills – to say it was idyllic would be and understatement. We hiked up the grassy hill to the actual main Treehouse lodge to get some breakfast, the set up here is very different to that on Koh Chang (the best beach restaurant/bar in the world… FACT) and to be honest the actual main restaurant lets it down, it lacks the rustic beach bar feel of its namesake in Chang but on the up side it does serve up the same delicious and cheap grub so we got stuck in then headed back down the hill to the beach and went for a swim to cool off.

We stayed all day down on the quiet beach enjoying perfect sunshine and the tranquil surroundings. A couple of puppies were playing in the sea which kept Georgie amused and with a hansom supply of proper deck chairs we were spoilt.

The sun set over our perfect little bay and we retreated to the restaurant for some dinner before our taxi boat came back to pick us up at 9 pm, it was nice if not a little too quiet and by the time the boat arrived we were more than ready to get back to our little slice of Haad Rin. The moonlight boat ride back was stunning, the moon is nearly full and in a clear sky it was so bright that it made the water sparkle like a million tiny candles… I would have been happy to drop anchor and sleep there!

New dream… I want an old fishing boat and turn it into a house boat, initial enquiries reveal that for the princely sum of £10,000 – £15,000 I can but one that is sea worthy and about 50ft long which means there’s plenty of space for the jet ski and many bikini clad ladies (as seen on all the best boats).

This leads me perfectly to my new and exciting competition!!!

One lucky reader will win the chance to come and stay on our new house boat with us for 2 whole weeks of the year… Every year! And actually get to Mucho Mucho love… COME JOIN IN!!! All you have to do to be in with a chance is:

Send us your name, email and a cheque made payable to Georgina Pearson for £25,000 (£15,000 for the boat £8,000 for my Captains training and £2,000 for my Captains outfit)

You have to be in it… To win it! Good luck!

Anyway back to reality, I snapped out of my day dream as we turned around the bay and headed back towards the bright flashing lights of Haad Rin, having had a quiet day with no pounding music to temp us out we had fallen into a high state of relaxation so by the time we were back at Sunrise Huts all we were good for was a chip butty and a few beers…

I fell asleep to thoughts of bobbing along on my new boat in my new captains hat, sun blazing, bikini’s strewn all over the deck…

Today is the day before full moon so everyone is relaxing on the beach, saving themselves for the big one and we are no exception. Last night we ended up at the bottom of a few to many buckets again – Georgie span fire at Glacier bar where Da Club used to be and upstaged the actual resident fire spinner then we danced like loons to limber up all the right muscles for full moon and finally Georgie passed out because she was hideously drunk… I wasn’t far behind.

]]> http://happytimeblog.co.uk/thailand/koh-phangan/060609-boats-and-buckets-from-haad-rin-to-thong-reng/feed/ 3 http://happytimeblog.co.uk/thailand/koh-tao/2020609-getting-down-to-some-diving-on-koh-tao/ http://happytimeblog.co.uk/thailand/koh-tao/2020609-getting-down-to-some-diving-on-koh-tao/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:56:29 +0000 Aaron Bradford | HappytimeBlog.co.uk http://happytimeblog.co.uk/2009/06/02/2020609-getting-down-to-some-diving-on-koh-tao/

So we were rudely woken up at around 4 am on Saturday morning and ushered out of the super comfortable bus cabin and dropped in slight rain at a shit-hole bus stop somewhere near the small port town of Chumpon, ordinarily after that journey we would have been tired and stressed but to be honest we all slept as well on that bus as we did in our room in Bangkok. Unusually perky and well rested we had a laugh and a chat at the bus stop while all the other passengers sat in silence trying to hold it together until the bus arrives… By 6:00 am we were at the ferry port winding the coffee’s in and trying to top up our sleep on the soft benches in the waiting room.

6:30 am and we were all ushered on board the Seatran ferry, Sarah by this point was starting to get proper excited and Georgie had got enough sleep under her belt to also be enjoying it, with that I curled up on our bags and got on the zzz train too.

At the pier in Koh Tao we got chatting to a tout who was offering some pretty fairly priced scuba dives that came with discount accommodation and free taxi rides… Seeing as we had planned to have a pop at diving anyway the words free and discount spoke out to us so we hopped in his pick-up to Hat Sai Ri, enjoyed his free coffee’s and then signed up for a dive the next day.

The last time we were in Koh Tao we didn’t really get on with it, everything is overpriced and to be honest not really worth the extra dosh, but this time we had a dive planned and all of a sudden Koh Tao started to open up. Our accommodation was infinitely better than the dingy hut we stayed in the last time and at the same price, of course because of its affiliation with our dive operator but nonetheless it was a lot more like it… We threw our bags down, got some grub and let Sarah get her first look at a Thailand beach – white sand, glorious sunshine, emerald water gently lapping the sand, palm fringed, colourful longtail boats gently swaying in the wind… Needless to say she loved it!

Despite having a super fun/comfortable journey down from Bangers and getting plenty of kip at various points of the journey we were still feeling the miles a bit so we got our stuff together and flopped out on the beach, Sarah started work on the tan and Georgie and I got to work on topping ours up fuelled with a Chang or two… Another hard day at the office!

By late afternoon we had wilted once again (probably more to do with the sunshine and Chang) so we had a little nap at our room that actually turned out to be more of a mammoth kip and didn’t wake up again until 9 pm… Still what does it matter what time we sleep until, we got ourselves up and wandered along the beach to a lively bar with a fire show going full swing, ordered a few more Chang’s and saw the night out.

Yesterday or scuba day as we now call it came around to the sound of the alarm, having had plenty of rest we were keen as mustard to get geared up and make a splash… Literally.

Breakfast dealt with we strolled up to our dive shop excited and a little anxious, our instructor was called Graham and he put us straight at ease with a short safety talk and a brief chat about what we would be ding and seeing. They fitted us up for our gear without any problems and then whisked us off in a pick-up down to the pier where their boat was waiting. Apparently it’s unlucky to have shoes on a boat – just a little something we learned that day.

The dive guys are a bunch of quality people and everyone aboard felt right at home and they gave us free reign while they prepared and checked our equipment (being absolute novices they did it all for us while we ate all their biscuits and drank all their tea). Chugging slowly along the coast of Koh Tao it soon became obvious that we had in fact missed the point of the place last time we were here but at least we had the chance to realise that and it couldn’t have been more idyllic to be honest. They kept us separate from the other divers so we had our own little group and our own instructor then we dropped anchor just off the northern tip of the Island at a small sand bar where the drop was slow and perfect for us beginners.

Getting into the wetsuit was by far the hardest work I’ve had to do since leaving England and by the look of the girls struggling into them they felt the same. We had a quick talk about all our gear and what it all does, try all the buttons and tap all the dials then one by one stride off the side of the boat into the water.

We swam across the surface to the shallow water just to get used to breathing through the mouth thing (I’ve forgot the name already) and it was just like snorkelling, then once in shallow water we went through a few exercises to make sure if we got in trouble we would be OK all the time surrounded by hundreds of colourful curious little fish, all went well apart from Sarah faffing about with her mask but once that was sorted we set off following the sea bed towards the briny deep… To be honest it’s nothing special until you look up and realise you a couple of metres deep already, once past about two metres it starts to get really fun. Sarah kept having trouble with her mask and Georgie had a spot of bother with her uncanny buoyancy and the pressure in her ears but once that was sorted we were away – like a bunch of mermaids we gracefully swam through the water taking in all the beautiful corals and many fish around Koh Tao. 

The hardest part really was keeping at a particular depth because every time I inhaled I started to rise and vise versa but I’m sure its one of those things that is easy to pick up the more you do it. I was always worried that being that deep would make you panic about panicking and fuck right up but it’s just not like that at all, there is so much going on that loosing it and freaking out just doesn’t even cross your mind.

Being total beginners we sucked the air out of the tanks in a half hour flat and as we started to return to the surface we were completely surrounded by a huge school of Barracuda, I’m not sure who was more interested in who to be honest but it was fucking cool to see!

We got back aboard the boat and got used to gravity again, ate more of their biscuits and sank a few more cups of their tea then while the others were still out on their dives we had a chance to mess about jumping off the top of the boat… All in all it was a perfect day and any previous reservations of Koh Tao are out the window really, it’s still over priced for what it is but to be fair we couldn’t have had a more perfect day and the next chance I get I’ll definitely be giving diving another go!