Ko Phangan, Thailand

Sara and Me Chilling at The Jungle Club, Ko Samui



So its been around a week since I last updated this page but I have made a few miles and had a record amount of R & R since then. I finished my advanced open water scuba course on Koa Toa with my last dive being a night dive. That was sure different, I mean being underwater in tropical waters is strange enough to begin with but then throw in the fact that its night and visibility isn't that great and its a whole new experience. So anyway as you can see I survived that with minor complications except for me and Tom, the guy that was taking the course with me, had to go without the instructor and navigate through the darkness with just our compasses and we got a wee bit lost. We started out all good but when we turned around to come back we realized that there was quite a current, anyways to make a long story short we had to surface and swim back to the boat cause we ended up no where near where we were suppose to. So seeing as my course was done and I knew if I would have hung out there anymore I would have ended up in another course I jumped on a ferry to Ko Samui the next morning. After a three hour ferry and a short song thew I was pulled up to the Jungle Club where Stacey and Sara were waiting to meet me. So that's where I have been for the last week its absolutely amazing. The Jungle Club is a resort built on top of a mountain in the jungle that over looks Chaweng Beach and miles and miles of ocean. Since it is quite a secluded area we basically didn't do anything just lay around read, watch movies, swim in the pool and truly became the most lazy tourist in Thailand. A few of the night we took a taxi down the town to have a few drinks and supper but after I week on the island I never seen the beach in daylight, how pathetic is that. And now that puts me in Ko Phangan, we just arrived today found a place to stay and are just going to hang out here a few days till the famous full moon party where all my rest will come in handy. This island is kind of funny they find every reason to have a big party for example tonight is the "two days before full moon party"at the hotel where we are staying but that should be alright. Its a big pool party of the beach about 10 steps from my room so that's quite convenient. Anyways I am off to have a little siesta but I will update the page again when I have enough new and exciting news. Cheers!



The veiw of the Iffinity Pool and the Gulf Of Thailand
The Jungle Club, Ko Samui

Advanced in Koh Tao

So once again my plans have changed. I was suppose to leaving the island today but after a couple days off and thinking about it too much I decided to take my advanced scuba course. My first official day was today which started with my deep dive where we dove to 100ft. Its quite a strange feeling cause on your decent you just keep going down and down for what seems like forever. Then once you hit the bottom you have to do some test because you get nitrogen narcosis which isn't and bad thing but a strange feeling. Its caused by the nitrogen in your body and the pressure which leaves you feel with a buzzed feeling and makes everything a little more surreal and happy. After that dive we moved to the photography session which was quite interesting but due to the storm and rain we were in and the crappy camera we had the pictures didn't turn out amazing but here's one of me, Tom (the English guy I am currently traveling with), and Sandra the instructor. Tomorrow I have to do an orientation where me and Tom go together without the instructor and navigate around a reef with a compass, then a naturist dive learning about marine life and finally to end the day get certified for night diving. I fought taking the course for three days but finally decided it was well worth it and I would regret not taking it in the end. Then if all stays the same I will be in Ko Samui on Saturday since I need to get off this island cause its too easy to get sucked into diving and I need to save a little money! But hope everything and everyone is good and if you want to say hi don't be scared to email me and keep me in touch to home.

Koh Tao, Thailand

Hey everyone, I am still in Koh Tao and after 4 days of diving I am officially a certified diver. It is absolutely amazing. Being may be one of the most crazy and mind blowing experiences I have ever had. We did five different dives though the course and seen some pretty amazing things. I got to swim with a sea turtle that was about just over a meter long, seen a huge blue and yellow spotted sting ray, and hundreds of other fish. One of my favorites was a trigger fish that is a incredible teritorial fish that didnt like me it territory and decided it was going to make me leave. So he came after me and you just put your fins towards them and kick backwards while they bite your fins and shake there head around like a dog with a bone. Its halarious to watch them. The only bad thing about diving is now I wanna keep getting certifide to where I can work with it but it is quite expensive but oh well we will see what happens. Other than that I havent been up to too much in particular, lots of my dives were very early in the morn and made for early nights so it has been quite mellow, which is quite nice for a change. I think I am headed to Ko Samui either tommorro or the next day with the girls and a english guy that we welcomed into our travelling family so that will be fun. As for today we are renting motos and going to explore the islands a bit because I have been here for almost a week and only seen about 400 meters of beach and my guesthouse, thats so bad. Then tonight we are going to celebrate being done my course by going bowling I am excited about that. But I better go and get some food in me but I will write again when we are settled in Ko Samui

Now I have made it to Ko Tao and after a very very busy week it is awesome to be able to settle a bit again and relax. Ko Tao is amazing and by far the nicest place I have been for quite a while. The West coast of Thailand was overall quite disappointing in my eyes but I am glad I seen it. The effects of the Tsunami are still overwhelming and make it not quite as beautiful as the East coast which is where I am now. I arrived here two days ago and taking a few hour bus trip then a overnight ferry which was quite interesting and since it was so amazingly comfortable *sarcastic* I also had the chance to watch my very first sunrise over the Gulf Of Thailand.
Once I got here I wondered around in search for a place to take my Scuba Diving course and a place to sleep and within an hour I had both. My room here is amazing it is definitely the best place I have stayed in since I left home. I still haven't quite figured out why it is so cheep but I am not going to argue. I guess that's what walking 200 meters off the beach and a little of the beaten path gets you. I am paying $10 a night and have my own shower, tile floor, and imagine this a fridge and TV!!! Its amazing I hardly even know how to work the TV anymore its been so long. So needless to say I have traded in a little beach time for laying on my bed and watching the most cheesy movies ever and alot of American Idol. Its great.
Yesterday I started my Open Water Course and now today I get to put the gear on and get into the ocean so I am pretty excited about that. The company I am taking it with is called Simple Life and you can check out there website at http://www.simplelifedivers.com/. I am really looking forward to tomorrow where we are going out for the day and I get to do two dives and the one reef we are going to has reef sharks so that is going to be neat but scary at the same time. They are about2.5 metres long and freaky looking. Well I guess that's all I have to report for now, I am going to be staying here for about another week and in about 3 days Sara, my friend from home, and her travelling posse are coming here to meet up with me so I am really looking forward to that. Peace Out and the next time you here from me I will be a Certified Scuba Diver!

Ko Tao, Thailand
10:00 am
+31 partly cloudy
Water Temp +28

Well I made it too Ko Phi Phi yesterday morning only to find out that it is the most expensive place I visited thus far. I walked around for the better part of two hours trying to find somewhere that was reasonably cheap when I finally gave up and spent 500 baht on a very very small bungalow. So because that probably doesn't mean much to you that's almost 20$ and up to this point I normally don't go outside 10$ and that's when I am feeling like treating myself. Needless to say I jumped on a boat today to go to Krabi because Ko Phi Phi may have been beautiful but it was basically the same as the other island and much over my price range. But hey at least I was there! So last night was the half moon and of coarse everyone in Thailand finds any reason to party so I went to a free barbecue on the beach and an amazing fire show. I also got to see Ko Phi Phi Don a little island fairly close to Ko Phi Phi where the filmed the movie, "The Beach" so that was pretty neat. Now I am staying in Krabi at a much more decent place for 4$ so thats a relief. I am going to stay here a couple nights and take a day trip tomorrow to Rai Lay Beach and check out some mountain climbing. The cliffs there go straight into the ocean and is said to be the best climbing in Southeast Asia. Then I think I am headed to Ko Tao to get my PADI for Skuba Diving but that all depends on when I have to meet Sara and the gang in Ko Samui. So that all that going on here hope to hear from everyone soon!

What A Day

Well so here I am in Phuket and after a grueling day of travel I am getting quite tired and ready for bed. I left Bangkok last night at 6pm on a night bus to Suratthani. After spending the night trying my best to get some sleep I finally arrived around 6:30am and was able to stretch my legs. But thats about all I had time for cause after and hour of waiting in an ally I jumped on a mini bus for another little four hour jont acrross Thailand to Rangong. I arrived in Ranong at about noon and walked down a dirt ally, found the local pier, then found a local that we hired to take us across to Myanmar on his boat so I could renew my Visa for Thailand. So once again I was thrown into a boat with no exact idea of what was going on or where we were headed. After about a half an hour boat ride we landed at Myanmars Immigration Office which is quite a place. Its actually a sed on stilts over the ocean, and Im not talking about one of those fancy sheds its like one thats 50 years old and falling apart. So after getting our stamps and of course leaving some money for the officers we were off to the only town your aloud in in Myanmar to buy some tabbacco. It was quite funny cause your not techniquically aloud into the country unless you fly there but right at the pier there is a neautral type zone so we stood there while a bunch of 13 year old boys ran to the stores and got what we wanted, or scratch that, what we had to buy before we were aloud back to Thailand. So I bought a carton of smokes, tiped the boys 50 baht, and just like that I was on a boat back to Ranong. After going back through Thailand immigration I then jumped on a moto and rushed up to the bus station to catch, yet again, an 6 hour bus to Phuket for the evening. And that where I am sitting right now, I found a room, got something to eat,and am thinking about hitting the hay after 27 hours of straight traveling. So tommorro I am going to wake up bright and early get some breakfast (Omlet on Rice) and catch the ferry to Ko Phi Phi where it will be time to relax again. And now I have a visa for another month and my passport back so life is good!!!

Lets Give This Blog Thing A Try

Hey everyone I am just going to give this a try and see how it works, and if all goes well you guys can just come on here and see what I am up to instead of me writing group emails. Anyway I am in Bangkok at the moment just waiting to jump on a night bus to Ranong. Then tommorro morning I am going to jump on a ferry to Burma, leave Thailand for a few hours, then reenter because my 30 day visa is almost up then I will be good to go for another 30 days which gives me pletty of time to see everywhere I wanna and get down to my flight out of Singapore on April 16. So if all goes well I will either be in Ko Phi Phi or Phuket tommorro evening.