Hello all
It's been a while, hasn't it, partly due to internet being quadruple the price on the islands as it is on the mainland. We must also apologise in advance if this one goes on a bit - want to record as much as possible for our memories as we got our camera stolen in Koh Tao - gutted. Had 1 GB of amazing photos stored, including loads of sunsets Z had collected from all over. So if a picture tells a thousand words, this may be lengthy...
After a cool Christmas in Chiang Mai, we flew back to Bangkok on boxing day, then to Krabi on the 27th. The plane was wicked (one-two go). It was a really cheap, double decker jumbo, with a camera underneath the cockpit so you could watch the take off and landing, from the pilot's view, on a big screen. T got a bit scared when he saw the wall at the end of the runway come into view. Then got minibus from Krabi to Koh Lanta (got skanked a bit with fare-annoyed). 1st stop on Koh Lanta was the dive shop (Lanta diver's - well recommended) to pick up our homework for our 4 day PADI open water diver course. Then went to our well expensive hotel (35 pounds/night, a step up from the 5 bucks we're used to) only to be told we were double booked for the 1st night! To be fair, they did find us another hotel which was nicer and cheaper, and 5 mins walk from the dive school. Excellent, so we sold them out for a couple of days and saved us some dollar, that'll learn 'em. After a lot of travelling and faffing around, we finally settled down to our homework - my god there was loads. 3 chapters of a book 2 inches thick, with really small writing, and we were knackered. In fact, Z passed out after the 1st few pages (just like the bad old days of exam revision).
Started our dive course the next day, and it was excellent, despite Z's anxiety and the bad weather. We met our course buddies (we had to call them that) Mark and Sarah, some cool Mancs (there are some). Passed our exams with flying colours (T-98%, beat Z-96%), and got out into the open water on the 3rd day. The sun even came out for us, it was so cool (except that Z was concentrating so hard she didn't realise she couldn't actually see anything without her glasses, until the last dive). T kept pointing out Moray eels and the like, but all she could see was seaweed. It's a different world under water, and we're both hooked. We are now certified to dive to 18m!
Finished the course on New Year's Eve, moved back to the expensive place (gutted well overpriced), and then saw in 2007 with Mark and Sarah doing a beach bar crawl. Much fun was had, loads of booze, thai boxing and fireworks. Zoe and Sarah came 3rd in a beer drinking contest (yeah Z the non drinker) and won some lethal red shit, which we downed as well. Ended up at our favourite bar/club Bubble Jungle, dancing into the wee hours to cool old school tunes. Turns out Sarah was a regular at Bowlers, much to T's delight, and spent many an early morning at Birch Services, for those in the know.
Had to move hotels again on New Year's Day, feeling a little jaded (needed to find something cheaper but still only managed to get 15pound place). Spent the afternoon syringing T's ears, which was fun not - bring on 2007. Moved again after couple of days to place within our budget - 5 pounds/night, back to normality. Nice and clean - to good to be true? Yes it was, as we spent the night trying to get to sleep listening to banging techno/gabba from the club next door. Ho hum. We spent the rest of our time checking out island on bike (had cool Harley Davidson helmet mum - if only you could see the photos)! Koh Lanta is beautiful and has some gorgeous, long sandy beaches, which get cooler the further south you go. We loved it. Even though there was no accomodation as the island was packed with people for New Year, there were still beaches that were pretty much deserted. Watched amazing psychedelic sunsets drinking Bhang lassies in laid back beach bars; ate the best papaya salads and squid (somewhere else) and whiled away the small hours at Bubble Jungle, with our friend Oy, the owner who supplied us with free whisky and twiff. Fantastic.Thanks Oy.
Had to make a decision whether to stay or move on to Koh Tao to do some more diving, as planned. Everyone told us not to go as the weather would be bad and the diving was better on Koh Lanta. We tossed the coin - best of 3 - it told us to stay in Koh Lanta. So what did we do? In true adventurer's style we ignored all advice and headed off to Koh Tao. Not the best decision we've ever made. Journey wasn't great, partly as we didn't leave Bubble Jungle til 5am, and partly due to the 2 bumpy bus journeys and overnight ferry. Z, surprisingly, slept like a log, but T wasn't happy being sandwiched between 2 blokes. 90 sweaty people sleeping side by side on the floor of a stinking old boat isn't much fun at the best of times. It was the thunder, lightning and torrential downpour that woke us from that fitful sleep, on our arrival in Koh Tao at 6am. Then spent 6 hours trying to find some half decent accomodation, getting piss wet through. Finally found an overpriced beach bungalow and tried to get our bags, clothes and all belongings dry (difficult in tropical climate when it won't stop pissing it down). Rain cleared a little in the late afternoon so we hired a bike and explored a bit. Ko Tao is actually very beautiful and very different to Koh Lanta. The beaches aren't as nice, but the rest of the island's scenery was spectacular. Very green and lush (no shit with all the rain) and mountainous, with huge random boulders everywhere, it's a bit surreal. Bit pissed off with our room (understatement) - as soon as darkness fell, this strange noise started up, quite quietly at first, but it soon escalated to mammoth proportions, and continued until dawn. There were millions of bullfrogs outside our bungalow and you cannot imagine the racket. It was like an orchestra of cows mooing simultaneously, inside our room. So, not much sleep! Then we got the camera nicked the next day, which wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the rain and having to move all electrical equipment to dry bags.... oh I won't go on and dwell on old shit.
The weather improved a bit the next day, so we moved accomodation (twice) and thought we'd book ourselves on a dive the following day. Big mistake! It was pretty grey and choppy, and despite 2 travel sickness pills, Z still managed to chunder overboard, big pineapple chunks. Koh Tao is supposed to have some of the best visibility in all Thailand. The visibilty was under 1m for our 1st dive, apparently almost the worst it's ever been! It wasn't all bad, though. The 2nd dive was a bit better and Z had a prescription mask, so actually got to see some stuff! It was all good practice as well.
So, probably not the best time we could have had in Koh Tao, but all in all, we're glad we went. Got a ferry (more seasickness) and an overnight train (excellent) and we're now back in Bangkok for a few days before flying to Hong Kong on the 15th. Have picked up T's cards from embassy (thanks mum) and looked for a camera, but it's as expensive here, if not more so, than in England, so you may have to wait until Japan for some photos. Went to see Thai boxing - cool, finally got to see some ladyboys around Patpong and T got his bottom pinched by one and was most perturbed (he insists it was a real lady, but it wasn't)!
Anyway, take care y'all and don't be strangers xxx