SE Asia... Oceania... and Beyond

Where to begin…

Koh Samui… The remainder of my days in Koh Samui were full of fun, excitement and exercise. I spent most of my time hanging out with three crazy English blokes (Roger, Simon and Peter) from Brighton and a really cool local named Aom, touring the island on motorbikes, partying at night (every night is a Friday night in KS), and doing occasional water sports during the day.

Speaking of water sports, be careful when you rent kayaks in Thailand. About a week and a half ago the English lads and I decided we would rent two double kayaks and head out to some islands a bit offshore. It sounded like a great idea, and it would have been one had Roger and Peter’s kayak not capsized and filled up with water about 1 Kilometer offshore. It turns out there was a hole in their kayak and the entire inside cavity of their kayak was slowly filling with water, no matter what it was only a matter of time until it sunk. Once it did sink it was up to Simon and I to drag the sunken kayak and two not so light individuals to shore against a slight current. This was not the experience we had hoped for, but it was also one not to forget.

The following night it was off to the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan. What a great time this was. Imagine a beach at least 1 km long just full of thousands and thousands of people from all across the globe. The party celebrates the full moon (obviously) and is considered to be the world’s largest beach party. If anyone every feels like they need to let loose… Koh Phangan is a great place to do so.

After Koh Phangan it was off to Koh Tao. Koh Tao is this small, almost desolate island, where the only thing to really do is snorkel and scuba dive (which is exact reason that I was there). Once I arrived on the island I met up with a friend of mine from Sweden named Fredrik. We spent our first day snorkeling and saw just a wonderful array of fish species, underwater life and coral. Day two started off with more snorkeling and ended with school as the two of us signed up for our Open Water Scuba Diving certification. Over the next 4 days we spent a lot of time in the class room and made one pool dive and four ocean dives. On our dives we saw tons of marine life including moray eels, schools of barracudas, tuna, clown fish, blue ringed angel fish, blue spotted stingrays, triggerfish and more. I enjoyed myself so much that I decided to sign up for the next certification, Open Water Advanced. This course included some more class time and 5 specialty dives (I chose Navigation, Deep, Multi-level, Night and Naturalist). All in all I left Koh Tao after a week with two certifications and many magnificent experiences and memories.

So where am I now? I am back in Koh Samui, sitting at the same internet café and same computer as the last time I updated my blog. I intend to spend a few more days here with friends and then I will head off to an undetermined location.

I’m out!

Tim

Koh Samui from the mountains

Full Moon Party In Koh Phangan at night

One of my favorite views of Koh Tao including my motorbike

My Open Water Scuba Class

Sunset in Koh Tao

All smiles after a great night dive

View from Twin Rocks Dive site in Koh Tao

My first Thai haircut