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Koh Tao, Thailand

So we bid farewell to Koh Tao and I’m honestly sad to leave. I felt a little lump in my throat as I handed back the ATV and keys to the bungalow. I’ll definitely miss the fire dancers, dirt roads, geckos, cheery backpackers, Mama Jim, the diving and the amazing wealth of sea creatures beneath the waves. Vicky takes away 10 stitches from her motorbike crash and the rest are content with good memories. Independently exploring the island was awesome, I could drive down most random dirt track roads and find some sort of secluded retreat for a peaceful drink and a swim. Coral Bay view had one of the steepest hills I’ve ever come across but had beautiful views of Shark Island. We’re getting the bus back to Bangkok so I’m expecting to catch up on some sleep. Sadly it’s time to go home in a few days and I’m really quite upset at the prospect; I’ve made some good friends and enjoyed some outstanding adventures and oddly enough a return to the 9 to 5 humdrum is about as appealing as a night in a thai prison with no lube

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Koh Tao, Thailand

Getting used to bunking down in the bamboo hut on the beach at night, it’s rather comfy and if good enough for Tong etc when they were here then it’s good enough for me. Might be doing another ATV day today, not sure if it’ll happen as we’ve got odd numbers and one person is being a fucktard over not driving. I don’t see the problem myself – they’re a doddle to drive as long as you have basic human motor coordination and a modicum of common sense, but maybe that is too much to ask these days? The world truly has some spectacular idiots in it

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Koh Tao, Thailand

Assembly at 10.30 for scuba training today. That comprised of an hour or so of video tutorial and an hour of instructor talking. Our instructor, Youri (not sure of spelling) was a 5 foot tall, slightly built thai lady with a good sense of humour. After being briefed on all the different ways our sinuses might explode with pressure we went to gear up. I found the wetsuit suprisingly comfortable and my equipment all fitted well. We sailed out to Koh Nang Yuan and dived into the shallows for a few practise sessions of mask clearing, buoyancy familiarisation and such like. I had problems with floating as i did not have enough weight in my weight belt. Nikki was my dive buddy and had to keep pulling my down on the first dive. We explored a few small reefs and came back up for a snack and for another air canister. The second dive at Twin Rocks was much better, not least because i didn’t have someone kicking me in the face any longer. We descended to just under 15 metres, i had no problems sinking this time as i had loaded up with 10kg on the weight belt. I had issues equalising but got there eventually. We saw some decent sized shoals of fish, a stingray, a family of clown fish in their anemonemonemone… some amenone fish, angel fish, parrot fish and weird cucumber like aquatic hoovers. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve done on my trip and it was really surreal being surrounded by tropical reef and also not having to surface for air for over 40 minutes…

Water temperature was 31 degrees, visibility around 8 metres, used 120 bar of air and the sea was very, very green. Would definitely like a dive again but not enough time to do the PADI course here this time. The weather’s come in now and we’ve had a tonne of rain and wind. Contemplating what to do for dinner… hmm….

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Sairee beach, Koh Tao, Thailand

So last night we all went out for dinner, i nearly fell asleep waiting for a rare treat-a steak sandwich. I love the low thai tables and cushions to support your back… but eating and drinking whilst almost horizontal tends to result in falling asleep. We all then went to see a ladyboy caberet, a truly surreal experience. Some of them had cock and balls falling out the front and one or two were chillingly convincing, even the girls said they’d get down and dirty with them. Phil got all dressed up along with a few others to participate, we were all roaring with laughter as he paraded around in his pants, high heels and wig. Spent the night sleeping in a bamboo hut on the beach… the bungalow was just too hot again

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