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Home Itinerary Links Photos Travel Diary: Malaysia/Thailand/Australia/NZ Guestbook About Us |
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Travel Diary - Thailand II |
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Previous/Next |
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Day 19 - September 20th - Koh Tao - Warm/Sunny |
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(IJH) Second day of diving in the sea - 2 dives today one at 10m and one at 12m - included the dreaded - full mask flood and empty which we both hate - this is harder than taking your regulator (air source) out of you mouth and replacing it or sharing someone else's. Anyway the dives passed off without too much hassle and we saw plenty of marine life at the same time - Moray Eel and Bat fish being the highlights - the morning was the multiple choice exam which was not too tough - although I did get the hand sign for 'I'm low on air' wrong ..mmmmm |
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Day 20 - September 21st - Koh Tao/Koh Phangan - Warm/Sunny |
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(IJH) Last day of Diving !! Yes today we got certified - well you could say we were anyway but this is for our PADI O/W diving which means we can go diving in other reefs etc without having to be led around like children every time.
Two dives today - one at 18m and one at 12m - saw plenty of stuff - stag and brain coral - Trigger fish - Bat & Angel fish and lots more that I don't know.
Today was also the infamous Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan on the next island over - and we had bought tickets for 'Mr Whites Party Boat' or as I prefered to call it a few minutes of sailing 'Mr Whites Boat of Death'. This rather overload motor boat had 2 levels - the top open air level pumping out dance music in preparation for the FM Party. Once some people had moved down to the lower deck so it wasn's so top heavy and we seemed less likely to capsize it became quite a pleasant trip although it did take almost 4hrs.
The Full Moon Party lives up to it's reputation - although it wasn't exactly what we had expected - we had images of one big sound system with people dancing round a big fire (don't ask me why). The reality is a bit like a music festival at home only the stages are bars pumping out Techno/house music instead of rock, and it's on a beach. It is very comercialised and I think to get the most out of it you have to be (a) really into dance music and (b) taking some stuff to keep going all the way through the night ! Apart from the bars and music the beach is awash with people selling stuff - food/henna tattoos/luminous tattoo paint/flowers (to wear round your neck) and so on. There were also fire jugglers and the like
In any case we had a good time until about 3am when I crashed on the beach in search of much needed sleep ........... |
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Day 21 - September 22nd - Koh Phangan/Koh Tao - Warm/Sunny/Overcast |
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(IJH) The morning after the Full Moon Party or not as the case may be ! When we awoke at 6am on the beach (looking particularly crumpled and covered in sand) the party was still in full flow although the night had gathered a fair number of casualties with a liberal scattering of passed out and wasted people all along the beach. After a pretty sunrise (to the sound of techno) we caught Mr Whites Boat of Death back to Koh Tao which took an unpleasant 3 & 1/2 hours to get back. Today we leave for Bangkok so another Katermarran boat ride to Chumpong and then VIP (?) bus to Bangkok - another 14 hours traveling !
Oh and Dave managed to dodge a Ladyboy who made an improper suggestion to him while trying to grab his nether regions (don't worry he escaped unscathed!) |
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Day 22 - September 23rd -Bangkok - Warm/Sunny |
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(IJH) Having arrived in the early hours of the morning (0530) we were immediately touted by taxi and TukTuk drivers desperate to take us to the Khao San Road which is the traditional stop in BKK for backpackers - luckily under the guidance of someone who had been there before we walked round the corner and about 50m to a hostel that had space - this is after the taxi's were trying to charge us 50Baht each (quid) to take us there! Oh well gotta give them credit for trying. A fairly chilled out day as we were both tired - saunter down the Khao San Raod and surrounding area to check it out - if you want to buy anything thats the place - shirts/trousers/cd players/cd's (copies)/ books/food/internet/beer/tacky gifts you name it and its there. I managed only to by 3 cds for 300B (5 quid). There also seem to be a lot of street vendors selling insect based snacks - can't say I was brave enough to try a locust or cockroach!! |
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Day 23 - September 24th - Bangkok - Warm/Sunny/Overcast |
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(IJH) Bangkok supposedly the city that never sleeps is certainly a very busy place - the traffic is horrific and the Tuk Tuks particularly kick out a lot crap that can't be doing much good for the environment or people health! We met up Doug (who we'd met in Surat Thani) and Kim (an American we met the evening before) and looked round the Grand Palace and the temple near by. The Temple houses the largest reclining Budda at 43m long and 12m high (I think) and it's covered in gold so it is fairly impressive. The Grand Palace is a big compound of Royal buildings - also temple style buildings encrusted in gems, gold, and shiney bits (forgive the techincal description). This took up the vast majority of the day and we retired from the sun to sample some local brewed beverages.........which kinda put paid to doing any more sightseeing that day!
The other thing worth noting is that later on in the evening we spent 3 hrs waiting to get a game of pool which never happened (it was always after the next 3 games on the list according to the locals) and we got asked whether we wished to go 'dancing' by some mad Thai girl.
Needless to say we politely declined and made a sharp exit.... |
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Home Itinerary Links Photos Travel Diary: Malaysia/Thailand/Australia/NZ Guestbook About Us |
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