lisartw's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member lisartw on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lisartw en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:29:06 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Toronto — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153438860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153438860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153438860/tpod.html Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:29:06 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Arrived in Toronto today, took about an hour and a half drive from Niagara Falls. The drive was a little bit hairy, we drove (or rather Lee drove) from Niagara Falls via the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) which is more or less like the M1 but a lot bigger. Highlight of the trip was seeing a sign for Islington Avenue. Very childish but I had to take a picture. :) We arrived at the hostel and checked in after parking the car in a car park next door only to find out from the front desk that it's really dodgy and our car might get broken in too! Oh well! The hostel's great thought, a proper hostel rather than the one that we stayed at in NYC which was more like a hotel really. Anyway, the hostel is really cool, very busy and full of weird and wonderful people - most of whom we met on a bar crawl tonight. It's my first real stay in a hostel and so far it's not been too bad, although everyone's said that this hostel is a really good one so I am assuming that things can only get worse!! ;o) Anyway the bar crawl took us to a really cool street in Toronto called College Street and we ended up in a dodgy rock club called the Mod club where the DJ was classic - if you can imagine a cross between Rave-on from Phoenix Nights and Eye-Ball Paul from Kevin and Perry Go Large then you might get close to who was DJ-ing, he was really funny- some Scouse bloke that looked old enough to be someone's Dad. Highlight of the night was a guest appearance by Mylo. We're doing good so far - 8 days travelling and already seen Scissor Sisters and Mylo - bonus!We visited a local brewery earlier, Steam Whistle Brewery right opposite the Toronto Blue Jays baseball Stadium, free beer as well. Although I'm still in London mode rather than budget traveller mode so should have been guzzling it down rather than sipping!Tomorrow we're driving back to Niagara then across back to the US (if they let us back in) so that we can continue too Cedar Point. If you get a chance, check out this link - http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/top_thr ill_dragster/index.cfm we were planning on going on the Dragster but my Dad just sent me some pictures and now we're a bit scared!! :) Can wait to get back on the road again, the stuff we've done over the last week and a bit has been amazing. Going to bed in one place and ending up in another place is just brilliant. I did try and upload some pictures earlier but the workstation I'm on hide them and it's one of those silly locked down workstations so I can't even get Lee to find where they are.. anyway, it's 2am and I'm tired. so Good night and hopefully I'll get to update this a bit more (and re-write the whole NYC bit)
]]> Niagra Falls — Niagra Falls, New York, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153202580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153202580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153202580/tpod.html Thu, 19 Jul 2007 05:15:22 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
Niagra Falls, New York, United States

We drove from Seneca Falls to Niagara today, stopped off at Darien Lakes on the way for a bit of a swim in one of the lakes. The Finger Lakes region is beautiful, we drove by the side of one of the lakes but it must have been the posh side because it was all private roads and no entry signs. We really wanted to find some sort of park where we could have had a swim but it wasn't too be. But we did find Darien Lakes where we could have a bit of a swim in a not very deep pool. It was just past Six Flags amusement park, which we now wish we'd have stopped at. We drove on through Buffalo to Niagara Falls and made it there before the sun went down. Driving down the road that takes you to Rainbow bridge was amazing, right in front of you there's a big cloud of mist rising up in the distance. when you get closer you realise that it's from the falls and once you cross the bridge driving becomes dangerous because you can't do anything but stare at the falls. They are amazing!Something like 1.5 million bathtubs full of water go over the falls every minute. There's certainly no water shortage over here in Canada. The Falls are stunning, they're so huge that you can't describe them properly but I'm sure anyone that's been there will know what I mean. We managed to check into a hotel and get down to the falls in time to see them lit up at night. They have a very cool light show happening each night. Niagara is basically like a huge seaside town with a big waterfall and a few casinos chucked in for good measure. Most of the hotels are obsessed with Jacuzzi's, the only room left in the hotel we checked into was a King-Sized room with Jacuzzi in the middle of the room. Hardly budget travelling, and we did chuckle about it, but it was incredibly cheap for the size of the room that we had had we been on holiday. As it is, we're not on holiday so it was most of our budget so we've got to economise from now on.We booked into our hotel for two nights after initially just booking for one because Niagara was so good we wanted to enjoy it a bit more rather than rush it.
]]> New Yprk - State! — New York, New York, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152800520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152800520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152800520/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:25:55 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
New York, New York, United States

Well we made it here safely after a very long journey. New York welcomed us with an almighty thunderstorm, not quite Glastonbury 2005 but pretty close just with more lightening, not seen that much lightening in one go ever. It was also very humid, it was like being in a sauna at 80f not good in jeans...!! (yes, I've taken a pair of jeans!) Our first trip on the NY Subway was enlightening, the train was exactly what you see in the movies (read: horror films), I was fully expecting some sort of monster or mad person to come charging down the middle of the carriage and some hero in a white vest (and a slight scratch on one cheek) to come save us, anyway, that was probably just lack of sleep - the train smelled of pee, we were treated to a few beggars and knocked off DVD sellers but apart from that it was quite easy to navigate to our destination. The hostel we're in is quite nice (as hostels go) it's on the West side of Central Park, right at the top, next to Harlem - which we unwittingly wandered into last night in search of food. But it seems ok, if a little noisy. It's just coming up to 10:45am, we've had breakfast (which is provided free by the hostel - result as New York isn't cheap at all) and we're just about to head off to look at Central Park. New York looks just like the movies to me at the moment, but then we haven't seen much of it at all at the moment.
]]> Star $ — New York, New York, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887220/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:24:46 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
New York, New York, United States

New York is amazing, we've only been here one day and already love the city. It's SO big and takes ages to get anywhere. We headed out yesterday morning and walked through central park, which is fantastic. We're staying at the North West corner of it so to walk through it took ages as it's 2 1/2 miles long. I love the way New York is laid out, even I (who has the worst sense of direction in the world) can work out which way I need to be going. Why can't everywhere else be this easy to navigate! We walked all the way through Central Park, down to Time Square - which, I have to say, disappointed me slightly. It looks much bigger on the TV at New Year. But they do have a good info centre with 10 mins free internet. We Went to Macy's - just to look you understand - and I thought it was just like Selfridges :)We also went to see the Empire State Building, which isn't as impressive as it looks in pictures. In fact, I didn't believe it was the Empire State building at first - well, I couldn't see King Kong in sight anywhere ;o) We didn't go up it because the wait was 90 minutes. We got a ticket for one of those hop-on hop-off bus tours which was really good. It meant we got to see a few of the other places and learn a bit about the city. We went to visit Ground Zero, which is unbelievable sad. The size of the hole that's left is huge. The really sad thing is that there's people outside trying to sell you photos of the horrible day, which I thought was a bit sick really.We also got the Staten Island Ferry across past the Statue of Liberty, again this was slightly smaller than I thought it would be but still quite a sight. They do special boat trips to see her up close but these cost quite a bit, whereas the ferry is free as it takes all the workers back home.We walked loads today, my feet almost fell off by the time that we got back to the hostel. But my comments from yesterday still stand - New York looks like just off the movies. And they have a stupid amount of StarBucks. There's one every 2 blocks I think, or something equally stupid - is there any need? I think not!We ended up walking home from Times Square last night, and it's much more impressive at night. There's so much to look at in New York, you can't quite take it all in in time. You say "look at that!" and there's so much to look it you forget what it was that caught your eye. There's so many bars and restaurants it's great - unfortunately on a tight budget we can't do anything apart from admire these places from afar but I think we might venture into a bar or a restaurant before we go, it'd be a real shame to come all this way and not do, might mean we're eating 99c burgers for a month but hey-ho!I was going to upload some photos but this internet station isn't working for that, shame really as I've got loads - the wonders of digital cameras eh?!?Right, another day of bus tours beckons (this time I'll take the suntan lotion - got slightly burnt yesterday after forgetting it! doh!).Tomorrow there's a free music festival at Colney Islands with Scissor Sisters the headliners, so we're heading to that - should be good! (excuse spelling again, too expensive to check it I'm afraid!!) :)
]]> $3 Stella — New York, New York, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1152887280/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:23:58 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
New York, New York, United States

Lee was happy today, we found a place on the South Sea port that sold happy hour Stella for $3, most places sell beer for about $6 and that's the cheap places. I was quite happy too $4 frozen margaritas :) We took another tour bus around Harlem and one around Brooklyn, then ended up by the port to listen to some free music and watch all the street entertainers (ok, well, one street entertainer!)Just heading off to the music festival later (it's today). Sorry for short entry by only 10 seconds left!
]]> Too much to write! — New York, New York, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153146120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153146120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1153146120/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:23:04 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
New York, New York, United States

We've done so much in New York since I last wrote that I've had to write it all down in a book so that I didn't forget everything. We check out today and head to Newark to pick up our rental car to drive to Niagara. I'm really sad to be leaving, New York has got a lot to be proud off. Quite stupidly I've left the book up stairs in our room so I know I've got no chance of remembering everything. I'm also not sure when we'll find internet access again until we get to Niagara but I'll try and tell you what we've been doing.I'll start with Coney Island, which is a seaside place in Brooklyn, it's where the Siren Music Festival was, where Scissor Sisters played. Coney island itself is great. It's just like Canvey Island, only bigger and busier. It's got a cheesy funfair and amusement set up where you can 'Shoot the Freak' and watch a real live 10-act Freak side show (we passed on this!). It's also home to the world's worst food ever. Lee had his first ever corn dog, which is basically a frankfurter covered in a soft corn batter thing then fried - it was horrid! But worse was to come when we ordered this sausage thing from a food kiosk. The guy behind the counter grabbed two dodgy looking sausages that had been partly cooked, sliced them lengthways, revealing raw sausage, slapped them on the griddle then put the onions on the same thing along with the bread roll - lovely meaty rawness on everything - yum! Lee said my face was a picture, I refused to eat it. I'm not fussy when it comes to food but I am fussy when it comes too food poisoning!Luckily when we went to see some of the music, someone was smiling down on me as there was a lovely veggie place serving stuffed vine leaves, hummus, falafel and that kind of loveliness so my insides were saved. The Scissor Sisters were fantastic, they've gone up in my estimations loads. They played quite a long set and really gave a show - not that I could see it being so short but Lee very kindly kept lifting me up above the crowds - which is no mean feat specially after my American Diet lately.There's so much to say about Coney Island - I'll have to write properly another time, I need to tell you about the fishing and the weird man who nicked a fish and put it in his pocket!Yesterday we spent the whole day in Central Park and I've decided that Central Park is the best park that I know (at the moment anyway). There's so much stuff going on and for free as well - it's amazing. You wouldn't get a park that great and run so well in the UK, you honestly wouldn't.We rented bikes and cycled the 6 miles around the park, then rented a boat and rowed for an hour then we treated ourselves to some lush food in the Boathouse restaurant. A bit of an extravagance, using up nearly all my budget for the day but it just had to be done. I couldn't face another rubbish burger and didn't want to leave New York thinking all the food was utter Sh!te (sorry for swearing Dad!). Anyway the location of the restaurant (right on the boating lake) and the food more than made up for the cost. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the various musical acts, plays etc.. that's all around the park. People just take the whole family down there, with a coolbox and then set up a sound system or something and start doing tricks or playing double Dutch or pulling out a clarinet and playing music - it's an amazing place and I'll be very sad to leave it all today. If we didn't have a car booked I think we'd both stay.The best thing about central park (well one of them - there's so many) are the fireflies, which we saw last night. They come out at dusk and are like little sparks jumping up from the grass - a fascinating site to see. All the New Yorkers in the Sheep Meadow could probably spot that we were tourists just by looking at us gawping at insects - but we didn't care!I still have loads to tell you - about the South Sea Port, about the room, about Central Park, about Coney Island about how wicked New Yorkers are in general (I like New York - can you tell?!?) but time is running out and I need to email people and book a hostel and important stuff like that!!Not sure when I can update next, I guess it depends on if we get lost going to Niagara (due there Tuesday evening) but driving a car around here should be an adventure in itself - we're both looking forward to it and a bit scared as well tbh but I'm sure we'll get there one way or another!Well, we managed to pick the car up fine from New Jersey Airport today. Arrived there fairly easily via the coach that takes you to the airport. They had a huge queue of people waiting for a group D car so they palmed us off with a bright red Ford Mustang convertible which answered all of Lee's dreams. We managed to negotiate ourselves out of the airport with Lee at the helm and also managed to navigate our way towards Niagara. We got as far as Seneca falls via Route 20 and pitched up in a Microtel for the evening.
]]> Back home — London, United Kingdom http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1182888720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1182888720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1182888720/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:37:19 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
London, United Kingdom

It's taken me ages to actually sit at the computer and update this blog, so sorry for the loose ending. Mainly it's because my feet haven't touched the ground since landing back in the UK, via Singapore, on June 15th and also because both times I tried I felt really sad that it was all over and didn't want to write about it.Anyway, the journey back was fine. We went out for a superb meal in Clarke Quay, Singapore on our last night before our flight home, it was at a place called Fish Tales and we dined on a seafood platter that had Lobster, oysters, mussels, crayfish, balmaine bugs, king prawns, scallops and chips. It was delicious and the perfect ending to a brilliant trip. We literally had about 10 hours in Singapore bu t luckily for us Singaopre airlines lets you check in 48 hours before your flight so when we landed in Terminal 1 from Bangkok, we scooted over to Terminal 2 (where we had to catch the MRT from anyway) and checked all our bags in and grabbed our boarding passes, meaning all we had to take into town was a small bag and it gave us an extra hour in bed in the morning -brill!The flight home was horrid, it really did drag. I couldn't sleep at all but Singapore airlines had top entertainment so watched a few films, listened to the new Kaiser Chiefs album and watched some TV and they constantly fed us with nice food, which helped a lot.Heathrow was freezing cold, cloudy and miserable. I'd forgotten how bleak the UK looks compared to other countries. But my Sis was at the airport to pick me up which was fab.The trip was amazing, I am SO glad I did it, I'd do it again in a second if I won the lottery. It was, by far, the best thing I have ever done and I've achieved more and seen more in 12 months than I have ever done in my whole life I think. If you're sitting at work reading this, bored with your job and the bloody rain in the UK and you've been thinking about going, then i'd say do it - you really won't regret it one bit (although your bank manager may not thank me!, still the memories really are priceless).
]]> The long journey home — Bangkok, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181710800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181710800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181710800/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:36:43 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
Bangkok, Thailand

Back in Bangkok, for the 5th time, arrived here early this mornign after starting our long journey home yesterday. Our last few days in Koh Tao were brilliant, Lee went diving, I went snorkelling, soaked up as much sun as possible and then went out on our last night with a few friends we'd met along the way to say goodbye. It was a great night but really sad to be leaving everyone, specially when all our friends have just started their journies!Still, we still had a few hours on the beach yesterday before grabbing a taxi to the port to get the express ferry to Chumphon. Travel in Thailand is SO easy. You speak to a lovely lady in a tour agency, she sorts the taxi, ferry, train plus all the transfers inbetween. We got off the ferry and there's people waiting for you to guide you into a big bus to take you to the train station but because there's 3 hours before the train leaves, they take you to the Farang bar instead, where you can either eat and drink beer or they will look after your bags while you have a wander around at the night market. Not only do they do all that, on the hour every hour they have a free taxi to take you and your luggage to the train station - bonza! We decided to stay and eat/drink. Well, Lee did because I woke up with a horrid stomach bug thing where my tum hurts so much every time i move or eat or drink or anything. So for the whole day I've just stayed very still in places with air con. IT's a shame really because the coconut noodle soup in the Farang Bar was the nicest I've had. Our train was fine, the stations in Thailand are always staffed with about 300 people, there's guards and policemen wandering about checking out farangs and making sure they're on the right train. The carridge we were booked on was already at the station, although we didn't know this till we'd been there for 40 minutes so one guard escorted us across the tracks to it, then handed us over the the guy in charge of the carridge (there's always a man in uniform in charge of each carridge on the train) who showed us to our beds and then got the bed man (who is the guy on the train that makes up your bed for you) came and set our beds up for us. We'd booked air con and with in about 30 minutes we were both snug in our little compartments. I managed to sleep reasonably well, the rides bumpy and a bit noisy but it's much better than the bus and we arrived bright and breezy(ish) just after 7am. Hopped into a tuk tuk, shoved 100bhat in his hand and got delivered straight to the Wild Orchard :)Travelling in Thailand is so easy - just what you want at the end of your trip! Today we shop then tomorrow we head straight for the airport to fly to Singapore
]]> Wounded feet and being 30 — Koh Tao, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181460180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181460180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181460180/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:35:20 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
Koh Tao, Thailand

It was Lee's 30th birthday yesterday so we started the day off in style by heading to Choppers, a fab Ozzie pub in oh Tao that does really nice food. One cooked breakfast later we headed back to the bungalow to pack our bags for a trip out on the ocean to a bay on the northern side of Koh Tao and an island that's made up of three rock and a sandbar connecting all three of them. But what did I go and do first? I somehow managed to catch the back of my ankle on the bottom of the glass front door to our bungalow. God knows how I did it but when I looked down and saw a large chunk of my skin dangling from the back on my ankle, that's when it started gushing with blood, that's when the pain started adn that's when I started swearing rather loudly whilst hopping around the bungalow on one leg. Lee was in the bathroom but realised I'd done somethign daft so came rushing out to see how bad it was. And it was quite bad, a gash about 1 inch long (2.5cm) and about 1/5 of an inch wide (0.5cm). I had to lie on the bed with my foot in the air trying to stop it a)bleeding and b) hurting so much. It looked a bit like when you make a mistake with the razor when you're shaving and take some skin off, only bigger and deeper. ouch ouch ouchIt was a bit of a disaster really because we were meant to be going snorkelling and there as no way I could put flippers on. Anyway, I did what the book says, ie cleaned it up, applied antiseptic (with much screaming and tears about the pain and stinging)andcovered it up with a plaster. Was slightly worried about getting in the sea water with such a big wound as it's full of nasty bacteria but there wasn't any getting round it really because you have to wade through the water to get to the longtail boats.I was a complete wuss, the saltwater really stung so i hobbled through the water got on the boat with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, Lee explained to the couple we were sharign the taxi with that I'd cut my foot and then it turne out the guy was a surgeon from Dallas, Texas so he must have thought I was a real plum!! Anyway, our first stop on the boat trip was Mango Bay, a gorgeous secluded little beach with fantastic snorkelling. I braved the water and went for a swim while the others went snorkelling, I didn't actually need a snorkle beacause the water was so clear that i could see all the fishes anyway. Apparently there was a huge schol of fish near the rocks, so the guy from the boat lent me his snorkle and I swam out there with Lee, except half way I realised that I was in quite deep water, made the mistake of looking up instead of down at the fish) and realised that Iwas quite far from the beach, then realised that I didn't have a wet suit on (which makes you float better in the sea), panicked and swam back really fast. It was probably closer to swim to the fish but never mind!We stayed there for an hour before going to another little island, I ssy island but it's actually 3 little ones joined by three sand beaches, gorgeous. Unfortunately it's also a park so we could only stay till 5pm. We'd booked a Tapas places for the 30th birthday meal, a swanky restaurant run by two Swedish chefs, we'd tried the tapas on another night, which was fab, really tasty but tiny portions. But for Lee's birthday we had booked the set menu hoping there might be a bit more fodder, it wsan't cheap so we were both looking forward to a good feed. Well, what we actually got was a teeny tiny finger buffet and seven courses of alcohol. Starter was a plum martini that you can't get anywhere else in the world, delicious, but when you've only eaten breakfast it doesn't really line the stomach! We had an apertif that was a triangle of toast with a delish pesto on it, next course a tiny cylinder of fish with 4 snails, then a small glass of soup with a garnish, then two slices of beef capprico with a quails egg and a tea spoon of caviar finished with a slice of chocolate cake. The food took ages to arrive and it was tiny so we were starving the whole time, and in between courses the alcohol kept coming, the plum martini was followed by a bucket of white wine, then a rum and vanilla cocktail, then red wine, then a shot glass full of spirits, then a brandy glass full of spirits made to taste like pears, it even had chopped apple floating in it (which, being so hungry I tried to fish out and eat!). By the end of the meal, which took over 3 hours, we'd eaten the equivilent of about 2 or 3 tablespoons of, undoubtidly, tasty food but had been plied with about 300 litres of alcohol. It was an amusing meal to say the least. We staggered to 7-11 and stocked up on snacks and water to eat back at the bungalow. It was actually a lovely meal, food tasted great but way, way too much alcohol for the amount of food served.
]]> Koh Tao — Koh Tao, Thailand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181055840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181055840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisartw/roundtheworld06/1181055840/tpod.html Fri, 08 Jun 2007 04:52:54 -0400 Lisa versus the world!
Koh Tao, Thailand

We arrived on Koh Tao via the express boat from Koh Phangnan, which turned out to be the non-express boat as well! The journey was fine, nice weather to cross the sea but the boat was packed with touts trying to sell us their dive schools. Koh Tao is the backpacker dive center. It's where you can come having never entered the sea before ever and in just 6 days become an advanced diver. Which much annoy those real advanced divers, you know, the ones that have actually dived more than 8 times in their whole lives! I think there were as many touts as customers and it just becomes too much. I'm not going to go diving so I pretended to sleep while Lee spoke to them all. Most of the dive companies here have accommodation so if you book a course with them then the accommodation is discounted or free, which means if you're not diving then the accommodation is stupidly expensive. We chose one company in the end, just to shut them all up and also so we could get a free lift in from the pier to the main beach area. We went with Phoenix divers and the accommodation we got, an air con room for 1500bhat, was just shocking. The room is a disgrace, compared to what we were paying in Koh Phangnan for our lovely bungalow in the hills, it's daylight robbery and doesn't really say much about the resort or the company for that matter. We've been trying to find other bungalows to stay in but the ones we've looked at are all full at the moment, so we're stuck in a stinky damp room with dodgy electrics and mosquitos. Koh Tao is fine, it's full of dive shops, backpacker type bars and tourist tat shops. The beach is quite nice but not as nice as Had Rin but it does have nice restaurants here, we ate decent food for the first time in ages last night as a tapas place run but a couple of Swedish chefs, so that's where we're booking for Lee's 30th on Friday.
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