Peace and Quiet

Trip Start Dec 28, 2005
1
8
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Trip End Sep 01, 2006


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Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Koh Tao is brilliant - especially after a few nights at Koh Pha-Ngan! It's much more chilled out and sedate. The beaches are gorgeous with crystal clear water and soft sand. Most of the bars along the beach front have mats for people to lie on and really chilled music to lull you into a very relaxed state. Had one great night out having quiet drinks and talking to some Ozzies and Canadians. Our last night was spent nearly falling asleep in these huge bean bags looking out into the sea - so so comfortable!

The highlight of this stop was scuba diving - wow! Koh Tao is famous for having the most clear waters and for scuba diving - there was a time hostels only let you stay if you were enrolling in a scuba diving course with them! Got taken out on a boat and talked through the three skills we had to learn - clearing your mask underwater (so scary!), losing and recovering your oxygen supply and sharing oxygen supplies in an emergency Caz wading in the sea
Caz wading in the sea
 . Our guide (who was very nice) also gave us the general tips - how to jump into the water holding the equipment, how to equalise (holding your nose and blowing so your ears pop) and various hand signals. So anyway, we got our gear on (I love the flippers - felt like a mermaid) and in we went and it was unbeleivable. Didn't enjoy the first skill because I didn't like the salty water going in my eyes, but stayed very calm during the other two. To do the skills we just went down 4 metres - it was so weird when he deflated us and you just start to sink down and you realise how easy it is to breathe under water. After the skills we basically went for a swim around the coral for about 45 minutes at about 10 metres. It was just unreal - a whole new world! The fish were beautiful - my favourites were these pink ones which had huge eyes, but they were closer together than usual fish which made it look more like an earth creature and these large bright green ones (shock) with crazy patterns. The colours were so vivid and the coral was really amazing with loads of colourful creatures stuck to it that popped off when you came close. Every now and then my ears made some crazy noises and a bit of water got into the nose bit, but I still loved it all - can't wait to do it again in Australia.

Left Koh Tao today - and now sitting in a little town called Chumpong waiting for our night train to Bangkok. Arrive in Bangkok about 9 tomorrow - gotta be at the airport about 12 for our flight to Cairns, Australia. Will be sad to leave Thailand - wish I had more time here - next time...
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