Once again, I've left it far too long!

So much has happened since then so I think I shall have to be brief.

- On our last weekend we got taken on a trip to Koh Tao to do some snorkelling. It was amazing, I've never seen water so clear. There was an underwater photographer taking pictures of us all as well which was pretty cool.

-It was also Kirsty's birthday on the 1st of March so we went up to a bar called 'Jam bar' the night before. It was really chilled out and we all had a nice evening. One of the girls who I teach was there because her parents owned the bar and her mum gave me a free JD and coke, which was very nice of her!

- The last week of school mostly consisted of playing musical chairs (when there weren't power cuts!) and handing out sweets and balloons. On Wednesday, we had a 'party lunch' with P.5. We really didn't know what to expect, but every child had bought something in, from huge pots of Phad Thai or fried rice to bags of crisps and bottles of coke. There was even pizza. So so much food, even as we were getting full they were still putting more dishes on the table. Then they put on a thai karaoke dvd and danced around the classroom with the modelling balloons we'd bought in for them (I could do a sword or a fish. Eventually I made a lopsided dog). Then they put on a quite an inappropriate horror film! On the Thursday it was all repeated with P.6 and we were given a gift of a polo shirt with the school logo on and a sarong. When Erng came to pick us up I didn't want to leave and all the kids were giving us hugs (or, in the case of the P.6 boys, shaking our hands) and carrying our bags to the car for us. Later that evening, Erng and Subai took us out for a nice pizza meal and then we headed into Hat Rin one last time.

- On Saturday morning, I caught the boat over to Koh Tao to do my one day diving course. Unfortunately, by the time I got there and managed to find the place half the day had already gone and I decided it would be better to do the diving on the Sunday. Kirsty and Roxy caught a later boat over and we decided to have a night out in Sairee beach. We had dinner a a place called Choppers, where there was a guy singing really good cover songs and I had the best bbq ribs ever. Then we headed down to the 'yellow brick road' to sit on the beach at a place called lotus bar. It was really nice. We decided to go home early-ish so that we were well rested for our diving the next day, but we didn't really get much sleep as the place was so noisy. There was a chorus of (I swear hundreds) of dogs at about 5am all howling in unison. Add to that the traffic and doors slamming throughout the night.

The diving course the next day was really really good. The instructor was really nice to us, even when I had a little panic and started coughing underwater (apparently coughing, sneezing and vomiting are all ok to do into your regulator). The dive was at a place called Mango Bay and there was so much to see. Loads of fishes and corals. You felt like a mermaid! I did have a few problems with my ears but I managed to sort them out and dive the full 10m.

Once I got back, it was a quick shower and pack to catch the night boat on our way to Krabi. We thought we were going to Surat Thani but it turns out we were booked onto the boat to Chumphon (all was fine, it just meant a longer coach journey once we arrived). The boat was actually quite relaxing even though the bunk bed dorm looked pretty scary and intmidating at first. Arriving into Krabi in our little minibus (after a long 3 hours sleep) was really stunning. The landscape is so wierd, there are amazing cliff/mound things dotted around perfectly flat landscape. We arrived about 10am this morning and managed to find a pretty nice, cheap room in the centre of town. Then we dumped our bags and decided to go and see one of the nearby temples. This temple had a view point that had 1237 steps up to it. I was knackered by 150! But we made it to the top and the view was immense. I tried to take pictures but they could not capture it at all. I am absolutely shattered now then, so I don't think we'll be doing much more than eating at the night market tonight and then sleeping!

Speak to you all soon
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