Hey people,

I'm trying to remember where we left it off last time...it's been a while since we were on the computer. I think we left it in Bangkok...

That night we had a wander around Khao San again and bumped into a Songkran (Thai New Year) celebration. We saw a Thai opera with costumes and everything, after that there was lots of dancing and singing, was fun to watch. At 9 we got the bus from Bangkok to Chumphon where we were getting the ferry to Koh Tao. The bus journey wasn't too bad we had good seats just next to the stairs so our chairs reclined loads, we were nearly flat! We arrived into the port at Chumphon at about 6ish and waited for the ferry to Koh Tao. The ferry wasn't too bad either just slept for most of it.

Once we got to Koh Tao we got a lift to the hotel from the pier on the back of a jeep with the open back, they loaded up a good few of us with our bags and off we went. No-one fell off surprisingly (we were crammed on pretty well). The hotel was quite swanky with air-con and TV etc. it was also a dive resort so we spent some of our time there spying on the people doing the Open Water Course, which we were going to start in a few days. For most of our time we just chilled on the beach or by the pool, didn't really want to do much because we'd been so busy the week before. We saw some pretty nice sunsets on the beach and the beach itself was also really nice just a shame the water wasn't that good because of the boats that were in it, made it a bit dark, but there were the odd patches of clear blue water. We preferred the beaches at Koh Tao to the one at Goa.

the second day here it was new year- songkran, and the thai celebrate it by chukin water and soap everywhere. so as soon as we stepped out of our hotel, we were attacked by people with water guns, hoses, bottles and anything that u can put water in and thorw it as peopel! so we went off to find food for breki...managed to get a bit wet from the water guns, it wasnt too bad tho, crossed over to the main road, u cud see men chukin bukets full onto people riding mopeds and they got soakd ahahahaha it was funny! we carried on walking, some women came towards us, i told them just a little bit of water please, so wot does she do? completely soaks me with a boal of water, and we get soap smotherd on our faces! well its a free shower! then a whol;e grouip of people went mental and just got us with a load of water! so we wer soaked for breki! stayed at the hotel rest of the day afraid to go out lol. a little thai girl used the hotel pool with us and she was having a little battle with us, and her dad. she grabbed on to people who were training for diving and sat on them shouting YEEHAAA! lol!!

After spending a few days at that resort we packed up our stuff and moved onto another place on Sairee Beach (still on Koh Tao) where we were doing our Open Water Course (scuba diving). Here we were staying in a beach bungalow, it's not right on the beach but you're there after a 20 second walk. It's a lot sturdier than the one in Goa, with a nice porch and some cats that come and sit with us every so often.

The afternoon we arrived at our new place we started with the theory for our scuba course. We met our instructor and our class-mate and got started watching two videos, they were a bit cheesy but easy enough to follow. After this we filled in a few quizzes to test our knowledge and then were sent off with homework for the next day (just like being back at school).

elisa here: so we did our homework that nite, had a bit of maths to do which felt goooood! i miss maths! geeek! went to the beath that daz aswell, its reallz prettz, still not paradise tho! im on the hunt for paradise, so far halong baZ is the best place with 8 out of 10 marks. the sea is more clearer here, and nice scenerz. the letter z cums up in sted of the letter y when i type, sumat wrong with kezboard. the letters have switched places.

the next day we did a mini quiz on our knowledge skills, then later on we got into the pool and learnt sum skills likeß taking ur mask off then back on agen and emptying it underwater, breathing stuff, etc. the tank we have to carry is bloodz heavy!!! i cannot walk with it lol!! i think im a whimp tho coz every1 else is fine. then we chilled in our hut. had food and went beddy bies coz we wa tired!

tday we went diving! woooooooooooo! we had our exam, then headed out to an island where there was fishes to see! tom sed he wasnt nervous at all, i WAS! i wa scared about all sortsß jumping in, forgetting to breath, leg cramps, ear pains! i conquerd it all lol. we got our gear on then walked over to the edge aND Jumpd off- well, more like the thai woman counts to 3 and pushes u off... then we headed down to 12meters. i got ear pains woo. got to the bottom and i got toe cramps wooo. but the rest was fine. we all remebered to alwazs breatheß otherwise ur lungs pop and die....! or sumat like that.

we swam around, as u do, seeing fishy and stuff, and then we saw a turtle! massive! it wa sooo cool! didnt see nemo :( aww. then we got out after bout 45 mins, had a rest and did it all agen, this time with doin skills and tasks that we learnt! its reyt hard climing up the laDDERS to get on the boat, the tank weighs me down n i cant straighten my legs to pull me up! went bak to our hut and relaxed on our porch, nice and cool there. i laid in the hammol, aaah bliss. then we went and watched sunset on beath, sooo nice seeing the sun set behind broken clouds onto the sea! had food after, tom had burger n chips and i had.......hash brown and a massive bowl of chips! healthy! well apparently u burn loads of callories scuba diving so ner.

internet costs a fortune here! so u best appreciate this! my camera has died i think, the wire wont work, so soon it will run out of battery and there will be nothing there to charge it! oo dear!

more scuba diving tomorrow, then were qualified! going round some more idlaNDS IN A FEW DAYS, SO TA TA FOR NOW!

P.S a coconut nearly fell on our heads, fell within afew meters!