southeast islands of thailand

koh phaNgan - 9th -12sept

Got ferry from surat thani to koh tao, but aboard the ferry we changed our plans, as we found out there was black moon party on Koh phaNgan. Caught a lift to haed rin nai half way from an aussie couple and the the hilly bit the jeep coudn't make we jumped a taxi.

We checked in to coral bungalows which was on the beach and just so happened to be having a pool party that night. we chilled by the pool for a while then took a walk to find the main beach and nightlife area (haed rin nok) on the island which was about a ten min walk. This beach was amazing clear water and soft white sand.

After our brief rekky of the place we went to get some much needed shut eye before the pool party in the night. 11pm wake up/freshen up then we headed for the pool party a 2 second walk from our bungalow, abroad measures of malibu flowing we chatted to other travellers and chilled listening to party tunes. Good first night on the island.

DAY 2

After a couple of hours sleep we got up and went for a run on the beach, we went bear feet and cut our feet to shreads. 12pm went on an afternoon boat trip which stopped at a water fall, and 3 different desserted beaches, we had lunch on one beach and went snorkelling off another one. really good way to see the island. On route back from boat trip we were given the locals special, whiskey and coke, very strong!!!!! we were also offered a joint, which we obviously declined, but most others on the boat accepted.

in the evening we headed for haed rin nok, for drinks and entertainment, this was the warm up night for tomorrows black moon party. fire throwers prancing around on the beach with dance tunes ringing in our ears. Really nice night, Beach looked well nice all lit up with fire and lights.

Day 3

Another run, aaaah! this time with trainers on,to burn off some thai food and ale.
laxy day around the the pool and beach (first day we just chiled and didn't do much) before we had another tactical sleep before the black moon party.

before we headed to the party we had a drink at our bungalow bar, again strong measures given, we then grabbed a taxi to the beach where the black moon party was. Trance music blasted out as we made our way to the beach, neon body painting and other, bars and food stalls every where. headed to the bar with our free drink ticket for lethal vodka red bull, If your a pill head, this was the place to be, we got offered them about 5 times in 10 minutes. the music was defiantly music for people on drugs too, far too hard core. had a a dance a chat to an ireland international male hockey player, who know's parky, small world hey! then had a munch on some corn on the cob, before grabbing a taxi home (taxi being a open air jeep thing which was rammed full and only just made it up and down the hilly roads).

koh tao 12-16th sept

Day 1

arrived by ferry to koh tao - wed pm, we had to make a decision which scuba dive company to go with, out of the 5 thousand on offer. To cut a long story short, we choose a dive company checked in the free accomadtion we recieved, watch a 3 hour dive course video, then changed our minds, checked back out and headed to a dive company who offered us 1 instructor for the 2 of us, pluz cheaper. After this eventful afternoon it was quite late, we checked into our new accomadation and went out for a sea view thai curry,which we were told was not spicy, but actually blew our mouths off before hitting sack for some much needed kip.

day 2

Met with our scuba diving instructor an english girl called Emma. We had to do some theory in the morning and headed to a pool in the afternoon to learn the basics of breathing and staying alive under water. which entiltled sharing air. after this we hit the beach as we hadn't checked it out yet. we headed out for tea, with sandra a girl from the dive company, who we have come to the conclusion she is Emma's girlfriend (although no proof yet!!!!)

we returned to the ranch, to do....... wait for it ....... homework, yep bloody homework! so much stuff to take in. we needed to find out what to do if your 20m under water and run out of oxygen!!!

Day 3

7AM MEET- Met instructor down stairs and headed for the boat. On board we had to set up our own gear which we had been shown how to do yesterday. Before we could go in our scuba gear we had to do a couple of tests 1. the swim test - could we swim around the boat twice ? yep, but nearly drowning laughin at each other. 2. can you float for 10 mins in the water - yep

ok so in to our extra small wet suits on on with the gear.

ok first task getting in the water from the boat- giant stride entry, we did actually think we were going to drown the equipment was so heavy, although we managed not to.
We drifted on our backs, (jacket inflated to enable us to float) to shallow water. Here we completed our basic skils/techniques to enable us to go for a dive. we learned how to empty our flloding masks, under water which came in useful as when you laugh it fills up, and we laughed quite a bit.

we did a free dive, then headed back for lunch, after lunch we went for 2 more dives in different locations, max 12m dives. this was awesome, so many different fish and coral to see. each dive lasted 45 minutes. (surfacing before air ran out) we did skills, under water emergency procedures - just in case we came in to difficulty. the day was amzing, although very tiring, we headed back went out for food then went to sleep.

Day 4

We went for a run in the morning before breakfast, then had to go do some classroom work and course exam- passed 96 % (we never cheated once, honest!!!)

later we went to an aussi bar to watch united beat everton 1.0 he he!!! littlen was less happy about watching the match so chatted some fit guy up while nicky screamed at the tele.

Day 5
5.30 wake up for 6am meeting with instructor to carry out our final dive of our open water course. this dive we were most excited about as we were told we MAY see sharks (apparantly none aggressive ones!). on the boat on route to shark island emma taught us signs for different fish with the shark being the obvious hand pointed on top of head. As this was our deepest dive we had to swim down without the buoyline and literally 3minutes after being in the water emma gave us the sign for a shark and pointed into the deep blue ocean below us!! there is was - gliding below us!!!! we looked at each other nervously but obviously very excited! sharks soon became old news as we managed to see 6 in total on this dive! totally amazing - however at one point littlen thought she had been attacked by a shark as nicky creeped up behind and grabbed her ass under the water. to nickys amusement and littlens heart failure. had to de-flood our masks due to too much laughter which resulted in letting in too much water! back on boat to our second dive site -again a brilliant experience although our final test was too navigate and measure distance with a compass underwater (something we both struggle to do on land). All in all scuba diving was an amazing experience! That afternoon we left for koh samui (a little more commercialised) but had yet again gorgeous beaches and plenty of nite life.