Bang Saphan Yai, Chumphon and Koh Tao
Click here to see photosHad a nice final two days in Bang Saphan Yai. Went to the Sai Ku waterfalls which were beautiful. A 15 minute drive from our resort into the hills, followed by a 5 minute walk brings you through some bamboo forests to the foot of the waterfall.
When we arrived, we heard from 3 Thai kids who were just ahead of us that there was a 'slide' at the top. We climbed up some steep slopes and rested there whilst the 3 Thai kids and I slid down the natural chute in the rocks that ended in a little ppol that was just a bit too close to the edge fo the waterfall for my liking!
Climbed back down and relaxed round the main pool before heading back the resort for a final night's dinner and chat with Liam and Claire.
The next morning, I got up bright and early to take a mini bus the 2 hours down to my next stop. Chumphon is nothing to speak much of. There's a couple of typical markets, some bars (for foreigners) and that's about it. I only stayed one night in the dingy 'Farang Bar', where I also booked my ferry the following day to Koh Tao. One thing I did accomplish in Chumphon was purchasing a very handle little piece of kit, the electric tennis racket of mosquito death. Fantastic thing. I sorely needed it after counting about 20 mosquitos in my dingy room. Hey, it cost me 100 baht each for the room and for the racket! So bargain deal for both.
Arrived in Koh Tao, at Mae Haad beach and took the free pick up to Ban's Diving Resort. It's weird coming abck to the same place as last year, but it's great fun here. Fortunately, all the staff here from last year are still around, and I also bumped into Rikke, who was on the Rescue Diver course with me! She ended up doing her Divemaster and staying here to work for the last year. Good to see so many familiar faces.
Found out when I arrived that there was a two day Underwater Festival, where there are parties, stalls, TV station camera crews, the lot! Yesterday morning we all took part in the breaking a world record for the most divers diving simultaneously, 800 in total! Unfortunately, I missed out, as my alarm clock failed to go off at 6am (note to self: Always check phone battery level before going to bed).
Today, I've signed up for my Divemaster course, which I will start tomorrow, and finish in June when I come back. I'll only do about 10 days of the theory and some diving exercises whilst I'm here before Kosh arrives. The reason I signed up for it now, instead of June, when I come back, is so that all my dives (fun dives, rather than part of my course) are all FREE! So I save a bunch of money.
So for the next weeks and a half, I'll be relaxing, drinking, diving and having some fun here with people I know until Kosh comes over for a couple of days. We'll then head down to Koh Samui to meet up with Ling, Dodgy, Ed, Adam, Lucy et al for the birthday party!
Not many photos from Koh Tao. I've already been here before, so haven't been inclined to take any! You can see my last year's photos if you really want!
When we arrived, we heard from 3 Thai kids who were just ahead of us that there was a 'slide' at the top. We climbed up some steep slopes and rested there whilst the 3 Thai kids and I slid down the natural chute in the rocks that ended in a little ppol that was just a bit too close to the edge fo the waterfall for my liking!
Climbed back down and relaxed round the main pool before heading back the resort for a final night's dinner and chat with Liam and Claire.
The next morning, I got up bright and early to take a mini bus the 2 hours down to my next stop. Chumphon is nothing to speak much of. There's a couple of typical markets, some bars (for foreigners) and that's about it. I only stayed one night in the dingy 'Farang Bar', where I also booked my ferry the following day to Koh Tao. One thing I did accomplish in Chumphon was purchasing a very handle little piece of kit, the electric tennis racket of mosquito death. Fantastic thing. I sorely needed it after counting about 20 mosquitos in my dingy room. Hey, it cost me 100 baht each for the room and for the racket! So bargain deal for both.
Arrived in Koh Tao, at Mae Haad beach and took the free pick up to Ban's Diving Resort. It's weird coming abck to the same place as last year, but it's great fun here. Fortunately, all the staff here from last year are still around, and I also bumped into Rikke, who was on the Rescue Diver course with me! She ended up doing her Divemaster and staying here to work for the last year. Good to see so many familiar faces.
Found out when I arrived that there was a two day Underwater Festival, where there are parties, stalls, TV station camera crews, the lot! Yesterday morning we all took part in the breaking a world record for the most divers diving simultaneously, 800 in total! Unfortunately, I missed out, as my alarm clock failed to go off at 6am (note to self: Always check phone battery level before going to bed).
Today, I've signed up for my Divemaster course, which I will start tomorrow, and finish in June when I come back. I'll only do about 10 days of the theory and some diving exercises whilst I'm here before Kosh arrives. The reason I signed up for it now, instead of June, when I come back, is so that all my dives (fun dives, rather than part of my course) are all FREE! So I save a bunch of money.
So for the next weeks and a half, I'll be relaxing, drinking, diving and having some fun here with people I know until Kosh comes over for a couple of days. We'll then head down to Koh Samui to meet up with Ling, Dodgy, Ed, Adam, Lucy et al for the birthday party!
Not many photos from Koh Tao. I've already been here before, so haven't been inclined to take any! You can see my last year's photos if you really want!
Oh, I noticed that some people have said they couldn't comment on my last post. I don't know why, but for some reason Blogger messed up and my post actually ended disappearing. I think something weird happened. I've fixed that now!
posted by Dominic Giles | 8:21 AM
2 Comments:
Hehe Drinking and Diving. Sounds like great fun! :)
- Stevie
Hi Dom,
Although we have not "officially" put down the downpayment to reserve the date, we did find out that December 16th of this year is available at the Casa Monica (St. Augustine, FL) where Daniel and I would like to get married. We were really happy to find out that the date was available.
Thought you would like to know the latest! Stay safe and enjoy your adventures!
Holly & Daniel
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