Sharks!
Been a nice two weeks so far diving in Koh Tao. One of the dive sites, Chumpon Pinnacle, has been a host to a safari of grey reef sharks. We've been seeing them almost every dive there, from sometimes one or two, to six or seven. Last week I had a 2 meter reef shark swim head on towards me turning away from me at about 1.5 meters away! There's nothing more exilirating than seeing then so close up! I also narrowly escaped having to do my 100th dive naked, as per Ban's Diving tradition, by keeping it pretty hush-hush!! One of the guy's had to do it last week, and it can be pretty embarrasing what they do to you!
The rest of the time has been filled chatting, drinking, lazing by the beach and studying for my course. Tomorrow, I'm off to see Anastasia (the girl I met in Hong Kong) in Phuket as she's arriving there tomorrow starting a new job as a tour guide. Since she doesn't know anyone there, I thought it would be nice for a friendly face to be around as she settles into her new place, plus we've been getting on pretty well over email and chatting on the internet since we met in Hong Kong!
After that, I'll have to do my visa run. I only have a 30 day visa for Thailand, so I'll have to leave the country and re-enter again. After the week in Phuket, I'll be going up to Ranong near the Burma border and pop over for the day. Would love to stay there longer, but you can only stay 2 days in Burma if you go over by land. I'd like to spend 2 weeks there, so I'll do that after my few months here in Koh Tao. After the visa run, might head back to Phuket if Anastasia and I are enjoying ourselves, otherwise I'll be back to Koh Tao!!
Since being here in Koh Tao, I've been thinking quite a bit about my direction in life. I've started considering doing my full diving instructor course and earn a living here. You'd be amazed at how much the instructors earn here! Most own a house here, as well as a motorbike, and can earn around 100,000 baht a month with no bills to pay (except water and electricity!). That's about 1800 quid a month!! And when you consider how much food and drink costs here, that's ALOT of money...!! You could easily live on 300 quid a month here, so you could be putting away 1500 quid a month in savings!
So over the next couple of months, I'll be thinking more about this option!!
Will keep you all posted on my week in Phuket and my brief visa run visit to Burma when I get back to Koh Tao! No photos at the mo of the last two weeks!
The rest of the time has been filled chatting, drinking, lazing by the beach and studying for my course. Tomorrow, I'm off to see Anastasia (the girl I met in Hong Kong) in Phuket as she's arriving there tomorrow starting a new job as a tour guide. Since she doesn't know anyone there, I thought it would be nice for a friendly face to be around as she settles into her new place, plus we've been getting on pretty well over email and chatting on the internet since we met in Hong Kong!
After that, I'll have to do my visa run. I only have a 30 day visa for Thailand, so I'll have to leave the country and re-enter again. After the week in Phuket, I'll be going up to Ranong near the Burma border and pop over for the day. Would love to stay there longer, but you can only stay 2 days in Burma if you go over by land. I'd like to spend 2 weeks there, so I'll do that after my few months here in Koh Tao. After the visa run, might head back to Phuket if Anastasia and I are enjoying ourselves, otherwise I'll be back to Koh Tao!!
Since being here in Koh Tao, I've been thinking quite a bit about my direction in life. I've started considering doing my full diving instructor course and earn a living here. You'd be amazed at how much the instructors earn here! Most own a house here, as well as a motorbike, and can earn around 100,000 baht a month with no bills to pay (except water and electricity!). That's about 1800 quid a month!! And when you consider how much food and drink costs here, that's ALOT of money...!! You could easily live on 300 quid a month here, so you could be putting away 1500 quid a month in savings!
So over the next couple of months, I'll be thinking more about this option!!
Will keep you all posted on my week in Phuket and my brief visa run visit to Burma when I get back to Koh Tao! No photos at the mo of the last two weeks!
posted by Dominic Giles | 8:53 AM
6 Comments:
Sharks!!! Yey! You are very glad they (the sharks especially) didn't see the acorn!
And there was me thinking that Dom had escaped embarasment - silly me!
Dom get back online we miss you! I'd be really happy if you decided to live in Thailand as a dive instructor :) Lol, Mel & Kriss in NYC x
are you too busy diving to say hello anymore? whats the latest from koh tao?
hey hey dom its claire from koh tao, the one that did your makeup to turn u into a pretty little girl!! hope your good love the photos i tried emailing u but think iv got wrong address...I think i remember u having some photos of us dancin on the bar??was just wondering if u could possibly send them to me as my camera got stolen last night in bangkok!:( any photos would be great thanks sweetie hope your good wherever u are in the world!!x email - bashkishkash@hotmail.com
Hey Dom, good to hear you're up to mischief!! Are you around in November........cos I'm going to be around your neck of the woods! If you're not too intoxicated...email me. Keep rockin dude!
fog3@mac.com
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