The High Season

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The high season is pretty much over now in Koh Tao, Thailand. I've had a busy last few months working at Ban's Diving Resort as a scuba instructor, mostly teaching First Aid and Rescue Diver courses, although I've had a fair share of Open Water and Advanced courses to teach. Here and there I've been able to steal onto the boat when I'm (luckily!) not working and have a couple of fun dives!! It really deos take it out of you teaching every day, especially when you have to get up at 6:30am to do the morning dives and don't finish till class is over at 4pm in the afternoons!
Highlights over the last few months have definitely been the birth of my first nephew, Finnegan (see last two posts!), and only my second sighting of a whaleshark, which I fortunately had an underwater camera on me! I also finally visited a new country, Malaysia, albeit very shortly for a visa run to Penang for a few days. Nice to get some good chinese and indian food with some of the local cuisine. One of the funniest things about Malaysia is how they spell English words phonetically, like 'farmasi' instead of pharmacy, 'elektronix', 'aksesoris', and so on! Funny that I still consider myself out 'travelling' although I've not been to a new country in the last year and been working and living in Thailand until the Penang trip!
So, the whaleshark.... Well as some of you know, I did manage to see my first one back in April, which is a short season for them to visit Koh Tao. The big season for them is from about now until end of December. Last year we saw loads (I counted 23 that the Ban's divers saw) which I somehow seemed to miss EVERY SINGLE ONE. So it's a breath of relief and wonder that I finally get to see them. Still I have to admit, the most amazing thing I've seen underwater has to have been the dungong last year in the Andaman Islands (see 'The Andaman Experience').
There are also currently lots of large Grey Reef Sharks at one of the dive sights here, some of you will remember my post from last year 'Sharks!' although this time I have photos to go with the post! They've been coming in real close to me (I've been dubbed the shark man here because of how close I manage to get to them!). I have to admit I've done a real no-no and actually touched one as it swam by my head. It was a little one and it kept coming by me over and over, curious as hell, swimming just off my shoulder about 20-30cm away, and I couldn't restrain myself, just touching the tip of the tail as it went by, just to say I've touched a real live shark! So sorry to all the hardcore conservationists out there (that's including me!). I kind of felt guilty afterwards.... but how many people can say they've touched a shark? ;)
As this high season winds down, I'm left wondering what I'm to do for low season. Money will be tight as there's not much work until the December-January Swedish high season. Then it'll be quiet again until next June. So I'm currently deciding with great difficulty to call and end to all this, and move to Hong Kong for some work to remove the remaining debts I have (student loan and some credit card), before heading off again. I'll let you all know as time goes.
I have to admit, South America needs to be travelled by my feet very very soon..... :)
Oh, and it's my big 30th birthday party come 21st September!!!

Back to Koh Tao

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Hey everyone! Just a quick update with some photos over the last few months and some new ones of baby Finnegan (my nephew!).
Highlights over the last few months? Most definitely my first whaleshark sighting (see photos!!), plus Songkran, the Thai New Year which involves a HUGE waterfight EVERYWHERE! There's no way you can go the day without getting wet (well it was raining that day too!).
Just enjoying my last night here in Bangkok at my sister's place, good food, aircon, soft bed, hot water and bath, champagne, wine, free wifi internet in the house on her laptop!!! Won't have that back in my place on Koh Tao! Done loads of shopping here for stuff that you can't get out there or is too expensive there (olives, capers, herbs, pasta sauces, pesto, Reese's Pieces, Monster Munch - pickled onion flavour!).
So basically saying bye bye for a bit since I doubt I'll get off my arse to do updates in Koh Tao till I'm next up here in a month's time for a Chinese celebration of the baby's birth one lunar cycle after the birthdate.
In the meantime, it's almost the 20th anniversary of the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan and I'll be up to my neck teaching courses when they all come over to Koh Tao AND it's the start of high season. It'll be a crazy time! Also heading to Malaysia for the first time in a couple of weeks to renew my visa in Penang for 4 days or so. I'll make sure I get some photos and upload them when I get back to my sister's around the 20th July!
Take care you all!!

A New Addition To The Family

Click here to see photos of baby Finnegan

I am now a delighted first time uncle! Baby Finnegan Tsang Yat Sukosol-Clapp was born to my sister Melanie Giles-Clapp and proud father, Krissada Sukosol-Clapp, at 10:30pm on the 22nd June 2007. Quite an auspicious date too, being Year of the Golden Pig, on the cusp of Gemini and Cancer and also being the Swedish Midsummer Eve!
He's the sweetest little thing I've ever seen, having puffy cheeks, tiny wrinkly hands, gorgeous brown eyes, soft brown hair and the cutest little fingers and toes! He's quiet, looks thoughtful and smart and reminds me of an wise old soul. I want one now!
So currently up in Bangkok not two days after he was born, celebrating in Koh Tao the night he was till the wee hours after getting the call, and will be staying here in the Thai capital for a few days with my mum (now a grandma!!) and the happy parents after which I'll be heading back to work at Ban's Diving.
So how's it all going for me? I know it's been a long time since my last update, but hectic work schedule and expensive internet costs on Koh Tao are a great hinderance, especially with slow access and loads of photos to upload (I hate posting without photos).
Life is getting on well, I'm working full time at Ban's Diving as a scuba instructor after all of the mess in January and enjoying life tremendously! Am still going to leave Koh Tao after this high season though (around end of September), as debts still need to be paid from now nearly two years of travelling and I'm only affording the minimums!
So I'm going to head back to Hong Kong and get a 'proper job' to pay a few things back before reconsidering where to go from there!
Will try to update more often (meant to do so so many times before, like when I saw my first Whaleshark a couple of months ago!).
So you all have about 3 months left to come and visit me in Koh Tao before I leave!

Year of Broken Dreams

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I'm currently in Hong Kong right now... How did that happen?? Well let's see...

Had a great Christmas and New Year in Hong Kong with my family, Ling and Kosh, who came to visit before a trip to China. Did the usual and spent Xmas at home with some friends over, and New Year's Eve at the FCC (Foreign Correspondant's Club). Spent Xmas Eve at Ling's place, and Ling, Kosh and I also took an overnight trip to Macau before New Year. I don't have any photos of Macau since I hadn't planned on going and only at the last minute Ling and Kosh dragged me along, so no camera (probably a good thing after the debaucherous time we had)! Had a great time there, with all the casinos, bars and the overnight stay at the spa! It's changed so much since I last went 13 years ago, now with all the huge Vegas style casinos and spotlights etc. They're even building a massive Venetian there, just like in Vegas!
The last couple of months before I came back to HK for Xmas had been really good. I had been working freelance for a couple of dive shops plus Ban's Diving, earning good money and keeping myself real busy. When I came backto Koh Tao after Xmas and New Year, I was straight back in for a few days, until a certain little event kind of messed things up.
I was diving with one Open Water student, a lady from Germany, at a site called Twins, when I spotted a 50kg anchor crashing straight into the corals, and dragging through them, creating a wake of damage half a metre wide and a metre long. The immediate thing I did was to swim over, pull out my dive knife and cut the anchor line. It wasn't secured, it was damaging coral, and could have killed me and my student, or any diver that could have been under it. Basically, if you drop anchor, it should be in the sand 20m off the dive site at least, not right on top of a dive site with up to 60 divers in the water.
From there, we continued the rest of our dive, and after 30 minutes, we came up our buoy line and before we got onto the boat, I asked my student not to say anything. She agreed and even gave me a kiss on the cheek and said she admired and understood what I did.
So much for that. Later that day, she told a couple of the divemasters at New Way Diving whom I was working for, since she thought they would appreciate the events, and they in turn told Peter, the Master Instructor there, who was not impressed by my actions, and told Easy Divers, whom the anchor belonged to, and within a day, everyone on the island knew about the event.
Suffice to say, I ended up being blacklisted from every dive shop in Koh Tao, since noone knew the full story, thinking I had cut the anchor line for fun or for wahtever reason. I had to lay low for a week as the captain of the Easy Divers boat wasn't too impressed and had sent out a couple of armed goons to find me (no joke), until Santi and Jonas from Ban's Diving calmed the situation down for me. I eventually went down to Easy Divers to apologise, although I made sure they understood their mistake. They were fine about it which surprised me, although I guess the captain still isn't too pleased.
So, no more work, the only place I could work was at Ban's Diving, but the huge amount of instructors there means getting your foot in is tough.
Talking about feet, not one week after the anchor event, I woke up one morning, in absolute agony with a pulled muscle in my leg. No idea what happened, I must have slept in a bad position. That kept me out of diving for another week. When I recovered from that, I managed 3 days of work at Ban's, then promptly broke my big toe on my right foot stubbing it falling down stairs. That kept me out for almost 2 weeks. Plus Sev and I spoke with each other for the first time since we broke up last year, although it was more like her talking and me babbling away in tears! Not much got said, and she promised to email me, but I haven't heard from her since.
So as well as all that, with no work in January (I earned 6000 baht, about 80 quid), my bank also decided to screw me over. Oh, and they've screwed me over again a few days ago for 150 quid which I don't have at the moment for being 56p overdrawn the last 20 days without even notifying me. Can you believe they've been charging me 5 quid a day for being overdrawn 56p??
Well, at least February was a good month. I did quite a few courses for Ban's Diving, pretty much working there full time, and really getting into the fold there. Not getting big classes mind, but getting work nonetheless. Times are tough, but high season is round the corner, about 2 months away, with loads of work.
So why am I in Hong Kong anyway? Well, I needed to get my passport replaced as it was only valid for another 5 months (need 6 months minimum to enter a country) and my visa for Thailand was running out. I came up to Bangkok to replace my passport at the British Embassy only to find out I needed a whole load of details, like my dad's passport number, date and place of issue, plus my mum's, plus my birth certificate AND it would take 10 working days, basically two whole weeks. I would end up overstaying in Thailand, being fined 500 baht a day, plus I still had to get a Cambodan Visa, enter Cambodia, get a Thai visa from there, and come back into Thailand.
Worked out it was cheaper for me, and easier, to just fly to Hong Kong the same day, get my passport replaced and get a Thai visa here. The British Consulate here doesn't need all the info from my dad and mum or my birth certificate, plus it only takes 5 working days to get it replaced. Still this whole thing has cost me a fortune I don't have, I had to borrow cash from my sister and mum. The 150 quid my bank took from me was supposed to pay for the passport and visa trip, although the extra cost of flying to Hong Kong I still would have needed.
So what are my plans from now? Seems things the last two months haven't really worked out so well, so I think I'm going to weather out the high season which is coming soon, and then pack my bags. I'm going to start thinking about coming to Hong Kong and looking for a job, although I 'm not keen on doing so, working in IT. I would return to England, but there's a few things that I want to avoid doing, which I know I'll do if I go back to London (like jumping on a Eurostar).
But you never know, things do sometimes work out in some way. I have to stay a bit longer anyway, as I still owe Ban's Diving some dosh for bills before I can leave.
So yeah, it's been pretty messed up, seems the New Year doesn't like me. Funny that. I read my Chinese horoscope for this year, and although it's the Year of the Golden Pig, full of prosperity and good fortune, seems my horoscope, the Year of The Snake, is the only sign that won't work well with this year, and it certainly has shown so far!
Anyway, enjoy the photos, I have some there from the Koh Tao Underwater World Festival, a two day affair with live music, stalls, good food, drink and a good party all round. Worked both nights behind the bar to earn money (but as you can see from the photos it wasn't all bad with all my female friends from Ban's Diving there too!). Also did some clean up operations on the beach and dive sites which are also in the photos.
Hope the New Year is finding you all a lot better than mine!!

Up till now...

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Sorry it's been such a long time everyone! I've just been really lazy I guess, and since there's always somthing going on here in Koh Tao, I never seem to get my butt into gear to write something on my blog! Also, the internet is damn slow here as it's a remote island and we use satellite for internet, it's tough to upload photos and costs a bomb with internet charges in the cafes!!
So how's life going for me at the moment? How are my travels? Well, I think the travelling part is pretty much over for the moment. I've been in Koh Tao, Thailand for nearly 5 months now! I'm now a fully qualified scuba diving instructor! I finished my course shortly before my birthday, so there was quite a bit of partying! You'll also see photos of my snorkel test at the end of my divemaster course shortly before I started my IDC (Instructor Development Course).
You see, life is kind of different for me now. I'm taking a break from the 'normal' life that most people have, working in front of a computer everyday, working 9 to 5. Since Sev and I broke up, I really have no reason now to go back, or finish my 'travels'. So I've decided to stay here for a while, possibly a year or so. Work is slow at the moment as an instructor. I work behind the bar too which covers my rent, and any courses I do is extra cash to pay for food and drink. Unfortunately it's low season at the monent, and I've only done a few scuba reviews (refresher course for people who haven't dived for a while), and one day Discover Scuba Diving courses. I actually have my first Open Water course tomorow with 2 students which pays well! Looking forward to that. There's something of a hierarchy here though, so obviously the full-time, long term instructors get the students first, and any extra or if they're busy, come to the freelancers like me. I will be going around the other dive shops too asking for work. Just need to weather out the next two months till January, when high season kicks in again.
Other than that, daily life is pretty much the same day to day, but it never gets boring. There's always the same crowd of friends here, working at Ban's, but you also get the customers coming through, and it's amazing meeting so many different people. I've made some really good friends and met some lovely people working here. It just cannot compare to life back in London, doing the usual 'respectable' work. I don't know how I could even go back to it after all this...
So yeah, life has changed a lot for me. It's a big decision, it feels weird at the moment, especially with a big bill to pay off here at the moment (about 600 quid!), but I'm paying it off slowly with the money I'm earning here (albeit slowly!!). So again, I'm kind of stuck here anyway until I pay it off, but I'm planning on staying anyway, so it kind of works out!
Anything else special? Yeah! I went back to Hong Kong a few weeks ago for my mum's 60th with Tsaki, a good friend who's also an instructor here in Koh Tao. That was quite a fun week, with the theme of my mum's birthday being early 20th century chinese. My sister also proudly announced she's pregnant on my mum's birthday, which, as the photos will show, made my mum more than happy with tears!! Can't believe I'm going to be an uncle next year!! I still felt young turning 29 in September, but it suddenly feels old now I'm going to be an uncle!!
Plans for Christmas? Going back to Hong Kong for a few weeks where I'll meet up with Kosh who's staying over then heading into China for a well deserved break for himself. God knows I know what it's like, living this life now and him still stuck in the City working in front of a computer all day! In fact, I feel sorry for you all, and you should all save dosh and do what I'm doing!! You won't regret it!
Back to Thailand in January again, continuing my new life. Hope you all find time to come and visit! Miss you all loads you know, that's the only thing that I miss a lot. I miss my friends (yes, and I still miss Sev too), but we can't all stay together for all our lives. We all make decisions that change ourselves, and although I thought about it before travelling, I've gone and done it due to things that have happened to me during my travels, and yeah, I am still nervous about it, but I'm enjoying it so far, and apart from the stuttering financial start to the new life, it all looks rosy for the future!
Come and see me soon all of you!!

DMT to IDC

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Well, it's been such a long time since my last update!!! Sorry about that folks! I've been quite busy, plus with so many photos to upload (thanks Anastasia!) and the internet being so slow here in Koh Tao, I haven't got round to it till now!
So yeah, since I was in Phuket, I've done a couple of visa runs to Myanmar since then (the last one I overstayed 3 days! Cost a lot!), finished my DMT (Dive Master Training) last week so I'm now a certified Dive Master, and now started the IDC (Instructor Development Course). The last month has been a right blast as you'll see from the photos! We all got together (DMTs) and filmed a video with all the guys dressed as girls, and vice versa a month ago. Got the DVD now, and it's hilarious and scary at the same time. I promise never to wear a thong bikini again!!
Finished my DMT last week, had to do a snorkel test which involves drinking a bucket of various alcohols mixed to make it as digusting as possible, then drinking it down through a snorkel while you wear a diving mask (so you can't breathe)! I promptly hurled straight after I did mine!
Started my IDC course last week. I just finished the Assistant Instructor course the other day, and after today, I'll be a first aid instructor too! 10 more days till I finish the course and will be a full scuba diving instructor! Woohoo!!
Would love to stay here and work. Rapidly running out of money (thanks to my Aunt Linda for funding my IDC!!). If I can't get work here pronto and earn cash, I'll be ending my trip and return to Hong Kong for a bit and find a job somewhere (maybe Shanghai!). If all goes well, I'll stay here in Koh Tao for a while, earn money and continue my travels now and then as little breaks from work! Would love to stay here for maybe a year or so working!!
Next week, I'll give you all a better breakdown of all that's happened and happening as I'm only on a short lunch break from lessons!!

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!