After a bit of a tearful farewell we boarded Thai Ariways int, posh name but not so sure about the planes! lol. Good thing we had loads of space since we had a 12 hour flight ahead of us and Sam points out that we dont actually have a tv screen for the duration of the flight!! She was absolutley positive they would drop from the ceiling, but it never happend. lol.

After a night in a basic hostel in Bangkok we started our journey. 19/10/11 We left for the airport at 4am, to fly to Surat Thani, we then got a 1 and 1/2 hour bus to the port where Sam bravely sat at the front of the bus about 2cm away from the window screen and had the privilege of having a little thai woman fall asleep on her shoulder, dribble at no extra cost! We then had a 2 hour boat ride to Koh Samui and then an hour to Koh phangan, it was here that we all had to get off and wait for an hour thai time (about 2 hours english time) for the next boat to come along. In the mean time it had been raining quite heavily and the sea was geting quite choppy :s.

We then boarded the next boat to Koh tao. We had only just sat down and left koh phangan when a guy from a few seats in front of us got up and went over to the bags that were all piled at the front of the boat. I thought at first he was getting something out, but then another guy got up angrily and told him to sit down, he then turned around to us and said 'Hes pissing on the bags!' All of us in utter shock are looking around at each other and also trying to look for our bags and where they are! The guy didnt seem to have any remorse as the second guy tried to hit him, security were called and it was all a bit of a palarva!! He ended up getting taken to the back of the boat (i think they should have chucked him off or made him walk the plank) but in the mean time the sea is getting choppier, we can now smell urine and its this point that people start being sick. It was awful! I went first, then it was sams turn and this literally lasted about 45 mins out of the 1 and 1/2 hour journey there, needless to say as soon as we got off the boat we were so relieved after our horrendous travelling day! (probably more worst ones to come!) Oh and before you ask no he didnt piss on our bags, we were right on the other side of the boat due to it being quite busy! Phew!

A very tired, weary and shaky team head off to sairee beach to check into accomodation for the night.

The next afternoon 20/10/11 we started our scuba diving lessons, in a classroom, yep and even had text books and an exam! lol. We had an awesome scuba group and we all got well and knew that a lot of fun times were ahead of us.

21/10/11 After the worst nights sleep (a lovely snoring woman in our hostel!!!!) we had another lesson in the clasroom followed by a lesson in the pool (filled with goodies including; cigarette ends, leaves, human hair and beer tops!! yum!!!) we then added to the concoxtion by attending the pool party that night! Considering we had an exam the following morning, we had a pretty crazy night on the beach. :) This included; Fire limbo, fire skipping and a wild dip in the sea!

22/10/11 The morning of the exam!!!! Bleary eyed we stumbled to the classroom, after having about 4 hours sleep (all part of the fun) the whole class managed to pass with 90-98% (no cheating was involved before u ask!!!!) That afternoon we had our first trip on the boat out to scuba! Picture black skies, thunder and lighting and heavy rain (not ideal circumstances for beiginners!!!) Sam believes this is an omen we are going to die! I just wanted to get in the sea as quickly as possible before the boat sank!!! lol. Believe it or not it was a huge success and one of the best things we have all done! The rain seemed to have bought most of the fish out and there was loads to see! :) It was amazing!!!!

23/10/11 a 7am start to the day and another 2 scuba diving trips, one on dive we saw a turtle, angel fish and a puffa fish on our second dive we saw loads of corral and practised some of our skills, the best one was put in the words of Bob our instructor, 'Buddy buddy, I'm out of air, can we share?' thankfully we were ok sharing saliva and did it quite confidently considering we were on the ocean floor. we then watched the diving video that evening with our group and had a few giggles. Sadly it was now our time to leave and head off to our next destination, off to the Kok (Bangkok). 24 hours later, one night boat, one looooong bus trip and a short taxi ride, we were abck at the hostel we stayed in on the first night in bangkok, meaning we are right there to fly to new zealand later today! :) Eeekkk!

More soon! Love Sian and Sam x x x