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Tom C-B's Travels 2006
Another three day installment to catch up on so I'll get straight to it!
THURSDAY
After booking our trip down to Koh Tao and Koh Panghan yesterday, we had the whole day to kill before catching another overnight coach at 8pm. Therefore a lazy morning and preparation for the week away took us all the way up to check out time at midday. After checking out, we caught a cab to Dusit Zoo, where we listlessly passed another good chunk of the day before returning to Khaosan Road.
With a good few hours left before we had to be at the pick-up, we went back to Chanwit's Hideaway, this time experimenting with the Oil massage which, I have to say, I enjoyed more than the Thai massage, despite it being done by a male masseuse! With the massage over, Kim hopped on the 'special price' internet while I went upstairs to the gym, which I had discovered last time we were at Chanwit's. I came down about an hour later and Kim was just finishing up on the internet, so we went out and went for dinner.
As it was our first 'last' night in Bangkok (our last 'last' night will be when we actually leave) we treated oursleves to dinner at a really nice restaurant, where our meal cost 3 quid instead of 1! Flamboyant I know!! Anyway, it was a thoroughly enjoyable meal, even if the portions weren't very big, and we took our time over it before leaving. We collected our small bags from the hotel and were picked up to go to Koh Tao. Another long bus journey was in store, but we bagged the whole back row of seats so, theoretically sleeping, it should have been easier to sleep...
FRIDAY
At 5am we arrived at the ferry terminal (Guess what - I hadn't slept at all!) with a two hour wait before our ferry actually left, so I got down to some more book reading while Kim got down to some more sleeping. At 7am we were pulling out of the harbour with a stomach-churning two hour boat journey across to Koh Tao, and Kim was feeling a bit the worse for wear. She did well to keep everything down however, and we were safe on dry land by 9 o'clock.
We checked into our accommodation, which was also the dive resort where I was doing my Open Water diving course, and grabbed brekkie before catching up on sleep. I had to be up at 1 to start the first day of the diving course, so I had a quick 3 hours before throwing myself once more into the fray, and left Kim slumbering at her leisure.
This next five hours for me consisted of starting to learn the theory behind diving, watching two long PADI instructor videos, and going over it with Wozza, our instructor. It was slightly tiresome but it was interesting to learn knew things, and I was ready for the pool session the next day by the time we had finished. I found Kim in the room and after a bit of chill out time, we went out for dinner. After dinner we wandered around the small village for a bit and stumbled across a nice-looking restaurant called 'Whitening' which was right on the beach, so we sat down on the decking with cushions and pillows and had a fruit cocktail to pass the night. We were both still pretty tired so at about 10pm we made our way back to the dive resort and bed.
SATURDAY
I was up at 7:30 today as we had a big day of learning to get through as well as a pool session, so I once again left a peaceful looking Kim and headed out. We had covered all the theory by about 11:45, so we were given a lunch break and told to meet back by the pool at 1:30. I lunched on a decent Pad Thai, and quickly visited the internet café to attend to emails. Then I was back with my group at 1:30 and we were in the pool by 2:30. It's a strange sensation breathing underwater, but a completely fascinating one. Our group was really good and according to Wozza, we were one of the best and quickest groups he has had for a long time! We practiced all sorts of skills with the regulators and buoyancy and equalizing pressures and we were done within two hours. Wozza was suitably impressed and, after rinsing and dissecting our gear, we were free to go before 5pm. I rejoined Kim again in the room, and came to the internet to spill the beans on the exciting first two days of the dive course!
So tomorrow we have our final theory exam, and then it's into the sea we go, with the "practice makes perfect" mentality. We do two dives tomorrow afternoon, and the next day is the final day where we do another two dives. I can't wait! Anyway, I best be off as it is nearing dinner time so, the next time I'm on here I'll hopefully be a PADI certified diver...!
See ya
Tom xx
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