From Koh Lanta we stopped for a night in Railay. This is a very small place also where we could walk from one side of the island to the other within 5 minutes. I like Railay because it was very quiet, there weren't too many people and it was pleasing on the eyes. There were beautiful karsts all around like the one in the next picture.
They had some cool caves around the island as well.
While walking from one side of the island to the other we passed by this man who had this little pet monkey on a leash. His name was Harry Potter and he was quite the energetic little character!
I had fun with Harry at first, but then I got a little nervous when he was crawling down my back! Cailin didn't get to have as much fun with him after me. I think she got him a little too excited because he ended up biting her! He didn't even break the skin so we weren't too worried.
I stumbled upon a strange sight as we were roaming around the island....JOHN DEERE! I couldn't believe that they had John Deere there! So I quickly looked both ways and then hopped on for a minute! 5203....is that a good one dad?
Since we had got to southern Thailand we were constantly entertained with heat lightening every night. It was a fantastic sight. We had some plans of taking a long tail boat ride around the area and to some other islands or doing kayking or rock climbing...but time again was not on our side! Our next adventure started taking a long tail boat over to Krabi, where we stayed for a few hours and then caught a bus to Surat Thani, where we were then going to take a night boat to Koh Tao. We found out this night boat was actually a cargo boat, that crams people in like sardines, to kill 2 birds with one stone! From the following picture you should be able to see how small your space or number was. I basically didn't sleep at all because it was so crowded and I was so hot!
At 7am we arrived in Koh Tao and went straight to a dive shop to see about signing up for a scuba diving class. We went with BAN'S because we were referred there. We were told that Koh Tao is the cheapest place in the world to get certified. Because it was so early we had to wait for people to check out of their rooms before we could get in. I have trouble sleeping alot of places, but I was obviously exhausted because I laid down on the couch in the office and was out for almost 2 hours! I discovered a new favorite food at our first meal there. It's called Gang Massaman. It's kind of a peanutty/coconutty/curry sort of dish that has potatoes and some other veggies in it. YUM!
I thought the sight of all the boats on the water was very lovely.
At 5pm we had our first dive class. We met our instructor, Rich, who is from Northern Ireland and watched a couple hours of video. We had big textbooks and we were given the first 3 chapters to read (about 175 pages) and be knowledgeable about before class the next day. I was up until about midnight reading and studying. The next day we had class for a few hours, did some review of our material and then took 2 tests. (I passed with flying colors!). That afternoon we had our shallow water training in the swimming pool. I will admit that I was quite nervous and panicked at first and freaked out a few times when I was under water. It is a very strange concept and idea to be able to breathe under water. It's not natural. I kind of got yelled at by my instructor because I came up out of the water a few times when I wasn't supposed to! We did some basic tests like taking our masks on and off, practicing like we were out of air and having to use our buddy's 2nd air source, and then we had to fill our mask with water and breathe properly to get it out. I didn't like ANY of these tests! I was getting quite frustrated with myself. I was actually nervous that I wouldn't be able to do it. And I feel I am one who doesn't give up easily.
This next picture is of all of our gear. You have your BCD vest (bouyancy control device), your flippers, your air tank, your weight belt and your mask. The most important rule in diving is to always remain calm and to always breathe slowly and deeply and NEVER hold your breath! Our instructor Rich referred to Cailin and I the whole time as Cagney and Lacey. I have heard of it, but had to admit I didn't know too much about it! We had more studying to do that night and I started getting very nervous and apprehensive about our first real dive the next day.
We were up bright and early the next day at 6am for our 1st dive. I was really hoping I wouldn't freak out under the water...especially when we would be down 14 meters and you can't just pop up quickly to the top because your lungs will explode! I remember when we first went down the rope from the boat to the ocean bottom, I was panicking quite a bit, but then I remembered to breathe slowly and deeply....and then I was fine and able to enjoy myself. We had to do more under water tests, which I hated. It is absolutely stunning under water. There is a whole other world down there. It makes you feel very small and insignificant. I got a battle wound from our first two dives. My BCD vest was rubbing on my love handle and left a huge abrasion. I was in tears in the shower. I ventured out and got some supplied to bandage it up and nurse Cailin took care of me! I had to sit very erect with good posture all night for it to not hurt.
The next day we had another classroom session, had our last two tests, and filled out our paperwork for our certification. We also had our final exam and I only got one wrong! That afternoon we went on our final 2 dives. Our deepest dive was to 18 meters. I was finally over my fears and it was a great feeling! I felt so free and careless under the water and could truly enjoy myself and soak in all the life around me. God's creation is truly amazing and continues to amaze me with the different places I travel to. On our last dive I cut myself on some coral which was actually really neat because that far under water your blood looks green (because light rays loose color the further under water you get)! There was a lady there videotaping us all afternoon to make a video we would watch that night.
The next picture is of my normal sized flipper and then Cailin's baby flipper!
Before we went down for our last dive Rich said, the next time I talk to you, you will be certified! We did a few final tests and we were done! Each one of our 4 dives was about 45 minutes long. When we got back, we sat and enjoyed a beautiful sunset to celebrate us passing! That evening we got to watch the video of us from that day. It was pretty neat to see us all under water, doing our different tests and then seeing all of the creatures down there as well.
I made really good friends with Jen who is from the UK. This is her and I with our instructor Rich during our last classroom session.
The next two pictures are pictures that one of the people on our dive took. The 2nd one shows just how many fish were swimming around you at some points. Again, it made your feel quite insignificant and small.
Cailin and I also made really good friends with George and Tash, who are from the UK. We had many good times and many laughs over our diving experience!
It wasn't my idea but some of the people I was with wanted to go to a lady boy show! I wasn't sure about it but I decided to tag along. It was something else.....I'm not really sure how else to describe it! Some of them actually looked like feminine ladies....some it was quite obvious that they used to be men! I still don't understand why Thailand has such a huge population of lady boys or why it is so popular there.
All throughout Thailand they LOVE fire! There were constantly fire throwers, people doing tricks, they had big jump ropes of fire, and then this big sign, welcoming you!
I was very sad to have to say goodbye to all our new friends....but looked forward to the possibility of meeting up with them again sometimes in the future! We took a 4-5 hour boat ride back to the mainland and then an overnight 12 hour bus ride to Bangkok and then the 2 hour bus back to Singburi. We arrived back at about 7:30am and were greeting by the big smiling face of James....and I knew.....it was good to be back!
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment