Salome, Albert, Dewet and Moi just traveled to Thailand for 2 weeks. What an experience!!
We started our trip in Kuyangsang (Where we live) at 21:30. We took the subway to Nopodong and got on an overnight bus at 23:20 to Incheon. It was the coldest night ever! We were so happy to arrive at Incheon airport. Obviously we went straight to the Mac Donald's for breakfast and coffee as it was 5 o' clock in the morning.
We waited around to check in just past 6 for our flight to Taipei at 9. The flight to Taipei wasn't too bad as it was only 2 hours. Taipei's airport is TERRIBLE! There is absolutely nothing to do and it is very expensive. I bought 3 magazines for $33. I was probably cheated, but o well - Cosmo and Elle, need I say more??
We had lunch at the one cafe we could find and then boarded the second plane to Bangkok. The second flight took just over 3 hours. Bangkok is awesome, even as you arrive. All that you could see from the plane were palm trees, where in Taiwan you only saw rice and rice!
Bangkok was amazing from the start. It was very hot when we arrived so we immediately started tearing off the layers. We tried to find a TAT counter to book transport to Koh Tao but didn't succeed so decided to take a taxi to Koh San Road and find a place to stay before we worry about further transport.
The taxi took us straight to Koh San Road and to the D+D Inn. On arrival we found out that they are fully booked and that they are very expensive and trying their luck with tourists. Just outside was a little TAT office and the girl advised us to walk through the D+D and past the ally to New Joe's Guest house. She said it's clean, cheap and the food is very good. Awesome! So that's exactly what we did. We found a triple room for the three of us with air con. Something very important when in Thailand. The first night we spent drinking beer and shopping in Koh San Road.
The next day started with a well deserved American Breakfast at the New Joe Guest house. As warned the food was amazing and this was where the obsession with the American Breakfast started. Yum! Actually English breakfast but o well, if you want to call it American.. OK. Dewet joined us on the second morning. He flew all the way from home (RSA) for the trip.
So finally the mission to Koh Tao started. We tried to book the overnight train from Bangkok to Chumpon, but it was already fully booked. We settled for an overnight bus (MISTAKE!!) instead. The bus was terrible. The seats are smaller than those on the plane in economy class. Seriously they can give Mango, back home, a go. Anyways the bus only stopped after 4 hours and you can imagine how glad we were to get out, get fresh air, make a bathroom stop and get something to eat. This was just before 4 in the morning.
Then we still had an hour and a half to Chumpon. Needless to say none of us closed an eye on the trip to Chumpon. We arrived at the pier and had coffee sitting around silently waiting for the Lomprayah. The Lomprayah is a high speed catamaran that takes one from Chumpon to Koh Tao. The first sunrise in Thailand was unforgettable!
The Lomprayah took about 2 hours to Koh Tao. I will never forget the first view of the island. Magnificent, breath taking!! It was beautiful. Everyone on the boat were smiling as they got off. We were so happy to finally be there! Big Blue was waiting for us at the pier to take us to the resort on Sairee beach. Pretty cool, all the taxi's on the 21km island are bakkies. As we arrived at Big Blue Diving, we had to chill in the restaurant for a while and fill out diving forms and insurance. This was for the diving courses we planned on doing while on the island. Unfortunately they made a huge mistake with our reservation, so they had to move us to the south of the island. We were NOT happy. There was absolutely nothing going on in the South and it was so far away from everything. Luckilly within two days they moved us back to Sairee beach to Big Blue. It still wasn't the accommodation we booked, but it was better than nothing. Originally we booked the beach huts with hammocks..
The first day we spent exploring the island on poegies. It was so much fun! Very adventurous. :)
The second day we started with our Padi Open Water dive course. The first day we just had paper work to do. The real thing started the next morning. We did academics in the mornings and went diving in the afternoon. Our first dive was to 12m. I couldn't get down on the first dive because of my ear and because I couldn't equalize. I was so pissed off! Luckily I made it down on the second dive. We had to do some skills under water - we had to take our masks off and regulators out, had to pretend to be out of air and do CESA's (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). My ear was hurting so much after the dive that I wasn't able to dive with the rest of the crew the next day when they did their last 2 dives to 18m. I was really sad because the videographer filmed them the next day and I wouldn't be on it. O well my ear got better and I got to go the following day.
We had very nice instructors and without them I'm not sure I would be a diver after all. Sonia did all the academics with us. This was awesome, because she is a dive medic so it's very comfortable having her around you all the time. Andy joined us on the dives and was awesome! He has a very calming effect under the water and is a lot of fun!!
I eventually finished my course and now I am a certified open water diver. I also got a dvd of my 18m dive but is very boring compared to the other guys' dvd where they play games and have fun. We were only 2 girls doing the last dive, but at least I have some visual evidence that I was under the water :)
After doing the course, we were still keen on diving and Andy advised us to do an Adventure Deep dive to 30m. We had a little home work to do and the following morning we were back at the beach at 6am for breakfast and our 30m dive. At first it was very scary, because it's deep and we had a new instructor. But it was worth it and amazing! We made it all the way down to 28m and had a swim with 2 bull sharks. I thought it would be scary, but it wasn't, it was unforgettable!
Everyday on the island we spent by swimming, diving, eating and getting massages. It was probably the most relaxed holiday I have ever had. It was so worth it!
Our time on the island were starting to run out. Bummer. We had to head back to Bangkok soon and then get ready to leave for Korea. I didn't want to go home. We heard about so many people who went to Koh Tao for holiday and never left. I wanted to be one of those people. But unfortunately I have a flat in Korea with a lot of stuff and a stupid job to go back to..
We left Koh Tao at about 2 in the afternoon and took the Lomprayah back to Chumpon.
We booked the overnight train to Bangkok which left at 7 that evening. The train was pretty cool. Each compartment was full of double bunk beds. There were no seats. They can fold the beds into seats, but the beds were already there when we boarded the train. We had a nice dinner in the first cart and then went to bed for the rest of the bumpy ride.
The next morning we arrived very early in Bangkok and took a taxi from the station to New Joe's Guest House where we had a reservation. Obviously the guest house wasn't open by the time we got there as it was 5 in the morning. Another early morning... We waited around for the restaurant to open and once again started the day with a delicious American Breakfast. After breakfast we danced through the shower and went for massages. Hilarious! Albert was massaged by a lady man! Well it had an adams apple.. haha Sorry Allie! We also went for fish massages - terrible!!! It tickles the life out of you!
Albert loved and left us that day to go back home. Salome and I settled for tattoo's and a jummy dinner. The next morning we left for the airport at 8 and flew to Taiwan where we had a 15 hour lay over. As we got to the airport they told us we can either book into a hotel or buy a visa for Taiwan because the airport closes and we are not allowed to stay there. WTF? So we booked into the hotel. It proved to be very cool, cause it was a really nice hotel and we were escorted by immigration as we didn't have visa's, or passports for that matter. We were only too happy to have a proper clean bed for the evening and celebrated by ordering room service. The next morning we got up with a drag, enjoyed our last breakfast buffet and headed to the airport to fly back home.
Arrive in Korea: COLD! Not cool to be home! 6 months to my next holiday!!! I can't wait!
Thailand was amazing and unforgettable and I would go back in the wink of an eye!
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