I headed straight to the Big Blue dive shop upon arriving in Koh Tao to organise the next few days. The next day I completed an Emergency First Response (senior first aid) course, which was really easy. The following day I began my 2 day course to become certified as a stress and rescue diver. The theory for this course was fairly straight forward. Personality types, detecting and dealing with stress in others, assisting divers and panicked divers under water, rescuing swimmers and divers on the surface, recovering unconscious divers and search and rescue for missing divers. I the practical side of this course was not as straight forward. Generally the people I had to 'rescue' were either unconscious or panicked and doing their best to drown me. Assisting divers with problems underwater went fairly well, with a range of issues such as cuts on poisonous stone fish, entanglement, divers losing their mask, divers out of air, divers losing their fins and taking off all of their equipment underwater. The assessment for the course was the following day, and was much the same but victims were more aggressive under water and I had to coordinate a search for a missing diver, find them unconscious on the sea bed, bring them to the surface and treat them. A really tough course physically (if the student hasn't been bruised, made to bleed or vomit in the water the instructor isn't doing their job properly), but very rewarding and some great skills to have when under water.
That night was Christmas Eve, we had dinner at Big Blue's restaurant followed by a fairly festive evening (which ended at 5am in my case). I took it fairly easy the next day - phoned home, got out bed for lunch and then again at about 5pm. Went out for some Christmas drinks with a few people at a very relaxed place on the beach called Fizz, getting home at a more respectable 1am.
I'll upload a few photos when I've got a faster Internet connection.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sukhothai and Phitsanulok
We arived in Sukhothai airport on the 17th which looks more like a temple than an airport. Upon checking into TR Guesthouse I was blown away by the price 400THB ($14) per night for a room with ensuite, hot water, tv and air conditioner. Sukhothai is a small city that was the capital of Siam 700 years and 2 dynasties ago (Previously all of Thailand was called Siam).
The next day we headed to the old city to check out some ruins. The some of the ruins were a fair distance apart so we hired a couple of bicycles. The ruins were amazing - I went a little overboard with the camera and made about 350 photos. After a full day exploring the ruins of temples at the old city we headed back to our hotel. I went to get a massage that evening. I think there was a miss communication because before the massage began the masseuse pointed at my scrapes and bruises from the caving in Khao Sok and asked if I was hurt. I said I was ok. I think the she meant to ask do these hurt because she didn’t go easy on them... After a mostly relaxing massage we headed to Poo resturant for dinner. There may have been an issue with translation of the name. The resturant was owned by a man from Belgium and as a result we were able to order Belgian Beers (happy days).
We met a man from Germany and an Austrian couple that night and kicked on with a few beers as best we could (even on a Saturday night you really have to pack it in by 11pm here). The pub shut at 10pm and not even the 7-11 will sell beer after 11pm. Very quiet town.
We took the next day fairly easy and went for a bit of a wander about the place. 3 nights was probably a little bit too long to spend here - other than the ruins there isn't a huge amount to do.
The next morning we checkout out of our guest house and made our way to the bus station. We bought tickets to Phitsanulok and a steward took our bags and put them on the bus. We were then told not to get on the bus. Shortly after the bus began to pull out and when we stood up to stop the bus we were waived back to our seats assuming the bus was simply being moved. It was leaving. After a couple of minutes I spoke to a person at the information booth who arranged for us to get the next bus and pick up our bags when we got there. This is why I travel with all important things in my hand luggage.
Phitsanulok is a city of approximately 70 000 people. Finch and I headed there at about lunch time thinking that there would be more to do than in Sukhothai. We were wrong. After a short walk we ended up settling in on the platform with a few beers until our train left at midnight. I managed to show my ignorance of Buddhism by offering a monk some of my food (he had come over to ask where we from and wish us a good stay in Thailand). The food was meat. It turns out Buddhist monks are vegetarian and fast while the sun is up. He was quite amused.
We had a conversation with a pair of Thai blokes who spoke no English. The conversation was held entirely by gestures. I think we made friends for life when we bought them a beer. After that point they were fairly insistent on sharing their Thai whiskey. We also spent about 2 hours with a deaf Thai man and his pregnant wife. He was probably the easiest to talk to – turns out sign language is fairly universal. Between gestures and drawing pictures we almost entirely understood each other.
The night train to Bangkok was great – slept the whole way. We arrived in Bangkok at about 7:30 in the morning and got a taxi to the airport. The check in attendant let us get on the 9am flight instead of the 11am, which was good. Boarding was to start 10 minutes before this so we dashed to the gate. Should have known – Bangkok airways were running their typical 30min delay. Could have afforded to stop for coffee!
We arrived in Koh Samui just before 11. My bag showed up, Finch’s didn’t. We got on a bus to the pier and boarded the ferry to Koh Tao. We arrived at about 4 pm after almost 28 hours in transit. Very happy to be here!
I'll upload photos when I get somewhere with a faster internet connection.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Khao Sok
After a big final night in Khao Lak it was time to head to Khao Sok. I had heard great things about Khao Sok, but was in two minds about going- I was really keen to head straight to Koh Tao and continue diving and partying.
We arrived in Khao Sok and the first thing that struck me is how peaceful the place is. A small town in the middle of junglish terrain with friendly locals. We checked into Morning Mist Resort and signed up for an overnight lake tour leaving early the next morning. Once we had been picked up we headed to the lake (about an hour by car). Simply Stunning!! The lake is part of Khao Sok National Park (about 738km2) of pristine jungle. The lake was formed as a result of a dam that was installed in 1982 which caused the upstream valleys to flood. The result is breathtaking as you'll see in the photos below.
We headed to a spot on the lake about an hour away for our first 'jungle treck'. This was interesting, but felt a little lame - we weren't trekking, we were walking a fairly easy trail. Great scenery though. After about 2 hours we made it to where the boat was picking us up from and went to the raft house where we were staying for the night. They put on a massive spread for lunch which I think we were never supposed to finish. As long as people were still eating, fresh plates of food were brought to the table. After lunch I jumped in the lake for a swim. The water was about 28 degrees on the surface, but got much cooler about a metre below the surface. That evening we went for a boat tour to look for wild life at the edges of the lake.
The following morning we went for another boat tour and saw various birds of prey and monkeys. We then headed off for a more serious jungle trek followed by caving. This time there was a faint trail that could be followed mainly because the way was only partially obstructed by leaves, branches, logs and rocks. This felt more like the real deal - up to my ankles in mud and up to my waist in water for some river crossings. After about an hour we arrived at the entrance to a cave with an underground river flowing through it. We checked for clear skies as the area is prone to flash flooding (a group of 7 drowned in the cave about 3 years ago because the tried to pass through in heavy rains). My best guess is that the cave is about 500m in length. I think it took about 20 minutes to come out the other side, but can't really be sure. The conditions in the cave were fairly difficult - football sized rocks underwater - makes for slow progress and plenty of people going arse over tit. We were walking in chest deep water at times with low head room above - thankfully no one in the group was claustrophobic. I was the last of the group of eleven going through the cave and being shit out of luck my torch stopped working. While trying to catch up with others with light I lost my footing and found myself in about 2m of cold water with the strap of my dry bag wrapped around my neck a cut (more of a scratch) on my side a series of cuts on my shin and a fair knock to my knee. Not as bad as it sounds and as a brit in the group pointed out, scars are the tatoos of the brave. About 80 metres further we emerged from the cave into the jungle and made our way back to the boat which took us to another raft house for lunch and a swim before a two hour boat ride and 1 hour in a car to get back to Khao Sok.
The overnight lake tour (especially the 2nd day jungle trek and caving) was amazing. I had never really pictured playing Tarzan and I'm really glad that I did the tour. I'm now taking a course of antibiotics as a pre-emptive strike against infection in my new cuts and scrapes or contamination of my diving cuts and scrapes. Much many cuts and scrapes.
I can not recommend Khao Sok National Park highly enough to anyone seeking amazing scenery in a place that is silent except for the sounds of the jungle. It is a place where people can truly escape the rest of the world.
We arrived in Khao Sok and the first thing that struck me is how peaceful the place is. A small town in the middle of junglish terrain with friendly locals. We checked into Morning Mist Resort and signed up for an overnight lake tour leaving early the next morning. Once we had been picked up we headed to the lake (about an hour by car). Simply Stunning!! The lake is part of Khao Sok National Park (about 738km2) of pristine jungle. The lake was formed as a result of a dam that was installed in 1982 which caused the upstream valleys to flood. The result is breathtaking as you'll see in the photos below.
We headed to a spot on the lake about an hour away for our first 'jungle treck'. This was interesting, but felt a little lame - we weren't trekking, we were walking a fairly easy trail. Great scenery though. After about 2 hours we made it to where the boat was picking us up from and went to the raft house where we were staying for the night. They put on a massive spread for lunch which I think we were never supposed to finish. As long as people were still eating, fresh plates of food were brought to the table. After lunch I jumped in the lake for a swim. The water was about 28 degrees on the surface, but got much cooler about a metre below the surface. That evening we went for a boat tour to look for wild life at the edges of the lake.
The following morning we went for another boat tour and saw various birds of prey and monkeys. We then headed off for a more serious jungle trek followed by caving. This time there was a faint trail that could be followed mainly because the way was only partially obstructed by leaves, branches, logs and rocks. This felt more like the real deal - up to my ankles in mud and up to my waist in water for some river crossings. After about an hour we arrived at the entrance to a cave with an underground river flowing through it. We checked for clear skies as the area is prone to flash flooding (a group of 7 drowned in the cave about 3 years ago because the tried to pass through in heavy rains). My best guess is that the cave is about 500m in length. I think it took about 20 minutes to come out the other side, but can't really be sure. The conditions in the cave were fairly difficult - football sized rocks underwater - makes for slow progress and plenty of people going arse over tit. We were walking in chest deep water at times with low head room above - thankfully no one in the group was claustrophobic. I was the last of the group of eleven going through the cave and being shit out of luck my torch stopped working. While trying to catch up with others with light I lost my footing and found myself in about 2m of cold water with the strap of my dry bag wrapped around my neck a cut (more of a scratch) on my side a series of cuts on my shin and a fair knock to my knee. Not as bad as it sounds and as a brit in the group pointed out, scars are the tatoos of the brave. About 80 metres further we emerged from the cave into the jungle and made our way back to the boat which took us to another raft house for lunch and a swim before a two hour boat ride and 1 hour in a car to get back to Khao Sok.
The overnight lake tour (especially the 2nd day jungle trek and caving) was amazing. I had never really pictured playing Tarzan and I'm really glad that I did the tour. I'm now taking a course of antibiotics as a pre-emptive strike against infection in my new cuts and scrapes or contamination of my diving cuts and scrapes. Much many cuts and scrapes.
I can not recommend Khao Sok National Park highly enough to anyone seeking amazing scenery in a place that is silent except for the sounds of the jungle. It is a place where people can truly escape the rest of the world.
The road between Khao Lak and Khao Sok.
The road between Khao Lak and Khao Sok.
Next to the door of my room in Khao Sok (about 10cm).
Khao Sok.
Khao Sok.
Khao Sok.
Finch in Khao Sok.
Our boat for the lake tour.
Evelyn with lizard.
Tour guide with flying lizard.
Ants.
Sneaky spider.
'Tame' Jungle Trek.
Jungle.
End of 'Tame' Jungle Treck.
Part of lake.
Overnight stay in raft house.
Raft house.
Lake.
Lake.
Lake.
Lake.
Lake.
Lake.
Eagle.
Aussie on boat.
Lake.
Treacherous path to toilet from raft house.
More lake.
Lake.
Finch, Will and me on boat cruising more lake.
Monkeys.
'Real' Jungle Trek.
Cross le river.
Entrance to cave.
Finch in the cave.
Me in the cave, about to enter deep water section. (Torch still working at this point).
Exit of cave.
Guide with massive spider on face.
Much many massive spider.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Khao Lak
Having checked into Jerung Guest House my first order of business was to head to Big Blue Khao Lak (dive shop) to organise the following day's trip to Richelieu Rock and firm up details and payment for the Pawara liveaboard trip. After this, we went for a walk and ended up grabbing a bite to eat at a local pizza place and ended up in a conversation with a tailor. An imediate difference between Khao Lak and Bangkok became apparent- In Khao Lak the people readily accept the fact that not everyone is going to buy whatever it is they are selling. Later that evening another difference became apparent- Khao Lak definately does not have the party scene we were expecting. A fantasctic town with an amazing beach, but a little quiet. A perfect destination for people with young families, older people, or any one looking to truely relax.
The next morning we arrived at Big Blue (conveniently located across the road from Jerung) and left shortly after to head off on a day trip to Richelieu Rock. Most of the people on this trip were German speaking so I had the chance to practice my German, which works better than I was expecting. Richelieu Rock turned out to live up to its reputation as one of the best dive sites in the Andaman Sea.
In the evening I headed back to the Big Blue dive shop and was taken to the Pier for the MV Pawara live aboard trip. After a boat briefing, we settled into our cabins and reconviened for dinner. I met many great people on the MV Pawara, those who stand out are Pierre, D-Mo, Hals, Kendra and Mass. I then began the theory for the two dive courses I completed on the trip - deep dive specialty (diving to 40m) and NITROX Level 2 (gas mixes with up to 40% Oxyen). We awoke the following morning at 7am and had the first dive of the trip. By mid afternoon we had completed 3 amazing dives and I had completed the theory for the two courses. On the second day we had some unseasonably bad weather, which limited our progress north to Koh Tachai and Rischelieu Rock. Fortunately I'd dived Rischelieu Rock two days previously. As a result we headed back to the Similans for the rest of the trip. I guess I now have an excuse to go back and dive Koh Tachai!
At lunch time on day 4 we completed our last dive for the trip and my 16th dive in 5 days. We then preceded to drink Pawara out of beer on the way back to Khao Lak (Thanks largely to Hals and myself. Good effort mate).
To sum up the Pawara live aboard trip - great boat, great staff great people, great diving, great food. Heaps good. Very highly recommended.
I'll update some of the photo lables below once I get my hands on a book of fish found in these waters.
The next morning we arrived at Big Blue (conveniently located across the road from Jerung) and left shortly after to head off on a day trip to Richelieu Rock. Most of the people on this trip were German speaking so I had the chance to practice my German, which works better than I was expecting. Richelieu Rock turned out to live up to its reputation as one of the best dive sites in the Andaman Sea.
In the evening I headed back to the Big Blue dive shop and was taken to the Pier for the MV Pawara live aboard trip. After a boat briefing, we settled into our cabins and reconviened for dinner. I met many great people on the MV Pawara, those who stand out are Pierre, D-Mo, Hals, Kendra and Mass. I then began the theory for the two dive courses I completed on the trip - deep dive specialty (diving to 40m) and NITROX Level 2 (gas mixes with up to 40% Oxyen). We awoke the following morning at 7am and had the first dive of the trip. By mid afternoon we had completed 3 amazing dives and I had completed the theory for the two courses. On the second day we had some unseasonably bad weather, which limited our progress north to Koh Tachai and Rischelieu Rock. Fortunately I'd dived Rischelieu Rock two days previously. As a result we headed back to the Similans for the rest of the trip. I guess I now have an excuse to go back and dive Koh Tachai!
At lunch time on day 4 we completed our last dive for the trip and my 16th dive in 5 days. We then preceded to drink Pawara out of beer on the way back to Khao Lak (Thanks largely to Hals and myself. Good effort mate).
To sum up the Pawara live aboard trip - great boat, great staff great people, great diving, great food. Heaps good. Very highly recommended.
I'll update some of the photo lables below once I get my hands on a book of fish found in these waters.
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