iain goes bananas

what shall i say about koh tao. smashing little island, completely dominated by the diving community. you are not for scuba? you are not up to much then.

in the two days that i was there, the weather pretty much looked like this:

and when i say rain, i mean rain

the sultry, musty smell of tropical rain mixes nicely with the atmosphere actually. it's all about the water. the beach is gorgeous, and must be amazing when the sun's out.

sai ri beach

did two dives on the first day, with ban divers, one of the worlds largest scuba operations. the massive dive boat took us to chumphon first, a deep reef that is the scene of most whaleshark sightings. saw lots of sharks, but unfortunately the whaleshark remains a particularly elusive character.

black tip reef shark (at 30m depth); silver batfish

and as usual the damn paparazzi showed up...

no pictures please; nathalie in a private zen moment

on the second day, the diving was slightly more eccentric. our guide was of the braindead variety, and failed to find the reef! we spent 15 minutes swimming at 15m depth, in the deep blue sea, and never saw a thing. in the end, we decided to surface. miles from the boat, and going the wrong way altogether. i suppose that's what they call an open water safari...

in the meantime, the full moon party was raging on koh phagnan. didn't go to the party, but got to see the full moon!

<<wolves howl, an owl hoots in the distance>>

today, after a close encounter with some parrots, i said goodbye to nathalie and donned my travelling boots and struck out for koh phangan.

yes, those are my feet, and yes, those are teva's i'm wearing. sue me.

i've just arrived at hat rin beach. party location extraordinaire. of course this is the quiet week after the full moon party, so the atmosphere is nice and chilled.

checked into a fan bungalow slash milldewed, mosquito infested prison cell. very cheap, of course. might have to find something slightly more comfortable tomorrow. don't want to take the traveller thing too far, of course.

looking forward to finishing reading my book and trekking up to the waterfalls inland. oh, okay, twist my arm, and maybe a few singha beers to wash it all down with ;-)

thanks for tuning in again! remember to check out my photo gallery for more pics (just click on the 'author' button. i think that should work)

cheers,
i

It's been a while since I've jotted down my adventures, so we have some catching up to do ;-)

So, the last time I updated my blog I was in an internet cafe on sleepy Koh Lanta, bragging about my easy rider lifestyle. Let me show you the beast that I zoomed around Lanta on!

the beast

Scooted around the island for the day, finishing up at sunset - and with both the bike and myself in one piece - back on long beach.

Koh Lanta sunset

Ended up spending the evening on the beach with some dutchies and an aussie girl called Rebecca. We got extremely lucky as there was phosphorescence in the water. Night swimming, trailing clouds of blue-white sparks is something I now highly recommend.

The next day I hopped on the boat back to Koh Phi Phi, for some more diving. Got the afternoon ferry, and got wet. Very wet. Like monsoon wet. Utterly soaked. (get the picture?)

So anyway, I squelch my way to the guesthouse, ignoring the "mista mista, cheap room for you!" and the "g'day mate, wanna come diving tomorrow?", being thoroughly immersed in my own soggy state.
Drop the backpack, change into something semi-dry and go in search of a hot cup of coffee to put me back on track. Immediately, I ran into Dennis, who I'd met on Phi Phi previously, and Rebecca, who I'd met on Lanta the previous night. What are the odds!

Chilled out for a sunset dinner at Carpe Diem beach bar.

carpe diem fairy lights; rebecca

And then got cultural with Thai boxing at the Reggae bar!

free bucket of joy for anyone who gets in the ring

Spent a few very enjoyable and relaxed days on Phi Phi, blowing bubbles and hanging out with the coolest Aussie girl I've met so far. But of course I had to kick the habit, and finally leave Phi Phi to its own devices. So off on the great adventure: boat to Krabi, bus to Surat Thani and nightboat to Koh Tao.

The nightboat from Surat Thani was my first real traveller experience: 8 hours on an old slow-boat with dorm mattresses covered in fleas and god knows what else, spooning with complete strangers in the dark on heavy sees. So much fun should be illegal!

night boat to Koh Tao

Arrived this morning on Koh Tao. In the rain. Itchy, smelly and grumpy, but so glad for this experience ;-)

Met up with Nathalie, who is a veteran of 9 days on the island. We'll do a few dives together before we both move on to the beckoning shores of other islands.

Tune in next time for more amazing tales!
cheers,
i

On Tuesday morning, I took a longtail boat out to Phi Phi Leh, together with Chris. We left early to be ahead of the crowds, and were speeding across the azure blue waters by 8am, feeling very pleased with ourselves.

We actually beat the hordes by about 20 minutes or so. You could see the big speedboats racing in from Phuket. They arrived in a long string of gleaming white hulls and excessive outboard motor power, discharging tourists with cameras onto the white sands. Exactly what 'the beach' is dead set against, of course - Maya bay must be one of the most ironic places on the planet.

"we are from sweden. we like to fish. and in winter, we like to ski... of course there is no skiing in thailand"

I tried to take some decent pictures, but failed miserably to capture the magic of the place. Check out my photo gallery for more. Iglika, I carefully selected a small seashell for you, so you'll have something from the exact spot where Leonardo stood.

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Arrived on Ko Lanta yesterday afternoon. Only an hour's hop on the ferry from Phi Phi. Decided I'd kick the aircon habit and got myself a fan bungalow. Lanta is a very sleepy place, with deserted beaches and little villages where not much happens. Got myself a motorbike today and spent the morning pottering about on the island. I know someone who had a surprise encounter with the tarmac while doing that, so am extra careful ;-). (get your motor runnin', head out on the highway!)

the highway

Everyone is all smiles, and the scent of jasmin is heavy on the breeze. We had a short thunderstorm yesterday evening, which caused a routine power cut. It's that sort of place.The food is excellent. You ask for 'no spicy, please', you get 'no spicy, please'. So even though there's not much to do, or see for that matter, I'm well pleased I escaped the madness of Phi Phi and came here. Will start to plan next destination, so watch this space for more!

Just in case anyone was worried - not sure whether this makes the international newslines or not - I'm fine, alive and kicking and heading for Koh Lanta this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, while I was at Maya Bay on Koh Phi Phi Leh (where the beach scenes in "the beach" were shot - more about that later), there was a cloud of smoke on the horizon. Turns out that one of the ferries from Phuket heading towards Phi Phi burned from bow to stern. I was not on this ferry! No one actually got hurt, as all the passengers merely jumped overboard and were picked up by other boats.

Anyway, must rush now, or I'll miss the boat to Lanta. I'll put pictures of Maya Bay up soon.
cheers,
i

Just a very quick update: I'm still on Phi Phi, and am enjoying every second! It's very touristy of course, but the gorgeous scenery makes up for that. Planning to get myself over to Koh Lanta on Wednesday, which is more laid back, apparently. May have to go through Krabi, in which case I might get myself out to Railey Beach.
I've uploaded some more pictures from the last couple of days. Made two dives on Saturday and two on Sunday. Great to be back blowing bubbles again ;-).

Climbed hundreds of steps in the sweltering heat yesterday to watch the sun set from the top viewpoint, high up on the island. We (Chris, an English guy i met, and me) were completely drenched and exhausted when we arrived at the top, but the view was spectacular.

As the sun was setting, all at once the cicadas started up. Really cool. Of course we stayed up there, sipping Singas, until it was completely dark and we realised we were being eaten alive by the resident mozzie squad.

Anyway, must get back to my hammock in the shade now ;-)
Hope you enjoy the pictures. Will add more comments later.
cheers,
i