is great...
On the 13th November we arrived at Patong Beach, a very, very developed tourist part of Phuket Province, so we moved to a beach next door the following day once Monty and Steve had had a look round on their scooters. The scenery is generally fantastic but I didn’t expect the hills to be so enormous and I sometimes have to close my eyes when the scooter takes the downward slope of a hill and a corner at the same time. We are in helmet wearing territory now and the ‘tourist’ police here enforce it strictly.
We stayed in Kata Beach for a few days during which I did my Padi open water diving course – it was no joke I can tell you (especially to do it in 3 days) but I am sooooo happy that I did it and am looking forward to doing more underwater observation. It wasn’t hard at all once I got a bit used to it but I did have a few problems with ‘mask clearing’ and I have ongoing problems equalising the pressure on my bloomin’ ears so I wont be going very deep. I was really pleased to get to 12 meters. Monty and Steve did a deep wreck dive as part of their advanced course and they went down to30 meters where they saw a ‘man eating’ leopard shark and some big squid. My 4 dives were pretty tame by comparison but I did see a trigger fish which can get a bit mean when protecting its eggs. My instructor was a lovely and very professional and patient lady from Sweden who reminded me of Judy, Tracy, Anne Tully, Kirsi and my cousin Mary Clare at times so I felt very safe as she literally hauled me through the skills that I had to succeed in before she could say I was OK to pass - those of you at home in Adrigole will know I am not a natural water babe.
Yesterday we moved to the Cork Room at the O Tooles ‘Irish’ guest house at Karon Beach (800Baht/night so about £12 between the 2 of us with air-con and telly and fridge and shower) and tomorrow I will strike off on my own for a few days to see Ko Lanta, Ko Jum and Ao Nang/Raleigh beach in the Krabi Province which has been recommended to me by Aidan. I leave Phuket by ferry tomorrow for the 3 hour first leg of the journey and then meet back up with Mont at Ko Samui sometime at the weekend. It is very hot over here, and I think the whole place can’t help but be a bit commercialised but I love it. I managed to do laundry today, get to the bank, exchange a book, book the ferry trip – tonight we are going to see the new James Bond film at the local flix; its all busy and I am having difficulty finding time to get to the beach so I better sign off and make tracks as the cooler evening temperature sets in.
There is so much to Thailand and the visa I have is only for a month so I am thinking now that I will go to Cambodia etc at the start of December and come back to Thailand for a few weeks before my flight home to see the North of the country.
x
We stayed in Kata Beach for a few days during which I did my Padi open water diving course – it was no joke I can tell you (especially to do it in 3 days) but I am sooooo happy that I did it and am looking forward to doing more underwater observation. It wasn’t hard at all once I got a bit used to it but I did have a few problems with ‘mask clearing’ and I have ongoing problems equalising the pressure on my bloomin’ ears so I wont be going very deep. I was really pleased to get to 12 meters. Monty and Steve did a deep wreck dive as part of their advanced course and they went down to30 meters where they saw a ‘man eating’ leopard shark and some big squid. My 4 dives were pretty tame by comparison but I did see a trigger fish which can get a bit mean when protecting its eggs. My instructor was a lovely and very professional and patient lady from Sweden who reminded me of Judy, Tracy, Anne Tully, Kirsi and my cousin Mary Clare at times so I felt very safe as she literally hauled me through the skills that I had to succeed in before she could say I was OK to pass - those of you at home in Adrigole will know I am not a natural water babe.
Yesterday we moved to the Cork Room at the O Tooles ‘Irish’ guest house at Karon Beach (800Baht/night so about £12 between the 2 of us with air-con and telly and fridge and shower) and tomorrow I will strike off on my own for a few days to see Ko Lanta, Ko Jum and Ao Nang/Raleigh beach in the Krabi Province which has been recommended to me by Aidan. I leave Phuket by ferry tomorrow for the 3 hour first leg of the journey and then meet back up with Mont at Ko Samui sometime at the weekend. It is very hot over here, and I think the whole place can’t help but be a bit commercialised but I love it. I managed to do laundry today, get to the bank, exchange a book, book the ferry trip – tonight we are going to see the new James Bond film at the local flix; its all busy and I am having difficulty finding time to get to the beach so I better sign off and make tracks as the cooler evening temperature sets in.
There is so much to Thailand and the visa I have is only for a month so I am thinking now that I will go to Cambodia etc at the start of December and come back to Thailand for a few weeks before my flight home to see the North of the country.
x
2 comments:
a big congrats on the PADI.... a whole new world... enjoy your jaunt and I will e-mail you some recommendations for Cambodia/North Thailand.... must go now, to work, in the freezing cold!!
I envy those who have not had to do their PADI in a frozen flooded quarry that you had to break the ice to get in. Krabi. God I wish I was in Krabi.
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