Mar 2006

We are currently at Ko Pha Ngan on the East Coast of Thailand - it is ok, but to be truthful I am sick as a dog of Thailand.

The last few days at Ko Tao all blur into one!! Jen and I sunbathed, shopped, went to a spa, had the most painful massage ever!!! Em did lots of diving as she is super qualified now, but i am not ready to give it another go just yet!!

On the last day we all went snorkelling off the beach - that was great fun, we saw a giant trigger fish - I didn't know they were territorial until Em waved me away from it!! We also saw a giant school/skoal - no idea, a huge gang of fish - there must have been 200 of them feasting on the coral - we swam after them for about 5 minutes, it was the most amazing underwater site i have ever seen - shame we didn't have an underwater camera!!

Ko Pha Ngan is backpacker paradise, all the accomodation is cheap as is the food - some of the places we have been to have been pricey, but not here - which is good as i have already gone over my budget!! Nowhere here opens until 12pm - that should give you an idea of what the place is like!! The room we have for 600B per night (7/8GBP) has air con and a hot shower!!! This is so wonderful as neither of us have had a hot shower since we left England!! I finally feel clean after 4 weeks - yipeeeee.

Well it seems i really am rattling on now so i will sign off!!

Keep tuned in for the next Captains Log - ciao! xx

On the evening after my last post Jen and I began the course - we watched 2 vidoes all about safety etc etc and asked the instructor questions and so on. The next morning (yesterday) we went back to the class room and got fitted for wetsuits, fins, BCD's, etc.

We got into the gear after having extensive training on how to use it and jumped into the swimming pool to practice. I was doing fine until i was asked to fill my mask with water and clear it without surfacing. I managed to get all of the water out of the mask but couldn't stop it going straight up my nose - this caused me to freak out and I surfaced instantly!! I got the hang of it in the end and dove down to the bottom of the pool, however i forgot to equalize my ears and ended up with thorobbing ear ache!!

After lunch we got onto the boat - Em was there too as she was doing her refresher course, we all got our kit on when we got to the dive site, and in we jumped - I was fine up until this point but when we deflated the BCD's to go to the bottom of the ocean (about 4 metres at this point) i completley freaked out and had a massive panic attack and surfaced very very fast - it was a good job we were only shallow as i could have caused myself all sorts of problems. I felt like such a loser but have now decided that i am not suited to swimming deep in the ocean, I prefer the sky - in the flight instructors words "she was a natural" - I am going to have a good go at that when i get home!! I would rather crash a plane than be eaten by sharks!

Both Jen and I have now quit the course as she has a fear of open water, I have a fear of going down too deep - I can snorkel fine, so i'll stick to that i think!!

We are starting to meet more and more people on our travels, and i am so excited - we go to Oz in less than 4 weeks!! I can't stand Thai people for much longer. I hope Malaysians are nicer.

That's all for now i think - enjoy and keep safe!

Jac xx

Greetings!!

It took us about 3 hours to get to the Park, but on the way we met Jen (american) and 2 Israeli girls - can't spell their names!! We booked bungalows in the jungle, Em and I shared with Jen.

On the first day at KS we booked Elephant Trekking through the jungle.... whoever was the first person to say that these animals could take humans for an enjoyable ride were very very wrong... We trekked high up into the jungle - this part was ok.... it was the downhill parts - they were unbelieveably scary - it is around 3 days since the trekking and i still have brusies on my upper body from holding on so tightly!! Our elephant was named "Kong" - very apt as he was huge!! To rip off a line from Titanic,...My heart was pounding the whole time.

In the evening after the trekking we booked a night safari through the park - there was me, Em, the thai guide and 3 big fat torches!! We didn't see much, a slow loris/sloath thing (basically a night monkey), some very big spiders, a trantula (spelling??) and fish, tadpoles, frogs - it wasn't at all scary, but it had been raining earlier that day and it made the tracks very slippery.

The next (last) day we booked to go tubing - you sit in a giant rubber ring and lazily float down the river Khao Sok - it was fun, but i got my forearms a little burnt - the rest of me has completly healed, my face is back to English white and the rest of me looks a little golden!! This is for Lou's benefit, she was worreid about my sunburn!! I am using factor 30, wearing shades and a big fat hat to keep me covered up!! I seriously debated buying a burka at one point!!!

So last night we took the night ferry to Koh Tao on the West coast of thailand - the crossing was horrific - the ferry didn't have seats it had rows and rows of matresses (For those of you who have seen Harry Potter - it was like the nightbus on water!!). At first it was ok, then when we were all asleep the water turned mean - huge waved tossed us all about and we were sliding around on these flimsy matresses - I was really bad with sea sickness - I don't usually get it but i am still swaying about now - lovely!!

So, now we are staying in a lovely resort with a swimming pool and I have booked a 4 day open water PADI diving course. It has cost 10600B which is around 155 GBP it includes accomodation, breakfast, you are taught how to dive, all the safety stuff and get to do 4 dives. The instructor is Scottish so at least i will be able to understand him!!

Oh, for those of you who have asked about the food - I am managing very well on Thai food!! It really yummy esp. red curry and rice.

Well, i should go now as I have left Jen by the pool with all my stuff, and it's so hot I fancy a dip.

Enjoy the snow!! I will upload more photos when I get to Ko Samui or Ko Phangan I think.

Love Jac xxx