::scipio's adventures

Today I've continued my diving course with a Swiss couple. We went on a boat and drove out to the sail rock. A massive stone formation half way to Koh Tao and 20 km northwest of Koh Pha-Ngan. You can onlly see the top of it, but it reaches down about 28 m. At 12 m depth there is a little sand bank and between 9 and 18 m there is a chimney to dive up and down. Cool stuff. It's fascinating to breathe under water and you can see loads of fish and corals.

I pretty much like the diving course so far. I'm the only student and my teacher is an Austrian from Graz. He doesn't quite like civilisation and having a 9-5 job. That's why he's a freelance diving teacher here in Thailand. An interesting alternative life model, I think.

Today I'm taking a break from my diving course, that's because I went to the half moon festival till 6am. Imagine a place in the jungle on a tropical island, decorated with black light art and DJs playing techno all night. I usually don't quite like that kind of music, but this time it was really good. Apart from that the whole thing was quite touristy with exorbitant (as of thai standards) drink prices, loads of western tourists and Thai bitches.

I arrived on Koh Pha-Ngan this morning. Unfortunately I had to spend one night on Ko Samui. A young law student took me to my hotel on his motorbike. Friendly guy. In the evening I watched the football game with the guy from the reception and got pretty pissed, ie I didn't see the end.

I have decided to take a diving course. I think Thailand is the perfect venue to start my diving career.

Accomodation: Best on my trip so far. I've rented a bungalow on the beach for 250 Baht (5 eur!). There aren't too many guests, so everything is very personal and they have a great terrace to sit on in the evening and enjoy their great (and dirty cheap) meals.

The jungle trek was really awesome. The group was easy-going as well. There was more hiking than I had expected. I had thought that it was just some sort of tourist thing, but on the second day we walked for 3 hours. We spent the night in small towns in the mountains under mosquito nets. I smoke loads of cheap cigars. (just to keep the mitches away)

When we got back I had a Thai massage and jumped on the bus to BKK. In the morning I'll take the first train to Surat Thani.

Chiang Mai is not as fantastic as it said in the travel guide. Though it's quieter and cleaner than BK I don't really wanna stay here for too long. Maybe that's because all the sights are out of town. That's why I booked a 3-day-trip into the jungle. With elephants and bamboo rafting. Let's see how that's gonna be.

After that I'll head down to Ko Samui and Ko Pha-Ngan. The frightening thing is that I'm just at the beginning of my trip and I'm already running out of time. I could well spend 2 more weeks in Thailand.

Yes, it's right. I am a lazy bastard. But there is so much to do and see in BK. I did most of the cultural stuff, had a traditional Thai dinner, went to a club in Kao San road for bitch-watching and went to Pantip-Plaza. The biggest electronic store ever (or so far).

This evening I'll take a train up to Chiang Mai. I mainly wanna do a trek in the jungle there.

best regards,
scipio

PS: Got the DVDs and Rolex. DVDs are fine. But the watch is already broken. ):

After a really short 11:40 hours flight I arrived in BKK this afternoon. Leaving the airport is like stepping in a palm house. 110 % humidity, 30 `C.

I'm staying with a primary school English teacher. Originally he's from the Philipines. It's great to have someone with local knowledge you can ask stuff.

Tomorrow I'll start exploring the city and shop for some pirated DVDs and a new Rolex. *lol*

scipio