After a wicked week in Koh Phangan we had a few days chilling out in Koh Tao. The island is mostly focused on diving schools for people training for PADI licenses but a lack of money meant that we didn't go for the courses, even though diving in Australia was good fun! For a cheaper alternative we rented out a scooter and some snorkels for the first full day there and went to a few dive spots around the island, even one rather ominously called 'Shark Bay'. I'm not gonna try and act hard because when it comes to the 'S' word I'm a girl, although less so now than when we first started travelling. Un/fortunately, 'Shark Bay' had, despite our best efforts to find them, no sharks. It did have some huge shoals of fish and massive coral gardens though, which was nice...
Anyway, after a busy day snorkelling around the island we were just about to get back on the bike and go home when we got stuck in our first proper experience of Thailand's rainy season, a ridiculous downpour that left us wetter than the snorkelling. We got some pretty funny looks from the locals when we decided to brave it and drive home in the rain, no doubt muttering in Thai some equivalent of 'bloody tourists!'
The following day Andy decided to go diving, whilst I chilled on the beach, making the most of his i-pod before he left. He came back with a quality story about his dive instructor getting attacked by some trigger fish. Trigger fish are apparently these big territorial fuckers who hide behind rocks and attack anything entering their space. The instructor managed to get bitten in the head and needed a fair few stitches afterwards. Andy was pretty chuffed though, he got 50% off!
Alas, all good things come to an end. After nine and a half months together, Andy had to go home due to lack of money. We had a few ridiculous arguments which are only natural when you're with someone 24/7 but I had a quality trip with the boy and hopefully he can say the same. Goodbye's were said, and I left for Koh Samui in the morning and he went to Bangkok later on that afternoon.
It's really different travelling by yourself. After such a long time with a mate you end up chatting absolute shite for the majority of the day to fill the space. Now I seem to be chatting absolute shite to myself! Travelling with someone means you always have someone else to do stuff with, but it also means that sometimes you want to do different things. When your by yourself you can do whatever you want, and you end up chatting to so many people you might not have otherwise.
Koh Samui was my first stop after Koh Tao, I stayed at Moonlight Guesthouse, which run by a guy called Ritchie. Ritchie is an animal! The only other person in the dorm was a girl called Flora, who may be going though some kind of personality crisis! (public school, finance graduate with shares/ wannabe hippie - think hair braids and mediation)
A few casual beers in the hostel soon got messy and Ritchie, Flora and myself decided it would be a fantastic idea to all get on Ritchie's scooter and drive from Chaweng to Lamai for a night out! Lamai did not however turn out to be what I naively expected, so it was a good job I was steaming! I'd heard Koh Samui was seedy and did not cater for backpackers but I didn't expect it to be so bad - we were the only people under 35 in a bar full of Thai girls and old men.
I found a book in the bookshop the next day that summed it up pretty well: 'Dating in Thailand: A guide to finding a Thai girlfriend'. A lot of these blokes are just pretty lonely and come to Thailand to find a partner because they can't back home. Others however, like Ritchie, just like Thai girls... I'm sure you can imagine where his night went! (He told us a funny story the next day from a previous night in Lamai involving a lady-boy) Ritchie is a deviant, but a character nonetheless! Oh and in case you're wondering no I didn't, I got a cab back with Flora, and no I didn't either!
I'm now in Phuket which is much the same as Samui but I'm staying outside of the main tourist area (I intended to sit on a beach for a few days but it's rained non stop) and its pretty boring here. The people staying here are all sound though! Did some sight seeing yesterday with a couple of Canadian girls and went for a few beers with a big group of Irish in the evening so it's still good fun post-Drew, even if the weather's worse than home!
x
No comments:
Post a Comment