Thailand pt3: Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui

I'm sitting in my bunk in Koh Samui after a long day of exploring. There are three of us in the room and no one has said a thing since I walked in ten minutes ago and said "hi". And you know what? I'm some what relieved. 

Now most of you will know me to be a fairly sociable guy and I am, especially after a few beers. Thing is, I've been making and parting with new friends for over seven months now and it's a bit exhausting - I've come down with what I'm calling 'hostel friend fatigue'. With a year in Australia just around the corner, I've subconsciously stopped making the effort to make friends with everyone meet at the hostels I've stayed in. I think in part this is because in Thailand they have mostly been 'Brits abroad'. Nothing wrong with that, you have your fun, it's just not my thing I suppose. 

This has been a running theme for my stay in Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. I've chosen to keep my own company, or the company of people I already know. It's been great as I've ended up making other acquaintances and focusing on different, more time consuming activities. 

Koh Tao

My first island stop was Koh Tao where I met up with the Tuttles. For people I've only known for a year, I've seen an awful lot of them, which is just peachy by me. My main activity on this island was scuba diving and getting my PADI qualification, which I hope to use at the Great Barrier Reef.

Scuba diving is great fun and a lot less claustrophobic than I thought it would be. There's a weightlessness that you can't quite describe, it's not all floaty in the way that it appears in videos, it's quite variable and is really affected by the amount of air in your lungs. Once you get used to it, you can control it more and you move up and down less. 

Krissy and Brad joined me on my first day and we did some basic skills. Over the four day course I learned to take my mask off, replace and clear it underwater, I found out how to provide air to someone else and many other things. It was all easy except for taking off my tank and putting it back on while at surface level. If I need to do that in a hurry I'm screwed!!

As I was doing my PADI, I wasn't allowed to take my GoPro, but thankfully Brad and Krissy were allowed to use their camera, so I've shamelessly stolen their photos! 

If you're thinking of doing your PADI, then just go for it. I went with New Ways and they were fantastic. They have their own boats and go out before everyone else, which means you see more fish and fewer (no) other divers. 

I saw a tonne of fish including trigger fish, blue spotted rays and puffer fish. I didn't know this but apparently puffer fish can only puff up three or four times, so don't make them do it. There were a ton more fish. I couldn't name them all but they were beautiful, as were the coral, sea anemones and sea slugs. Just amazing!!

The actual island life however was not great. I only saw the main beach area as I didn't have a bike (something that really affected my trip), but it was all a bit 'magaloof innit'. It has zero culture. Mostly I missed the great street food, which is replaced with burgers and pancake vendors. 

The beach however is beautiful, if a little noisy from the many, many bars. Though they are nice to hang out in. Watching the sunset with a beer is always a good thing. 

When I wasn't scuba diving I would hang out with Brad and Krissy. We would hang out at beach bars and watch the sunset and fire dancers. They even let me have a go. I was doing OK, but did hit myself a couple of times... It was during one of these nights that I got a bit too drunk and cut myself of some coral. I'm sure it would have healed fine, but... 

Koh Phangan

... I went to Koh Phangan and did Muay Thai training. Now I had cut the top of my foot and just under my knee on my right leg. Do you know what you use a lot in Muay Thai? Yep your right leg. So after five days of two sessions a day, my foot and shin aren't looking great...

Muay Thai training, FYI, is TOUGH!! I mean, damn! It's very rewarding and I liked that I was learning a skill, but I was barely alive by the end of each session. Each session would consist of a warm up, weighted sprints, cardio, several rounds practicing new moves and finally weights, normally while standing in a pool of my own perspiration. I'm not exaggerating, I could actually splash in it. I've never drunk so much water in my life!!!

The people on Koh Phangan are so nice and I made friends with the owners of a few of the restaurants, cafes (including the fat cat!!) and night market stall owners. It was nice to have these passing acquaintances who I could chat to, but still carry on with my day. I spent a lot of time buying Christmas presents for people back home. In fact, along with the presents I bought in Egypt and India, I'm pretty much done and it's only June... I feel pretty smug about that. I also did a bit of drawing and took in some long walks along the beautiful beach. It was during one of these walks that I made yet another canine friend. This dog is exactly what I imagine my dog will look like when I eventually settle down.

This was also the island on which I started my plan to get a PR job in Australia. Through a couple of friends I have managed to book in meetings with two agencies and have also had interviews with two recruiters. One recruiter in particular seems really on it and has said I should pretty much walk off the plane into a role. I hope they are right!! I want to get into the swing of Aussie life as quickly as possible. 

Koh Samui

Now I'm on Koh Samui having taken a quick ferry across. I do like the ferries here. You can stand on the top deck and just see paradise float by with the wind in your hair. It's a simple pleasure, but that moment is one to savor. Which reminds me, I received one of the nicest compliments I have ever had. I was told that I notice and romanticize little things that other people don't even see. I think that's wonderful.

Koh Samui is a nice island, but again there seems to be little culture here. It's not as touristy as Koh Tao, but it's still another 'Brits abroad' hotspot. I must admit I haven't made much of an effort here. The weather has been a bit gloomy so I've concentrated on some of the bits I've needed to get done. I sent all of my presents and a few other bits back home, plus I went and saw a doctor about my foot. Thankfully it's not infected and they've given me a cream to stop the itching, which is a reaction to the coral, hopefully it should be healed soon.

Now I started this post by saying that I had been quite antisocial and for the most part that has been true. I'm finishing off this post a day later. Last night was the exception to the above antisocial rule so to speak. I ended up grabbing dinner with Niklas, a German traveler I'm bunking with. He's in the media so we spent a while chatting about our work, our travel experiences and so on. A few pints, later we headed to a bar. Yes that's right, they serve actual pints of lager here! It's not exactly an authentic Thai experience but who cares?! I've missed drinking pints so much! A few more drinks and we were on the beach meeting more Germans and shots were had. All in all it was a good night and it was fun to be out and about on the party island.

And that as they say is that. I've now got an evening to chill out and then I'm on a plane to Kuala Lumpur. I'm excited to be moving on. I had wanted to get to Malaysia by land, but this is far easier and at the moment convenience is king for me.