Ko Pha Ngan & Ko Tao

Sawadee!

The days are flying by and I haven't even had a chance to write in my journal. It is amazing how just a few days pass and you forget what you have done already. Our relaxing days on the beach of Ko Samui seem like so long ago, as so much has happened since we last blogged.. We began to feel completely at home there, with few tourists around and meeting the most amazing locals.

On Thursday, May 6th, we decided it was time to move on and we caught the ferry from Ko Samui to Ko Pha Ngan. After walking off the ferry, we ran into Robyn and Peter on the street, it seems like this friendship is meant to be! We stayed in a small bungalow, Seaview Resort, right on the beach of Haad Rin (home of the "Full-Moon Party"). The area is very commercial, catering to partying tourists. The beach was gorgeous although our bungalow had clearly seen some parties in its time.

View from our bungalow on Haad Rin, Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand

It turned out that night was the "Half Moon Party" on the island. Robyn, Peter, Phillip (our new Swiss friend that we met on the ferry ride over,) Mike and I began our evening drinking buckets of Sangsom (Thai Whiskey) on the beach and painting ourselves with glow in the dark paint (in typical full-moon party fashion.) We catch a Songthaew up into the jungle where the half moon party is held. Black lights suspend from the trees above, fire dancers swing flames with amazing skill, Dj's mix until 6:30am and people party until after the sun comes up. This was quite the party!!

Half-Moon Party Crew (From left to right: Peter, Robyn, Kim, Mike, Phillip)

A fire dancer pulled me up on stage and swirled fire around me...I was petrified!

After a late night/early morning at the Half-Moon Party, we decided to move on to Ko Tao, after spending only one night on Ko Pha Ngan. We felt that we had experienced everything we wanted to on this island. This place caters to the tourists and rave crowd too much for our liking. Unfortunately, it seems as if the locals have responded to this negatively. They do not seem very happy and are not nearly as friendly as those on Ko Samui.

On Friday we jump on another ferry with Peter and Robyn to Ko Tao. We immediately head to Bans Dive Resort on Sairee Beach, where we get an amazing deal, $300 CAD for me to complete my Open Water Scuba Diving and 4 nights accomodation! This would cost us twice the price back home for the equivalent PADI Certification, not including the accomodation. Ko Tao is known to have the cheapest diving in the world. Mike cannot resist these prices either and signs up to complete his Advanced Dive Training. I begin the theory section of the course within one hour of arriving. The next morning, Saturday, Mike goes off on the dive boat to start his course and I stay in the pool to learn the basics. I completely paniced while in the pool and almost called it quits. Although our assistant instructor, took me aside and did all the training with me one-on-one. This was such a huge help for me and got me through it all. This morning, Sunday, we went out on the boat and did our first two ocean dives. I was very nervous of going down, but immediately got over my fear. What an amazing world it is down there. We do not wear wet suits as it is 30 degrees in the water and the visibility seems almost endless. Mike completed his Advance course today, logging 5 dives over 2 days, while I still have my fourth and final day tomorrow, having to complete 2 more ocean dives. My instructor, a girl from England, offered for Mike to join our group for free tomorrow and be my dive buddy. He is very excited to get in two more dives and for free...he owes me!

Robyn and Peter had to leave today, heading back to South Africa. They were apart of my dive group, although only got to complete half of it. Has been wonderful getting to know them and look forward to visiting them one day in SA.

I take a swing during sunset tonight before heading to bed early. We are on the boat at 7:30am tomorrow morning.

Happy Mothers day to our Mothers back at home. We love you lots and miss you tons. Have an amazing day, you deserve it! xoxoxoxox