Ok so I realise my last blog was over 2 months ago, one would immediately expect this blog to be packed full of stories and misadventures from places far and wide. Without aiming to disappoint, on the contrary it will be far from this. You will note on my last blog I was situated in the Gulf of Siam on a small mecca called Koh Tao. Koh Tao means Turtle Island, because in the past the waters in the area had been rich with sea turtles, nowadays they have mostly moved on to other breeding grounds. Nevertheless, the island is a gorgeous hideaway mainly aimed at pleasing scuba junkies with its relatively cheap diving and cost of living, coupled with the ultra relaxed pace of life. I ended up spending a total of 10 weeks on Koh Tao. Time vanished even more so than while traveling and I was drowned in a world outside of the norm. What did I do you may well ask? Well, not monitor the progress of the outside world that's for sure. It took me several days and an email from the UK to realise there were riots in Bangkok and airports had closed around the country. Koh Tao is an example of humans being able to exclude themselves from the troubles of the world and absorb themselves in an addictive pursuit of living amongst nature’s underwater kingdom.
I actually planned to spend a week or a little more on the island to do my PADI Advanced Open Water diving course before moving on. I did this course within my first few days of arriving and ventured to the famous full moon party on the neighbouring island of Koh Phangan. I had resisted the urge to attend the monthly event last time I was in Thailand as it didn't appear my scene with 20, 000 plus drunken idiots congregating on a single beach to drink the night away to trance and techno music while taking an assortment of drugs, all of which could land you years of anal abuse in a Thai prison. I ignored the same resistance to attend and headed off for the tick in the box. There was a big group of us and the event was actually relatively fun as we managed to avoid the aforementioned idiots, well that was until I had the sense to head home and rest. The problem arose when I began to leave the beach alone and utterly intoxicated from the deadly buckets (concoctions of hard liquor such as a bottle of vodka or rum etc, a mixer and something resembling red bull but a lot stronger and containing amphetamines). I remember leaving the beach and then I awoke on the boat back to Koh Tao with a stinking headache and only able to open one eye. I thought nothing of it until a girl I have no recollection of lifted me up and started to walk me off the boat. She asked me where I was staying so she could take me home and took great care in helping me around. I was baffled to the situation. She started to tell me a story as to what had happened to me...I can't recollect the story as I was furious and started taking pictures of my face to see the damage done. My face was a horrendous mess. The swelling was awful and my eye like a piss hole in the snow. Unsure as to the circumstances of my state apart from receiving a severe kicking by a group of Thais to the point where I was unconscious while being kicked in the head, I headed off to my dive school, hands in head gripping my elephant man face. I hadn't been robbed, which was pleasing but why I was attacked will remain a mystery to me. It took me a week and lots of drugs to reclaim my human features and another week or so for the burst blood vessels in my eye to whiten.
While relaxing on Koh Tao to aid my recovery I realised a few things. I loved traveling yet I was beginning to tire of moving around every few days, I also wasn't happy that my ex had hijacked my route and was suddenly appearing at my planned destinations. I had toyed with the idea of doing my dive master course as my resettlement before I left the army. All these factors stood alongside such a great island and an amazing bunch of people and dive school, well I didn't need anymore convincing. I did my Emergency First Responder course and Rescue Diver course then signed up for my Dive Master course. Despite the name a Dive Master is the entry level qualification of professional divers, although you are actually the daddy so the name is warranted. The course is an excellent mix of all aspects of diving from learning to lead divers, conduct Discover Scuba Diving and Refresher courses and in depth knowledge and theory of diving, rescue techniques and how to deal with certain situations, running a dive shop and planning the logistics and mechanics of diving. You are constantly tested and challenged during the course with 9 knowledge reviews, 8 exams, several timed swim and rescue tests, mapping of a dive site, assisting instructors on numerous courses, underwater stress tests, an emergency assistance plan to name but a few.
My time on Koh Tao was thoroughly enjoyable, the diving isn't the best in the world but it can be very good at times. I was fortunate enough to dive with two whale sharks during my time on Koh Tao. Both experiences will stay with me for a lifetime. Breathing effortlessly underwater with great visibility, being able to see and experience the underwater realm and its inhabitants is a gift every time I dive. But sharing this adventure with the largest living fish on the planet grounds me as to how fortunate I truly am to travel and to have done my DMT on Koh Tao.
When I commenced my DMT one of the group had organised a videographer to follow us and film our underwater skills, or should I say antics. The video was really good but not well organised with a proper theme or dive plan. This was evident when we were fighting with ninja swords at 30 meters, not the smartest thing we did. Two people ran out of air, one panicked, most people’s air went down much faster due to chasing each other at depth, one person lost a weight belt and another went in to decompression mode and had to spend time on the drop tank, a big no no in diving. So I decided to organise the next video with the new batch of DMTs. It was a pirate theme and thoroughly enjoyable to shoot and watch. The videographer, Dan, put a lot of work in getting music off the net and editing all the footage to come up with a great 20 minute video. I managed to sketch a pirate map, make a flag and buy some cheap plastic swords and bandanas. The video was a great success, well apart from when I let go of the flag during the first dive and swam up to the surface to retrieve it. I got a form of an ear barotrauma which led to severe vertigo. It didn’t stop my dive, I should have stopped but didn’t. I carried on with that dive until I vomited the entire contents of my stomach up on surfacing. My dive profile was similar to a sharp tooth and I could barely focus or stand up. Stupidly I went on the next dive, so as not to miss the video. The same thing happened and it put me out of the water for a week. My ear drum has some scaring but the Dr wasn’t sure what from. I had an ear infection though which could have encouraged the ear barotrauma. Ear infections are especially common with divers on Koh Tao. The temperature of the water breeds bacteria at an immense rate. The dive medic was worried at first thinking I may have a form of DCS (Decompression Sickness) but thankful I didn’t and strayed away from the infamous chamber.
I took a break from my DMT on Koh Tao and traveled down to the Perhentian Islands off the east coast of north Malaysia. It was a pleasant week away from the island, even though four of those days were spent traveling and staying in seedy boarder towns. On one occasion I was greeted with twenty Thai prostitutes standing on my floor as I excited the elevator...which is ummm different. The Perhentians are very pleasant if not a little too quiet. The diving was pretty good, at least one sight was outstanding, Temple of the Sea, I saw the same amount of marine life in one dive that I'd be lucky to see in a week on Koh Tao. But the island doesn't have the same edge as Koh Tao or friendliness, well unless you're female. The Malaysian men seemed to enjoy life with non-Muslim girls who aren't restricted by religious boundaries. Infact I can't remember seeing a Malaysian female on the island, just Malaysian men chasing after western girls. I was extremely glad to return to Koh Tao and I actually missed Thailand and the lovely Thai people. This is when I realised I had stopped traveling and actually made myself at home, which if you spent enough time on Koh Tao is not a bad thing. After Malaysia I spent three more weeks on Koh Tao and headed to Kuala Lumpur for my flight to Borneo. My final test as a Dive Master Trainee was as is always for DMTs, an embarrassing night of mishaps where you have to get dressed up and abused by the staff doing a so called "DMT Challange". Mine was a boot camp theme which meant that I, along with my two fellow DMTs both from Holland, Bart and Dylan, had to do various physical tests involving scuba tanks, tiny boxer shorts, a bar full of drunk people yelling abuse, lots of shots and buckets of alcohol oh and the heavy monsoon rain. Yes it was an interesting night. There are photos on my facebook but these can not adequately display the level of humiliation experienced, especially when wearing white boxers in heavy rain.
It was a sad time leaving Koh Tao, yet my time had come, I had become too comfortable there and it's such a big world out there...far too much to see from a bungalow in the Gulf of Thailand. It is a lovely place but it does have its seedy side as well, as does all of the world if you are negative minded and look closely. A lot of its residents and most visitors are free spirits sharing their love amongst many. I managed to emerge myself in the delights of diving and although I ventured out pretty often I focused on diving as much as I could which meant early mornings of 5.30 am with sometimes 4 or 5 dives a day it's pretty hard to do anything when you return to shore. I did become close to one particular DMT, who will remain nameless. Yet my luck with women continued as I discovered on my departure from the island that she had shared the love with one of my fellow DMTs and new travel buddy. Hours of crying and attempts at persuading me to take her traveling were clearly a falsehood, empty feelings. But alas we live and learn. It appears the learning never stops.
It is great to be traveling again, the feeling of not knowing where I will be and what I will be doing from one day to the next is great. My new travel companions, Dylan, now Dive Master, and his friend from back in Holland, Ivo or Bob for ease and amusement, are both great travel companions. Their English is perfect and their humour wouldn't be wasted with the likes of the army.
