Have been over in this part of the world for 2 weeks now, travelling around in the north, trekking in chiang mai, swimming with elephants and bamboo rafting (tried my hand at steering and ended up flowing swiftly down river in the rapids, apparently it's not for everyone...) and eating as much pad thai and noodles as I could fit in my belly. I have spent about 4 days in bangkok, seeing the grand palace, getting ripped off by tuk tuk drivers (although that wont happen anymore...i have learnt the error of my ways and would like to think i am a bit of a hard bargainer now) and playing "spot the ladyboy". After meeting some awesome people and discovering probably the more authentic parts of Thai culture, I headed south to the party islands of Ko Samui, Ko Tao and so on. I spent two nights on Ko Samui to get my bearings, do some laundry, lie on the beach and go over to Ko Phangnan for the infamous full moon party. After some good partying I caught the boat over to Ko Tao where I am now to commence my advanced Padi diving course- it only takes a couple of days, so I stayed on a diving resort called Buddha View- not really a typical thai title- and got stuck into some incredible dives, including one we did at night, with only underwater torches to guide us around- and yes, it had to be me that was separated from the group...the old trusty internal compass triumphs yet again. I had latched onto another group who were diving nearby, and let me just say that it is very hard to recognise people underwater- so that's my justification right there. Anyway, I am now fully qualified and have decided to stay here for a bit before heading back to Bangkok on the 27th for my flight to Vietnam on the 30th. Lots more to come...and only 2 weeks in...
