There is nothing like waking up at 4.30am and haggling with a taxi driver (or three). Bangkok was very much alive at this hour as we strode out of our ‘Art hostel’ and got a taxi to Khao San road to catch our bus-ferry transfer. It’s interesting to see the demographic of those awake and still drinking at 5.30am. The street getting hosed down by a truck as a way of sweeping up the debris.

It was a pretty seamless affair all up, a bus to Chumpon on the east coast of Thailand some 6 hours away. We were running a little late, so they skipped lunch – meaning we had another meal of Oreos and 7-Eleven croissants (the only food joint open when the bus left). The virstility of Oreos had been well proven on this trip; always the same quality (sometimes alittle crushed) and taste – perfect breakfast/lunch/snack food. Not exactly a ‘one square meal’ but pretty close. 7-Eleven stores are almost a national symbol of Thailand; so many shops in some streets there maybe two 7-Elevens facing each other.

The fast ferry to Koh Tao was a very smooth affair. We initially docked at a resort on Koh Nangyuan, built over three islands, all connected by a sand bar. The mass of poeple and deck chairs were a shame as the beach and water were beautifully inviting. 5 minutes away was the main island of Koh Tao.
We hadn’t booked anything before arriving in Koh Toa as most websites booking functions didn’t work, and we wanted to get a sense of the place before committing to a dive school and their ‘cheap’ subsidised accommodation.
We headed to Big Blue, one of the larger dive schools and most publicised on the island. They had a swimming pool for the introductory sessions for the open water, rather than doing them on the beach and in the shallow sea as other companies did. They also had a ‘free-diving school’ attached which I was keen to explore further.
Our accomodation was down the road/beach where we went for a slightly up market fan room in the new block, rather than the noisy bungalows on the beach. The room had aircon but we choose the fan option as it was only 600 rather than 1000 Baht (NZ$40) which we thought was a budget killer. Despite not having the remote, the aircon still worked if you flicked the fuse switch in the room – we had a whole week of aircon for free !!

We spent the following day relaxing on a sweet long arching beach – Sairee beach. The water was amazingly warm, calm and incredibly inviting. We had purchased rash-sun tops, keen not to get burnt on our first days of our diving week. The beach at our end of the cove was cleaned daily, as rubbish was a constant problems despite the area being a marine reserve. It seems no matter where you go in Asia, polystyrene, off cut jandels and used red bull bottles. After so long without seeing the sea, it was nice to relax on the beach and read a book.
That night we sampled some great thai food sitting on bean bags on the beach, with a beer Chang and gin&tonic in hand. The fire dancers on the beach were pretty amazing, performing on a temporary platform in the shallow lagoon water.
A week of Scuba diving awaits!