Still Koh Tao, still no camera & Happy Birthday Scott

surprise me now please

After Haley threw the camera on the ground, she got right into her PADI open water certification course and I went to try to fix the camera. Haley was successful and is now a real diver and I failed and our camera is still broken. Well, it’s not totally broken, it just can’t access the memory card, so we can only take about 40 low quality pictures on the built-in camera memory and we can’t get them off because we don’t have a cable. So, no more photos until Kumiko gets here or I find someone with the right cable.

Koh Tao is a strange and beautiful place. There are practically no Thai people here; everyone is a tourist or an immigrant from Myanmar, and most people are not so friendly. Maybe they are tired of tourists or maybe they don’t like my clothes, but for whatever reason the friendly smiles were much more plentiful in Bangkok. If it weren’t for that, we would probably stay right here in our bungalow staring out at the ocean and reading books and riding our scooter around and going diving – for a very long time. (Fortunately, there are no tourists or unfriendly people on our bungalow’s balcony, and there are a spectacular view, a really comfortable hammock, and nice Gulf of Thailand breezes.)

balcony view at koh tao villa bungalow

don't worry mom, I took my helmet off for the photo.

Instead our next plan is to venture across to the west coast and try an island called Koh Phayam and maybe go for a dive near the Similan Islands –  maybe as soon as tomorrow.

Other notes:

I tried to dive with Haley on her last day, but my sinuses were a bit plugged so I couldn’t get down more than a few meters before I had to come back up. I still have a little cold. I did follow her with a snorkel the whole dive and I tried to get her attention by dropping rocks and yelling, but no luck. I guess she was focused.

The island really is beautiful and some of the food is very good.  Last night we had Thai Style fish, which was the best fish I’ve had on our trip.

The weirdest thing I’ve seen on this island was a Bikini Bike (scooter) Wash.

The weather has been really good.  And while it’s much cooler here than Bangkok, it’s still really hot.

This island has mosquitoes the size of birds, but they’re slow as snails and now some are dead.

I got attacked and almost bitten by a trigger fish when I was snorkeling. Those guys are territorial and they mean business.

Pad Thai count is up to at least 15; Green Papaya salad count is at 1 as of last night but expected to rise quickly now.

We have some really beautiful light green and blue (and huge) lizards as roommates in our bungalow.

There’s this lady on the island (one of the few nice people) who makes some mean fried bananas at a roadside stand.  But you never know when she’ll be there – she totally plays with your emotions.

Yesterday we were in town and saw this great place to get massages with a gorgeous view of the beach and water.  But we decided we were too hot to get massages.  Huh?

Haley’s in the hammock.

Just now we saw 2 black tip sharks swimming in the shallow water in front of our bungalow. It wasn’t very scary from our balcony though.