Thailand, Similan islands

Last time we dove the postcard pretty Similan islands we were there in the wrong season (heard this so many times by now, we are wondering how is anyone supposed to guess that weekend a year when conditions are perfect!). A repeater, we made a decision last time. So much so, that in our eagerness we booked not one, but two dive trips. Just to make sure. The fact that your euros will take you further here than most other live aboard diving destinations has absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing at all!!

But as the luck is with the bold (or stupid?), in the end we had two very good diving trips. And a few challenges along the way…

On the first trip we were honored (yeah, right) to dive the area at the same time as Thai Princess (the real deal, not the boat). So, naturally the authorities closed off half of the marine park to cater for her royal needs and left the other half to 50 odd boats filled with people with once in a lifetime chance to experience the thrill of diving in legions of divers. Most observed specie under the water on that day was Homo sapiens in a various stages of distress. In retrospect, it actually was hilarious. But all rectified in the next day as the park reopened again. And in addition we saw manta rays (some happy tears in our… well, her eyes…).

We also somehow managed to forget that these boats have shared toilets. Add to that fact that you need to be very well hydrated when diving, so you just keep drinking water. Think Donald Trump would have been impressed with our self-inflicted water-boarding skills. So, we were climbing up and down the flight of stairs in the night, multiple times. Not funny. Especially if you take into account that another theme of both trips was side waves rolling the boat on all the overnight moorings. Thank god for seasickness pills! We kept moving around that narrow space called bed in the same direction the boat did all night long. Every night. On not one, but two trips. As diving doesn’t mix with alcohol, we couldn’t even drink ourselves to sleep. Yup, so proud of our decision making sometimes…

But in the end we managed to see all the best dive sites in their pride and glory and all the troubles were forgotten. We would still say that Thailand is more about travelling (drinking and eating mostly) than diving thou. But it is a great experience to merge the two, hence hordes of people that constantly flock to this tropical paradise. Be warned thou! The postcard pictures of quiet tourist free areas are all decades old. To experience it you either party until or get out of bed at sunrise..

But time to travel (again) to our favorite diving South-East Asia country: Philippines.

Blue water and sandy beaches found here.

Thailand, Koh Tao

If we thought Koh Tao was busy almost ten years ago, than it is bursting at the seams now. There is even more people flocking to this little island. You end up with a crazy mix of youngsters on their gap years (as always), young families on their holidays (parents are our generation trying to recapture their youth) and hippy geriatric crowd (usually visiting second or third generation now living on the island). And all of them on scooters. You can judge the age of a driver from afar just by checking if they have their helmets on (or not) and Koh Tao tattoo. Wondering what that is? Crashing the scooter and ending up with a pattern of scabs and scars for life. Helps that every fifth house is a clinic and every shop sells first aid kits. But in the end, it all works! It is still place with amazing feel to it, relaxed atmosphere and beautiful sunsets (fuelled by numerous beach bars). We were immediately captured by the spirit of the place. Again. No wonder we are back!

And then diving. Koh Tao is a dive mega-factory. All is about dive courses, you could call it dive nursery and hit the post. But they still have a few nice dive sites. One of them we missed the last time and had to come back for it: Sail Rock. And it was worth the trip. Probably one of the best in the whole of Thailand, if not the best. The rest are really overcrowded. All larger marine life is gone at this stage, replaced by eager new divers. But hey, everyone has to learn somehow. And as we said, this is the dive nursery.

With diving taking less time than we thought, we managed to immerse ourselves into religious side of Thailand. Not talking about elephant rides and touristy temples. We actually observed a Buddha day and abstained from drinking beer. Fine, it was mandatory for everybody, but nevertheless we have been caught out without a secret booze stash in the room. One more thing to check for future travels…

After of week of a little bit of diving and a lot of eating and partying – possibly not in that order – we took a taxi, ferry, bus and another taxi to the other side of Thailand. And all the way we were wondering why didn’t we stayed longer in Koh Tao. But, on the other side, time to dive the Similans!

As always some more pictures just a click away.

Thailand, Bangkok

After a long time we were back in Bangkok. And it changed a lot! Better public transport, more buzz and just feel that Thailand as a country is doing better. Well, taking into account that last time we were here during the big protests, it is hard not to feel that way. Tourists are still coming in hordes, but we noticed the change. Not so many Europeans any more, China is the main super-power in this part of the world and you can see it immediately. We can’t say that we appreciated this fact, as everything is more expensive than the last time (including the beer!), but Bangkok is still an amazing place and we enjoyed it big time.

And we even managed to land here just during their big motorcycle rally. Party, party, party! Or maybe not? First time ever in our lives we missed a party as the whole thing shut down before 10 pm! To say we were flabbergasted is an understatement. We urgently needed a Thai massage to recover our strength. By the way, that part of Bangkok life is still as good as ever and we enjoyed it. Repeatedly.

As the higher the better addicts, we noticed another Bangkok must do - Skybars. With drink prices that make Norwegians blush, out bank account thanked us for noticing this feature only on the last night in town. OCD kicked in and the glass around us was calling for a clean-up. Combine that with fear of heights (not naming names) and we wonder, why do we do this to ourselves?

And then it was time to dive again. Bring it on, baby!

Check out the pictures here.