Lady Boys and Snorkel Tests

Ryan and I still had a few nights of free accommodation with the scuba school after we were finished with our certifications and talked Natalie into sticking around and moving in until we would all leave together. We spent the next few days just hanging out at the beach during the day...

watching fire shows at night...

Went on a highly anti-climatic Whale Skeleton hunt (Ryan's idea!)...

 

and even got to reunite with my friend, Alycia, who I grew up with in Shreveport and is now teaching English in Thailand! We had been trying to meet up for a while and were finally able to a few times while we were both in Koh Tao!

One night, after having some drinks with friends, we all decided we couldn't leave Koh Tao without experiencing the "Lady Boy" Cabaret Show....highly entertaining!

Our last night there was the one we had been promised would be a good one! All of the people in the DMT (Dive Master Training) course, including our instructor Tom, would be graduating. We were told it would be a good show! All of them had to dress up according to the theme "Rugby World Cup". They would then be quizzed infront of everyone revealing embarassing facts about themselves and then have to pass the infamous "snorkel test." They attached a funnel to the top of the snorkel, put the maks on the graduates' faces and then proceeded to pour a bucket and anything else they can find like eggs or catfood, into the funnel for them to drink. Fun to watch, never plan on taking part!

The Graduates

 
We all went out for one last night after the graduation before we had to wake up at the crack of dawn to begin our never ending journey to the other side of the Thai peninsula! See ya later Koh Tao!

Last Night in Koh Tao

Scuba in Koh Tao

After three weeks of drinking like an Englishman, I needed some rest and detox! I hadn't decided where my next destination would be after the Full Moon Party. But with the rest of our crew heading out, Ryan and I decided to team up and continue on together! Him and Jo had just been in Koh Tao getting their Open Water PADI scuba certifications. Scuba diving is one thing I have always wanted to do but never I thought I would be able to because of my claustrophobia. Hearing that Koh Tao is the 2nd cheapest place in the world (behind Honduras) to get your PADI Scuba license I had been debating for a while whether to do it or not. So, when Ryan and I were talking about it, I asked him one question,"Do they take Credit Cards?" His answer, "YES!" and that was it! I was going to get my Open Water license and Ryan was going to go for his Advanced Certification! After seeing off Jo and a solid night of normal sleep, we were back on a ferry for the two hour ride that cruised back past Koh Phangnan and docked on the island of Koh Tao!

We went back to Davy Jone's Locker where Ryan had done his first course, and I was able to sign up and start that day! The first day consisted of sitting in a room watching a very corny instructional video. I started as the only one in the course. But as fate would have it, after about 20 mins, an English girl from London named Natalie joined me and would soon become an amazing new friend!! We got really lucky and had not only one amazing instructor Mike, but Tom was finishing his Dive Master Trainer Course and would be shadowing/training with us too! The next day was spent half in "class" and the other half in the pool. We had to put on all the gear and learn all of the underwater skills. We started just by putting our faces down in the water. It felt very unnatural breathing underwater for a long period of time. I did really well the whole time until they made me take my mask off and put it back on underwater. I had trouble blowing the water out of the mask, freaked out and shot up out of the water. This was the first and only moment that I thought, "Maybe I'm not going to be able to do this after all." But I pushed through and we made it through the rest of the skills just fine!

Our Scuba Group: Tom, Natalie, Me, and Mike

Day 3 was the day we would do our first real dive! We were up at the crack of dawn, loaded all the gear and ourselves into the back of a pickup truck and were off to the port! We did two Open Water dives that day off the coast of the island. I didn't have any panic moments and loved every second of it! It's a totally different world down there. It's hard to even put into words what it was like to be down on the ocean floor surrounded by some of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen! It was one successful day, and we decided to celebrate with a Chang and some of the best Thai Curry on the island that night!

Ryan and I loaded up on the way to the Port

 

Survived my first dive!

Beautiful sunset on the way home

Celebratory Chang and the best curry on the island!

Our last day of the course was a big one. Not only would we be doing our final two dives to finish our certification, but a videographer would be documenting the whole thing and we had promised to not dissappoint! With a small group of only four, we had to bring our "A" game to make a great video, and that we did! We had so much fun hamming it up for the cameras all morning and on our first dive. Then it came time for the second dive where we would have to finish performing our underwater skills on the bottom of the ocean. For some reason, Natalie and I had had gotten ourselves all worked up about doing the full mask removal on the ocean floor (I think because of my panic in the pool a few days before). Everytime we would go down for a dive I would have a mini panic where I wanted to go back to the surface just for one more breath of fresh air. Usually I'm able to push right through it, but with the added anxiety of the mask removal, I wasn't able to and panicked big time! I looked at my instructor and just started frantically motioning upwards. Thank goodness we had gotten really close with our instructors, and he was able to calm me down and get me through the panic without going back to the surface! Once we got down to the bottom I anxioulsy watched Natalie do her skills and then breezed through mine as well. As soon as we were done with those I was A-Okay and back to my preformance for the camera, ie moonwalking on the ocean floor and trying to run without our fins!

Ready for our last day of diving!

We had an amzaing last day and once we came up from that last dive we were officially PADI certified (if we had passed our written test!) We celebrated with the viewing of our video, a big dinner and night out that night, complete with some more bucket straight arms and Ryan tackling Natalie and I into the ocean fully clothed!

Scuba Group with Jessica, our amazing videographer!

Ready...

Set...

Straight-Arm!

After being Rugby tackled into the water

The culprit

The Aftermath

I"m so excited Ryan talked me into going through with it. It was such an amazing experience and I look forward to lots more scuba adventures in the future!!

Full Moon Party

Every month, around the 9th-12th"ish", backpackers all over South East Asia start making their way to the island of Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin Beach! In fact, most people plan their entire route/iteneraries around making sure to fit one in! Just like the "when/if you've been tubing yet," "What Full Moon Party are you going to?" is a common topic of conversation amongst travelers! I had originally planned on going to the November Party but decided to do it in October because of how many friends I had met along the way that were going to be there!

So after our 4 days on Phi Phi island, the English boys and I began the full day journey that included a boat, mini van, coach bus, another boat and finally another mini van! We had heard that the nights before and after the party were actually more fun. We made it in just in time to shower, change clothes and head to the beach area to be reunited with Ryan and Jo, who had just done a quick 3 day trip through Cambodia and a 6 day stint on Koh Tao island where they got their Scuba certifications. We were so excited to see them again, and I was pumped to have my bucket partner back!!

The next day was spent mostly sleeping and preparing for the night's festivities! I'm all about looking the part wherever I am or whatever I am doing. So, I headed out and bought a fancy new hand-painted tank top and a couple neon bracelets for Elliot and I, and then we headed over to meet up with the rest of the group and begin the painting process! One thing I new about the Full Moon Party was that the more neon paint you could get on your body the better! So we got after it, adding velcro monkeys and flashing rings somewhere along the way!

 

 

We then paid 300 Baht, about $4, each to get a ride in the bed of a truck across the island to Haad Rin beach to join the 20,000 other people ready for the night's festivities! Lots of buckets, dancing, and fire shows entertained us for the rest of the night! I had planned on dancing my way to sunrise as most people on the beach do, but apparently I had too much fun on Phi Phi island and crashed out at a weak 2AM! That was still plenty of time to soak in all the outrageousness that is Full Moon Party!

The next night I took in a traditional Muay Thai Boxing match with the boys. And, of course, got talked into going back down to Haad Riin for one more night of buckets, staright arms, monkeys, and dancing!

 

 

 

 

We joined the masses of exhausted and dehydrated backpackers the next day on a ferry bound for Koh Samui. It was time to part ways: Elliot and some of the English boys were on their way to Australia in the next week, and Jo and the rest of them were headed back to the UK and their jobs. That left Ryan and I all alone to figure out where to go and what to do next. Our decision...Koh Tao, Recouperation and Scuba Diving!!!