Koh Tao & Khao Sok

From Bangkok we headed to Chumpohn on an overnight bus and caught a high-speed catamaran to Koh Tao. It was pretty painless, and we found the dive company we were looking for, Buddha View, waiting at the pier. I enrolled in an open water diving course, and was pretty much busy from day one on the island. We did find time to rent scooters and explore a bit, and to try to go snorkeling in Shark Bay. I say try because the thunderstorm overtook us before we made it the couple hundred meters out to where the sharks were. The bad part about Koh Tao was my stomach was still weak (from the drinking episode in bangkok, I thought) and on our second open water dive I got kind of hypothermic and didn't feel up to going on the two dives the next morning. I think I must have had a fever. I got a referral, though, so I can complete the last two dives anywhere I want to within the next year and still become a PADI certified open water diver. Maybe I'll go to Mexico...

From Koh Tao we took the boat back to Chumpohn and caught a bus to Kaoh Sok National Park. Unfortunately the weather was awful and the boat, in spite of it's size, was getting tossed all over the place. Waves were hitting the windows. We made it, though.

Khao Sok was really rainy, the electricity was out everywhere, and the park itself was closed, but it was still worth it in the end. Yesterday the rain let up some and we got to go on an elephant trek and go tubing through the jungle. The tubing was insane. The water looked like Thai iced tea and was rushing because of the rain. After I convinced the guy from our resort that I could do it alone, we made the regular trip in half the time it usually takes and convinced them to let us go longer. Around every bend there was something spectacular-- whether it was the limestone cliffs with stalactites hanging down that looked like fangs, the black snake with orange stripes (mangrove snake?) curled around a tree branch, or the elephant standing in the trees at the top of the last hill. I couldn't believe it. The guys that were with us were really fun, too.

The elephant trek was pretty breathtaking. Our elephant, Jake, had a mind of his own and kept trying to get out of doing what his handler asked him to. I liked that. Jake took us across the river, up into a lush valley, and back again. At the end we got to take turns riding on his neck and occasionally he would fold his ears back and cover your legs with them. I felt like he was trying to hold me in place. We got a ton of pictures and fed Jake a bunch of bananas at the end.

Today finds me in Ao Nang (I keep wanting to write Anyong... too much arrested development?) We got a room with hot water and satelite tv for less than what we paid for our room in the jungle. It seems so luxurious. We might go get massages later, but tomorrow I think we're going to take a longtail boat to Railay and do some climbing. There's also a cave to explore there and some pretty amazing beaches. Soon we'll head back to Bangkok, then fly to Cambodia, make our way through Laos (where they have tubing pub crawls), then go to Chang Mai and Pai if we have time.

I don't remember whether I explained about the pictures-- I tried to upload some in Bangkok but ended up locking my memory card somehow. I'm hoping I didn't lose the ones I had on there and I don't think I'll be messing with it again until I get home. But eventually I will have photos! And I'll try to post some here.