Koh Tao

I'm sat in a French cafe in Vientiane, Laos and I'm going to attempt to put up at least three overdue blog posts from Thailand. So here goes...

After meeting Paula in Bangkok we headed down to Koh Tao to get our PADI Open Water certificate. I'd never actually intending on doing this course but once Paula explained it to me I thought why not?! Anyway I'm really glad I did, it was an amazing experience. I was pretty scared at times though being 18 metres underwater but I loved seeing all the tropical fish down there! That was truly amazing. Felt like I was in a fish tank. The course was pretty tough though, we had homework each night and daily tests and then after our four dives we had out final exam. Well I passed! With 98% as well ;) and this now means I can go diving without an instructor up to a depth of 12 metres I think. I really should do at least one dive while I'm in the great barrier reef but I'm not sure I'm ready to go solo just yet, maybe I'll do a free dive.

Anyway asides from the diving, Koh Tao was a lot of fun. We made a good group of friends staying in the same resort as us so had a brilliant celebratory night after our last diving day. I really think I'd like to go back to the island cause there are so many beautiful restaurants and bars on the sand that I didn't really get opportunity to try out as we had a lot of early nights due to diving the next day. Well I definitely don't think this is going to be the last time I visit Thailand so plenty more chances to see the beautiful Turtle Island. (That's what Koh Tao stands for in Thai)