Raj's Round The World Trip

It's diving again today, but it's not part of a course so it's called a fun dive.

We saw loads of different fish, from Clown (like Nemo) to Trigger fish (the one's that can attack if you enter their territory) and Sting Ray, Prawns and Stone fish. If I was educated I might have been able to tell you what others there were.

I visit the barbecue again in the evening tomorrow I should be leaving to go back to Bangkok tomorrow.

Got let down by Pete - he doesn't turn up. He must have got drunk with his mates last night. Later, I find out that's exactly what happened.

So not a lot happens today: a little reading, tv, sunbathing it's a tough life. I book a dive at the dive center for tomorrow.

Met up with Pete again today. We head of to a bay called, Shark Bay. We're hoping to swim out and see Sharks. I hire some fins, snorkel and mask.

I follow Pete into the water. I can't believe how far we're swimming out, it must be about a quarter of a mile, but it's supposed to be where the sharks swim. Unfortunately, we don't see any. When we swim back to the beach, with me having involuntarily drunk a few horrible cups worth of sea water, we speak to a couple who swam in a different direction to us and they have seen them. Oh well, never mind.

We go for another walk and it's to a place called Eagle point, which is up a really steep hill. The view from here is very impressive we can see Shark bay. We have the obligatory drink at the bar and order food. It's another good place to be and the food is quite good too.

We decide to meet up tomorrow and do another walk.

All this diving and stuff can be hard work. I have a lie-in and watch a bit of telly. At lunchtime I say goodbye to my new German friends and meet up with Pete to explore the island.

We went for a short walk which turned out to be a bit of a jungle trek for an hour. It was a little tricky walking over hills and planks of wood for bridges wearing flip-flops.

We end up at a bar called Banana Rock, which is a bar on the edge a nice quiet beach it's a great place to be.

The walk back doesn't seem to take very long.

For the duration of the diving course It's a similar routine: classroom study; real dives out at sea and studying in the evening in preparation for a test. We do get enough free time to go to lunch and relax a little.

I bump into a couple of characters from Manchester: Pete and Magoo one lunchtime. They come here every year for a few months. Magoo particularly likes going to the bars in the evening and certain clubs, and has a Thai 'girlfriend'. And Pete assures me he tries not to be led astray by Magoo and his other partying dudes. He says he'll show me around the island if I want. Sounds good to me. We agree to meet up after I've completed the diving course.

All goes well and I pass my test at the end of it. The diving isn't as easy as I would like, especially equalizing where you try and hold your nose and blow to pop your ears while going deep into the water). But I can dive now, which is all that really counts.

I go for a meal with Alexander and Kirsten in the evening. They'll be leaving Koh Tao tomorrow afternoon.

Here's a photo of our group: