Waking up there was amazing. it was hot and we quickly dressed in shorts and a singlet and went off to the resturaunt for breakfast. There was a buffet breaky and the resturaunt was situated right on the beach, next to the restuaraunt’s pool, so much so as that you could jump over the edge and land in the ocean. We ate and did a minor exploration of Samui, and then headed by taxi to Big Buddha Pier where we could get the boat to Koh Phangan. It cost about 200baht, about $6, and took about fourty five minutes.

We were headed to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party, and had heard that it can get pretty packed out, so we pre booked at the “Drop In Club”, and fantastic group of Thai style buildings formed around an excellent free form pool, fringed with frangapanis. When we arrived it was even more than what we expected, and we stayed for five days, even though it was quite expensive. Koh Phangan turned out to be our favourite place in Thailand, we loved its laid back atmosphere and the fact that while seven to ten thousand people pack onto it once a month for the party, you can be sure a few days after that it will be completely deserted. it is also quite cheap in relation to Phi Phi and a few other islands. Thereis so much to expore and my peice of advise is to hire a scooter to do this. From the moment we hired one, we never went without one on Koh Phangan.

The snorkeling trip we did during the day was pretty cool, but I had never even heard of going out at night before.  So we booked the trip with the same company and headed out well after dark to see what kind of things wander the reef at night.  We each had wetsuits and powerful flashlights to allow exploration, and our guide was a cool English guy who new a lot about marine life and made sure we didn’t miss anything.

Jaws ruined my life when I was a kid and open water has always made me nervous.  Take away the bright lights and colorful creatures, and it’s absolutely ominous in the sea.  But instead of being consumed by panic, I was immediately at ease and in awe.

We saw tons of urchins, strange fish with giant eyes, an eel, and a baby octopus smaller than my hand.  Watching it propel itself through the water and toward my mask was easily one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  I’m definitely not saying that I’ve done so much that I’m not longer impressed by each new place and experience, but there are very few moments that immediately impress upon you that they are rare and exciting and unforgettable.  Our guide said he had been diving almost daily for a decade and he’d never seen a baby octopus.  We were all enthralled.

We also saw the largest lobsters I’ve ever seen, and a myriad of oddities.  We ended the dive with something we had been excited about the entire time, and which I had been experimenting with throughout the night: we turned off our flashlights and glided our limbs through the black sea to activate the phosphorescent algae in the water.  It lit up in an electric blue and looked like a thousand tiny specks of tinsel flashing into being from the nothingness.  I just kept doing loops and flailing around in the spectacle, giddy like a kid on Christmas or a drunk monkey at happy hour.  I didn’t exit the water until everyone was already in the boat and threatened to leave me behind.

Here’s a portion of a piece I’m working on for Koh Phi Phi:

I floated in the inky blackness, swimming in an abyss seemingly infinite in depth and possibilities.  I rolled onto my back and unknown constellations swiveled into view, crisp and luminous even through the water and sky that separated us.  There were no city lights to steal the heavens, and a blanket of stars spread out before me.  I spun, once again plunging my masked face into the darkness. I clicked on the large underwater flashlight which hung weightless in my hand and a spotlight pierced the void, calling into existence towers of coral and swarms of sea life.

The traffic that bustled below us was vastly different from that of a daylight dive. Razor-teethed barracuda lurked in the shadows, opportunistically using our lights to catch glimpses of potential prey.  Lobsters the size of Big Wheels trucks cruised along the edge of the limestone cliffs protruding from the island. Spiny sea urchins littered the sea floor, a minefield ensuring that divers keep to the surface and don’t linger too long in a world that is clearly not their own. I glanced ahead and found some new creature dancing animatedly in my path.  It floated toward me in the tunnel of light, and as it approached I was startled by recognition.  Even when only a few inches across, an octopus is an unnerving sight in the open water.  It was just a foot from my mask and its hue shifted slightly from pink to red as it investigated this strange intruder.  Each time I moved away, it would quickly jettison itself with amazing fluidity and close the gap.  For several minutes we danced like this, and I was embarrassed by the fear that gripped me as its tiny tentacles came too close to latching onto my mask.

Still in Chiang Mai at the moment and for the last four days we’ve been celebrating the Thai new year, its not just amy normal new year party tho, the thai’s have turned it in to a huge water festival. i think it original starts with people sprinking water onto the feet of monks but then just goes totally mental and people take to the streets with buckets and

water pistols. Its the 4th and i think final day today and im kind of relieved cos i’ve spent the last 4 days soaking wet and feeling a bit ill, i’ve noticed that most people just get their water from the river that runs through the centre of town and the water looks totally minging, i think i may have ingested a fair bit of it (mixed with plenty of beer as well tho). We’ve had a few good nights out here and have met some cool people, i was thinking about leaving today and heading to Burma with some people we met but have decided against it. We have had a slight change of plan tho and rather than going to Cambodia we’re going to Laos next instead, i think we should be there in a few days.

On our 1st day here, before the water festival started we went on this like action day thing that included mountain biking, elephant ridaing and white water rafting. The mountain biking was pretty hard going with the heat and the poor quality bikes, Me and Tiley got a bit competetive as usual and tried racing for a bit, Banj had the best idea tho he got a lift in a pick up truck and met us at the end. I remembered that i don’t really like the elephant riding from the lastr time i was in Thailand, i think its pretty cruel to just make an animal ferry tourists around all day, luckily it was only for an hour tho. Our elephant did wander uo the steepest hill in the whole area, Me and Tiley were both holding on trying not to fall out at one point, i dont know how the thing managed to stay upright. Tiley got a video of it all with us both looking terrified that we’re about to fall down a big hill closely followed by the elephant. The video has since been destroyed since he foolishly took his camera out into the water festival. The best bit of the day was the white water rafting, it wasn’t as extreme as we were thinking but was still a good laugh, its the wrong time of the year im told, its a lot better in the wet season.

Anyway thats about it for Chiang Mai, i’ve just uploaded some photo’s but you’ll have to look back at the 1st blog entry because i couldn’t be bothered to sort thru them all (if your on facebook as well you’ve maybe already seen them)