buses, ferries and underwater life

With my newly found group of cave adventurers, and after a very peaceful stay at the floating bamboo huts on the lake, where i also practised my massage skills, I decided it was time to move on. The coolest thing was that aside from Maris, the Dutch girl, there was a middle aged French couple there with the most adventurous spirit too! (Check them out in the picture)

So, after a long wait on the roadside, we boarded the most psychodelic bus I've ever been on! It had fluorescent lighting going on in pure disco style, pink, blue and green curtains sloping down the windows in the shape of a large "u" and thai karaoke music and images coming out of the speakers and tv. It made the three hour journey much fun! They even played my favourite thai song. You know you've been here long enough when you can recognise the local top hits on the radio!

We arrived in Surat Thani, on the west coast of Thailand and got ready to board an overnight ferry to Koh Tao or "Turtle Island"; my next destination for sun & fun. Actually, the real reason I was headed there was to face my fears and learn how to deep water dive with air tanks. I would be doing my PADI Open Water Diving certification thanks to a great experience I had 3 years ago with my half Danish cousin David who helped me realise I could do it. The thought of what lay ahead was encouraging, particularly because some fellow traveller had mentioned the ferry had no beds, so the "overnight" option was sitting on a seat....AGAIN! I dreaded it and even considered sleeping in cheap digs and heading out for a daytime 6 hour ferry the following day. But I didn't. I just wanted to get to the island. To our surprise, the ferry had a deck lined with mattresses... indeed a "sleeper" ferry, but in commune style! It was hilarious, new exciting and fun! We were all going to the same place and there were "farangs" , locals, babies, kids, adults....I even thought there was a dead animal at one point when some guy took his shoes off! However, opening every single window and getting some beer in the system, made it all the better. We were all sound asleep by 11PM...and before I knew it, I was in Koh Tao.