On the matter of role play and uninvited guests….

Everyone kept telling me that the role play sections of the PADI Rescue course were ‘super fun’…. the only two words I heard in that claim were the words ‘role play’ and I instantly spent a week dreading all aspects of the course.

By fluke chance my instructor was sick yesterday (YES!), bagging me another day of freedom. Or sort of. I spent the day instead in the classroom reading the same paragraph of wordy fluff maybe 100 times and still not understand wtf I just read. Not because I’m being a thicko, just because my levels of concentration extend to all of around 0.5 of a second at the moment.  The course is 3 days long, so far I have spent 3 days just trying to read the book and I am only working on chapter 3 of 7. And I didn’t drink yesterday! After painstakingly reaching the marathon end of chapter 1, I pretty much crawled back to my dorm and decided I could either get shitfaced or go to the gym.

You may be surprised to hear I actually chose the later, I decided that being in a miserably depressive mood, a 2 hour gym session of running, punching and hitting things would surely be better than drinking five Chang’s and then having to face the situation that was awaiting me the next day. So being very very good, I worked out, ate a salad, had another stab at studying and then went to be bed early. My mother(s) would be proud.

Luckily one of my other room mates, Nick, was working that next day at 6am and had been working all day, he also was in his PJ’s about the same time and the other guy (who’s name I keep forgetting. Sorry! Note above lack of memory) is always silent when coming in from a night out.

I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and in a joyous mood…. Ha! I WISH! What actually happened was that at 2:30am there was a load of banging on the door (locked), after a while #forgottenname guy opened said door and a total wreck entered. Not only did this person enter. He/it staggered in making pretty much as much noise as humanly possible. Then laughing. Then dragging his backpack in, then slamming the door. Who was he and why was he here? Turns out this guy was another Dive Master trainee who has decided without booking in with reception that he was going to stay the night. He didn’t even have a key. This, according to the very strict and clear rules of the hotel is a total no no, incurs a 2000 baht fine and being kicked out. No guests. Simple. Anyway, to disrupt us all further, he then turns on his laptop and starts watching a film without headphones (3am), the light of the Macbook also filling the room. Then started yelling (3:30am), I kind of mix between a ‘no’ and a ‘arghhhh’ continuing into dawn. As loud as he could. After 2 hours of this, the yelling got worse. Unable to sleep, I did what any other reasonable ladylike human being would do… I screamed at him to shut the fuck up which bought me about 5 minutes of peace before he started walking about AGAIN and waking everyone up AGAIN. Thankfully he walked right out the room. So I locked him out. Fucker. Ha! Finally, FINALLY, I got sleep.

I awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and in a joyous mood. I awoke the next morning feeling like shit and in a shitty mood. Urgh… today was D-day! ROLE PLAY DAY! It was worse than torture. Worse than embarrassing. Awkward doesn’t even describe the feeling I get when attempting to act out a make-believe scenario or character, pretending to be something I don’t want to be. Add in that the scene I was ‘acting’ like an ‘Ac-tor’ is one I have last year, back in the real world, had to go through and spent many pills and many months trying to get over and forget. Oh and its all supposed to be ‘Super FUN!’. After hours of pool time with my Director, I mean Instructor telling me to “do it again”, “believe in it”, “say it again”, “LOUDER this time”, I could safely assume that my thespian days were well and truly done with, or at least for the next 24 hours anyway.

Feeling less like BayWatch and more like Mr Bean, I googled ‘PADI role play hatred’ and this blog came up… http://helldivers.wordpress.com/ I actually laughed, I wasn’t sure I would ever laugh again. But I did. Particularly the paragraph on ‘4. Acting Skills’. Its nice to know there is another normal person/diver out there who feels that same. 2 more days of this to go.

Living in paradise

So I have nearly been on the beautiful island for 2 weeks and it feels like I have been here forever. My old life seems like an age ago, a distant weird memory that I kind of laugh at in my head for trying so hard, for so long to cope with it and stay sane. Why did I even want it?

The great thing about being here is that every non thai person is exactly like me, nobody thinks leaving everything is abnormal. You get talking to someone and find out that they too had the well paid job, house, lifestyle and stuff, but they also were miserable, depressed and burnt out.

They all wear the same shorts and t shirts, a pair of fake ray bans, fake havaianas, live in a basic hut and their life revolves around the sea. But they are simply happy.

The first two weeks were a bit odd and it didn’t seem real, so I’ve been doing things to get myself in a new routine.

Koh Tao doesn’t really wake up as an island until about 9 or 10, so if you want breakfast and coffee you have to either go by the 7/11 store, make something at home, or do something to pass the time. There’s a steady flow of runners along the beach in the morning, there’s the gym, yoga at 8am, swim in the sea or you can just sit and wait.

For the next 6 weeks of my life I will be up each day at 6am to be on the boat to dive at 7am. I have 10 dives logged and I need 40 to start my Divemaster course so I’m now cramming dives in as much as possible.

I’ve also shelled out bought my first dive computer, the Oceanic Geo 2, costing me 16500 baht, but I will need it so I can dive safely without the risk of getting ill especially when diving at depth.

It would be really easy to sit here all day and do nothing so I have joined the gym and hunted out the local yoga spots. My first class at shambala yoga was really good and only 300 baht for 2 hours, and there’s also a Muay Thai studio next to the gym which I’m going to have a go at.

All along the beach you will see signs for massage, 1 hour 30 mins costs just 250 baht (£5) or signs to rent a mask and snorkel so paddle about in the sea.

Diving has been a great way to meet new people and pass the time, especially as the captain has a pet squirrel on board which comes out every now and then between dives.

I went for a walk a few days ago and ended up walking all the way to mango bay viewpoint kind of by accident, but it was so worth it. It took about an hour but it was such a great way of seeing the island, jungle terrain and wildlife. It was nice to be alone and explore not really knowing where I was going.

I’m going to walk down to Mae head in a bit to buy my scuba kit, then I have a personal training session booked in at 1:30. I’ll definitely need a beer after.

‘Have done’s’ as at 4/12/14

Grand palace, Bangkok
tuk tuk ride
thai street food
thai sleeper train
Ridden a moped
Injured myself on a moped
Sairee beach sunsets
Sky bar Bangkok
Thai strip bar (Nana plaza)
Wreck dive (30m)
Adventure diver course
Nitrox diver course
Lai Krathong festival
Thai lantern from the beach
Dorms
Working from the beach
Yoga
Advanced open water PADI diver
Mango bay viewpoint
Rescue diver course (by the skin of my teeth)
37m dive
Seen a sea snake
Seen a turtle
Climbed a volcano
Tried Balinese rice wine
Black sand beach
Become a Divemaster
Kayaking in Railay
Crazy Railay free climb to the hidden lagoon
Bali

Diving, dorms and beach bars.

Yesterday, after spending the morning with Kat, Boris and Trevor floating about in the sea (hard life) I made the lengthy 5 minute journey down from the High bar to Sairee Cottage divers.

To be honest I was a little bit nervous of leaving my new found friends and starting again over on the other side of the island, but seeing as I had only been here a day, I guessed I would be able to hunt down some more people to hang with.

I was immediately welcomed by the dive instructors and we went through the ins and outs of the course.

Today I will be doing the refresher course as I am already a qualified PADI open water diver, but I really do need to go over the basic theory of diving and kit setup. That’s the bit I struggle with remembering the most, how to correctly set up the tanks, buoyancy control device (BCD) and regulator, but I guess by the end of the day I’ll be back on track and scuba diving again.

After that I will do my Advanced open water course, then Rescue Diver, Emergency first response. I need to log 40 dives before I can begin the Divemaster part so I’m hoping to cram in 3-4 dives a day over the next few weeks.

Once I have completed the Divemaster I will be able to lead the refresher course, assist Instructors when they are teaching and get all the experience I will need to work in a dive school, maybe even start working towards becoming an instructor.

So after going through everything and signing up, I was taken to the dorm that I will be living in for the next few months. Luckily there only happened to be one other person in there, Scott, who comes from Burgess Hill in Sussex, just finished working in the Redhill and knows people I went to school with. Small world right?

Scott took me with him to meet some other divers for a few beers as the football was on, two towers later (that’s 6 litres of beer between the 6 of us) I joined Victor, another diver, on the beach for drinks, yes more. The guys ordered a rum and coke and were given a bucket of rum and coke. Buckets are legendary in Thailand, sometimes lethal when mixed with local thai spirits like Sang-Song, a strong, hangover inducing Thai Rum/whiskey.

They had some very impressive fire performers and good tunes, it turned out to be another great evening, chatting, dancing, playing with the beach dogs and finally getting myself to bed at a respectable 1am.

Today is a hot one, I expect there will be another downpour later as it’s monsoon season, however the tan lines are coming along nicely.

Koh Tao

Woohoo I have checked in at paradise!

My journey began in Bangkok taking the overnight sleeper train to Chumphon in the South. I bought a 2nd class upper berth ticket for 1350 baht, the equivalent of around £30 which considering the distance (like london to Scotland) and that my accommodation, coach transfer and 3 hour ferry ticket to koh Tao were included, that’s an absolute bargain!!

Shortly after getting on the ferry at 5am I met a group of people, all of them had met on another carriage on the train but we then all made friends and shared beers. Yes, at 6am.

I swiftly ditched my plans of going to sairee beach to dive, instead opting to stick with the funny bunch of people I had just met. I then got persuaded to ride on the back of a scooter with one of the guys (backpack x 2 included) which he then rode into a wall and cut my knee and scratched the bike. Magic!

However on arrival at the High Bar, my annoyance immediately vanished. Stunning views, great bar, fab company. And rooms only 500 baht a night, so sharing with my roomie Tony, that’s 250 baht overlooking the sea, just £5 a night.

We are going down to the beach in a mo followed by more beer and some dinner. I haven’t eaten since 9pm last night on the train, I foresee a hangover tomorrow.