named for the shape of the island, not after a dinky sculpture
It´s located off of the Southeast coast, in the Gulf of Thailand, about a 2 hour boat ride from Koh Samui. It´s a beautiful place.
I spent my first day here exploring the island a bit, and then, after discovering that the entire island is devoted to diving, decided to spend my last week of vacation doing just that. I went out the next afternoon with a very small group, just a young woman from Denmark and our French divemaster, Fred. Despite my general disdain for cheese-eating surrender monkeys, Fred was a good guy, and he seemed very happy with his life as a young divemaster on Koh Tao. Anyhow, we made our way out near the other boats
and did our descent. The visibility wasn´t great - apparently it´s been really windy here lately, which kicks up the waves, which, in turn, kicks up sand and whatnot and makes the water a bit murky. I was having trouble equalizing on the way down - getting my ears to pop - and kept having to stop and ascend for a bit before trying again. It was really bothering me, and even painful at times. Finally, I got it taken care of, although I periodically felt pain in my ears when ascending or descending. The dive was great, despite the visibility, and we saw a lot of great tropical fish and corals.
Later that evening, however, my right ear felt like it was either waterlogged or had wadded up cotton stuffed into it, and my hearing was off. When it hurt the next morning, I decided to take the next day or two off from diving. I had developed a cold as well, so I thought some time off would do me good. I ran into Fred again the other day, and he assured me that I wasn´t missing much due to unseasonably bad conditions. I mentioned my ear situation to him, and he recommended that I pay a visit to the local clinic, affiliated with Bangkok Hospital.
if that slogan doesn´t inspire confidence, I don´t know what does
An hour and about $50 later, I had a handful of prescription drugs and a diagnosis of mild to moderate middle ear trauma in both ears, along with strict orders to stay out of the water for several days. Oh, and my cold had developed into a full-blown throat infection as well. So it´s been a fun week.
Lest ye think I´m complaining about a week on a tropical island, let me assure you that I´ve thoroughly enjoyed spending lazy afternoons reading in my hammock on the front porch of my bungalow
while listening to the sound of the waves lapping at the beach about 10 yards away
and then wandering over to the beachfront bar next door for a sunset happy hour
before strolling into town to chat up some of my fellow travellers over food and drink. The crowd here is considerably younger than anywhere else I´ve been on this trip. Apparently the famous Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan was just last week and all the Eurokids decided to come here afterwards.
Two other good things to note about this week - first, I finally gave in and got myself a Thai massage (a legit one, not the kind that gives you crabs). When I walked into the joint, I saw a handful of tiny Thai girls and thought "silly girls, you can´t hurt me." But then the Mamasan who owned the place stepped out from the back room and ordered me to lie down on my stomach. She´s either related to former wrestling great Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, or is Jimmy himself after getting one of those $1650 sex change operations advertised in the Bangkok Post. I don´t recall all that she put me through, but at one point she was behind me and had me in a double chickenwing, shaking me violently from side to side, as my arms flailed about helplessly. During the course of the abuse I almost bit through my tongue trying to stifle screams of pain. But after an hour, I felt pretty damn good. A round of applause for Ms. Snuka.
Also, like the rest of Southeast Asia, this place has excellent examples of Engrish.
So that´s it. That´s the trip. One helluva month. Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning I catch a 930 boat back to Koh Samui, then a flight to Bangkok, and late tomorrow night back to the good ol´ US of A via Tokyo. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas.
CTK OUT
