One more member going inactive...

[DeepO]

Theseus, a whale shark has been spotted here this morning, but as I didn't had my full course done, I could go 'hunt' it. Hopefully it will remain in the region, one of it's known feeding grounds is the diving site we will be going to tomorrow. It would be very cool to spot a whale shark on my last day of diving, 3rd or 4th dive in the ocean. Maybe I get lucky

the rest is quite easy going here... loads of fish, but not too big ones, and very nice sites to go to. You can actually do something in between your dives, like sit on a beach or something

anyway, I'm off again. We've got a sunset to catch

DeepO

[DeepO]

Last night in Thailand, snifsnifsnif But it is one in Bangkok, so this might proof to be some fun...

Anyway, some update on the diving: my last day, I saw on the morning dive 3 reef sharks, one about 5 meters away in 15m visibility. In the afternoon, we watched a sea turtle eating coral, which was totally relaxed. We hovered around him (closest I've been was about half a meter) for around 10 minutes... I don't know how special you think these would be, but I found them the highlight of my dives thus far... only 8 ocean dives done you see that on your last day? cool

Anyway, time to hit the streets of Bangkok for a final Thai party

DeepO

[alva]

Be prepared to be shocked when going from samui directly into BKK , I remember that neither of even dared crossing a street and looked for police (who are everywhere/mostly either doing nothing or doing traffic ) to do so
-
IMPORTANT:

DO NOT!!, I repeat, DO NOT throw anything on the street, no cigarette buts either, nothing!!!
. I did so once (in the sewer(sp?) btw and was almost jailed for it , then they tried to scam us into paying some cash fine/bribe (alot btw) but since we didn't want to sign anything and more and more people were gathering they let us go.
They had trouble too, because they wanted our passports which were stolen (allthough here too, the police wrote down on our papers we had lost them which makes a big difference) and we waiting to get new papers to get transit papers at the embassy and they just couldn't figure that one out

A very bureaucratic country indeed

When we came back the following year, the guy checking our passports was completely blown away by the fact that the computer said we had been in Thailand before but that our passports did not show that stamp. We had to go right through the chain of command to get that one sorted out

EDIT: finally remembered what I think is the correct way to spell 'sewer'

[Theseus]

Originally posted by DeepO
Anyway, some update on the diving: my last day, I saw on the morning dive 3 reef sharks, one about 5 meters away in 15m visibility. In the afternoon, we watched a sea turtle eating coral, which was totally relaxed. We hovered around him (closest I've been was about half a meter) for around 10 minutes... I don't know how special you think these would be, but I found them the highlight of my dives thus far... only 8 ocean dives done you see that on your last day? cool

Awesome... I love sharks. Amy gets mad at me 'cause I alway swim right at'em. I once found myself underneath and being circled by 4 hammerheads, which scared the crap outta me.

[DeepO]

Alva, I was warned about the throwing of things on the streets... once in Chinatown, I forgot, threw a cigarette but away, only to find the shopkeeper we were talking to hurrying to pick it up, putting it into his pockets. He was saying something in Chinese at the time, most likely something like "stupid illiterate bearded wide-eyed pale-skins"

I found crossing streets relatively easy, at least at the designated crossings. Many people stopped for us, even if they weren't required to do so. In between pedestrian crossings, it's hell, and not worth to risk your live on.

One problem, though: it seems the rainy season is early this year. Some of the showers we had were quite bad for the time of the year. In Samui we had a few tropical storms, but nothing like the Bangkok rain... I'll definately return to Thailand, but most likely in another time of the year, either in January-March, or in August.

Oh, and I'll definately start by seeing Sukkothai and Chang Mai before going to Samui, I know that once I'm there, I don't want to go anywhere again. This year, it was a pain to even go to Bangkok for a couple of days, should have done that in the beginning of my stay.

Theseus, I start to like sharks as well... I never was afraid of them in the first place, but they are such beautyfull creates to watch, it's easy to forget they are predators. Reef sharks are quite harmless (hammerheads is something else), but so beautyfull... amazing.

Anyway, I'm back from Thailand, but far from being back into the forum... I hope you can miss my participation for a while longer, quite a few personal things have to be taken care off first.

DeepO