nikki acott

Thailand so far: We spent a few nights in Bangkok at the Royal Orchid Sheraton which was ace, view out over the river looking at the Hilton. Did a dinner cruise, got some suits and shirts ordered to pick up when we go back there after Krabi. Went to Muay Thai on the first night and then got to go in a pink taxi. We also went to Thai House which is a lovely lovely place where we spent a few hours learning to cook some lovely Thai things with a nice lady called Pip. After Bangkok we flew to Chiang Mai and were at the Shangri La which is ace. Lots and lots of Chinese people there for New Year.

We went to an elephant show and got a painting done by an elephant and rode on one for about an hour. Elephants are a more stable form of transport than camels but still quite alarming when they go into rivers. Yes, very touristy bit had to be done. Then we went to Tiger Kingdom. I really really hope the things I have read about it are true and it isn’t a bad thing. We went into the enclosures with baby tigers and some big ones and hugged them. Is this right? It was great but I’m not sure if it’s an okay thing to be going on? We also went to Doi Suthep which was beautiful but very very crowded. I had a hot dog waffle. I’m not sure that should actually exist but I approve. Went to the gym quite a bit, bought some clothes and drank too much Thai Red Bull of course. I’d love to go back to Chiang Mai for longer, it’s really nice to just wander around if nothing else but clearly there’s more to it than that.

From there we went to Phuket and got started on diving. We were with Sea Fun Divers who are brilliant. Did our underwater digital photography specialty and are both now better at shooting underwater. However, I’m still not sure I’m capable of using my 5D diving. The G12 is way easier to dive with!! Also, as our ProNRC cards don’t count towards Master Scuba Diver we did the PADI Enriched Air course as well. SFD have an ace boat, great team and amazing food!! Oh, this isn’t trip advisor..

We dived Koh Dok Mai (21m, 56mins, N32*), the King Cruiser wreck (24.4m, 37mins, Air), Shark Point (18.2m, 60mins, Air), Lucy’s Reef (20.9m, 65mins, Air), Home Run (22.4m, 59mins, Air), Bida Nok (18.4m, 65mins, N32) and Bida Nai (18.6m, 60mins, N32). All very good:)

We stayed at Kata Thani which is not bad, but kinda busy and a bit too keen on organised fun…frog races and pétanque tournaments. Hmmm. Plus our room was right by the restaurant which had live music every night. The room service food was good but they don’t have free wifi which is just silly. Our room was lovely though. Lots of dogs about as well:)

Flew to Koh Samui on a ATR72 which was quite exciting if you are sad like me and get excited about ‘planes. I am loving Thai airline food.

So we are now at Six Senses Samui which is amazing. We have an awesome villa overlooking the sea, plunge pool and two outside deck things. Obviously I have taken some photos but they are stuck on memory cards and back up drives for now. The spa here is lovely, everyone is lovely, the food is lovely, Hugh is awesome and if it wasn’t for the Hove Zoo I would want to live here. Although I have a new found serious hatred of mosquitoes. These are not put off by 50%DEET. They are hardcore beasts.

Tomorrow is Peak Performance Buoyancy which is going to be good even though it is going to be hard. I mean, I’m not shit at buoyancy but…there’s a lot of room for improvement**. Oh yeah, I forgot, we also did EFR in Phuket*** so we’re doing the Rescue Diver course here. Sweeeeet. One more specialty to go after that.

The downside of all this is that we are apparently missing the snow in B-Town, and have had to listen to Seagulls games at silly hours and via novel methods. I also miss dogface a lot. Plus I have eaten too much food and need to get back in the gym.

No turtles yet.

* dive log stuff for my own reference;)
** I suck actually.
*** automatic defibrillators are cool!