Scuba diving - Koh Tao, Thailand.

South East Asia offers a lot to do, but a must do activity is diving. Where to go? The Philippines and Thailand are probably the best countries to do so.

If you chose Thailand, there are basically two options: the Andaman Sea, west coast and the Gulf of Thailand, on the Pacific side.

Today we will focus on the east coast, the Gulf of Thailand, and more specifically, on Koh Tao: in Thai, koh refers to island, and tao to turtle. It is the smallest (21km2)of three islands, only reachable by ferri from:

• Any of the other two islands: Koh Samui or Koh Pha Ngan.
• The peninsula: Surat Thani and Chumphon.

You can consider flying to Samui International Airport or take an overnight train from Bangkok.

Sairee Beach, Koh Tao.

The main activity of the island is DIVING, so no problem if you have to look for a school because there are plenty of them, and the best of all: same prices everywhere.

So, if you want to get the Open Water (the first level) and dive up to 18m deep, you will pay 9,800B.

A good choice is SCUBA JUNCTION, on Sairee Beach: great location, all the diving spots within a short trip by boat, small groups and great diving gear.

In my case, I did the Open Water there only with a friend, so two students and one instructor for us!!

Address:
	Sairee Beach
	Koh Tao
	Suratthani
	84360
	Thailand

Telephone:	+66 (0)77 456 164
Fax:	+66 (0)77 456 013

Information:

We are open every day from 6.30am - 7.30pm.

You will get the Open Water in just 3 to 4 days, and that’s it: ready to dive anywhere worldwide.

Cool staff in Scuba Junction, as they were the ones who invited us to join them along with other divers for some beers the last day of the course.

They also offer accommodation at a good price right next to the school. Worth consider this option!

Scuba Junction can be the first step of a fascinating world.

Samui International Airport

Airports can be large, small, funny, boring, a place to spend the whole day, a place that seems to belong to nobody, a place where you will find what you can find nowhere else, or... a different place. That’s what  Samui Airport, eastern Thailand, is: a different airport.

If you travel from Koh Tao or from any of the other islands around, you just need to take the ferry bound for Koh Samui (and you will probably be offered paying for the transportation to the airport: GREAT!!)

Once the ferry arrives at Samui island, a van waits at the pier. First you will drive along major roads, but then you will find yourself driving for several miles along very secondary roads. Are we going to the airport or... Where the hell I'm going? Hey, dudes, this is Thailand, get used to it. Few months ago I took a taxi to Phuket airport, and we took very hidden roads in the countryside as a shortcut. I must admit that I thought the worst, but everything is OK if you can save some time and gas!

Samui International Airport, here we are, but... is this the airport or a resort? There are no indoor areas, except for a restaurant and some stores. Buildings? Huge straw shelters! The van drops you off and in a few metres you reach the check-in desks, its employees protect themselves with a beach umbrella.

Get out of the shelter and walk along the commercial street till you reach another “straw shelter”, which seems to be the security checkpoint. As you will be aproaching the boarding gates, the area is surrounded by a small lake and a wall, so people can’t gain accest into it.

Boarding gates? Huge straw shelters! Each one is a “gate” that provides passengers with sofas, Internet access, WiFi, several TV screens, and free drinks, snacks and papers! And the best, it is a huge area protecting us from the sun huge fans.

A train will approach you to the aircraft. There’s only one runway, and planes get into it as we do it with our car when we find a “give way” sign: have a look on both sides, no aircraft approaching, move to one of the extrems of the runway and... take off.

It is the smallest aiport I have ever been at, but one of the best ones. There are only four airlines operating, and Bangkok Airways is the major, operating almos all of the flights. About 1,400,000 passengers arrive or depart from this airport each year, while a huge aiport, such as Singapore Changi had 43 milion passenger movements in 2010.

It is an aiport with a very high friendly atmosphere.

Public transportation in Bangkok.

The city of angels: BANGKOK, the Thai bustling capital where you can wake up next to a peaceful buddhist temple, then move to the newest shopping mall and finally end up in a narrow street in Chinatown trying the most amazing dish you've ever tried for dinner (including insects, not to be missed).

If you wanna do so, you need to move around the city. How to describe traffic in Bangkok? CHAOTIC and HEAVY.

Here you are the options if you need to take public transportation in Bangkok:

TAXI: easy and cheap compared to other European and American cities. Before getting in, make sure he will use the meter, if not, just walk away and look for another taxi. 

As a tourist, the taxi driver will probably take a longer route to get where you wanna go and will drive really fast if he can, specially at night, when there's not that much heavy traffic.

If you take a taxi from the airport to the city, again, make sure he will use the taxi meter, as he will probably try to negotiate the fare with you. Just to have an idea: a ride from BKK airport to Silom area costs around 300-350B + tolls, and I was offered to pay 500B with no meter!! You can also take the train to get to the airport, much cheaper.

TUK-TUK: funny and great means of transportation. They are everywhere waiting for the tourist. You have to negotiate the fare before the ride, and they will probably stop along the way to visit a gems store, a tailor, a souvenir store... Just tell them you are not interested. If you are a guy (or group) they will also offer you as many women as you wish.

Tuk-tuk in Bangkok

By the way: if you are in the outside a temple and they tell you it is closed, do not believe them!! They are trying  to get you in their tuk-tuk and go somewhere else.

BUS: Personally, I've never tried them, but I wanna do so. Expect them to be slow because you have to deal with heavy traffic. There are buses with air co, and without it. 

SKYTRAIN: Probably the best option and the fastest. New network and new trains, no traffic and efficient. You pay according to the distance you wanna travel.

BOAT: There are boats sailing along Chao Praya river, the regular service boat has an orange flag and they have several stops along the river, but make sure to have a map or check at what stop you have to get off because from the boat it can be confusing to identify where you are if you are not used to it. Just get on, and then the conductor will charge you a small fare.

Regular service boat at Chao Praya river.

MOTORBIKE: Motorbikes can also be a taxi. If you don't really like motorbikes, don't try them because you will not have a good time, though sometimes it can be the fastest.

Think about it, moving around with public transportation is a great way to discover a city, it makes you feel that you belong to the city. Let's do it!!