hi di hi! well i've spent the last 4 days doing my PADI open water course on the beautiful island of Koh Tao which means i am now qualified to dive in open water to depths of 18m.. it's been a lot of fun as i had a great group and a crazy instructor but since i've not really used my brain at all since i came out here when i heard the words 'home' and 'work' in the same sentence i was both shocked and saddened.. but i survived and pleased to confirm my brain still works! marvelous! phew!

in my last blog i left you before the half moon party on Koh Phangan where you may have gathered i spent most of the night staring down the bowl of one of the most disgusting toilets i've ever seen regurgitating a dodgy chicken burger i ate just before i went out.. i have learned the hard way that out here if you want to survive to see another day, eat thai.. so that was an interesting night and not so worth it!

after that i left the island to come here to Koh Tao for my diving course. It's been 4 days where i have had to stay off the booze and do some (semi)serious concentrating but scuba diving is amazing! i love it. on day 2 we spent almost 3 hours sitting on the bottom of the hotel swimming pool with all the scuba gear on and on the 18m dive yesterday they sent a videographer down with us to record the day and we all sat in the bar in the evening watching it - it would have been a great souvenir except he was asking for something close to 50 quid for the DVD. i think not. even tho there was quite a comedy moment where i tried to kiss the camera, but head butted it instead! ha ha - what a pleb! i also skillfully managed to avoid being videoed getting into my wetsuit, which was about 3 sizes too small and took a week to squeeze over my thighs!

tomorrow i'm off for one of the longest journeys of my life.. boat to Chumpong, overnight bus to Bangkok and then the overnight train to Chiang Mai where i will start 3 days of trekking followed by a thai cooking course... exhausted just thinking about it!

Lucy - i hope you had a fab birthday on the 16th..tell me all about it ;)

love you long time (but i love scuba diving and Koh Tao more)

xxx