Finally Legal: Open Water, Baby!

When we planned this trip, we knew that we would want to do some diving in Thailand. Once I found out that Koh Tao is one of the cheapest dive meccas in the world, Ian I decided that we would spend a few days there and I could get my open water certification.

There are many outfits on the Sariee Beach, the main backpacker beach. After evaluating a few, I chose Phoenix Divers mainly because they had a nice looking restaurant and had a pool for Ian to hang out in. Most places wanted 9800 baht for the certification plus free accommodation on the course days. We took a discounted AC bungalow near the pool from the AC Resort for 400 a night and the course was only 8500. This was only $270, a steal compared to the US and I was diving in the Gulf of Thailand rather then the Boston Chinatown YMCA pool.

The course was entertainingly led by Christophe, a Flemish former boys boarding school principle turned SCUBA instructor who told well-timed fart jokes. There were only 5 people in our class which I didn't realize at the time was such a bonus until I saw some of the other outfits with 12 - 20 students. One of the highlights of the whole experience was meeting other travelers.

We went on four excellent dives. One of the other students, Marek, a communications major from Germany, took hundreds of photos of the dives, some of which I posted on Flickr. The amount of fish and diversity of coral was truly stunning. The visibility was perfect, and despite being monsoon season, had no rain. Since Koh Tao is a very young diving area, there were no places with anchor damage or trash. I hope they are able to keep it that way.

The beach itself was pleasant, though this should not be the sole purpose from coming here. The walking brick street was lined with many low-key resorts, Thai and international resturants, and bars. There were a fair amount of people around, so usually a few of the bars would be packed with the fire-twirlers providing much of the entertainment. The only downside about the AC Resort was that it had a totally empty bar that blasted techno until at least 5 AM every night. I heard that it would get crowded later with Thais, but I never saw a sole in there.

Now I'm finally legal. Open water in Flordia and Aruba here I come!

- Nisha

Shout-Out to my Shout-Out

I finished day 3 of the 4 day SCUBA certification course today. There is some really amazing diving off this little island of Koh Tao. We both have been having a great time just soaking up the sun and scenery. We joke that India was the "work" part of or trip and this is the "vacation" part. After we head to our 5th beach, one of us will write a blog detailing them all for the sake of anyone preparing for a trip to Thailand.

Since October 3rd, there has been a steady stream of hits from another blog to my post about women in the Delhi papers. If you would like to know more about the status of women in Delhi, check out this interesting blog. It's written by a woman, about whom I can't glean much information from the blog, who is interested in many of the social issues that Ian and I observed in India as well. I believe she may be a fellow Bengali since she wrote a nostalgic post about Durga Puja intertwined artfully with larger social commentary.

- Nisha