Koh Chang, Chang Beer and diving!

Sitting in the morning sun....... I'll be sitting when the evein' comes......

Well, we finally made it to Koh Chang, Thailands 2nd biggest island (after Phuket), but it's relatively unspoilt at the mo, although there's a lot of development going on everywhere as usual! We started off staying in Bungalows on 'Lonely beach' (which is anything but), but after 2 nights of partying hard in a pretty damn basic (can't stand up) hut, we moved up the road for some peace and quiet in an upgraded air-con, bug free, shower (cold!) outside amongst the palm trees place. It also has the added bonus of you being able to sleep at night without being hammered, as the place on the beach front was bangin' till 5a.m. - we're getting too old for that sh!t.

MOPEDS BABY YEAH! Alright, a step down from my 600 Bandit, but the 100cc chicken chasers are so much fun to zip around the island on. For 3 quid, you can get one with a full tank and go exploring for the day, which is cool as there's less developed areas on the east of the island. We've met numerous back-packers here with scooter injuries though, so I've avoided trying to pull wheelies (especially with Kat on the back!) and pulling a 'stoppie' (endo) is not an option as the front brake is so crap! When I mentioned this to the renter, they said you can use the back one.... thai style! You really have seen nothing until you've seen a whole family (6!) on one of these things though.... (photo coming later!)

So the other thing we're onto is the 'advanced scuba' diving course. 2 days, 4 (or 5 hopefully) dives and a bit of education. We did the 1st day yesterday and the swell was huge, the boat was all over the show, but once you got underwater it was pretty magic. The 'vis' was pretty bad (5-10m because of the wind), but there was plenty to see and it was a great feeling just to get underwater again. Today was cancelled because of the wind, so fingers crossed for a belter tomorrow. Wish I had an underwater camera case to get some jaws style photo's though (you listening santa?).

Also looks like we'll be booking onto a fishing trip (lets see if it can compare to Stewart Island in NZ) and a day of snorkelling - there's no rest for the wicked! We'll be back in Bankok on the 20th for the last two nights in a luxury hotel..... well luxury in that it has a hot shower and pool anyway! And then of course it's the flight back to blighty.....

Anyone got any new years plans sorted yet?