Bunnygoesdiving in Thailand 

We were still dizzy from our underwater experience in Lakshadweep. I, more than others because I am a very sea sick animal. But still, I went all the way from Zurich–> Mumbai –> Hyderabad –>Indore (simply the best) –>Mumbai –>Bangkok –> bus to Chumpong, 500 km away from Bangkok–>2 h ferry to small island called Koh Tao- all this to learn how to be a fish.

Because traveling on land has become too mainstream. 😉

On the return flight. Indore, the centre of the universe.

I arrived in Bangkok and was confronted with some very scary Thai women (immigration officials), totally unlike the soft massaging kind I had imagined them all to be. But once out, things were much more pleasant. First, I met an ex-colleague (a Bangkok local), who introduced us to this amazing amazing restaurant (Suaukuland).

 Five fish to this retaurant. Definitely recommend it if you are there.

Then we went to the largest weekend market in the world (so my Thai colleague claimed) where you could buy about anything with elephants printed on it, about everything else too. Apparently one could bargain a lot here, but most vendors were female and after my experience with the Thai ladies at the airport, I didn’t want to take any chances.

We were lost pretty soon in the labyrinth of people and narrow alleys in the market.

The next day we headed to Koh Tao. Woot! Except that it took a whole day to get there. We stayed for 5 days on the island and did our open water diving course at French Kiss Divers (FKD). If you are rolling your eyes at the name, wait till you read its tag line.

So French.

And yes, the place is run by the French and for the French. I even had to do my diving written exam in french (and I passed pop pop!).

Ok merde (shit in French) aside, everyone there also spoke English (obviously wiz a fronch occent, cute!).

Now the metamorphosis from a land animal to a sea animal was not easy; far from it. Diving seems so simple, doesn’t it? You just have to languidly move your fins and appreciate all the fish, and if there is a problem, you quickly swim back up (OK, never do that. Your lungs could burst like a balloon. Hint:Boyle’s law. Figure the rest yourself). There is severe physiological stress (and mental stress for some others like me) and it requires careful understanding of the risks involved. Hence, the course involves extensive theory lessons, french written exams, and doing scary practical exercises 18 m deep in the open sea.

I will confess it took me some time to not keep going up like a balloon or going down with my face into the sand. When I did manage to learn how to hover around in water, I was still at times pretty disoriented.

I am the one looking away while the others were making awesome gesticulations to the camera. 🤦🏼‍♀️

By the end, even my spastic underwater breathing sounded a beautiful constant Darth Raider (smuuuhhh blurrp blurrp blurrp blurrp). We saw a sting ray hiding under a rock and then swimming out like a giant bird, a 1 m long grouper hunting, murray eels on giant corals, prawns doing something in the sand, and we swam with great shoals of translucent fish . Time became one, and only I, my diving buddy, our instructor, and the sea existed. I knew I was breathing only because of the ryhthymic blurrrp blurrrp blurrp. I found it to be almost meditative.

A little cute box fish

Ooh Voldemort (murray eel).

When we were not diving (“meditating”) or studying the diving course theory, we went snorkeling. At first when we went on a snorkeling day trip, the sea seemed extremely bland (this was before diving). Our company, one of which was a group of American girls, who kept talking loudly even while snorkeling (How can anyone talk while snorkelling? How?), didn’t make it more pleasant.

Plus later there was “some” rain in the afternoon. This was a private island they made us visit during the first snorkeling trip).

Lakshadweep sea seemed much more rich until we hit a snorkeling spot by mistake on our own near the Tao Thong villa I. There were fish even in ankle deep water. No kidding.

The place is very difficult to reach without a taxi or a two wheeler, which by the way can be hired every 5 meters on the island. And then one has to continue to the beach on foot but the little unpretentious restaurant at the beach and the awesome view, and the shockingly beautiful snorkeling site make it totally worth the effort. Five starfish to the place!

It was quiet here unlike the rest of the island.

The rest of Koh Tao, seemed like a white people island- with only the smell of lemon grass and oil in the air to remind one that it was still Thailand.

As the weather is quite reasonable in July and the water was 29 dg C (no kidding)- it becomes one of the go-to places for tourists around the world (mostly English and French) when the west coast of Thailand is battling with its monsoons. The east coast monsoons are from Nov-Jan. It would rain in the afternoon for an hour and then things would resume as if nothing happened.

The afternoon storm
Sairee village of Koh Tao

In the villages, there were plenty of places to party and lots of underaged drinkers.

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​​One of the parties at the beach with some very fit Thai men who played with fire.

In these five days we also exhausted a number of restaurants*, by the end of which I think I have become allergic to the smell of lemon grass. Overall I would give the island and the Sairee village only 3 carrots, and the sea four star fish, mostly because it was so nice and warm.

Aw.

Overall, I was struck by many things in Thailand- the fact that things weren’t so organized, like the traffic below, and yet no one honked. Bangkok was literally Swiss clean. People queued to get on the sky train. Even the British who pride themselves on their queuing culture can’t do that. The whole place seemed so safe, so welcoming, so well equipped for tourists.

Nobody honked. Still amazed.

In addition to a previous post (Whether you should go to India), in all honesty, if you are undecided between India and Thailand, and if your odds tip towards safety over seeing a richer variety of things**, then go to Thailand! 4.5 carrots to you!

I can’t wait to dive again. Malta, here we come. Plop.

Postscripts:

Anajak: really really nice hotel in Bangkok and reasonably priced

*Roasted duck- by far the best restaurant in Sairee

**Obviously, you will get to see a larger variety of about everything (arts, music, history, architecture) in India since it is a larger country than Thailand and had many different rulers over its 3000 years of recorded history.