One Year of Travel - Thailand

In Thailand, we took a long bus ride from Saigon to Bangkok. Bangkok is a big city, and when we got there, it felt really humid but not super hot. We visited some cool places in Bangkok. One of them was the Royal Palace. It's a special place where the king lives, and it's super fancy! Inside, there's a very famous statue called the Emerald Buddha. It's surrounded by lots of other smaller Buddha statues, all kept safe in glass cases. Each statue is different and tells a story from a long time ago.

After that, we went to a place called a tiger temple. This was one of the coolest things we did! At the temple, there are real tigers that you can pet and hang out with. But some people worry if it's fair for the tigers to be there. They say the monks who take care of the tigers are nice to them, but others think the tigers should be in the wild.

Getting around Bangkok was fun too! We rode on something called the Skytrain, which is like a train that goes high up in the air. It was easy to use and took us to different parts of the city. We also went on a boat ride along the river. From the boat, we could see lots of temples along the riverbanks. It was really pretty!

Oh, and something exciting almost happened! We just missed seeing the Olympic torch relay. It was going through a place called Chinatown, but we got there a little too late. Maybe next time we'll get to see it!

So, our trip to Bangkok was full of adventures. We saw amazing sights, met some interesting animals, and learned a lot about this bustling city in Thailand.

We then headed south to Pattaya, as I wanted a week there to start my PADI Divemaster Course. It was a real sex tourism area. Katie came on a days diving but the visibility was really bad and she had end both the dives early. On the second one she had to hold hands otherwise they would lost each other it was that poor! She cancelled the other dives she had booked! It had a beach which she spent time on but it was a bit dirty, had jet skis and banana boats rushing past and people trying to sell things to her all the time! There was also a massive storm every afternoon so she played on the internet and watched some movies. While I was swatting and doing my Divemaster exams and tests.

She got a bit bored here really! As she had nothing to do while I was on my course. Not a place she would recommend people to go to! It was a bit focussed on sex tourism. The beaches were very dirty with all types of rubbish on them. There was a litter vehicle that would go along the beach but only emptying the bins and not doing the beach.

We have now headed further south to the island of Koh Tao. It is a beautiful tropical island. We are staying at a dive resort for me to complete my Divemaster things but it is a much nicer environment for Katie.

The resort is on the beach, has a swimming pool, bar with free pool, free WiFi, restaurant and is near a load of shops and things to look around. There does not seem to be that much to do apart from diving here though. Apart from relaxing on the beaches etc!

We have a few friends that we met in Bangkok that have been doing similar routes to us so spent time with them in Chaing Mai and they have also arrived here so Katie has some people to spend time with while I'm out all day diving!

Katie went diving yesterday to do my Underwater Photography Speciality Course! She had to do two theory parts then two dives. The visibility is much better here! We got to see all sorts of things and beautiful fish! She did some fun dives after to get more photos with the underwater camera we have.

There are turtles and some sorts of reef sharks in these waters! She was able to practice her new photography skills! She also learnt how to do some basics on Photoshop so can add some light to the photos and also take out backscatter.

We stayed there for about a week, then had only one week left in Thailand so we will think about where to go next soon! I wanted to go to Phukhet, but we didn't have enough time.