Day 13 - I swam with SHARKS!!

Hehe well they were only small reef sharks, that was just to get your attention, but I did swim with them nonetheless! I went on a snorkel trip yesterday, the boat took us to 5 different sites over the day, ending with a couple of hours to walk around Nangyuan - 3 tiny islands joined by a sand bar running between them.

Me at Nangyuan, this was bloody hard to get up here so ENJOY the picture!

Great day, although despite all my efforts the sun got me! At least it's only on my back from the snorkelling. Met a couple of girls on the trip and we stuck together for most of the day, then met up again in the evening for drinks and pancakes...odd I know!

I'm going to work backwards on this update, it's hard to remember things without my journal to hand!

There's a bar on the beach called Lotus, really popular and can be a real party if the night's right. I was in there the other night just for a few beers and met Victor, a 50 year old Austrian guy I will never forget meeting. We got chatting about why we were both in Thailand, and he told me his story, I was in awe! He was on a beach near Phuket, called Khao Lak, when the tsunami hit in Dec 2004. He and his wife were sat on their balcony when they saw the silver line appear in the distance, and they took pictures as it looked so beautiful. As it got closer they realised, but couldn't do anything - they were already high up ground so it wasn't worth moving. Anyway, the wave hit and their cottage was amongst just 3 to be left standing, with one palm tree, on the whole beach. Victor's wife was washed away by the current, but rescued later. The water came into their cottage and pushed Victor to the ceiling where he escaped through a roof window, and then sat in the 40C sun for hours before being rescued. Pretty scary eh! Now he comes back a couple of times each year, and visits the same place to help as he says it has hardly recovered. Incredible story I had to share, I haven't met anyone quite like that before, he practically devotes his life to those Thai people that suffered. I don't normally take my camera out in the evening but that night I had it so there is one of him here.

Victor!

I spent a couple of nights down the south of the island, very quiet there but still stunning beaches with coral reef everywhere. The first night I stayed in a grim bungalow on a cliff, it did have a great sea view and looked nice from the outside

The scummiest cottage!! - looks nice from the outside though.

, but inside was horrible - loads of insects, half a sink, a shower that dripped at best...rubbish! That night I got quite drunk so I didn't notice it as much, although the entire half-a-sink came away in my hands when i used it. Oops!

Met an english guy called Jon and buddied up the next night - accomodation is much cheaper if there's two of you. Had brilliant food down there too - chicken and cashewnuts is the BEST I have now decided! Still, wanted to get back to Sairee beach, it's more lively and a much better party.

Anyway I'm back here now, there's a full moon party on Koh Pha Ngan 1st May so I will go for that before heading back to Bangkok and catching my flight to see the aussies!!

Hmm I'm not happy with that blog update, I will go fetch my journal for next time and update this I think - I'm sure there's more stories I want to tell you!

Over 'n out xxx

written by

Ayglesia on April 25, 2007 from Chumphon, Thailand

from the travel blog: Alex's round the world adventure

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