where in the world is matt

Again an exceptionally long delay in the blogging due to the lack of being on land.

Firstly however, the chore that is getting a visa extension from Rangon in Burma. I recommend if you dont have to do it there, then dont. From KP I took a boat to Surat Thani again before being ferryed between several minibuses and excessive waiting. Finally the minibus arrived in Rangon, 4 hours later then stated.

This meant that I had to stay the night there - and there is nowhere to go there.. - and get into several arguements with regards to cost of sorting a visa out. In the end I decided that 500 baht was a joke and did the local tuk tuk and boat combination return and ended up paying 180. Alot cheaper though perhaps not as efficient. The guesthouse (kiwi house) is right next to the bus station so if you find yourself needing to get back to the islands, dont go with their pricing which is beyond extortinate. I was quoted 1,100 to get to Tao. I ended up paying 120 for a local minibus, and had the bus arrived in Champohn 3 minutes earlier, I would have taken the 450 ferry. However it didnt and I had to kill 9 hours to take the night ferry.

It seems everytime I try and get to Tao its a chore and I end up taking the night ferry. This time however it wasnt as painful and the beds were abit more sound, however again there was a considerable lack of pick up from the port. Perhaps its the arriving early and they just dont try, but I knew where the dive resort was so I walked there instead, a 20 minute walk to Sari beach.

Diving with Ban’s varies in cost, I paid 9,800 for open water whilst a friend paid 9000. They claim to be the cheapest though others do have OW for 1000 cheaper. They are though the largest on the island with possibly the nicest accomodation included for the price, a room to yourself instead of a dorm, with Big blue offering the same price (9,000 though you have to buy the book for 800).

The course takes 4 days, orientation and a video in an afternoon, more theory and pool practice the next day, day 3 is 2 dives and theory with exam, day 4 is 2 more dives with certification and youve passed. Its that easy, and you can now dive to 18m. You follow this up with doing the advanced course, another 7,000 but this allows you to dive to 98% of the world with night dives, navigation and up to 30m (you can actually go to 40m for recreational diving) which equals an adventure diver. Doing two more dives makes you advanced, and if you then work on 4 more dives of either of these you become a specialist in that field.

From here you can progress to rescue - which i start tomorrow - and then onto dive master. Im thinking of developing these to become an instructor but due to constraints with the visa, im going to get rescue then head to Malaysia in 6 days to meet friends.