Bang Thai'dy

Sat in the office now, waiting to get a lift to the airport and I can't explain how I'm feeling but a mixture of heart ache, dread, excitement and pure confusion, comes pretty close. I felt the same when I first arrived, and the events that happened after that seemed to turn out pretty bloody great. I think once I get on the plane I will be able to concentrate on the arrivals lounge at the airport and I'll be ok, but for now all I have in my head is the fact that I'm leaving a place that has become my home of paradise.

That's right 22 years ago on the 12th of April, Miss Donna Heath was born, not to long before mum and dad were chosen as her adopted parents ...joyous occasion, lots of balloons... The adoption that is, not the birth. This year, like myself, her birthday ended up falling the same time as she was visiting me in Thailand! And I don't think her birthday could have got anymore thai if she tried! Started off the day looking for a place to grab some brekkie. It was our first day in Bangkok, so we were a little los. Found this cute little local caff, with around 8 old Thai men. It was like a non alcoholic version of an English pub with the standard regulars featuring 'the wise punter', 'the joker', 'the target' plus a few others. Have to say, the food, not good, company, great :) We then headed back to our room to get ready for the pool, when we had a knock at the door. The lovely staff at the De Moc hotel had noticed it was dons birthday, from her pass...

One of the things I've wanted to do since I set foot on Thai sand, was to go check out life under the sea. The conservation team always had incredible pictures and stories about the things they've seen there which sounded to good to miss out on. Unfortunately diving in and around Krabi was always to expensive, so we did snorkelling instead, which don't get me wrong, was amazing... But I wanted to try it for real. Koh Tao is well known for its amazing diving and cheap courses, so that was one of my main motivations for wanting to go there. Dons had already dived in America, but she agreed to do the beginners day course with me again. We stayed at Asia Resort in koh Tao, which had its own diving school. The instructors were awesome and the lads doing their diving masters were so much fun. You felt really safe and had a laugh. I can't describe how beautiful life below sea level is and if I had the choice I would be a real life little mermaid (a little chunkier an...