Finally in Koh Tao

I think other than when I just started drifting off before we pulled in for our rest stop at 2am, I had no luck in sleeping at all on the bus journey last night, which means I am so out of it today. The toilets at the rest stop were the local ones where it is just a hole in the ground and then a hose instead of toilet paper; I am so glad I carry tissue around with me. Quite a few people went and got food, but I was so out of it, that just the thought of moving my jaw was too much, although thankfully, we were not at the services for too long. We arrived at the pier around 5am and had to wait till 6.30am when we could start boarding the catamaran; I don’t remember moving or speaking during this time. When we were able to start boarding, we walked along the pier to the catamaran which was able to hold around 400 people. Our group all headed up to the top of the three decks where we knew we would get the best view; we were right to sit up here as the sunrise was beautiful over some hills in the distance. I was wearing my new split leg trousers that I bought in Bangkok and with the wind as we moved across the gulf, it made my legs exposed, so I was freezing which even though the

rocking motion was perfect, I was not able to sleep once again.

We arrived at the island of Koh Tao at 9am and were met by our new rep called Jai who took us by pick-up trucks to our hotel for the next two weeks which is called Asia Divers Resort. When we arrived, we had to take our shoes off to go into the restaurant for breakfast and a very brief introduction as well as sort out rooms. The breakfast here was nice and filling, I had toast, fried eggs, bacon and sausage with a fruit juice. After breakfast, we all had to write our names down against a room and who we would be sharing a room with – there were two people per room. There was an odd number of girls and boys, so the rep tried to get me to share with one of the boys but we both refused so in the end, the boy shared a room with two other guys and I have ended up with the luxury of a double bed with an ensuite to myself; quite a nice surprise really considering they said on the paperwork to upgrade to a single person's room, it was £50 per night extra. I am happy with being by myself this time though, as firstly it is nice to have the privacy but also the rest of the group have been messaging me when they are going out so that I can also be included, this makes such a difference and I really appreciate it. Once I got into my

room, I did not unpack a single thing but just collapsed into the bed and slept for a solid 4 hours till 3pm when I had set my alarm for. I had to really convince myself to get out of bed though as it was not easy, I never knew it was possible to end up with jet lag from not even going on a jet.

I headed down to the beach to meet the rest of the group and it felt so good to feel the warm waves against my feet; the sand is not as fine as I expected so it is a bit uncomfortable without your shoes on, but oh well, it is one way to exfoliate. I did not spend long on the beach as me and Georgia decided to head back so that she could borrow some after sun and for me to have a shower to wake myself up – I never realised I would have more of a wake-up call than I bargained for with there being no hot water though.

We met up with the group and Jai at 6pm to tell us what to expect in the coming 2 weeks on the island and all I will say is it sounds amazing! Although, I was going to do scuba diving during my time here, after a bit of confusion with not pre-booking it, I have decided to do the Muay Thai instead. I feel like this will be great to learn but also great exercise and then I can just do scuba diving in Australia, so I won’t be missing out. We all headed to a beachfront restaurant where we were able to watch the sunset; the number of different colours were spectacular. The whole atmosphere on Koh Tao is so different from the rest of the places I have visited with everything just seeming to be so calm and tranquil, I don’t know if this makes sense, but I feel as if I can breathe freely. Over dinner, people were discussing going out tonight and I do not know how they can even think of that after last night’s journey but each to their own; with no surprise I opted to go back to the hotel, so I can be asleep by 10pm.

So that is where I am now, in the room, enjoying the cooling fan and about to get an early night ready for the adventures of tomorrow.