Koh Tao

Tomorrow I will have my last day as a Dive Master in Training (or DMT). The last day, called the DM-day, consists of two different tests. First, in the morning, I am going to be a boat master taking the dive boat out and leading the whole diving show. It's part of what Dive Masters here are doing as their job. If I manage not to mess up too badly, I am going to face the last test: the Dive Master challenge. I am made to do stupid things in front of a crowd. From every trick, I have to drink shots of alcohol as a punishment. Probably everyone can guess, how it's supposed to end...

Now on the last evening before getting totally humiliated, it's a good time to sum up Koh Tao and the time I spent on the island.

Koh Tao is not very touristic island in Thailand standards, which doesn't mean that it would not be touristic in some other standards. The people on the island are somehow categorized to few groups. The falang (Thai name for western people) backpackers want to learn to dive because LP says that it should be done on Koh Tao, party and continue their trip to Cambodia. Many of them are diving and partying for weeks or even months. The dive maniacs have came far away, because they have heard that Koh Tao is the place to learn about diving. The paradise island for people who want to make diving as profession. Soon they will realize that whole diving scene on the island spins around the golden liquid called beer. It tastes good. So good that it must be drunk every night. There just isn't anything else to do than drinking beer or diving. Talking is important part of drinking. It's typically done in very difficult-to-understand Brittish English.

Thai people are earning far better than in the rural areas of North Thailand. Actually so well that it enables drinking every night. They have seen the falang and think that everyone is similar. Hate is burning under the smiling shell. It's their country, they have the rights, they think. Falang are giving them the income, but same time trying to rule their island. The Burmese are almost slaves. They are illegal immigrants and trying to keep low profile. However, this doesn't mean that they wouldn't find the money to soak their desperation to Chang beer. Also they are drinking almost every night.

Thus almost everyone who is living on the island longer time is an alcoholic. Everyone has their own cherished social ring. There is very little interaction outside the ring especially, if one doesn't like loud electronic music and beer every night. It's meaningless to assume that one would find loads of friends, if one doesn't want to drink every second night in the environment such as on Koh Tao. Others like it. They'll come back time after time and eventually become instructors. Others have seen something better. People are just different.

The dogs are like the people. They have their own friends and territories, which they are aggressively guarding from the other dogs. Dog fights are every day events. After the fights they are trying to find support from the people for their cause. Most of them are friendly for people, though.

Then there are the others. People who fall out from the categories. Awesome, helpful and friendly Thai people. Cool Japanese guys. Amazing falangs, instructors, dive masters, DMT's, fun divers and backpackers, who are just rocking out the scene. Those people I call as friends. I am glad that I met them.

Diving itself is very good. Hundreds of fish species from whale sharks to small damsel fishes, corals, sometimes great visibility, stunning diversity of life, but sometimes one can hear nothing underwater over the boat noise from 15 dive boats above. Slightly exaggerated sometimes there feels to be more divers in the water than fish. The one poor whale shark I was surrounded by more than 40 people. Diving is not secrete act as it is in the North. It's mass fun. You don't need to appreciate the nature. You can dive just to have a good reason for an other party in the evening.

Yeah. You read it correct. I had a good time, but after all, the Turtle wasn't for me. We were too different. It's time to move on.