Caverns & Caves in Khao Sok, Thailand

Halloween night, Raf and I met up with John and Craig, who respectively would be our cavern and intro to cave diving instructors for the next four days.  They showed up in Craig's pickup truck (which was fully loaded with all our dive gear, cylinders, and an air compressor) at the pier in their Halloween costumes.  Craig was wearing a head-to-toe neon orange morphsuit, and John wore a Mexican wrestler costume while his girlfriend SJ dressed as Alice in Wonderland.  Yikes!

Craig and John, our fearless instructors

 

 

John and SJ

 

The truck loaded with dive gear and the air compressor

 

After dinner we boarded the night ferry at 9pm, got into our bunk beds and slept through the night to arrive in Surat Thani at 5am.  We drove for about an hour and a half more to reach the pier on the lake in Khao Sok National Park.  30 years ago the river was dammed to make the lake and for hydroelectric power.  We drove across the dam to see steep limestone hills, spires, and cliffs covered with jungle foliage and shrouded in mist on one side and a lake bordered by the same steep limestone ridges on the other side.  Craig explained how we would be doing some fun diving (outside of the cave course dives) in the flooded valley which would have looked the same as the I unflooded side of the dam before it was filled with water.  Wow!  That's a lot of topography to dive around!  The trees still stand underwater on the flooded side but the leaves and vegetation have decomposed to make a thick silty layer over everything.  There are roads and even a school below the waters.

Mist shrouding the "dry side" of the dam

 

Park satellite image.  We stayed at Putawan Rafthouse

We unloaded all of our gear from the truck into a longtail boat and rode about 45 minutes to our accommodations, a lovely line of floating raft houses in a bay with waters as smooth as glass with amazing views across the lake to beautiful limestone cliffs.  We could dive right into the lake from our front steps for a swim or to get clean after a day of diving and take a short walk over wooden boards to reach the dining area and nearby toilets.

Raf, John, and Craig loading the compressor... oops... I should help ;)

Longtail boat and driver... lots of O2 bottles!

Putawan rafthouse

 

View from my rafthouse

Cave divers' Bario... the last four bungalows were all ours

back of the more rustic rafthouses

 

 We spent time the morning we arrived running line from a spool on land in order to learn the procedures to do the same underwater in a cavern environment so we always have a line to follow out of the cavern.  After breakfast we headed out to do our first two cavern dives.  On these dives Raf and I practiced running the spool, tying it off in the cavern at various points, we deployed and put on our backup masks, deployed our cutting tools, deployed our backup lights and practiced swimming in touch contact with eachother.  This is to simulate if we lost all vision in the cavern due to silt out.  If that were to occur one follows the other out at all times contacting the line we layed as well as holding the lead divers arm and each diver must shield their head from things they might run into if they couldn't see.  The next dive we built on these skills but actually had to take our masks off and spin them around on our faces so the mask strap acts as a blindfold.  The next days we built further on this by completing skills where we had to simulate complete loss of visibility (blindfold ouselves) and exit the cave but our instructor, John, would signal us at some point (by pinching our nose) that we were out of air.  We then had to signal our buddy with touch signals that we were out of air and the buddy had to deploy their 6' long regulator hose to the out of air diver and we had to continue to exit the cave while blindfolded and sharing air.  We repeated the drill both acting as air donor and air reciever from both lead and rear positions on the 4th and last dive and now Raf and I are both certified Cavern Divers!  It was challenging but very fun working as a team and a real sense of accomplishment knowing that I could do these seemingly complicated tasks underwater while blindfolded.  Sadly, at the end of the last dive I somehow lost my mask...I think I had it on my wrist and then I lost track of it when I took off my harness....this is why we always tell divers to keep their masks around their necks when the masks aren't on their faces.  If I had followed that advice I wouldn't have lost my brand new $80 mask which I bought specifically for this course so that I would have a backup mask!  Dumb!  ARGGGHHH!  (I'm still quite upset with myself).

Touch contact. - how to get out of a cavern or cave with your buddy if you can't see anything.

Dry run

John and Craig heading back to the rafthouse after a long day of diving

Go time.  That's me facing the camera and the back of Raf's head. START drill (predive safety check)

Cavern diving!

Sharing air with Raf (I'm on the left, Raf is on the right)

Raf and I goofing around

Raf and John's hands... enjoying a beer at the end of the day

Spectacular scenery at Khao Sok National Park

 

The next day, Nov 3rd, we started our introduction to cave diving course.  We went beyond the light zone, which defines a cave, as opposed to a cavern where you can still see some light coming from the entrance.  On Nov 3rd and 4th we built upon our cavern diving skills to enter the cavern, move in further, and we learned new skills including how to search for a lost diver and how to search for a lost line while blindfolded.   The course was very challenging!  I had a really hard time with some of the skills...especially finding a lost line in a cave while blindfolded.  I found this skill very frustrating and a little nerve-wracking being disoriented with only my sense of feel and a spool of line to try to execute a search patern without any visual references (eep).  I found it very difficult to know if I was moving up or down or straight ahead at the same depth because all you have for reference is the pressure you feel on your ears due to depth changes and the orientation of the line you are laying (is it flat, angled up or angled down) I tried for about 20 minutes and couldn't find the line, then I got a second chance and found it after about another 20 minutes trying...and I almost missed it that time too!  Since I had such a hard time with this skill, I barely passed the course.  You can be damn sure I will NEVER let go of the line if I'm ever caving and visibility decreases!  I don't want to test that skill again unless it's in a controlled environment and until I practice and I do NOT want to have to use that training in a real life-or-death situation.  Yikes!  Not for the faint of heart.

Craig showing us how to create a web for a lost diver to find their way out

A lost diver would be happy to find this light and arrow showing them the way out!

Raf and John contemplating the web

We also did two deep decompression dives (45m) for fun on the mornings of Nov 2nd and 3rd prior to our course dives.  These were great practice and an interesting, otherworldly experience.  We descended through green murky lake water to a thermocline where the water temperature dropped dramatically from 31C near the surface to 25C at depth.  Below the thermocline visibility was much better but it was nearly pitch black, like a night dive.  We used our torches to look at the bottom of the lake which was covered with old, dead, leafless jungle plants and trees and a thick layer of silt.  It made me think of a post-apocalyptic world where nothing survived and everything that was there when the valley was flooded was covered with a thick layer of silt.  Very spooky.  We saw some evidence of former inhabitants like chopped tree stumps but there was not much to see.

pretty low visibility!  Raf?  Is that you?

 

Khao Sok is a beautiful national park with some of the most dramatic cliffs and karst features I have ever seen.  We were serenaded daily by the whooping calls of gibbons and  we were lucky enough to see Gibbons leaping from tree to tree in the canopy beside where we tied up the boat for our last dives.  The last night we stayed in Khao Sok I woke in my raft house at 4am and went quietly outside.  The generator was off so there were no lights to be seen except the stars and the light from the moon and the reflections of the stars and moonlight on the lake.  I lay down on my back on the dewy wooden boards that form the walkway between raft houses to look at the stars.  They were crystal clear and bright and seemed to be held in a bowl formed with clouds surrounding the edges of the clear starry skies and the jungle surrounding that lower on the horizon.  All around me sounds harmonized; the soft splash of fish jumping, the buzz and trill of insects, and the croak of frogs.  It was really peaceful and made me very aware of how blessed and thankful I am to have this time immerse myself in nature and to see some of these beautiful places in the world.

Dawn

 

Solo Travelling with Family and Friends

I have a little catching up to do... sorry, this is a looooong one!

Chronologically, I left Moalboal, Philippines on October 5th to head to Cebu City to meet my cousin, Emma, who was flying in from Singapore.  We met for the first time that I can recall at around 11pm in our hotel room.  I'm sure we met previously when I was a toddler in diapers visiting family in Australia, but we had a lot of catching up to do!  We got to know eachother while travelling from Cebu City to the island of Bohol where we spent 5 days before returning to Cebu City in time for "THE EARTHQUAKE" (see previous blog post) and a long trip to Bangkok where we bided two rainy days shopping before it was time for Emma's vacation to end and for her to return home to Melbourne.  In Bohol we spent one day relaxing, one day on a tour to all the island hot spots including; the Chocolate Hills, the Tarsier Sanctuary, a Butterfly Reserve, a lunch cruise up the Loboc River, the historic Baclayon Church, a statue commemorating the Blood Compact, and the small Hinagdanan cave.  We spent one day on a snorkeling trip to nearby Balicasag Island, and we spent our last day relaxing before heading  back to Cebu City. 

The Chocolate hills are a very impressive geological formation of hundreds of nearly identical, symmetrical, conical hills which were formed when ancient limestone reefs were uplift and eroded through time.  The tarsiers are very weird looking tiny primates who are in danger of extinction.  Emma hates monkeys but Tarsiers are so unlike monkeys in appearance she agreed to go.  She didn't hate them but we both agreed that Tarsiers are pretty hopeless creatures.  We were told that the caretakers at the sanctuary build shelters around them so that they aren't in the direct sun and wind and rain, and that they will commit suicide by bashing their heads against trees if they become stressed.  They are often mistaken for rats by cats so they need to be in a fenced in enclosure.  All in all, evolution may naturally eliminate these helpless little guys because they don't seem to have many useful adaptive strategies!  The butterfly reserve was a brief stop and not particularly interesting but great for photo ops.  The lunch cruise up the Loboc River was really pretty, the buffet lunch was pretty good and I was entertained by the Filippino kids dancing and singing energetically on floating rafts beside the river (Emma was not a fan).  The historic Baclayon church is the best preserved oldest church in the Philippines... or it was... before the earthquake which nearly leveled it!  It was very interesting to have seen the church intact only days before the destruction caused by the earthquake.  The Blood Compact statue was on a very scenic lookout and the statue depicts a ritual in 1565, when Spanish explorer, Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftan of Bohol sealed a treaty by pouring their blood into a cup containing wine and drank the mixture.  Gross.  Hinagdanan cave is beautiful with a crystal clear lake at the bottom.  We got there quite late and wished we had swimwear and more daylight to fully enjoy the cave. 

Chocolate Hill

Tarsier

Tarsier Tourists

Loboc River

These little boys were dancing their hearts out!

Butterfly attack!

 

Baclayon Church

 

Our snorkeling trip was on a very hot sunny day.  The island is beautiful with ridiculously blue water, white sand, and palm-fringed beaches.  We snorkeled in the snorkeling area which had nice corals, lots of fish, and a lovely wall that dropped off into the deep.  After a little lunch, Emma and I went snorkeling where there weren't any other snorkelers and we saw at least 4 turtles.  Lovely.  Unfortunately we had a few typical traveler challenges including our private tour turning into a tour with 3 other guests when we showed up in the morning, no refreshments (not even water) for the long hot day, limited instruction on where to go and what to do, an add-on that wasn't properly disclosed to us prior to the trip where we got paddled in a tiny boat for about 25m to the snorkeling area (which we could have easily walked on the beach!).  Later our guide told us that that boat ride cost an extra 200 pesos ($5)... silly.  Not worth arguing about but frustrating when tours nickel and dime you and hide costs and add on ridiculous things.  It happens A LOT in Asia, tiny little scams that leave a bad taste in your mouth a dollar at a time.  We didn't let it impact us much... we just refused to pay that part and enjoyed the rest of the trip which included a sighting of a small pod of 3 dolphins on the trip back to Bohol and a lovely sand spit island called Virgin Island which we stopped on briefly for some pictures and to drink a fresh green coconut :)

Emma

 

Balicasag Island

My previous blog post goes into details about the earthquake that struck and our travel to Bangkok so check that out to fill in this blank.

Emma and I spent two rainy days shopping in Bangkok, eating wonderful food, using the public transit, and getting decadent spa treatments!  We went for a drink and ended up eating some seafood on the rooftop bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel - Vertigo Moon Bar.  The view was really incredible!  I really enjoyed getting to know Emma better and spending some time with her.  I can't wait to see her again near the Christmas holidays and to get to know more family in Australia then (flight booked from Bangkok to Sydney on December 19th).

I chilled for 2 days in Bangkok by myself which I used to tour Wat Pho (Temple of the reclining Buddha) and to relax.  I took public transit to Wat Pho, toured around, then went for a walk along the Chao Phraya river.  I decided to take the public transit boat also and had a great view of the river and the banks of the river as I did... and it only cost me 12 baht (40 cents!).  I had a great sense of achievement navigating this Asian city by myself using local transit and seeing some sights on the way.  I rewarded myself with an amazing massage with a hot herbal compress which smelled of lemongrass, followed by a beer, some pork noodle soup, and some people watching on Soi 11 where converted vans become pop up bars and small plastic tables and chairs line the street in the evening to create a makeshift food market. 


Pop up bars :)

After my two days as a solo traveler, Sheena and her husband Chris, friends of mine from Calgary arrived in Bangkok.  I met up with them and we went to the huge Chatuchak weekend market.  There was tons of cool stuff there but my travel plans sadly prevent me from buying anything right now... just more stuff to lug around.  It was still cool to wander around and see the wares.  The next day, we went on a full-day private tour with Tom, a knowledgeable and friendly Thai fellow.  Tom took us to Phra Phuttha Maha Suwan Patimakon (the Golden Buddha) which is a small temple which houses the worlds largest solid gold statue, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace, on a river cruise up the Chao Phraya river by longtail boat, then to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), then to Wat Pho which was a repeat for me but the reclining Buddha is so spectacular to see I didn't mind at all. 

Solid Gold Buddha

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Grand Palace

Longtail tour up the Chao Praya river with Chris and Sheena, tourguide Tom in back

 

Wat Arun

Climbing back down Wat Arun... so steep!

Reclining Buddha - smile 5m wide :)

Reclining Buddha's feet.  mother of pearl inlays on the soles of his feet

 

Sheena, Chris, and I had a refreshing dip in their hotel pool before heading out in the evening for a dinner cruise on the river.  Guidebooks I had read said that this would be a "magical experience, not to be missed".  pfft.  Although the temples and palace looked very nice lit up at night, it really terrible.  Sheena, Chris, and I spent the evening making faces at eachother over the ridiculous people on the boat.  It was very touristy and the only people on the boat were the types of middle-aged white tourists who frequent all inclusive resorts, want to eat hamburgers and French fries no matter where they are in the world, love buffet meals, and dance awkwardly as soon as music comes on.  It was like being at a wedding where you don't know many people and all the aunties and uncles start dancing.  The highlight for us was one of the traditional Thai dancers who had a very spaced out look for her whole dance.  We called her "dead eyes" and were fully entertained by her robotic dance moves and her fake smile.  Sheena and Chris moved on to Phuket to continue their vacation the next day and I did some walking around, went to a movie (About Time - SO GOOD - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) then hopped on the night train to Chumphon so I could get to the island of Koh Tao the next day. 

The beginning of the terrible dinner cruise

Dead Eyes

The Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha at night - very pretty

Travel from Bangkok to Koh Tao cost 1500 baht ($50) for a first class, air conditioned, sleeper berth which travelled from 7:30pm from Bangkok to Chumphon and arrived at 6am in the morning, a bus transfer to the pier, and a ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao.  I arrived at around 9am and my friend, Raf, met me at the pier to help me get my bags to the bungalow.  The sleeper berth held two people in a bottom bunk and a top bunk and was very comfortable.  There was a bathroom with a small sink an a squatter toilet at the end of the train car and a small sink in the berth.  A train employee knocked on the door in the morning to tell us we were close to our stop so we could get organized to get off the train.  Actually, my wake up call came at 4:30am but the train didn't arrive until 6:30am... I guess we were 2 hours late...still not sure why they didn't just wake us up later then?

Night train! whoo whoo

1st class sleeper train.  the back of the seat folds up to create the top bunk.

 

It was great to see Raf again, he was an instructor in Indonesia, and he suggested I join him for a cavern and cave diving course and some fun diving in Koh Tao.  So I did!  We have been able to go diving for 3 days (6 dives) and get more practice using twin tanks, decompression cylinders, and planning decompression dives.  We even did a long day trip to a distant wreck called the Torpedo Wreck with a boat full of only tech divers.  There was so much cool equipment on that boat!!!  So neat!  The wreck was beautiful with really great visibility down to 44m where a halocline created cloudy, low visibility waters below and clear blue waters above.  There were huge schools of fusiliers, baraccuda, jacks, Trevally, and other schooling fish above and around the wreck and giant Groupers inside the wreck as well as some really cute Flabellina nudibranchs (white with blue tipped protruberences) at the prow of the ship.  I saw a large Tuna entangled in some old fishing net that was caught on the wreck and was able to cut it free using my dive knife and a line cutter that I borrowed from Craig (the Cavern and Cave diving instructor who I was diving with).  The tuna swam away... now I can eat more delicious tuna sashimi guilt free knowing that I made sure that Tuna didn't die for nothing (tee hee).

Getting ready for some diving with the guys from Bans Tech in Koh Tao

Glad to grab a few more beers with my favorite Belgian Military man, Raf!

Raf and I started our cavern/cave course today with classroom theory and some exercises.  We put on our aluminum backplates and harnesses with regulators zipped tied to the back and "went through the motions" of how to tie lines, hook on directional and non-directional line markers, share air, signal eachother, move through a cavern or cave using touch contact in case visibility decreases to a point where you can't see.  It was really cool seeing how everything will work on land before going underwater where it is difficult to ask questions!  We will spend tomorrow setting up our equipment, loading the truck, and then we take the overnight ferry to Surat Thani from which point we will drive to Kao Sok National Park to start the cavern and intro to cave course!