Farang lands on beautiful Koh Tao

Indeed, I made it. First though, we saw the Imperial Palace with the jade Buddha in Bangkok on Monday before having foot massages. Yes, thai massages are everything they are cracked up to be and more. A one hour foot massage (6 USD) involves a knee, calf, ankle and foot massage and reflexology, followed by a neck, back, and shoulder rub down and some back cracking. It is simply glorious.
Evening found us on the night train, which was not so fun because it's bumpy, the lights don't go off, and there was an infant crying the whole way (10 hrs). I'm sure it was far better than the bus would have been though. Then there was an hour wait on the platform (at 5am) for the bus to take us to the pier, where we caught a 4 hour boat ride to the island. Lunch was of the higher priorities, as was finding somewhere to stay. For some reason we (Lucas, 4 people from the UK, and I) decided to trek the several kilometers from Mae Hat (the pier village) to Sai Ree (the diving beaches) with all our gear. We stopped for some lunch half way and then checked several places before settling with the dive resort I had researched and intended to go to anyway; BANS. The others will be doing their open water (4 days) before heading to Koh Phanngan for the full moon party (think Ibiza) while I remain at BANS for another 3 weeks working on my Divemaster. As of tomorrow, 10am I will be a DMT (Dive Master Trainee) and my monthly rent is a whopping USD 150.
After a quick banana smoothie snack Charlotte and I decided to get another massage (that's 2 in 48 hours) while the boys went looking for scooters. I might rent a scooter later in the month, so look out for a good story.
Unfortunately, my camera doesn't seem to be working yet. We're drying it out another day and praying. Since it's so humid I assume it takes longer to dry? Please, please let it be ok.