26th June 2012 - The Visa Fixer

So, it was time for a visa run.... a big one.

This time, we needed to head to Kota Bharu in Malaysia. The whole journey was to take 50 hours.

We left Koh Tao on the ferry, and once in Koh Samui transferred to another port by taxi cab. Once the car ferry arrived, we stepped on and headed to Donsak on the mainland. From there, we met the guy who arranges the whole visa trip..... this is where my temper started to flare.

If any of you have watched Seinfeld there was a character called The Soup Nazi.. The clip below will explain all if you have never seen it.



Click Here for Soup Nazi Best Bits



This guy was the same... if you didn't stand where he said, met at exactly a time, and do exactly what he said then it was "NO VISA FOR YOU!".. I found it extremely difficult to keep my big gob shut.. but I did... I kept telling myself.. "Visa, Visa, Visa".

We get to the hotel near the border.. go into the conference room, where the visa interogation started. He questions everyone on their paperwork and barks at you if any piece of paperwork is not in order. Someone did not come in to the room in time, so was locked out with the words "No Visa for you!"  Very aggravating.

Anyway, after a night in a very rundown hotel that reminded me of a council estate block of flats... grubby walls, light fixings hanging off, carpets that looked like they had been cleaned in 1945, we left the hotel at 6am to go through the border.

Once stamped out of Thailand, an 1 hour cab ride to Kota Bharu where we were sat down at a cafe, and the paperwork again examined. Then we had to hand over our passports to him so he could visit the consulate and sort the visas out. We were commanded to stay there for 2 hours in case there was any issues, before getting back in our taxis and going to the KB mall, where we were to wait for 6 hours..

After 6 hours of totally mind numbing wandering around a relatively small shopping centre, we got back in our taxis and headed back to the border, where we had to wait for the fixer to return.

He came back 2 hours later, proceeded to give everybody a lecture about stuff (I had tuned out to his voice by then).. and then we went through Thai Immigration. Then the drive back through the night, returning to Koh Tao the next morning.

I am glad its done... but WOW it was tough..... shame I have to do the same in 3 months!

Some bad news... As soon as we returned to Koh Tao, we were told about Tim (videographer), who had been in a bike accident the previous night with some guy who was driving on the wrong side of the road. They hit head on. Looking at the photos I have sourced from the rescue crew, Tim looked in a pretty bad state, and many people thought he was dead on scene. The other guy broke his collarbone.

Tim was in the hospital when we arrived back, with lots of stitches in his head, mouth, and foot. He is going to be out of the water for a while, and at the moment is a bit wobbly but improving by the day at home with close monitoring by his friends. We spent the whole day sorting him out with a place to stay where someone could watch him, then I went looking for witnesses etc.. was very tiring after such an exhausting visa run.

I shall update you with Tim's status as and when I know further details.

xx

SD

21st June 2012

The last few days have been taken up with a Reef Check Course.

With only 1 person, and both Jenny and I teaching it, it has been very relaxed and simple. The student has picked up the process fairly easily.

Yesterday, was the final day, and we conducted a survey at Mango Bay before moving to Japanese Gardens. I took a camera out and we took a few piccies!

xxx

SD

16th June 2012

Not much to say... I went for a dive at Junkyard to try and fix this damn anchor... But still no significant progress...

Besides this, its been many late nights watching football... including last night (4am?!!!)

A funny story I heard yesterday.... A foreigner decided it would be a great idea to rob the bank, so went in with Balaclava and black clothing, waving a plastic gun around.  The bank handed over its cash, and he left the building. Outside, he was attacked by some locals who beat him up and tied him up until the police arrived. He will now be spending the next 20 years in a prison on the mainland. I have no idea what he was thinking... how the hell was he going to get away... we are on a tiny island.. Fool!

x

SD

14th June 2012

As another week passes... I continue to plough through a massive backlog of UK work... Can't remember when i last went diving!!

Jenny has been keeping busy with Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses, and now we have a new Eco student who has arrived, we shall be conducting our 1st Reef Check since April...

Also, I have been watching Euro 2012 games.. last night till 4am.. I had to attend the very late game with Germany V Holland, since I have have friends who support both teams..

So, with that in mind, here is a couple of photos (dark) from last night.. Germany won 2 -1 ... Can you guess who is from which country?

x

SD

8th June 2012

Wow... Time has passed... 9 days since I have done a blog post.. My apologies.
What has happened... Well its rained... a lot!  The weather is windy, bringing rough seas and I have holed up to try and get a massive amount of UK stuff done.

Jenny has been under the weather with a cold, and has hardly left the the house in 3 days... Hopefully she is feeling better because she is starting a course today!

The only thing of note recently was the wedding of 2 colleagues at the dive school... We attended the after party... which started at Midnight... Geez!! That was a tough one... Usually I am in my pyjamas by then!!

The rain, and regular loss of power and internet, also gave me the opportunity to finally work on "The Crystal Wreck", a project I started filming in Sept last year... its nice to finally put it together... and it only took 1 day of editing.. Lovely!

Here is the link...

The Crystal Wreck - Click Here


 Much Love..


SD