Fishing village

We decided to go and dive a local wreck called the Hardeep. It was a Japanese naval ship in world war II which was bombed by the Thai people about sixty years ago. It lies at about 30m which makes is a great "semi deep" dive and seeing that it is so old there are lots of growth on it.

The wreck lies on its side , but the ship is still fully in tact. There is also still live bombs on it... Well they are sixty years old and have been through very rough conditions, so I guess well be pretty safe in that if they haven't gone off to date they probably will never go off.

Which ever way - just keep telling yourself that, otherwise you'll be too scared to touch anything down there.

Oh yes - got side tracked for a minute, I am actually supposed to tell you about the fishing village. So to go and dive the Hardeep you need to get on a "baht taxi" and travel about an hour from Pattaya to a very rural fishing village which is apparently owned by the Thai Mafia.

You travel along a semi tar road through dense shrubbery which looks like it is years away from any normal civilization. Once you get to the village, the smell of fish overwhelms you... (Not in a good way, or yummy yummy I feel like having fish for lunch way)...

The peer is very small with hundreds of little houses scattered all over the water - Yip they literally live on the water. Everything is built on stilts. In the background you can see a couple of temples peaking out from atop a hill or even the central town. Amazing site, to have these spectacular buildings in the middle of a village where poverty plays a big role, and fishing is the main income for most people.

My immediate reaction to the village was that we need to go back and explore when we have a day off again, but we were advised that tourists are not very welcome in the village and that you might have some problems with the local authorities when on foot in the village.

We'll wait until we can speak Thai slightly better and see if we feel adventurous enough then...