Hello – Daniel here for the last week as a trainee at Kon-Tiki in Ao Nang!

Another week has passed and now I have only one of eight weeks left of my trainee period. This internship has made me more comfortable to speak English, developed my knowledge in tourism and also in diving.

On Monday I was in the shop helping Andrea and Annika. I took care of the delivery so they could continue with their computer work. I also made about a hundred price tags. I only needed one but that is just waste of paper so I printed out three pages of different stuff. That also makes things easier for the shop staff in the future. So when they need a price tag they don’t have to print out a new one; so we think about the environment and the staff doesn’t have to waste time to print out new tags.

On Tuesday I was on the boat working as an assistant to the snorkeling guides. It was a tour to the famous Phi Phi Island. I have been on this tour many times and it is always nice to work on this tour. We have also another tour called the Exotic Phi Phi Island and this is really my favorite tour. The difference between these two tours is that when we do the Exotic Phi Phi Island we stay at one of the islands, called Phi Phi Don, and have a look at the culture and the people staying there.

Back to my working; I also helped the guests to find masks, fins, life jackets and I also answered all kinds of questions that the guests had. As I am studying a tourism and service program it is always good for me to practice “small talk” with different kind of people, different ages and from different part of the world. When we work at the boat it is always nice to talk with the guests about their day, what dive and/or snorkeling stop they liked best, what country they are from etc. Then when they ask about me, what I am doing at KonTiki I am happy to tell them that I am still in Upper Secondary School and have the good opportunity to do my internship abroad and in this case at KonTiki in Thailand. “Woah”, they usually say and also “I wish I was young again and had the same opportunity as you to study abroad”.

On Wednesday I was with Jerone at Centara Resort. Centara is a five star resort, situated nearby the sea in Ao Nang. We have a small store for Kon-Tiki there offering guests at Centara to try dive both in the pool and of course tours with our boat. You can go there either by foot or by boat. When you go by foot you have to walk on a small bridge up and down through a forest with monkeys hanging around you and it is rather exciting. When you go the “water way” – if you do not want to take a boat you can walk or swim from the Ao Nang beach. Different guests come during the day asking for everything from snorkeling and diving to borrowing the toilets! You can never be prepared on what questions you will get; another practicing moment for my tourism and service studies.

On Thursday I was with Fredrik at the dive center. The dive center is situated about 3 kilometers from our shop in Ao Nang. At the dive center we have all our diving and snorkeling equipment. We had to fix the snorkeling taxis because they had broken down. Of course I did that work with a smile although I had fixed them two weeks ago and now they had broken down again. Why? Last time I had used glue which was not water proofed. Good of me when the items should be used in the sea but you always learn something new, don’t you?!?

On Friday I had my day off. That suited me very well as my parents and my sister have been visiting me in Ao Nang during this last week. Today it was their last day in Ao Nang so we made an excursion to The Hot Springs. This is a very beautiful place situated around 80 kilometers from Ao Nang inside the county. It is a waterfall with hot springs and you can take a bath in this “sweet water”, which is good for your health.

On Saturday I was with Max at Sheraton. Sheraton is the other 5 star resort where we have a diving shop. Sheraton is a larger resort than Centara and we have also more contact with the staff at the resort. For example, when we are sitting in the store some of the Sheraton staff comes in and say hello and look for us if we are working!! This day we had two Chinese kids that wanted to try diving in the pool. They were very young but very good. There was no problem at all. It was also good that they could speak English. I wonder what the diving terms are in Chinese???

Today it is Sunday and my last day this week and also the last day I am writing in the blog.

You might wonder who “the intern Daniel” is and where is he coming from? I come from a city in the middle of Sweden called Karlstad. I am studying at Tingvalla Upper Secondary School (Tingvallagymnasiet) at the Hotel and Tourism program. I am now at my third year and will graduate in June 2014. At my school we have two teachers that have been working with internationalization for a long time. Instead of doing your internship in Sweden the students at my school have the opportunity to apply for internships abroad, financed by our government in Stockholm. The teachers put up flyers about the internship and then students like me can apply. After you have applied you come to an interview. If it goes well and they think you can handle being abroad by yourself for two months and work hard they contact you and give you the happy news. Then of course the most important of all is that we have kind and interested companies abroad like Kon-Tiki that will take me and other students and give us the chance of this great experience.

So thank you Malene and the rest of the staff for this period and for this fantastic opportunity.

Scuba diver course

Have you ever been thinking about doing the PADI course but felt like you didn´t have the time? Then the PADI Scuba diver course is the right thing for you. It takes only 2 days and will then certify you to do dives to a maximum depth of 12m accompanied by a PADI Divemaster/Instructor. During this Scuba diving course we will teach you the basic theory and skills needed to safely and enjoyably do dives anywhere in the world. We will start of the first day with a few hours of classroom presentations where the Professional scuba instructors will guide you through it all. The very same day we will also head towards the pool for our first breaths underwater – it´s time to learn how to dive. We will spend the rest of that day having fun “serious fun” and learn the basics in buoyancy and safety, getting ready for day two. The first dive is one you will always remember. Taking on all of the equipment, full of excitement and a bit nervousness and later taking the plunge in the great blue is exhilarating! No one can ever explain how it feel, it simply so that you can never get the same feeling anywhere else. You will encounter a diversity of marine life like nowhere else. Swim with fish as big as your little finger and as big as you.

It´s an adventure you´ll never forget!

And if you like it – you can upgrade your PADI scuba diver certificate by doing an additional 2 days anywhere, anytime.

Protecting and makes you look nice at the same time!

Do you love diving, snorkeling or just lay on the beach for sunbathing but you hate this moment when you need to put sun lotion on to protect yourself from the strong sun here in Thailand? Or you don´t like to argue with you children anymore to put the lotion on? We have the solution! It is so easy to bring with you, easy to put on, soft and comfortable to wear, protect you from the sun and makes you look nice and cool at the Ao Nang beach in Krabi – It is the Kon-Tiki Rashguards I am talking about!

As a Scuba Instructor, im more less every day out on the sea around Phi Phi Island, Ao Nang islands or in the swimming pool in Sheraton or Centara and I want to UV-protect myself from the strong sun here in Thailand. The KonTiki rashguard is so nice, soft and comfortable to wear. I enjoy being in the water for hours without burning myself, and of course I look super cool in my Kon-Tiki Rashguard!

Sizes differ from the youngest family members to the oldest. We have different sizes that fit the whole family.

Take the easy way to protect your body from the sun? And the most important when you are spending time snorkeling, diving or sunbathing, who don´t want to look nice at the same time?

Come in to our dive center and make the perfect investment for your holiday.

What are you waiting for?

Did you know? Some sun lotions can actually harm our sensitive corals and marine life and is bad for the environment – so to protect the environment throw your sun lotion, the Kon-Tiki Rashguard is here.

Scuba diving @ Racha Yai and Racha Noi

Racha Yai and Racha Noi are two small islands just south of Phuket. They can be reached within one and a half hour from Chalong Pier where all dive boats leave from, for daily diving & snorkeling adventures!

The two islands consist of a ton of small bays, with the bays on Racha Yai imaginatively named Bay 1, Bay 2, all the way up to Bay 5. The bays of Racha Noi are a bit more imaginative, Marina Bay, Banana Bay, South Bay etc. All of them given the name because of characteristics, which makes each bay distinct, from one and other. Both these islands offer some great visibility and there is always somewhere we can scuba dive.

For instance Marina Bay, is often refer to as the “Bay of surprises” because you never know if you are going to find a beautiful new Nudibranch, a camouflaged Octopus or maybe a giant Manta Ray! This makes scuba diving at Racha Noi super interesting, even when you’ve dived the sites several times, (it’s like a box of chocolate, you never know what you gonna get) All the bays on Racha Noi are good for all scuba divers out there, with depths ranging from 4-40+ meters. This mixed with corals of all sorts and marine life that are there for your enjoyment makes Racha Noi a super location for your first introduction to the underwater world as a beginner or first timers visiting the dive sites of the Andaman Sea.

The bays of Racha Yai are a little bit different from the bays at Racha Noi. Here the bays are a little bit shallower, but this gives us some beautiful light on the seabed and it’s perfect for long dives with your underwater camera. One of the nice touches of Racha Yai is our two small wrecks just on the outside of Bay 1, these wrecks rest at 16-23 meters, so everybody can join in for a dive here. This dive will end inside the bay in 5 meters of water, among the corals, and the light from the sun playing on the sandy bottom.

That is diving at Racha Noi and Racha Yai! Contact Kon-Tiki Phuket if you are interested in diving these dive sites.

Do you easy get ear infections? Do you having problems to equalize?

Don’t let these problems spoil you’re next scuba dives or a part of the holiday, Doc’s Proplugs can be the solution for you. Doc’s Proplugs are an earplug developed and designed since 1977 to keep water out from your ear while you diving. By the special design the earplugs are vented to allow equalization and at the same time keep dirty water out which will make the risk of ear infection reduces and it will also become easier to equalize. The earplugs are performed in silicone to be comfortable during long dives and you can choose in 8 different sizes to fit just your ear. And while you not scuba diving, you can bring them in to the swimming pool that often are heavily chlorinated to prevent your ear to dry out or on the snorkeling tour.

Without ear protection, 65% of scuba divers suffer from ear problems (source: DAN)

Next time you are in Thailand and signing up for a PADI course, diving or snorkeling trip consider if your ears are worthy one investment. Kon-Tiki Thailand is the only distributor in Thailand of Doc’s Proplugs. Just step in to one of over shop’s and we will make sure you get the right size on your pair.

Doc’s Proplugs