Koh Tao, Thailand - 29th December 2008

The Boat to Koh Tao
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Although Koh Tao is only about a 4 hour mini-van, followed by a 7 hour ferry trip away from Phuket we couldn’t make the journey in 1 day, we had to get the overnight ferry which left at 11pm and arrived at 6am.

5:15pm - We arrived at the ferry transfer station, an overpriced restaurant on the edge of Suratthani, and people were split into groups and given different coloured stickers to wear depending on where they were going, everyone except us that is... over the next half an hour the crowed of people dispersed leaving 8 people behind all of whom weren’t wearing stickers. Next thing you know we are told that our ferry has been cancelled due to rough seas and that we would have to stay in town the night, great. On the plus side he told us that he had already sorted us somewhere to stay and someone was on the way to pick us up. We were a little dubious that this might be a bit of a con to get us to stay in a fancy hotel, fortunately it wasn’t.

New Year's Day 7.00am - having survived the night
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The following morning they shoehorned us into the back of a tuk tuk. It was that full that 1 of the girls had to hang out of the back. By this time we were running late again as always when you are running late something happens. What happened i hear you ask... we were pulled by the police for the girl hangin on to the back. Fortunately the tuk tuk driver put the brake so hard that we all go even more squashed into the front of the van and there was enough room for the extra bottom so the police man let it “slide”. In the end we made it to the port in time and once again we were on our way.

In the sea in our undies at 8am (we were on our way home..honest!)
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The boat journey was made up of 3 legs, as we were on a different route to the one originally planed on. The first part of the trip was a little rough and people were being sick left right and centre. We made the mistake of sitting near the toilet so we saw everyone running past looking like Pob with their cheeks puffed out, not nice. 4 hours later we arrived at the 1^st stop, Koh Samui.

15 mins later we were on our way again. This journey was sooo smooth, and it was only 45 mins long (to Koh Pangan). There was talk of the 3 leg of the journey being cancelled due to bad weather again. Part of me wishes it had been. The boat we were on had enough seats for about 350 people, so not a small boat. I don’t want to talk about it too much more but the boat its self got air, ie the boat left the sea at least twice. I know this ‘cause the 1^st thing you hear is the rev limiter on the engine going followed by an almighty crash along the boat as the whole thing hits the water again. At the worst point the boat was going down the waves like a surf board and the boat would crash into a wave coming the other way. It was all good fun but not for almost 3 hours. The best way I can describe the feeling is the feeling you get when you go over the first drop on the Pepsi max at Blackpool.

One of the beaches at the south of the island
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As we reached out destination I was thinkin to myself this place had best be worth it... all i can say is YES

After disembarking the boat we went in search of accommodation. I’d read online that it was expensive on the island, almost double what we had been paying throughout the rest of Thailand. We ended up finding some nice bungalows at the end of the beach for about £6 a night. The only down side is that there’s no hot water provided. We’ve been told that as Koh Tao has to produce its own electricity, being so far away from the main land, it’s expensive. We would have been looking at £16 a night with hot water. One other thing that is both nice and a bit of a pain is the fact that we are a 10 minute walk along the beach to the town. But on the upside it’s nice and quiet. Having said that on the first night we were having an early night and we heard a very strange noise coming from outside our door. It was some kind of animal. It made Ruth jump a mile. We heard it two or three times before going to sleep but then it seemed to go away... that was until about 4am... it made the same noise again, I was awake and heard it. It must have woken Ruth up cause she jumped and grabbed me, which in turn made me jump.

Sairee Beach by our bungalow
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We’ve spent a lot of time on the beach. The water here is crystal clear and you can see fishies while you are paddling. The days before New Year were a little over cast, although still hot, but it’s been scorching since then. The only problem with the beach is that the tide goes out at night and in during the day so you have 2 find yourself a little bit of sand to be able to sunbathe. On the plus side we’ve been told that during the summer the tide is a lot lower which means there is loads of beach...but the water is so low that it’s on the coral and very difficult to swim! On New Year’s Eve we partied on the beach as there’s loads of bars there. We stayed up to see the sun come up (although it rises on the other side of the island so you can’t exactly see the sunrise!) and then at about 7.30am we went for a swim! I left Mat in the water and came back to the bungalow to sleep and woke up 2 hours later to find Mat still wasn’t here....I realised why when I noticed that it was chucking it down, I presumed he’d turn up after the rain stopped. But he turned up at 11.30am when it was still raining, soaking wet through and he’d sliced the bottom of his big toe off. Later on we went to the nurse and she dressed Mat’s toe and told him that he couldn’t get it wet...not good when you want to go diving. We’ve now had the go ahead from the nurse to dive and we start our theory course today. I’m nervous but excited too. Yesterday we found a fantastic beach right at the South of the island. It’s a tiny beach but it’s very sheltered due to being in a cove and there is plenty of sand and there are lots of fish. We’re hoping to be able to go back once we’ve done our diving course (4 days time).

Sunset over Sairee Beach
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We had Sunday dinner on Sunday night; roast beef, roast potatoes, carrots, broccoli, Yorkshire pud (the Yorkshire wasn’t very good unfortunately) and onion gravy. It was fantastic! I’ve been wanting a roast dinner for ages.

Talkin about food, the place that we ate Sunday dinner has different offers on every night to try and temp people in. I would like to say that we were strong enough willed to only be tempted once, as it’s a western style bar not Thai, but when they are offering eat all the BBQ food you can for £4.80 and pints of Guinness and John smiths for £2 ( half price so chap for Thailand) it was hard to resist. The Guinness was lovely and the BBQ food was amazing. Unfortunately there was a catch... you could eat all you like so long as it was 3 kebab skewers or less. Don’t get me wrong they were big kebabs but when you’ve starved yaself all day cause you know you are gonna be splashing out on an expensive tea and it’s an “all you can eat” you’d be a little disappointed if you got told no more when you ask for it. I was a little unhappy. So like a true Brit I complained and got 2 more kebabs :) The icing on the cake though was when they had no John smiths smooth. All I can say is gutted!!! (I bet they have some today now its £4 a pint, they can keep it ) the food was nice but hopefully we won’t be goin back there again... well until Sunday :)

Our home!!
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PS I’ve now read 2 books since being away. I even started and finished the Peter Kay autobiography on Koh Tao reading over half it in 2 days. Also I’m eating lettuce by choice... yes mum get up off the floor ;) I still dislike it but it’s a start.