Koh Tao - The best of the Gulf Islands

Righto. I'm currently a bit brian dead as I have been sitting here in this tiny internet cafe for 1.5hrs already sorting out some photos. Man it amazes me how they make use of space here. Anyspace. This cafe is not wider than 160cm but there are 10pcs along the wall within a tiny space. You can barely walk down the isle from the entrance to last PC. In NZ a building like this would simply not be used, infact it simply would not exist. The largest specimins back home would struggle to get through the doors. Here however it is a common sight. Atleast the net here in Hanoi is far cheaper than Thailand. Vietnam!!! much more about this in the next blogs.

After Koh Phangan we were off to Koh Tao for some laxing and chilling on a smaller more undeveloped island. It is a lovely place as the picture below shows. For the 3 days we were there the weather was changable with some very heavy showers. Still of course we are talking of 20s as the lows in the night so there is no moaning about the temperature. On the first day we just wondered round the 2 main populated areas of the island. Its not very big. With a little dedication much to the disgust of taxi drivers you can walk anywhere on the island. Though I must say walking over the hill to Chaloak Bay (only 5kms) had us very neary calling a taxi. I was sweating insane amounts. Talk about humidity. Mae Saree is the lovely part of the island. Many great restuarants, cafes and guest houses.

Thinking about it the number of taxi drivers with nice utes costing 750,000 Baht is surprising on such a small island. I guess they pay for it by overcharging the whiteman. A very common occurance. Cars in Thailand are overall more expensive by a little than at home. Hence the number of motor bikes.

Here is a typical street scene in the port town of Koh Tao. It is much quieter and more peaceful than the islands larger brothers we had frequented earlier.



Walking down the beach one evening in Mae Saree I came across a swing. Of course I had to have a go. Makes for a good pic atleast. Must say that the 4 by 2 was not exactly contoured for ones backside :-) Along the whole water front a good couple of Ks are lots of lovely we spots for a drink or some tucker. The next photo was taken just after sunset from a great wee restuarant which like Koh Phangan showed movies for free at night. One such movie we watched was "The Beach" quite appropriate really... We had now been to a number of the places talked about in the movie and also used as filming locations.

A spot of torrential rain was on the menu one arvo. Man was it heavy. A great time to pull out the books before heading out for a feed. We got back to little hut which was a bargin at 250Baht per night with a TV. Though I must say it is pretty bad TV. Much worse than at home.

We both really loved our 3 days on Tao. I must say the highlight for me was a day travelling around most of the island (not all due to the swell prpogating in from the the Gulf) snorkelling. It was so great having contacts as I could actually see what was in the water. It still didn't stop me slicing my finger up on a chunk of coral. The little boat was great with about 30 of us packed onto it. We went to 3 dive sites and a great beach during the day. The fish were great. Many colours though the rocks, plants and coral were not so colourful. I was a bit of a fool and got really sunburnt. I fell to the premise that it was too cloudy to get burnt and that my body was use to the sun now. Yeah right :-)

The higlight of the trip and the best beach I have yet to adorn with my presense would have to be Nang Yuan Island (following 2 pics) which is a few hundred metres off the northwest coast of Tao. It is too small islands with a very small island in between connected by 2 sand barriers, banks, beaches. It is a very interesting coastal geomorphological feature and one that is perplexing getting ones head aorund just how it forms and also how it stays in exsistance. Enough off that. This is not a 4th Year Geog paper. Climbing to the top of the rocky limestone outcrop in which the panorama picture is taken I managed to break my 2nd pair of 3 dollar jandels. Man they really do not make jandels over here like the Warehouse back home. Though these are admittidly of the $3 variety. The 1st pair was broken trying to jump start a stupid scooter.

On the way out to our last dinner and evening spent on the beaches of Mae Saree after we had organised ourselves for the following day of travel I had to make sure I got a picrure of this shop. Notice the home made condoms. He says they are best money can buy. You will need to wait for someone else report on the accuracy of this statement as I cannot comment on it....I ain't nearly that brave :-)

Tuesday the 18th Dec was along day indeed. First up we had a 2hr fast catamaran ride from Tao to the Mainland (Champon) then a very long and exhausting VIP (They love this terminology over here. You can be a VIP for very few $$$ in these parts) bus ride to Bangkok. They dropped us off at Koh San Road in BKK which was a good spot to end up. We managed to find a place to stay. Had some tucker and hit the sack before yet another day of travel and sensory overload as we flew to Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. Pic is of Koh San Road at night. A very lively spot indeed.

P.S - Spelling may not be up to scratch as the spell checker is not working here.