Thailand, 2 Sep 2006 --

Internet is expensive (generally at least 4 times as much per minute as in Bangkok) and slow (I think I’m sharing my Windows 98, dialup connection with at least 4 other people) on the Thai beach islands…so I’ll have to keep this brief and picture-less.

We spent the last week on Kho Tao (turtle island), and it’s been beechy and relaxing.  Our beach cliff bungalow had an incredible view of the bay below, and seemed just a bit like living in a treehouse due to the rickety series of walkways/bridges/ladders spanning the rocks that we had to climb to get to it.  Kho Tao is a diving mecca of sorts, and we were definitely in the minority for not spending the majority of our time there with scuba tanks strapped to our backs.

We did a fair amount of snorkling, though, and it was miles ahead of my only other snorkling experience in Cancun (though there were, sadly, no free tequila shots included in the price of the trip this time around).  We wisely chose to rent a kayak on probably the windiest day with the roughest seas we’d seen on Koh Tao…and had a good time being bounced around by the waves as we paddled from bay to bay.

Possibly the most unique part of the Koh Tao experience was just in the getting there.  In brief:  we took the budget ‘night boat’ instead of the much more expensive express boats to get to the island from Chumpon on the mainland.  We and our fellow budget seeking boat-mates were shuttled to the boat shortly befor midnight in the back of a pickup truck blaring Thai pop. 

We got there to find that the majority of the small boat was filled with cargo…largely sacks of potatoes for some reason.  We shared the small rear upper deck (lit by a single hanging bare bulb) with about 15 other people.  After a bit of rearranging, everyone ended up with a place to lie down ‘comfortably’ and we eventually got underway.  Seas were, erm, a little choppy…but fortunately this was due to the strong tailwind and we made the 6 hour journey in about 4 hours and only felt the sea spray a few times during the course of the trip.  It was all good fun, though, and we met some interesting people along the way!

Categories thailand