Bangkok all the way to Koh Tao…
Our last morning in Bangkok was started good and early by the alarm as we had to be out of the room before check out and also we were off the the weekend market again. This time a little more prepared for the madness and sheer size of the place and Georgie was clear on what she wanted so minimal faffing. We stowed our bags in the safe room at our hotel, hopped into a taxi and soon enough we were there.
It probably seems like the only thing we ever do is shopping but trust me its not, Georgie just like to look if nothing else but the weekend market is a spectacle in its own right. I think we managed 3 hours or there about before I groaned that enough was enough and even at the pet section Georgie took no more than half an hour to cuddle as many sweaty little puppies as she could….
Back on the Khao san road and we nipped off for some dinner at the vegetarian place we had been going to a lot and again bumped into Jo and Tom, our fire spinning friends from Koh Phagnan. We chatted to them for a while because we don’t know when or if we will ever see them again, had some grub then fetched our bags from our hotel and waited for the bus at the travel agents.
By the time we were on the bus I was pretty knackered and Georgie wasn’t far behind… Still I wasn’t risking a bad nights kip and necked a sleeping pill whilst Georgie used the second best method of reducing yourself to a deep deep sleep… Watching bridget jones’s diary! I however managed to sit right through the excellent Iron man on the bus TV before slipping quite gently into the land of nod… Next thing I knew it was something stupid AM and we were at the halfway rest stop, we got off for a drink, a stretch and the obligatory smoke then back on for the final leg of the journey and more super sleeping… Again the next thing I knew it was 5am and we were only a few miles from where the boat leaves having a strong coffee another sensation.
It was a grey drizzly morning at the port but we didn’t mind much, there was an overly cheerful woman selling fine, strong coffee and amazing Chinese doughnuts and after those the sun came out! We lumbered out of the bay past all the vividly painted fishing boats with their crews preparing nets for the day ahead on deck and having their morning wash on board, slowly gaining speed on our big speed boat ferry whilst drinking yet more coffee. The sun was fresh up and after the rain everything felt fresh and cool so we sat out the back to enjoy our first taste of the sea air since HaLong Bay in Vietnam. We knew exactly how we would feel as soon as we got on the water and we were very right… Its been too long! And we should have come earlier! But after an hour and a half, 2 more coffee’s and a amazingly smooth ride we were at our destination of Koh Tao. As we pulled towards the pier and got a good look at the place it seemed like a gorgeous little island with plenty to keep us occupied for our last 3 weeks in Thailand, the water was ridiculously clear and an awesome shade of emerald, fish were all around the boat and where the lush green hills crashed into the sea were big limestone outcrops with herons perched perfectly still. We hopped into the back of a pick up truck to be taken to the south of the island, we have heard nothing but good things of Koh Tao and especially the south. We hiked through a resort to get our first look of the beach… It was at the height of the high tide and there was perhaps 8 full inches of lush white sand left untouched by the gently lapping waves… Now I don’t take up much room but that was going to be pushing it!
So with that we got a taxi up to the main beach area close to where we arrived at on the west side of the island. By now Georgie was starting to flag so we left our bags with a really nice fella who also rented us a moped and we went to seek out some primo beach. We found some absolutely stunning huts overlooking a bay but quite isolated and not a single grain of sand in sight, everywhere seemed to be the same, a simple beach front hut would set us back a pretty penny and one set back away from the glowing waters was still the wrong side of affordable. I think the locals obviously know that so many people go to Koh Tao to dive / spend a fair bit of cash, also they reserve a lot of the bungalows for divers and include them in the price so for us lowly non divers the options were really quite limited. But worst of all is the same disheartening lack of beach at high tide was the same there! We settled on a hut set in some beautiful gardens a few minutes from the beach, too much money for what we got but we had gone there to lay on a beach and maybe be distracted from our slobbery by a bit of snorkelling and maybe a fun dive… Not the other way around! We had an afternoon nap then headed down to the beach to see if things were better at low tide. Of course they were but it was too little too late.
Although we had been thoroughly charmed by Koa Tao’s beauty it wasn’t what we came all the way from Bangers for, we came for a beach and over some good food and several beers at the Fizz bar we decided that to stay and make the most of it would be cheating ourselves and so came to the decision of taking a boat first thing to the glorious, hedonistic and beachy Koh Phagnan. We actually had a really nice time on Koh Tao even if it was only one day, after a fierce rain storm at about midnight we went back to our little hut and from our balcony watched a distant go go bars flashy show of girls and lights before getting our heads down ready to make tracks as early as possible the next day…
