It was quite a long way to Koh Tao. We took the Speed Boat from Surat Thani. Unfortunately we had to stops, one in Koh Samui and one in Koh Pangan. We stayed in the first class and were able to watch like 3 movies… a boring trip nevertheless. We changed boats in Koh Pangan and finally arrived at the Koh Tao pier around 2:30pm. Once we had left the boat I got some goose bumps. Koh Tao is a place I had dreamt of for so long. This was the perfect get away back when I studied in Thailand. The people were friendly, the beaches great and everything perfectly put together for the ultimate break. Whatever troubles you had, coming to Koh Tao would let you forget.
After getting off the ship there were a ton of taxi drivers and resort promoters trying to sell you a cheap room, but we escaped and sat down in a restaurant by the pier to grab some lunch and relax for a moment before finding our bungalow. Lunch was great as always and the waitress was very kind as well. We left our luggage in the restaurant and went for a quick walk to look around for a bungalow. The first ones we saw were quite shabby and so I decided to go to the famous Ban’s at least for the first night. In the end we didn’t even pick that one. Prices, believe it or not had quadrupled at least and the room we liked was 2,000 Baht which would have bought you a nicer place in Europe. Anyhow, we did find a decent Bungalow and are now enjoying the island.
At night we walked around after dinner and I was shocked to see how much they had developed the island. When I first came to Koh Tao, there were no Roads up in this part of the island and only a few shacks in the northern part of Sairee Beach, but now it was like little Ibizza with resort next to resort and all the little bars built out to some monstrous night clubs. Weird… I did notice that many of the people are also not as nice anymore; I guess they imported many people from the mainland so the island has lost something. Tonight I talked to someone at the store who told me that she lived in Surat Thani and worked for 8-9K Bhat (€200) per month and received food and shelter for free; kind of like the Polish people working in Germany I guess. This really isn’t Thailand, it’s as much separated from the mainland in terms of culture, life style, prices, as it is geographically far away and inaccessible.
The first day on the island we woke up, had breakfast and walked over to Tanote Bay, my little favorite beach. There are not too many tourists there and there is some amazing snorkeling there. We walked for about 2 hours to get there but it was really worth it, something that reminded me of the old days here, when I used to cross the island at least twice every time I was here. Something that I love about the place is how peaceful and quiet it is, but its beautiful scenery is simply as amazing. There is a huge bolder in the middle of the bay with corals all around it. Tons of fish with all type of colors are swimming around playfully; yes… things are nice down there.
We took a taxi back to town and went back to have dinner afterwards. I will write more soon...
