Koh Tao

Our transport to Koh Tao was one of the most confusing and disorganised journeys I’ve ever taken.  After we were shown to our bus stand we were all given a coloured sticker, different colours for different islands.  This system seemed a bit futile, woe betide the person that lost their sticker, you never know where they would end up… 

After four different changes of buses we finally arrived at the port where we were to catch the ferry to Koh Tao.  There were hundreds of people at the port, I don’t know why they couldn’t have organised a direct bus from Bangkok, there was certainly enough demand for it.  The ferry stopped off at Koh Pha-Ngan and Koh Samui, with a change of ferry before we were to arrive at our destination.  It was a few days before the famous Koh Pha-Ngan full moon party and the boat was full of the Ibiza crowd.  As soon as we got under way all the guys took their tops off and started drinking beer outside.  I’ve been to a full moon party when I was last in Thailand, it was an experience, and I kind of enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t want to repeat the event.  There were too many pissed up Brits, staggering around with buckets of booze.  Thailand is the only place I’ve been to where they sell booze in a bucket.  Normally this consists of vodka and red bull (the Thai red bull is rocket fuel and banned in most countries) and heaps of ice, complete with a few straws poking out of the top.

After the party crowd hopped off at Koh Pha-Ngan we were left with more subdued passengers, and when we finally changed boats at Koh Samui, the rash noisy party people from the first leg seemed like a distant memory.

Valerie had suggested a dive shop where one of her mates was an instructor.  I’d been in touch and had organised some accommodation and transport from the ferry port.  We checked in at the dive shop, I organised some upcoming dives and we were then dropped off at our accommodation, a beach hut right on the beach.

We didn’t do a great deal in Koh Tao, well Nev certainly didn’t.  He spent every day writing or reading without once going for a swim in the sea.  Nev really isn’t a beach person, I knew I might not convert him, but I thought that maybe if he was presented with a beach of outstanding beauty that he might get into it.  I was wrong and his blunt apathy towards beach life was more than apparent. 

It worked out well though, I was able to do some more diving while Nev chilled out.  I opted for a deep dive and a night dive.  On both occasions the weather was poor and the visibility was bad.  I didn’t take with the dive shop either, it was a lot more impersonal than Malapascua Beach Divers.  The instructors seemed over worked and exhausted, it was as if the dive shop was focused on making money and trying to certify as many people as possible in a short space of time.

My instructor for my deep dive was a young guy from London.  During the the deep dive, his instructions were poor and he didn’t seem like he wanted to be there, a world of difference from the bouncy enthusiasm of Valerie in Malapascua.  He was supposed to take me for another dive afterwards but told me he was feeling ill, so I had to join another group.  He later let it slip that his illness was really a bad hangover, and he’d had a big night the night before.  I wasn’t very happy as I’d paid a lot of money for the diving excursion.  I had to get up early for the dive and had a quiet night beforehand as a consequence, certainly expecting my instructor to have done the same.  He was incredibly unprofessional and I kind of wish I let the dive shop know how I felt.   

The visibility was poor during both dives, and we didn’t see that many fish.  The night dive was exciting though.  I was a tad nervous beforehand, the sea looks a lot more intimidating when it’s pitch black.  We were given torches to illuminate our surroundings.  We saw a lot of barracuda, big 2m long fish with a kind of evil look about them.  We would shine the torch on smaller fish in front of them and they would go for the bait, it was pretty cool watching them change their pace and chase the fish.  We also saw a lot of stingrays, and a few squid. 

I managed to persuade Nev to give the motorbikes another try.  The roads are quiet on Koh Tao, although we later found out they are ridden with pot holes and seriously hilly.  We hired the motorbikes from the dive shop for an incredibly cheap price.  We decided to set off for the Northern most point of the island, it was a pleasure at first until I stopped for the first time and then I realised why our motorbikes were so cheap.  I had a kick start semi-automatic, while Nev’s was fully automatic with an electric start.  I couldn’t for the life of me get my motorbike to start.  I was wearing flip flops, and my feet were getting battered and bruised by my attempts to kick start the thing.  It was extremely difficult, I had to ask a local for help and it was a mission for him too.  He had to go downhill freewheeling while violently hammering the kick start with his foot.  It took him a while and a fair distance before he finally got my motor bike started.  I thanked him, then vowed never to switch my engine off unless absolutely necessary.

We got to a really steep section, the road became a lot worse, it was now unpaved with lots of rocks and pot holes.  On the downhill it was rather dodgy, it was as steep as a downhill mountain bike trail, with similar obstacles thrown in.  Nev hated it.  Once we got to our target point, Nev decided enough was enough and it was time to go back and return his bike.  That worked for me too, as my motorbike was playing up.  On the return leg, it started to conk out on the uphill, having to kick start it was a total mission and was starting to really piss me off.  After numerous engine failures and help from at least two locals, we finally made it back to the dive shop.  I returned my motorbike and took Nev’s one off his hands, which he was more than happy to give me. 

For the rest of the day I explored a bit more of the island on my fully automatic, electric start motorbike, which was a pleasure to ride.  I discovered a lovely resort with a wooden walk way over some big rocks and a restaurant with great views of the sea below and a couple of islands in the distance.  The strong winds had whipped the sea up into a fury and the waves were hammering the rocks.  It was an impressive sight, and I decided to return to our guesthouse and pick up Nev and take him to the resort for a beer.  We had our beer and scrambled over the wooden walk onto the rocks while the highest waves splashed our feet.

The rest of our time in Koh Tao was fairly uneventful.  I would go for a morning or evening jog along the beach and the occasional swim.  Nev would remain in the room, or sit on the porch typing furiously.  He’s a two fingered typist, but probably the fastest and angriest two fingered typist I have seen, I’m surprised the keyboard on his laptop still works with the pounding it’s had since our travels began. 

We originally planned to get the night boat back to the mainland, but with the choppy conditions at sea, we decided to go for the faster and more expensive option, a two hour catamaran ride back onshore.  We were both quite glad to leave Koh Tao, the diving hadn’t been too great partly due to the bad weather conditions, and we were staying in the main drag of Koh Tao and were getting a bit sick of the noisy bars and people.