Advertisement
Published: October 27th 2005
Girl playing next to water taxi - Sairee beach
This was our only sunny day - but look at the colour of the sky - very threatening.Egg 2
After Bangkok, we were intent on going to Chiang Mai, which is in the North of Thailand, to do some trekking and perhaps a cookery course, however when we tried to book the tickets to take us there they didnt have any availability on the trains that suited us. So - we had a quick rethink and decided to head South to the island of Ko Tao instead. Ko Tao means Turtle island and is close to Ko Samui and Ko Phangan where the famous full moon parties take place once a month. The island is renowned for Diving schools, and this is the primary reason for our choice of this destination, as Alan has PADi qualification on his 'I want to do' list.
The bus picked us up at our hotel at 5:30am and we headed south along the fairly decent highways passing through all sorts of interesting countryside, reminiscent of Vietnamese war films. The further we got into the journey, the worse the weather became, and by the time we reached the town of Chumphon - where we caught the catamaran- the sky's were fairly blackened and the rain was pelting down. The crossing was
Words in the sand
Sairee beach on Ko Tao pretty rough, and we did feel somewhat queasy, although the crappest movie in the world was showing on the TV monitor so we were thankfully distracted. By the time we reached Ko Tao, we were in the middle of the most dramatic thunder and lightning storm ever, with amazing forked bolts firing down all around us into a frothy dark sea, which on brighter days probably shines a light turquoise.
We got sorted (eventually) with a cool little bungalow hut with air conditioning on the beach front - right under the coconut trees, in some beautiful lush tropical gardens. Now, I know what you're thinking here... thats just the right environment for mozzies.. well, you'd be right. 4 days on and I had 20-odd - most of which went septic, but I digress. The beach huts were a resort called Bow Thang and were located right at the end of a beach called Sairee beach, about a 10 minute walk from the nearest shops and bars. It was nice enough, although I must point out that 'room cleaning' does not enter the vocabulary of the people who run the resort. Nor does 'toilet roll provision', which at first you
think, well fair enough, but after 5 nights staying there, we thought it was a bit poor. The beach huts look great from the outside, and you get your own private balcony, but inside they are fairly cramped and the shower is not enlosed so when you have a wash the whole room gets wet (and there's no form of ventilation so it can get a bit stinky). So, summary of accomm: 10/10 for location, views, and balcony and garden setting. 2/10 for staff usefulness and cleanliness. 4/10 for spaciousness of the hut itself.
Our first night in Ko Tao was quite exciting however. The lightning storm kept up, and at 4:30 am we found ourselves outside on our balcony wathcing the flashing light show crashing into the sea. If you can imagine an enormous strip light above the dense cloud, with a faulty starter switch, then you might start to get an idea of what it was like. The most outstanding part however was when a number of forks converged into a big spider's web of flahes across the sky - it looked like a Van Der Graff generator (remember, the things you got in science in school
that made your hair stand up when you touched the globe with the lightning inside?). While all this was going on, a little golden labrador cross stray dog came and sat on our door mat for shelter, and we watched as coconuts fell from the trees around is. It really was outstandingly atmospheric.
The next day we got up early and had a wander around. The storm had cleared and the weather was looking promising - there was even a hint of blue peeking through the cloud cover. We hired sea kayaks and went round the coast a little bit which was good fun. The island, when the sun is out, is beautiful - just like what you imagine a Bounty advert would be like, all palm trees, sandy beaches and tropical hills in the background (in our case with buckets of steam rising above). Lots of long fishing boats and water taxi's dot around the coasts and snorklers populate the shores and rocky coves. Unfortunately our clear weather didn't last and we soon found ourselves forced back indoors watching the heavy rains beat the sea and thrash the trees around us.
Each time we ventured out for
Death restaurant on Sairee beach
Where Alan tried to walk on water... food and drink we got soaked, and there was no way that Alan was going to be happy attempting a dive course in this (although plenty people did actually still go for it) as the visibility wasn't what he was hoping for. The rain was churning up lots of sand and he wouldnt have been able to see as much of the colourful life that fills the sea. We knew that we were going to be here in the monsoon season, however we didn't realise that the weather would be quite so wet for such long periods. We'd read quite a bit about the climate and all pointers seemed to indicate that the rains came down heavy, but that the showers usually didnt last long, and then the sun somes out and dries everything up again, allowing you to enjoy a few hours respite. This has not been our experience yet. After three days of this, we started checking weather reports around the rest of South East Asia, and realised that things were the same around all the beach locations we were interested in going to. So - time to consider our options. One of the good things about doing
Bow Thang beach huts...
... so tropical, so wet! a trip like this is that you have the time, and therefore the flexibility to adopt a different itinerary if you are not happy with your existing arrangements. We agreed that it would be best if we avoided beach areas in SEA as there really isn't any point if we can't do the kind of things that we want. Instead, we've decided to head back to Bangkok for a fe days, as there is so much to see and do, indoors and out, and then head onto Malaysia, with our first stop Kuala Lumpur for about 5 days. After that, we are going to see about bringing forward our flight to Australia by a few weeks, so we'll direct ourselves toward Singapore where we catch our connection. We come back next year to the UK via Asia so we're thinking that it might be a better idea to come and do the Thai / Vietnam / Cambodia part of our trip then, when there won't be quite as high humidity levels and we'll probably enjoy it more.
So - here is some more bits and pieces about Ko Tao:
* There is a jungle behind the beach areas, which
Poor wee maingy dog
Look at the state of the poor souls fur - needless to say though, we didnt venture near him for a pet!!! is heavy with green undergrowth and lofty coconut trees. If the weather's better than now, then you can go on treks, which we would have loved to do.
* The jungle noises are amazing - its proper 'ribbit' territory, and the bull frogs make a really loud 'boing' nose as they call out to each other. I thought it sounded like a cross between a Jamaican steel band tunign up, and cows mooing.
* Costs here are higher than the mainland, with most items & services costing between a third and double of Bangkok.
* Loo roll is sold in packs of one, and it costs about 15p. YOu'll need to buy yourself some if you come here, as its not commonly used by the locals. Instead they have these things called 'host sprays' (hand held bidets) which are effectively shower heads that you stick up your batty and wash yourself after each visit. Takes a bit of getting used to, this one.
*We had a gecko (called Gordon) who was living in our bathroom. He was very cute, but I had to wonder how he got in........????????
* There are TONS of stray dogs living on the beach. A
Alan - rising from the sea ...
....notice he's not walking ON the water... (ho ho). number of them have the mainge and its a real shame. People have obviously bought them pets at some point (there are some unusual breeds), then thrown them out to live as stray. Then they have bred and the numbers multiplied. They live in small packs and defnd their territory against rival packs, however they comfortably hang around humans to be fed.
* Until we came here, we didnt realise that Dragon flies existed in such numbers, nor that they 'mate' mid air while trying to bang into your head.
* Ko Tao is apparently not quite as picturesque as neighbours Samui and Phangan. There is a bit of a problem with bins (here I go again about the bins) not being collected. The Thai government lease the island out to a major resort therefore leave the sanitation and road maintenance to be managed locally. Seems to us that there's a major benefit case for council tax on this island. The beaches, while quietly idillic in the main, are unfortunately punctuated by mini tips and black bag sites. There is litter all over the back roads taking you around the island, and when you walk between hut resorts you should
always wear flips as there are a number of broken bottles lurking around under leaves on the paths.
* Don't have a burger in Gringo's at Sairee village. It was the worst thing I'd ever tasted. Unidentifiable meat (yet again Stephen - you have the right to say 'I told you so' !!!) cooked in minghawk oil. Nicely presented though, I'll give them that, and they did turn the fan on for us, and the people at the table next to us were enjoying their nachos - so no need to boycot entirely.
Alan's Walk on Water experience:
We were going for dinner one night, hurrying out just as the rain abated for ten minutes, and we chose to go to this particular restaurant right at the end of Sairee beach - the quiet, dark end. We couldn't find the entrance to the restaurant, and had to be very careful as there was so much surface water lying about, plus the added danger of coconuts dropping from the trees above (I mean, if one landed on you, you'd die. Goodnight Vienna, Game over etc). After about ten minutes we saw the entrance. Alan was in front, treading carefully,
but the next thing I knew he'd went Sam the Cowper and landed on his front on all fours, soaking wet. He'd not been aware (nor would he have been) that he was trying to walk on a water feature. He couldn't tell because the night was so still, and the path so poorly lit & flooded that there were no ripples to indicate water depth or variation from land cover. Poor soul was walking along quite the thing and put one foot down and next second was up to his thigh in skanky water. He hurted his foot aswell, and despite having to be careful of putting weight on it for a couple of days, there was thankfully no serious damage done. Like the true supportive wife that I am, I've been calling him Jesus ever since.
Will try to add some photos this afternoon. Love to all at home,
Shaz. xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.181s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 24; qc: 106; dbt: 0.1141s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
paula
non-member comment
Your best blog yet! Loved it.