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Published: March 27th 2007
Sunset
Suset at Sarai Beach Ko Tao is more like the idylic - white sand - clear waters - Thai island retreat we had picured.
Its a tiny little island north of Ko Samui and its famous for snorkelling and scuba diving due to the clear waters and massive variety of marine life nearby.
We got ourselves a hut a few hundred yards from the beach for 300 B (5 quid) a night at the Silver Sand Resort, again very cheap for these islands. So cheap it makes it hard to complain about the infestation of mosquitos, the holes in the mozzy net and our other house guests, a few large rats that lived in the roof of the hut. Rats that swiped a whole strip of indigestion tablets (Why?) in the middle of the night then kept us awake chewing them in the roof space. No heartburn for those rodents. No sleep for us.
So we tried to repeat the sucess of our moped trip in Vietnam and hired a Honda Click with which to explore the lsland. What the hirer didn't point out is that outside of the main settlements the roads are obsolutely awful, more suited for quad bikes
Our Castle
Not pictured, roland our nocturnal housemate. which everybody else seemed to have hired as they overtook us going up the dusty , pot hole covered windey roads.
But, we made it to a place called shark bay where the snorkelling is meant to be really good. Had a swim out with our snorkels and discovered that shark bay is not just a name. There are lots of Black Tip Sharks in these waters and they were all out for a swim. Black tip sharks are not the nasty kind and they never bother humans , so called due to a black tip on their top fin. But, they are still proper shark shaped and you need to keep reminding yourself that they are happy friendly sharks when you have a load of them swimming below you. There are also loads of nervous looking fish in the waters and some pretty good coral. Shark bay itself is also really beautiful so check out the photos.
After a hairy return journey, s lo w l y, on the worst dirt tracks in Thailand we decided to hire the scooter for a second day, "this is easy its just like Kickstart" we said.
The next day
we headed to Tantote bay on the east side of the island. Again the roads were pretty bad, evan worse that the day before, add this to a big jeep coming the other way and a skid and a slight tip onto the floor. Lots of people feel they have left part of themselves in each place they visit, we literally left the skin of our right knees embedded on that dirt track on Koa Tao. Fortunately there were some friendly Europeans in said jeep who gave us plasters and washed our wounds. Don't worry Claire's family I came off much worse than Claire and had to head off to the hospital. Getting sick of those places, but was just a graze, but a deep one.
The real pain came when the resort charged us for scratching the scooter, that was the sickener. But it hasn't broke the bank, just a few nights in with the rats to recover and reflect.
So if you visit Ko Tao, don't hire a scooter unless you are Evil Kneavil, stick to the Quad bikes or go on a boat trip.
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lynda & warren
non-member comment
BIG Ooops
......soz, didn't mean that to sound like i was glad you were injured!! don't blame claire for getting her own back though..nice one claire...lynda x