Ko Tao

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Hey everyone! Sorry its been so long. Ive neglected all updating duties and been having too much fun for my own good! So, we arrived in Ko Tao on the 23rd of March around midday, via a 2 hour ferry boat from Ko Pahnagan. Having had such a mental time at Pahnagan, I wasnt sure what to expect from the reportidily more relaxed Tao. The harbour was jam packed with locals offering taxi services, accomodation and most frequently, scuba diving courses (otherwise known as PADI courses). Ko Tao is famous for its diving, with shark island and other surrounding bays being a big attraction for foreign divers. Unfortunately I didnt have the time to do a diving course, but from what ive heard, its something I really want to do in the future. We asked to be taken to Sairee beach, the main beach on the island. To give you a geographical idea of things, the island is about the same size as Camberley. If you can withstand the heat and tropical wildlife, it wouldnt take much longer than 2 hours to walk its circumfrence. We came on the 23rd to give us a much needed day break between the full moon party, and checking out for Tao. Although this was physically sensible, it meant that accomodation in our price range was hard to find. With all our stuff, and looking very lost, we met Lisa, Kate and Tom, all from Newcastle. These guys had been on the island for a couple of days, and Tom was kind enough to make a few phone calls and sort us out with some accmodation. Although it was quite expensive, it was on the beach front, had air conditioning, and wait for it--- a bath! Having previously stayed at much more "modest" places, i reminded myself not to get comfortable with all these beautiful luxuries, and trotted off to explore the surroundings a little bit. That night we went for an easy one, and headed to a quaint little restraunt where I ordered a Thai curry. Having not eaten well for a couple of days, I absolutely wolfed down the amazing curry and went to play pool with Luke. Me and Luke have begun a 4 month pool competition where the loser has to buy the winner a night out when we get back. Today the score lies at 21-17, but I feel I was born to win. While we were playing pool, katie went to get a bamboo tattoo on her foot which has turned out quite nicely, and for only 1000 baht. Strangely, I bumped into Jess Holman and her boyfriend Fraz for a second time! We were altogether watching liverpool get thrashed 3-0 by Manchester. With the football aside, it was a great first night in Ko Tao, and I could tell i prefered it to Phanagan already. The next morning I awoke cold for the first time yet. The air conditioning had worked so well that I was actually shivering. Regretfully, we checked out of our lovely room and began to hunt for a place that wasnt going to drain our bank accounts so much. After 2 hours, Luke had stumbled upon a slightly more remote place up the road and past Sairee beach. It was called Sunbeach bungalows, but was more of a house! At 700baht a night, it had to be the ultimate bargain. To put it in comparison, the best i could find was a 2 man bungalow the size of the kitchen at home- where one of us would have had to sleep on the floor for 1200 baht. We hurridly had breakfast, and awkwardly mopeded all our bags to the house. I dont know what it was, but that night I struggled to have fun due to an illness of some sort. I couldnt describe it but I had to bail out on the guys we had met, and sluggishly went to bed early. I havent been properley ill yet, but I imagine that if I do become sick, there is nothing worse than being in a sweaty, hot and unfamiliar enviromnet where clean water can be rare. The comforts of home seemed pretty distant that night, but fortunately I awoke right as rain. The day was spent on Sairee beach, basically doing nothing but bathing on the shallow, scarily hot water of the sea. I like Ko Tao because its so relaxed. In the day its not as busy as Phanagan because everyones out diving. It makes a nice change to moped around the island without fearing for my life every 200 yards. Another aspect i noticed was htat it hadnt been as commercialised or ruined as i had anticipated. Its a shame to visit beautiful places, and be disgusted and dissapointed by how they have been sacrificed to satisfy the needs of westerners. At my time in Ko Tao, the island had obviously been modified alot, but not so much in a way that destroys its original beauty. Past midnight, the streets of Pahnagan are littered with stumbling drunk people, all throwing their kebab litter in the sea etc etc. In Ko Tao, I didnt see any of this. After a beautifully refridgerated ham and cheese sandwich (which i buttered with my samuri sword having lost my normal knife), we headed down to the popular Lotus bar which resides on the beach front. It was beautiful being on the sea edge, in the sand, liying back on little beach sofas looking at the stars and laughing with a bunch of mates. At Lotus I had met Matt's friends from whom we had previously met at the full moon party. Namely, they were Ash (James teagues identical clone but older), Archie (rich hull look alike), Matt, Jonno, Chris and a few others. That night i was thinkning of home, and how rubbish the Camberley night scene is. However, it made me realise that wherever I am in the world, its who im with that will make the night, not where I am. Ok, enough sissy talk!

The rest of the time i spent in Ko Tao was highly enjoyable. I spent most of my days with Lisa (the geordie "lass") and at night, the lads i was explaining above. Luke spent quite a bit of time with Hanna and Katie was with Matt. There were so many fishy characters on the island. For a start theres the ultimate dog called Benson. Like many of the dogs here, Benson is a stray- but an absolute psycho. We saw him fight other dogs-rats-geckos and humans. The best part is, he shreds another animal to death, and its all just good fun for him. Basically, if you go to Ko Tao, keep your eyes peeled for a 4 foot black maneater! Our house is also riddled with Gecko's, and in particular, my buddy Gary. Hes about 1 foot in length but he uses this to his strength. Everywhere I go- Garys there. In the bed- Garys on the ceiling. On the pateo- theres no doubt that Garys on the pillar. Its funny really - but he seems to hate Luke. Over a casual beer, Gary just stared at Luke for a good half hour because Luke threw a peanut at his head. I told Gary to take it easy, and eventually he calmed it down a little. As you can tell, ive completley gone insane, and befriended a multitude of animals! haha.

One thing we were intent on doing was snorkelling. We figured that diving was too expensive and time consuming, but that a day trip around a few islands with a snorkelling mask would be great fun. It turned out to be my favourite day in Ko Tao. Me, Luke, Lisa and her friend Kate left at 9am and spent the day with sharks, beautiful fish and coral like ive never sene before. Regardless of my hideous sun burn, we went out that night to the almighty Lotus bar and had a repeat of the night before with all the lads out in full force. Aswell as this, all the girls were really up for going to an infamous lady boy show. Not being so up for it, Me and Luke were dragged to the show, where a hideous 2 hous were spent watching men look freakishly like women and prancing around in skirts. The best part of the night was when Chris (one of the lads) was dared to snog a lady boy for 500 baht. Amazingly, he stood up in fornt of an audience and did it! I practically cried with laughter and had to go and buy a hawian pizza to calm myself down. After lady boy night, we had one more day (up until 8pm) to bath in the sea and say goodbye to the great people we had met on the island. Other than Lotus Bar, a lot of time was spent in the choppers bar which was on the highstreet. After a few farewell cocktails and saying goodbye to Lisa and co, we made our way down to the night bus with a bunch of guys who were soon to become our new pals in Ko Phi Phi.


Just to let you know where I am and how far behind on the blogging I am, Ive been to Ko Phi Phi already, and have just arrived in Panang - Malaysia after a 9 hour bus route. Ill write another blog tommroow and find soemwhere to upload all my photos. Let me how everyone is at home etc, feel like I havent spoken in ages. Annie, send me a message let me know what your doing and whether Jack has got his reading festical tickets, because if he hasnt i know someone who can get him one. All my Love, Rob xxx

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