A hike turns muddy

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Leaving Krabi bright and early I set off for Ko Tao at 7 in the morning. We were to take a minibus and two boats to get there. Upon boarding the second boat I was approached by "Boy".



Boy was selling dives from Big Bubble. I mentioned to Boy I was looking to stay in Chalock Bay on the south of the island. Conviently this is where Boy's dive school is located. After the boat arrives in Ko Tao Boy helped me load my bags and myself into the back of his ute. After checking into Bhora Bhora bungalows, highly recommended for only 300 baht or about 10 AUD per night I decide to lay on the beach and as per Nadia's suggestion feast on delicious grilled seafood as the sun goes down.

Historically Ko Tao was actually a political prison, but the prisoners are now gone on this island, the name meaning turtle rock. What remains in the form of prisoners is more voluntary expats who come here to dive and end up getting stuck.

I met such an expat named Greg. Greg, originally from England, runs a dive company Ko Tao divers and has been living in Ko Tao for the past 10 years. On this bright sunny day Greg and his buddy Jimmy were hiking the island. I decided to join them as Greg was a seasonally hiker on the island and had quite a good idea where he was going. The hike was great; great company, great 360 degree view of the island, and lovely farms to walk past and examine the size of their fruit specimens.

We finished our hike on top of another hill, this time with a farm perched at the tip. Hanging on top of the door frame were some fresh ripe bananas. We each had a banana and they must have been the freshest ripest bananas I had ever tasted. As we sat atop a rock and I shared my delicious rambutans with the group we saw the sky rapidly change in the distance.

The winds began to howl all around us and the grey sky moved rapidly toward us.

Jimmy suggested we get shelter and we only just made it, before the sky opened up and torrential rain began to spill on the land scape all around us.

The only shelter around was the basic farmers shack we had spotted earlier. As we sat there trying to get warm the farmer returned to the hut in his bike.

Greg, who had a great knowledge of Thai apologized for taking refuge in his house, explaining how we got stuck whilst we were hiking and the rains broke out. The farmer seemed accepting enough however the rains continued for the next half an hour without showing any sign of easing.

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