Koh Tao

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We battled past the touts at the pier and ignored all the taxis; we'd decided to stay on Hat Sai Ree beach, a fifteen minute walk. Not a typical choice for us as it’s the biggest and busiest beach, but we wanted to save some money on taxis, the secluded hideaways are always the furthest away!

It was boiling and I wasn't in the best mood (poor Paul!) After walking around for what seemed like forever trying to find a decent room for under 600 baht, Paul left me on the beach with the bags and came back with the promise of a sea view hotel with pool for 500 a night. I love this man and his bargaining skills!

It was a lot busier than we were used to, but we actually enjoyed the bustle of the lively little streets and bars. The only annoyance having to hear the projected voices of 'gap yah' brats, they were everywhere!!!

We spent a day walking along the beach south to a gorgeous secluded bay and very posh but pleasant looking accommodation and then back again, stopping in Ban Mae Hat for a swim in the warmest and clearest water ever! It felt sooooo good we stayed in ages, no one around but us, perfect! Mae Hat is where the pier is and we'd been advised not to stay here, but it looked fine to us, we came across a book store too so stocked up on the books.

Lotus bar had a mint DJ so we had great music to accompany the sunsets and singhas!
On our last day we got up early and got a speed boat to the Ko Nang Yuan, 1 km away, a close knit group of 3 tiny islands. A causeway of white sand connects the islands and they really are gorgeous. Within an hour of us being there as predicted boats dropped off a ton of tourists so we were glad we'd used our brains and got there early! A day of sunbathing and munching ritz crackers was had and we watched people on the zip lines that connect the islands which looked fun but not for 20 quid a go!

We spent our last night in a lovely little restaurant a bit off the main street with an authentic curry and sticky rice before watching the football back in lotus bar with large changs for 50 baht, bargain!

The thing that upset us about turtle island was the litter, blatantly all tourist related. Whenever we walked the beach we'd take a bag each and fill them, if everyone picked the rubbish immediately around them before leaving the beach it would be cleaned up in no time at all. The amount of empty bottles, crisp packets and plastic bags was ridiculous; all we could picture were poor turtles mistaking them for their jelly fish meal 😞

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Comments

[Hanka]

Accommodation in Koh Tao?
Hello over there! Just wondering, if you finally liked the place you were staying at in Koh Tao? Because I am looking for wa good place to stay there in August... And I would like to have it fixed before going. Maybe you can share some advice? :-) Thanks in advance! Hanka