Southern Thai Islands

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Ko Samui and Ko Tao

After a mammoth 12 hour journey across the Southern peninsula including a 3 hour stopover at a petrol station (par for the course really) and a pretty rough boat journey we finally made it onto the island of Ko Samui a good four hours late and in darkness, meaning the first hotel we stopped at we decided on staying in. Luckily for us the whole complex was good value and really nice inside, probably the nicest we'd stayed in since Vietnam. With such a nice resort we decided on staying for a good four nights to really get some good sunbathing and relaxing in (tough life, ha!) especially considering how amazing the beach was.

Our hotels beachfront restuarant and bar were excellent and the nightlife in the main town of Ko Samui was a mixture of cool chilled out beach bars and heaving backpacker clubs, all of which boasting fire poi experts. The beach and colour of the sea were beautiful as other than exploring the local town we decided not to venture too far from the comfort of the hotel and after four days of relaxing on the beach and being hassled by one particular singing ice cream salesman we decided to pack the bags and head up to the even quieter island of Ko Tao, samed for it's clear seas, deserted beaches and stunning marine life. The boat journey however was absolutely appalling, on a high-speed catamaran during a storm is possibly the worst possible combination especially when the majority of the passengers (including the people sat either side of you) were all vomiting in unison, I've never seen staff move round so quick with handing out sickbags.

The tough rigours of backpacking in Thailand (India seems a long way away)

After finding some an affordable hut right near the beach we wandered around the smal town and before long were drawn to the extremely quiet and pristine beach for a spot of relaxing. Feeling a bit more adventurous we ended up embarking on a day of snorkelling, which, after a dodgy start (cloudy morning) we ended up with a few really good sessions and some awesome marine life including some turtles and baby sharks. We also went to the amazing beach of Koh Nang Yuan which really was a small paradise of picturesque hills and sky blue waters.

We spent three quiet nights on Ko Tao and made the most of the friendly locals, beautiful views and cheap beer, including a few visits to the bar with Christmas decorations, possibly the least Christmassy environment ever...

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Photos

Our room in Ko Samui
Well nice