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February 21st 2009

Published: February 21st 2009

SarahandRob

Ko Tao

Sunset from our favorite "happy hour" bar in Ko Tao.

Day 11 - Ko Pha-Ngan

Today was the day after the Full Moon party so obviously nothing big was going to happen. We got up at 12 which meant we had missed breakfast and spent the day alternately blogging and sitting by the pool. Katie's cousin and his entourage paid us a visit for dinner time.

Day 12 - Ko Pha-Ngan - Ko Tao

We had a leisurely morning of getting ready and then took the lunchtime Songserm ferry over to Ko Tao. The pier was complete chaos and as usual the ferry didn't leave anywhere near on time. The journey was quite interesting because there were loads of reps from all the dive shops trying to sell you their courses etc so it passed he time nicely. It is quite an interesting place because every dive shop is identical in price and accreditation but there are 65 on about a 1.5 mile stretch of beach so they are all vying hard for your custom.
We decided to go for Scuba Junction as one of Sarah's friends from uni has a sister who runs the shop; so seemed like a safe bet. We got our complementary lift to

Ko Tao

Our little bungalow - home to us and the spider!

the shop and they had one bungalow left which cost 300 baht (6 quid) for the first night and 150 baht for the second as Sarah would be diving. Trying to find a room in Ko Tao this week was about as hard as trying to find accommodation in Pha-Ngan for the Full Moon party. However, this time it was because every Swede in South East Asia was heading there as some famous Swedish DJ (Timbuktu anyone?) was playing on one of the evenings. The other four went off to find a bungalow whilst we were in the dive shop and did quite well paying 1000 baht (20 quid) for a four person room; which for a non-diver on Ko Tao is pretty good.
After we had got Sarah's diving organised we went and had a few beers during sunset and then got some dinner. Sarah and I had the best meal so far and both had fresh Red Snapper barbecued and curried with chips and salad - all for £4.50.The others stayed out a bit later than us as Sarah had been told not to drink lots the night before diving. We got back to the room and Sarah

Spider

This was the spider in our basic bungalow in Ko Tao - it was huge!

decided to shower. At this point I would say that our room was basic at best. It had low 12v lighting, no other electricity, a flush your own toilet and a rickety old fan. It was also situated in a slightly run down part of town in some undergrowth so we had to use torch light to walk the last section back to the door. We had spent literally 5 minutes in there earlier in the day so I was having a little poke around the room whilst Sarah was in the bathroom. During this time I found a massive spider above the door to the bathroom and trust me it was huge. When Sarah came out I told her to step forward quickly as I had visions of it jumping down on to her head. Sarah decided she wanted to kill it with my shoe but in the end just scared it away and it scuttled off into the roof. Sleeping that night was difficult to say the least.

Day 13 - Ko Tao

We got up at about 9ish and had a nice breakfast. I pootled around town whilst

Scuba Sarah

Sarah in the scuba gear.

Sarah had her land based diving instruction. We got on the boat at 12 and headed out around to Shark Island on the south west of the island. I had a snorkel off the boat and Sarah had here first dive here - which was more of an introduction, practicing swopping oxygen, taking her mask off under water etc. She only dived to 4m on this dive so did not see much. The second one promised to be deeper and much more fun, so I persuaded her to pay for the second dive. This time she really loved it and saw some interesting things including a big Tiger Fish and some Barracuda, although she enjoyed all the different coloured coral the most.
We headed to our nice little sunset bar to meet the others who had spent the day kayaking to an Island off ko Tao/relaxing on the beach. I think the mixture of too much sun and alcohol the night before did them in so they headed home. Sarah and I stopped by at one of the many bars with cushions lined out on the sand and had a really relaxing evening drinking cocktails under the stars.

Day

Ko Tao

Chilling out with some cocktails on the beach.

14 - Ko Tao - Ko Samui

Rob and I checked out of Scuba junction in the morning. I was very pleased to have never seen the spider again after the first sighting. We headed for a relaxing morning on the beach. Everyone else decided to get the early ferry but we choose to spend the day on Koh Tao because after spending the previous day scuaba diving I felt we had not had a chance to spend time on the gorgeous beach.I fell in love with Koh Tao, the set up is perfect with a boardwalk going down the length of the beach with beach bars and restaurants lining the beach.
After a cheeky burger at our favorite restaurant (Bans) we got our ferry to Koh Samui at 3.00pm. We checked into the same place that the others had found and it was very nice to find a flushing toilet in our room. However Rob apparently cannot read the sign "Do not flush paper down the toilet" so the room was not quite so pleasant after finding the toilet was very blocked! I was not happy!
Samui is no where near as nice as Koh Tao; it is

Ang Thong NP

You can just see Sarah and Anna on the final climb up...whilst Phil and I were encouraging them from the top!

much more commercialized (with McDonalds and Burger king popping up all other the place) and there are some really seedy bars. The boys were happy though as they managed to watch England v Wales rugby (kick off midnight our time).

Day 15 - Ko Samui - Ang Thong National Park

Today we got up nice and early at 7am to go to Ang Thong which wouldn't of been too bad had Jimmy, Phil and Myself not stayed up until 2.30 to watch England lose against the Welsh. We got in the Mini-Van - thankfully it was actually an enclosed vehicle - and got driven by Thailand's very own Ayrton Senna (we all know what happened to him). We all feared for our lives but got there in one piece. We sailed on our nice boat for about 2 hours before getting to the park and the views of all the islands, that make up the park, were stunning. We got dropped off at an island and decided to head up to the viewpoint which was described by the boat captain as "a strong walk". It soon turned out to be quite tricky and had a rope running up

Ang Thong NP

The view from the view point - well worth the scramble up the rocks.

most of the way so you could pull yourself up. The last section was a climb on all fours on sharp jagged limestone. However, the view from the top, I think you will agree, was amazing. We then had to climb down which was just as hard as coming up, just a little less tiring. Before having to get back on our boat we had a much needed dip in the sea. While in the sea I spoke to a couple a Canadian guys who had some amusing political views; particularly focusing on "Quebecers" and later the Scottish and the European Union.
We got back on the boat and lunch was served - I didn't have any as I was feeling quite ropey that day and then we moved on to another island. This time we had to climb up and down some really steep ladders to get to the Emerald lake which again was beautiful. After a relaxing sit in the shade on the beach, we all got on our longtail boats back to the boat and headed back to Ko Samui. Ang Thong was amazing and I am very pleased that the Thai government had done a good

Emerald Lake

At the second island we visited in Ang Thong NP.

job of protecting it from any major building work which would spoil such a wonderful place.
The evening was quite uneventful as we were all knackered apart from the fact that we did have our worst meal of the trip so far - a pizza that may as well have been designed for toddlers and cooked on a BBQ!

Day 16 - Ko Samui - Railay

We embarked on a HUGE travel day today! When we started off I don't think anyone anticipated the 12 hour journey it turned out to be to get to Railay from Ko Samui. We had to use 6 modes of Transport: sawngthaew taxi, ferry, coach, government bus, truck taxi and finally long tail boat. I think the lowest point was the government bus "with aircon, take 2 hours" which was actually a sauna and it took 4.5 hours! The sticky leather seats made it particularly bad and the fact that I was bursting for the toilet from 2 hours in made the journey very slow, especially when you have no idea where you are. The long tail boat was interesting too - we had to wade through oily sand up to our

Ton Sai Beach (Railay)

The beach we stayed at in Railay.

knees with big bags. I has visions of getting stuck in the sand or tripping with my bag on.
Railay was well worth the trip though, the pictures do not do it justice - the limestone rocks surrounding the beaches make the setting beautiful and the fact that you can only get there by long tail boat gives the beaches a unique atmosphere. We arrived during the sunset and as we came round the limestone cliffs all bathed in red, it was a truly breathtaking sight.
We all found a beach bungalow, just off the beach in the undergrowth. It was a very similar deal to our bungalow in Ko Tao. Katie and Jimmy were in the bungalow next to Rob and I, but they may as well have been in the same room as we could openly hold conversations with them with only a wooden board separating us.
We were soon to find out that the prices for drinks here were higher than anywhere else we had been, but i guess that is inevitable with no road access. However, the food seems to be have been the best yet - really good portion sizes 😊 and I thought it

Hat Phra Nang

The Shrine of Fertility.

was really nice to not see a seven/11 (The thailand equivalent of Tesco express) in the area. After dinner and a few Changs on the beach, we headed to bed. We have still not worked out what made the huge bangs that we heard during the nite - our guess are coconuts falling or monkeys playing on our roof - but neither seem to be loud enough.

Day 17 - Ton Sai (Railay)

We had a leisurely start to the day and then decided we wanted to explore the rest of the peninsula; two resorts (Railay East and West) and the reportedly idyllic cove of Hat Phra Nang. We literally clambered around some very slippery rocks (apart from Jimmy who headed back and found the trail we were supposed to take) and after a few cuts and near falls we arrived on Railay West. The first stop was to find the ATM - as Ton Sai didn't have one - then we walked to the horrible end of Railay East which was really disgusting. Sarah and I headed into the Diamond Cave which was quite nice but not massively exciting as the lighting was not executed particularly well.

Cheeky Monkey!

Monkey eating some corn at Phanang Beach in Railay.

We then wandered down to Hat Phra Nang which was very nice but so crowded and full of hawkers trying to sell you various different things. It was also quite weird as at one end of the beach there was a Shrine of Fertility which had lots of penises (see picture) of different sizes and shapes carved out of wood - Thailand never fails to surprise!
When we headed back to our bungalow on Ton Sai we took Jimmy's path and it was a lot easier than the coastal route. However, the wild monkeys had the same idea as us and came down from the trees. They were very used to humans so let you get really close and we watched them clamber round the trees and scavinge for some grub.
Once back at Ton Sai we had our best meal of the trip so far; I had a really nice Green Curry and Sarah had some very nice Vegetable Fried Rice with Chili. We had a few beers on the beach before our first spot of rain which led us to the cover of NoName Bar which played a lot of Reggae and Jungle music and had a really

Ton Sai (Railay)

NoName Bar

nice vibe.

Day 18 - Railay - Ko Lanta

At the last minute we decided to get an early boat to Ko Lanta. When we arrived, we got bombarded by hawkers looking to take them to their room and we stupidly accepted a ride to Blue Andamen resort. It was quite a nice resort with a pool and it was on a nice beach but it was no where near anything so we did not actually get a flavour of the island at all; the problem being that Ko Lanta is a really long Island (70km) so it was not easy to walk anywhere. We decided to stay one night and make the most of the cheap accomodation and pool.

Day 19 - Ko Lanta - Ko Phi Phi

After being slightly unimpressed by Lanta we were keen to get to Phi Phi because everyone we had met had raved about it. We got an early ferry and were in Phi Phi looking for somewhere to stay by 9.30am. We split up and the others found a good solid guesthouse but Sarah and I opted for a couple of nights in a Hotel. It was definitely

Ko Lanta

Corney picture moment....

worth the baht and I had a shave as soon as I got to the room and actually felt human again!
We went out to the beach but by this time it was midday and it was actually too hot to be on the beach so we all retreated. The two of us explored the town for a while and the others went for a siesta and we reconvenied on the beach in the late afternoon to catch the last of the sun.
In the evening we had a nice cheap Thai meal and then hit some bars. Unfortunately Katie hadn't been very well so she went to bed (she is getting better now though). We got lots of flyers and worked out our very own bucket run - this meant working out what time each of the bars were handing out free drink and making sure we got there. We did quite well and got 2 free buckets each and a free shot. This meant I only spent 180 Baht (£3.60) all night and got quite drunk! We found a really good bar on the beach and had a little boogie before bed time.

Day 20 - Ko

Ko Phi Phi

Enjoying a couple of free buckets at the Tiger Bar.

Phi Phi

First it was off to our buffet breakfast at our hotel to stock up for the day - I had a good bingeing stint and managed to stomach 3 plates of egg fried rice and a "bacon" sandwich (not sure how real the bacon was). I think part of the reason I could do this was the hunger pangs from the alcohol the night before!
After experiencing the heat of the sun the previous day we decided to get up reasonably early to get onto the beach by 8.30am so that we could get some beach action in the morning before hiding in the middle of the day with a clear conscience. The beach was empty at this time of the day and the temperature was perfect - just nice for a hangover! I went for a nice early morning swim in the georgous bay although you have to walk about 100m into the sea before it reaches your waist. By 11.00am it was unbearably hot so Rob and I decided to explore the town before ending up at nice little spot for a drink on the south beach. We then used the time in the middle

Ko Phi Phi

A well deserved drink after exploring the island.

of the day to finish this mamouth blog entry (it does take commitment!).
It was then back to the beach at about 4.00pm to chill out. However, Rob and Phil soon got restless and decided to build a sand castle with a ball run using only their hands and a flip-flop. After criticising their work it soon turned into a sand castle competition between the girls and the boys. In fairness their castle was better but they did have a 45 minute time advantage and the tide was rapidly approaching. It was really funny when a little Thai toddler wandered up and peered carefully at each of them but then attacked ours - he was our judge!
We got some curry and had an early night in preparation for some early morning kayaking.