After stopping back at the station to collect the ferry tickets, it was as short 20min minibus ride to the ferry pier and I got to see some of the forests as we were driven to the dock, but don’t think I really missed much. The catamaran was waiting at the end of a long wooden jetty which seemed to take ages to walk down in the blazing sun. The bags were stowed in the front cabin and we took our seats ready for the 1.5hour crossing to Koh Tao. I have really been looking forward to this part of my walkabout for some time and staying at Sairee Cottage Diving Resort also. The idea of sitting on a white sandy beach for a few days, diving, eating delicious Thai food, having Christmas and cocktails was really appealing, especially having been so active over the past few months.
It was hot and crowded as people disembarked the catamaran all at once but I managed to find my transfer ok. My bags and I were bundled into the back of a pick up truck and before I knew it, I was at the hotel and checked in. I had booked a poolside room on the first floor which was actually nicer than some of the beach front bungalows. The air conditioning was fantastic and so was the swimming pool. The next day it rained heavily in the morning but cleared up around lunchtime.
I was meeting my brother and his wife as they were holidaying in Thailand too, so we had agreed to met up for a few days before Christmas. It was nice to meet up and it almost felt like a holiday from the travelling. We had a couple of excellent Thai massages and found a good restaurant, Su Chili, which served both an excellent and spicy hot Thai Green Curry as well as vegan options. We ate here a couple of times as the food was good, reasonably priced and the service was pretty good too.
While on Koh Tao, Chrissy managed to obtain her PADI open water certification which is a good achievement. Tim and I are both certified professional divers so while she was doing her open water course with Sairee Cottage Diving, we had a couple of pleasure dives. Am aware that this is not the best time of year to visit Koh Tao for diving, but in all honesty, I expected better. Yes, it was as small group and water was warm (29 degrees) but the visibly was poor, less than 4m, didn’t see much in the way of marine life and there was lots of dead coral. Perhaps we were just unlucky. The second dive was a wreck dive at 28m, HTMS Sattakut – an ex-Thai navy boat sunk on purpose off Hin Pee Wee. Once again, the visibility was so poor that I didn’t see this 50m long ship until I swam into its side…
Next day, Chrissy was still diving, so Tim and I hired a scooter each and went to explore a bit more of the island. I have never really ridden a scooter or a motorbike before so was a little apprehensive but soon got the gist. It was a little 125 with nobly tires.
Good thing too as some of the roads were little more than a muddy dirt track, not dissimilar to the tracks around Swinley Forest, but it was good not having to pedal. We explored a little of the east side of the island and then up to the northern end stopping off at Mango Bay view point for a banana smoothie and water before heading back.
Some of the paths were a little steep but it was good fun riding up them, but the brakes were pretty much on full going down. It made a nice change riding a scooter as this is something I don’t normally do.
In the evenings, we would meet up at the Sairee bar and enjoy ‘happy hour’ while looking out to sea enjoying general chit chat. Really cannot fault this location and hats off to Mother Nature.
There’s a little island just off the north west side of Koh Tao called Koh Nang Yuan which is probably what most holiday brochures show as Koh Tao. It’s easy to see why. I caught a long tailed taxi boat over to the island which took about 10 – 15mins for 500baht return.
There’s a 100baht entry fee on the island I didn’t know about but not an issue. They do not allow any plastic bottles on the island as they’re trying to preserve its pristine condition. This meant downing a 2 litre bottle of water at the entrance, and placing the bottle into the ‘return and recycle bin. It was probably a good thing too, as meant I wasn’t dehydrated. It was a short 15 walk around the island and up a narrow and steep path to reach the viewpoint for the quintessential view of Koh Nang Yuan.
After spending some time up there just soaking up the view and atmosphere, I found an empty deck chair under an umbrella, essential shade from the sun and went for a little snorkel. As the bays were a little more sheltered than the main Sairee beach, the water was much clearer and much more of what I expected in Thailand. There were lots of fish and sea cucumbers around but sadly a lot of the coral was dead or broken, perhaps from the tsunami back in 2006. But it was still really nice and didn’t spoil the enjoyment. There’s a a little restaurant hut there so was able to get a quick snack and another drink before meeting my taxi boat again at the agreed time for the return trip. To his credit, he turned up exactly when he said he would and the transfer back was as quick and as smooth as the ride out there. There is something to be said about Thai efficiency.
Christmas on Koh Tao was a quiet affair. I appeared to be the first one up so took the opportunity to commandeer the pool with my Santa’s hat.
I had a few snacks for breakfast but really wasn’t hungry at all. My Christmas Day lunch was a packet of peanut M&M’s and a banana smoothie. I spent the afternoon on the beach not doing anything and it was great. By the time evening had rolled round, I had done a couple of FaceTime calls to those back home and was quite hungry now. I walked the 10 minute walk to the busy area and there was a nice looking place opposite where had eaten previously called Sairee Sairee. It was a Mediterranean grill type place and for a change from all the curries and noodles, I went for a mixed grill. It had perhaps the most tender, juiciest and flavoursome pork steak, chicken and medium rare steak I have eaten in a long time and it definitely did the job. To finish I had a home made passionfruit tiramisu and words cannot describe how good it was. Needless to say, I had another on Boxing Day too… 🙂
Last time I was in Thailand for New Years, I struggled to find accommodation as left it quite late to book anything and ended up in a place that wasn’t very nice. This time however, I was able to book a few days on Koh Samui and a ferry transfer too. Samui is a lot larger than Koh Tao but not as busy as Phuket or Patong. The beach at Lamai was absolutely lovely, soft sand which seemed to go on forever and giant boulders dotted along the way. The beach wasn’t crowded and there were various bars offing happy hours, thankfully not all at the same time so had a sort of ‘long shore drift’ of cocktails and beers.
New Year’s Eve there were fireworks as you would expect but nothing dangerous like Diwali or anything.
After New Years on Koh Samui, I needed to get back to Bangkok to extend my visa for another 30 days. The reason being, my oldest school friend is visiting Thailand for a couple of weeks in January so I’m looking forward to meeting up with him and doing a sort of ‘mini tour’ if you like.
The ferry, well catamaran, was due to leave Koh Samui at about 08.00hrs which meant as hotel pick up at 06.30hrs. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep for fear of oversleeping and missing the boat. It was a bit of a bundle to get on but there were plenty of seats. It was a 4hour crossing back to Chumphon, stopping off at Koh Pha-ngan and Koh Tao along the way to drop some people off and pick up more. The crossing was quite rough with 4m swells. It didn’t take long for some people to be seasick but I was ok. It was just the noise of people being sick and the odd waft of vomit that didn’t go down too well. The ferry crossing was over soon enough and it was a relief to be back on dry land. Just walking down the jetty to the place where all the coaches were waiting, I could feel the sun burning the back of my neck.
The coaches were comfortable but it was a long 9 hour journey back to Bangkok and there was only one 30min stop along the way.
Still I have done a lot longer and more uncomfortable journeys on this trip, so this was a walk in the park. We arrived in Bangkok at about 21.45 and it was only a 5min walk to the hotel. I checked in with ease and tried to sleep. Even though I was on the 6th floor, I could still hear quite clearly the live music from the bars opposite. I think if I hear another Thai rendition of John Denver’s Country Road one more time, I might loose control. It’s not a bad song, but 4 times in 3hours is a bit much.
I got up early the next day and got a transfer to the visa office. It took a couple of hours to complete, most of the time was waiting which was no issue as I had no time agenda, but it was also up and down stairs to take photocopies of everything. The appointment itself could not have lasted more than 5 minutes and soon enough, my visa was extended until 5th February.