Koh Tao: Ooh heaven is a place on earth!
14 February 2007
Firstly thanks to Belinda Carlisle for the title of the blog, although it is not technically correct as we have both agreed that Fiji was more our idea of heaven but Koh Tao has definately come in second on the Island ratings.
We chose Koh Tao, which translates as Turtle Island, as our next destination as we had heard it is not as touristy as the other Islands off the East Coast (pretty much the way Koh Samui was in the 80’s). We were not disapointed. we secured a beach bungalow facing out to the crystal blue waters where we spent every evening watching the sunset with a few Chang beers and a good book (Chris has finally got around to reading the Da Vinci Code and I am reading a book Chris picked up on Koh Phi Phi called ‘Phra Farang’ which is about an English guy who left his successful career to become a Buddhist Monk).
The first day on the Island was spent doing little more than laying in the sun, cooling off in the shallows or snorkelling further from the shore. It was bliss.
Although our beach bungalow had a superb view, it was a little basic inside; however still knackered from the boat ride to the Island (and with the help of a few Changs) we had no problem getting to sleep. That was until I woke Chris and I would presume all the neighbouring bungalowees at 4am with shrieks of ‘ughh! Get it off me! Get it off me!!’. We both jumped out of bed with me explaining (perhaps a little hysterically) something had bitten me on the back. The culprit? – a freaking cockroach! Well the cockroach was fast – too quick for Chris to scoop him away to another site far away from our bungalow so he sadly paid the ultimate price with his little cockroach ‘human-back’ munching life taken by the bottom of Chris’s flip-flop! Out the window with any of those buddhist principles I was vowing to adopt!
We decided to adopt the locals chosen form of transport to explore the rest of the Island and hired a motorbike. With Chris driving and me on the back we hit the dust-tracks and headed to a little beach where we had read the snorkelling was good. The road was alot tougher than expected with us nearly losing control on one accasion only for Chris to regain control but not before slicing the top of his big toe on a rock (the lesson: flip-flops were not designed for motorbikes…..killing cockroaches – yes…….but not motorbikes).
We later found another gem of a beach where we watched the reef sharks from a little restaurant overlooking the bay before heading down for some more sun/snorkelling action.
If we weren’t relaxed enough we marked the end of each night on the Island with a Thai massage/oil massage or foot massage. We were a bit wary of the Thai massage having heard reports that the Thais get you iin a vice-like grip but it was an amazing experience which left us both drooling on the pillows as we were in a sleep like state dispite being twisted every which way! We have vowed to have another in Bangkok – purely as a comparison!
The three days we spent on the Island were a wonderful way to relax and prepare us for the hustle and bustle, mayhem and debauchery Bangkok has to offer.
Tags: Koh Tao, Thailand
Chris and Charl
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