We took eight modes of transport to get to Koh Tao; we started at 9pm in Bangkok by walking to the sky train and cheating half way by getting in a tuk tuk as it started raining (for a change in Bangkok!). We took the sky train to the train station, and then we waited for our train for an hour. Our train journey to Chumphon wasn't as nice as the Chiang Mai to Bangkok leg as we were in a freezing air-conditioned car in a seat with broken fold-down tables! We weren't sitting together either and the ladies next to us didn't appreciate us cuddling into them. We managed to sleep for a couple of hours, shivering under our blankets; why they have the air conditioning on 'Arctic' setting is beyond me.
When we arrived in Chumphon we were at the 'unknown' part of the journey, we needed to get a ferry but we had no idea how or where from. Luckily a man with a sign was waiting for unorganized travelers just like us, so at 6am we were bundled into a mini-van. We arrived at a cafe somewhere, where a coach picked us up and transferred us to a ferry. The ferry trip was spent deciding where we were going to stay and for how long... not that we'd not planned these important details in advance. We decided to stay at a resort on the east of the island, away from all the hustle and bustle for two nights and in the town for one... this changed as soon as we saw the first place. We arrived in Koh Tao and were greeted by blue skies, clear blues seas and lots of fish. Luckily Ping Pong the owner of Leam Thien Bungalows, our chosen place, was also waiting for us.
We took an extremely bumpy 4x4 ride to the other side, on the roughest, steepest, rockiest 'road' we've ever encountered. It was great fun! We were sat on the back of the truck with Ramsey, a guest there already, and Jun, one of the guys who worked there. They were both chewing on something and spitting red stuff. We inquired as to what it was and they offered us some. It was Betel Nut, it is chewed almost religiously in Burma. It's nut that is somehow related to the cocaine plant (we found this out later), white mustard powder, lime and some other bits wrapped in a leaf of some sort. Chewing it gives you an instant but very brief high, the spitting part is disgusting though and not something either of us are used to. Phil got hic-ups instantly and had to spit it out! So our first half hour on Koh Tao was spent spitting red stuff, getting a rush to the head and hanging on to dear life on the roughest road known to man. What a great end to a fourteen hour journey!
At the other side we dumped our bags and went straight to the common area to get some food (don't worry Mum, this wasn't the famous 'munchies', it was lunchtime). The view was amazing, the resort was right on the beach and the sea was crystal clear. We were in heaven. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and getting to know the other guests... that didn't take long as there were only five of us! Ramsey, from Colorado, Melissa from California/Brisbane and Anthony, a dreadlocked free spirit from Quebec. We played cards, chatted and watched a film, and had a much needed early night.
The next day we got up reasonably early and had a filling breakfast, the morning rain puts our day of snorkeling out so we end up learning how to play Cribbage from Ramsey and get addicted to it! The afternoon was spent in town (after the bumpy ride back) checking emails, buying postcards and looking around shops. We treated ourselves to two gorgeous fruit smoothies before heading back and meeting Steve and Elaine, an Irish couple that makes our five a seven! We were exhausted by the days activities and tucked into some more gorgeous food at the resort. Jun's wife is the cook and she is amazing, which is lucky when the next nearest restaurant is a half hour bump fest away! That evening was spent in the bar area with the others whilst watching the staff play with fire! They put on a great fire show and even let us try. Having both being taught not to play with fire by our mothers we opted to try first with tennis balls on a string, which was lucky as we were both absolutely awful at it and hit ourselves around the head several times! The dreadlocked Canadian was surprisingly good as it but at one point we were worried about his hair going up in smoke.
The next day was spent snorkeling and eating! The snorkeling was right off the beach and was amazing. The fish were so colourful and plentiful and some of them were hilarious. They would follow us in their schools, curiously swimming behind us; we'd turn around and they'd stop as if to say "we're not following!", then we'd swim on and they'd continue following! Some of them were a little too curious and if we stopped for any length of time they would have a nibble to see what on earth we were! There was plenty of coral too but not very much live coral, lots of dead coral piled up which the fish had made into their homes.
The next day we took the truck into town in the morning and got a long tailed boat across to Nangyuan Island with Melissa and Ramsey. It's a private island so we had to pay to get on but once there it was worth it. It's technically three islands connected by a sand bar which forms three unique snorkeling spots. Melissa and Sion went first and then Phil and Ramsey. The fish were following us there too; one school followed us all the way to the shallows and decided to nibble our feet. We saw a huge fish at least a half metre long which was really cool. It started tipping it down so we took the opportunity of walking up the hill for a view of our island paradise whilst it was cool. The view was definitely worth the slippery climb up, it was breathtaking. The snorkeling on the other side of the island made the whole trip worth while, there was huge amounts of live coral with thousands of tropical fish buzzing around, it was better coral than the Great Barrier Reef! When we got back to the main island we'd run out of money and so left Melissa and Ramsey in town and walked back. It was very slippery and hard work in flip flops but it was a nice hour long trek back, made even nicer by the warm dip in the sea with our fishy friends when we got back. That evening we climbed to some jumping rocks and Phil and Ramsey watched Melissa and Sion plunge into the depths below - great fun!
The next day is another rainy day spent playing cribbage and eating yummy food. The following day we regretfully said goodbye to Ramsey and Sion went into town with Melissa whilst Phil got some beauty sleep. The rest of the day was spent swimming and, yep you guessed it, playing cribbage! That evening (our last one on the island) we ordered dinner as usual but asked to watch it being cooked, this turned into an impromptu cooking lesson and the three of us got to cook our own dinners. It was great fun, Tet, the cook, told us exactly what to do with her limited English and her and her su chef proceeded to laugh every time we did something! We learnt how to cook Pad Thai, a classic Thai meal, and coconut cream soup; it was a real highlight of the trip and was something we'd wanted to do since we began in February! What a great way to spend our last night... with cribbage as well of course. Tomorrow we leave for the mainland... gutting!