Koh Tao, Thailand

Day 11: Hello Thailand!

A 3 hour flight from Beijing landed us in Hong Kong for a 2 hour layover. This was a really nice airport and we were able to navigate through to our next gate in no time. Our next flight was another 3 more hours before we would finally arrive in Bangkok around 8:30pm! We were only staying here for one night as our final destination was Koh Tao, a very small island in southern Thailand known for gorgeous scuba diving! We walked out to public transportation and pulled a taxi cab ticket and shortly thereafter realized it was one of the few hot pink ones in a line of yellow cabs. Score.

A short drive later we arrived at our adorable hostel, Nap Park. American music blasted as people were socializing in comfy chair beds out front. Just before entering we passed a cute little breakfast bar and a massive shoe nook. We catch on quickly that no shoes are allowed inside, so we slip them off and become barefooted hippies just like everyone else. We checked in amongst all the noise of more people socializing and playing drinking games in the lobby. We were given our keys and shown to the top floor to a nice ladies only dorm with 4 bunk beds. The dorms were very safe requiring a key to enter the staircase from the lobby and another key to enter our hostel room. Inside there were lockers to store your personal items.

The energy in the place gave Abby and I a second wind to go explore a little before bedtime. Even though we had a ridiculously early morning in order to catch a bus to Koh Tao that left at 6am. We knew we’d be able to sleep on the bus, so we locked our bags up and headed out! Wow! This place was cooler than I even imagined. It was a great introduction to Thailand and got us really pumped for our return to Bangkok later in the trip. About a 3 minute walk from our hostel was a bustling street of backpackers. Live music, food stalls, restaurants with patio seating and lanterns hanging from all the trees. It was so beautiful! We grabbed a couple of $2 beers to celebrate our arrival and enjoyed the music and people watching for a bit. We stopped at a convenience store we passed on our way home and got water bottles and a snacks for our morning bus ride then finally got in bed about 2am.

Day 12: Finding Paradise

The alarm came quickly at 4:30am as we scrambled to get our things together in the dark without disturbing the other girls in our room (some of which had just gone to bed). We packed up and walked out to find the agency we booked our transportation to Koh Tao with, Lomprayah Tours. This package was $35 for a 6 hour bus ride and a 1.5 hour high speed catamaran ride to the island. Loving the Thai Baht conversion where you basically divide anything in Baht by almost 40 to get USD.

A short 4 minute walk around the corner we found Lomprayah and checked in for our trip! We loaded into the second story of a nice double decker bus and left for our roadtrip through Thailand’s countryside. I could smell the beach’s fresh air at this point knowing that we had accomplished the last step in getting to our first island destination.

We finally reached Koh Tao’s shores where a Dive company picked us up in the back of a pickup truck taxi to escort us to our hostel. This is currently the cheapest place in the world to get scuba certified! I already have my license, but Abby will be getting certified in a 2.5 day course this week then we will go on a dive together.

The island is tiny at about 20 km in total area. There’s basically just one main road that runs through it filled with backpackers on motorbikes, lots of puppies, little shops, and restaurants. Our hostel is beachfront and as we have come to find out, quite the party spot. Good luck going to sleep at a reasonable hour. Our dorms are directly above The Rock bar which plays the loudest music on the island until 2am every day. Makes for a fun crowd of peopleat the hostel, but I definitely miss a good nights rest. Our room is an 8 bed mixed dorm, but only 1 guy so far haha. The roommates all rock! It is fun meeting so many people from all over the world and hearing their travel stories. It seems Abby and I are a bit amateur…. most of the people are closer to 18 years old and are traveling for 6-12 months.

We found some dinner at a Thai place directly outside of our hostel and it was more than anything I had ever dreamed of. Fried noodles with pork. Yum! Followed by the perfect night cap to our first night on the island: a fire show at the Rock Bar before we headed to bed.

Day 13: Never Leaving Koh Tao!!

A day of adventure and sunshine! Abby and I rose early while the rest of this backpacker beach was still asleep. I found some breakfast a small walk away at a stand and had fried noodles with pork for breakfast. No regrets.

We sat out on the beach enjoying the cool morning breeze while planning out our day. Motorbikes were on our mind. They looked so fun and this island was small enough to not get lost on. But first, Thai Massages! We had seriously been talking about these since we booked the trip at the beginning of the year and found out that massages were extremely cheap! Our dive shop recommended a place about a 5 minutes walk from our hostel. So if you ever find yourself in Koh Tao, you must go to Impress! Those ladies are so sweet! We paid $8 for a 1 hour coconut oil massage on the patio overlooking the beach with the best morning breeze!

Next stop, motorbike rentals! We each got our own bike. 24 hour rental was $4! *jaw drop* We were given a map with a few beaches and viewpoint recommendations… and we were off! Freedom Beach, a private beach for 50 baht, was an easy 15 minute drive away. Abby and I weren’t really into the feel though since it was like 5 other honeymooning couples and us. There was no restaurant or music. This is a good place to go to get away from it all, but we wanted fun (and food)!

Back on the bikes we drove to Tanote Bay which was legit. The viewpoint was a challenging kind of fun to get to on our motorbikes. Very steep and curvy but it didn’t last too long before we were back down at the bay. This beach had a decent amount of people on it and a much more active crowd. There’s a huge boulder out in the water with great snorkeling around it or you can climb on it and cliff jump off. Very good entertainment from the beach. There was also a restaurant with food and drink on the beach, so we had a nice meal of yellow curry with rice while watching the jumpers.

It was a late night as we bonded with our new roomies at the hostel’s beachfront neighbor, The Rock Bar. I sat mesmerized once again by the fire show performance and then hopped in to join the fun when they started fire-limbo and jump roping! Such a blast!

Day 14: Cliff Jumping

Morning came early as we pulled ourselves out of bed and downstairs to the tour office. I downed a crushed bag of Cheez-its from back home and we were off to start our half day cliff jumping tour. Might I add our tour was only 5 people including ourselves and the guide. I love the small sizes our hostel works with for activities. The tour started with a 1.5 hour hike across the island which encompassed climbing vertically for about 40 minutes. I died about 3 times and came back to life. At the end of the climb we reached an abandoned resort which was a pretty haunting site to see with a still breathtaking private beach.

Just around the corner we started hopping boulder to boulder towards the ocean where we met the tour boat down below which would take us back after we were done jumping. There were 3 jumps to choose from: 3 meters, 9 meters, and 12. I gladly stuck with the 3 meter jump while Abby bravely conquered all 3 jumps. After multiple jumps and chilling in our life jacket diapers enjoying the cool clear water we got in the boat to find a snorkeling spot. The waves were crazy which made for a fun and wet boat ride. We arrived at a snorkel area called Ao Leuk and enjoyed the great visibility seeing coral and tons of fish. My favorite were the rainbow ones that seemed to glow neon colors (waterproof camera pics to come later).

Back at the hostel we found a lunch spot next door with an awesome beachfront deck. It was covered by shade trees filled with lanterns that swayed above our heads in the ocean breeze. We were seated on lounging beanies on the ground. The Cheez-its had definitely worn off at this point, so we indulged in an appetizer of garlic bread as well. Best decision in a long time.

A few to-dos on the list before napping from our exhausting morning: we were desperate to do laundry and I needed a foot massage (hahaha). Laundry here is strange. There is nowhere for you to do it yourself, so you are forced to drop it off with one of a hundred companies that will wash it and return it folded in about 1.5 days. We dropped off almost everything we owned hoping that it would all return safely and wondering how we were going to dry off tonight with no towels. Good news, it came back perfect the next day and for only 70 baht ($2).

After a relaxing foot massage on the beach it was definitely nap time. An afternoon in bed and an evening at our hostel’s beachfront cafe and bar downstairs did me well.

Day 15: Beach Day

Abby started her scuba diving course today, so I was on my own for the next couple of days. Rewind a bit: The couple that joined us yesterday cliff jumping were from Austin, Texas. Small world! Turns out Ethan is scuba certified like me, while his girlfriend had never even been snorkeling. After our snorkel time she was in love with the sea and decided to join Abby the next day with her scuba certification! This was also perfect because Abby was the only person originally in the course, so now she had a diving buddy other than the instructor. And who was the instructor? Oh it was our tour guide, Martin. His last few days on the island before he was heading back home to the UK for a visit. He wasn’t sure he wanted to “work” his last few days, but loved our group so much from cliff jumping that he decided to be their instructor and then take us all 4 out for a fun dive after the girls were certified. We love Martin!

A few of the roommates and I walked down to a very hip restaurant, Blue Water, for breakfast. It was pricey, but a welcomed change to eat somewhere with charm. I had a breakfast toastie and coconut juice directly from the coconut. (Toasties are a big deal here.)

The rest of the day was super lazy lounging with the crew just down the beach at Maya Beach Club. This place had the best daybeds on the beach and music streaming all day. I spent the afternoon shopping the streets for a few new clothing items and souvenirs. And the evening met us with a gorgeous sunset on the beach.

Day 16: Oktoberfest

The perfect day! After the best nights sleep yet, I woke up early ready to tackle some postcards. Feeling accomplished that these were written and mailed before 10am I spent the rest of the day at Maya Beach Club enjoying the sunniest of days. It was so hot! But this only made the water that much more appealing. A very relaxing day spent between the daybeds and floating effortlessly in the salty sea water. After all the roomies and I had achieved sunburns we headed back to the hostel to clean up for a night of fun.

Martin, our tour guide/dive instructor, had told us about an Oktoberfest celebration at the Banyan bar. We walked there with some hostel staff and were greeted by live music, men in German beer girl outfits, and a great atmosphere. You could enter without a ticket, but if you wanted the imported German beers and BBQ you needed a ticket. So Abby and I were all for it. We got to try 5 German beers and indulge in potato salad, bbq pork, and the most amazing pretzel with spicy mustard sauce. The pretzel was worth the ticket tenfold. We ended the night back at The Rock with some beach dancing!

Day 17: Scuba Diving

Ethan and I were able to join the girls for a fun dive on their last day of scuba diving class. Once again we were the only people on the whole boat and had a very personal experience. Martin took us out to one of his favorite spots, Green Rock. He jumped in first to check the visibility and approved with excitement. He hopped back on the boat and said, “there are a TON of jelly fish in the water” hahaha. All of our faces turned white in fear until he finished with, “but they don’t sting.” He was not kidding! These tiny jellies were EVERYWHERE toward the surface. It was the oddest feeling swimming through them waiting to go down.

We dove down to about 18 meters and came up on a the ginormous Green Rock covered in corals and active fish! A few minutes into the dive the feeling of weightlessly floating through the water hit me with pure joy. It had been a long time since my last dive! About 30 minutes later we rose to the top and jumped on the boat for a second dive location to complete our afternoon. We stopped at Twins, which is an area encompassing 2 similar rocks beneath the surface as well as a manmade buoyancy park where underwater hoops had been dropped to swim through and other figures like shark statues.

A successful diving afternoon and 2 new certified divers later we ended up back at the hostel for a celebratory drink before dinner! Martin took us out to one of his favorite places and ordered us a feast. It was like being back in China with Shealee! We had a spread of 6 dishes ranging from noodles and soup to our newest addiction, No Name. We had seen this on the menu but never ordered it not knowing what it was exactly. Martin insisted that we try it and informed us it was fried leftovers from the day before. We ordered a veggie no name and chicken no name. Both were balls of deep fried deliciousness!

We ended the night at the Fishbowl Bar & Grill listening to live music. This was a rare find with the recent news of the King. The Rock Bar below our hostel was closed for the evening, which resulted in a peaceful nights sleep!

Day 18: Resort Life

Our first change in itinerary! This was supposed to be our last morning on the island. After 6 nights in one place I was quite anxious to see more of Thailand than Koh Tao even if it would be hard to leave this piece of paradise. Our next stop was a short ferry ride away to Koh Phangan island where the monthly Full Moon Party is held. However, with news of the King all festivals had been cancelled for at least a month. With so much uncertainty we weren’t really sure what we’d be getting ourselves into on Koh Phangan, but a new island still sounded fun to explore (to me).

Abby fell head over heels for Koh Tao and diving and decided to hang back a few days to get her Advanced Diving license! I decided to stay one more night to figure out my new solo travel plans for the next few days. Even though Goodtime Hostel was amazing, I was ready for a change of scenery and booked a night at Ban’s Diving Resort next door.

A room to myself! What is this luxury? A big bed, my own bathroom, a TV, good AC and wifi, a pool, and privacy. Whoa, it made me wonder if I could ever go back to hostel life! I spent the rest of the day lounging at the beautiful infinity pool and making new friends! I met a couple and their “third wheel travel partner” who were from Israel. Sweetest people took me right in and invited me to a birthday celebration later that night at Fishbowl.

I met back up with Abby and the hostel crew for dinner and beach games before heading to Fishbowl to meet my friends. We had a few drinks before the bar closed at 12am in honor of the King. A successful last night in Koh Tao!

Day 19: Goodbye Koh Tao!

I spent the morning trying to book a new ferry from my iPad before realizing I’d just have to do it in person at the pier in order to get a day-of booking. I packed up and headed to a ticket office at the pier. I was in luck! I snagged a ticket to Koh Phangan on the same ferry as Sofia, one of my newest roomies back at the hostel.

Takeaways:
1. Get massages as often as you can!
2. Motorbikes are a blast, especially on easy-to-navigate islands! Get one.
3. Wearing no shoes for a week is liberating.
4. Hostels are officially the easiest way to meet people, ever.
5. Everything here is delicious and cheap. You rock, Thailand, you rock!
6. Even if you don’t want to dive, go to Koh Tao if you ever get the chance!

7. If you miss your pup back home just find Massaman the hostel dog. He loves being held like a baby.

Wander On,
SK