It had been a good couple of weeks since I last had some proper beach time. So when we arrived on Ko Samui, I felt almost like I'd come home; back to the white sands and crystal clear waters I'd become accustomed to on my journey through the US, Mexico and Australia.
After a nice morning jog in Khao Sok, where rather hilariously I was joined by a mini pack of dogs (keep your puns to yourself), we headed in our open truck to the east coast. With a mad dash and a bit of grovelling to the terminal staff we jumped on the midday ferry just in the nick of time, with the only casualty being my beloved Havianas.
The unintended exercise was worth it, however, as we got to our resort in Ko Samui in plenty of time to soak up some sun, nearly drown in the sizeable waves and have a beer or two on the beach, watching the sun go down.
Throw in some nice food, a couple of massages, fire throwers, cocktails, a bit of Muai Thai, a lady boy show, pet monkeys, planking and some very dodgey looking rocks and that pretty much sums up our time in Ko Samui.
As you can imagine, it was a pretty fun couple of days, but as a more commercial island with little diving to be done, really Ko Samui - for me at least - was just the prelude to the paradise that is Koh Tao. 'Turtle island', as it's otherwise known (apparently due to its shape rather than an abundance of sea turtles) had all Ko Samui had to offer plus a whole load more. Our resort was nicer, the beach more paradise-like, the nightlife equally as crazy, and crucially there was plenty of scuba diving to be done!
In fact, it was my favourite diving of the whole trip. Despite the 6am starts, lack of whale sharks and an incident where one of the women couldn't equalise and we had to resurface, the warm calm water and dive sites just a few minutes boat ride from the shore are pretty tough to beat.
Huge shoals of barracuda, blue spotted stingray, stripy sea snakes, pink nemos (I've never seen them before), giant grouper, big napoleon fish, yellow box fish, moray eels, the list of sea life goes on. And I got to dive another shipwreck - always a bonus!
The only downside was on the second morning, first dive of the day when we descended 18m to the reef only to find a fishing net caught in the coral. The glassed over eyes of the ensnared fish in the net and the couple that continued to desperately squirm in a hopeless attempt to free themselves really was a harrowing site. And whilst I was determined not to let it ruin what was otherwise an incredible few days diving, it's clear the Thai government needs to do more to enforce no fishing over the protected reef as it's quite evidently continually being openly ignored. Otherwise, in a few years time there won't be any point diving as there won't be much to see.
Okay, rant over. Koh Tao really is a fantastic place though and the last evening where I was reunited with my little 'Schatzchen' (or hunny to those that don't speak German), Denise from our northern Thailand tour, was my favourite night out to date.
A yummy dinner, nutella pancakes, delicious cocktails, buckets of vodka red bull, fire throwers, big rings of fire to leap through, late night swims - and all right on the beach, just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel room. Talk about going out with a bang - quite literally in my case as I fell (with some help) the 2 metres from the big pool to the shallow one. Oops.
Now following an evening in Chumphon, which was interesting in its own right, especially since support for the protesters was quite clear as people gathered en mass on the eve of the election to hear the protest leader's broadcast on a big screen, and our final sleeper train - I'm genuinely going to miss them - I find myself back in Bangkok. After some last minute souvenir buying, a massage and one final dip in the pool it will be time to say good bye to my incredible new friends, who I feel I have known much longer than I actually have, and head to the airport and home, where the real world awaits me *sigh*. Oh well, I can't complain. I have just had the best five months of my life after all.
Sawadee Ka Thailand, till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment