Koh Tao 9th-14th

After Koh Samui & Koh Phangan comes Koh Tao - an island much smaller than the other two and now famous for its snorkelling and scuba diving. Many tourists come to Koh Tao and complete a Padi certificate in diving of various stages and degrees, some do it to just experience diving and seeing the fishes, others complete a 5 day course so they can eventually become the instructor and lead dives.

Koh Tao has many resorts and hostels that specifically host the diving option and Padi certificate, we looked into having a trial dive but never got around to doing it, anyway, the snorkelling is cheap and you see much of the same thing as with the trial dive.

We stayed at Big Fish Resort on Chaolk Baan - is was nice and quiet but not too far from the night life, bars and restaurants.

Ignore the mess, but our room opens out onto the beach!!!!   -------------------------->

Isaac & Sam - with us again, this time on Koh Tao. They were fun to be around and made our excursions a little bit more exciting.

After Koh Tao - Isaac & Sam went back to Bangkok to fly back home to the UK.

On one day Ann and I took off on the moped for our own little adventure, we found a special little place on top of a hill not too far from where we were staying, it over looked shark bay. We had a banana shake and watched the day go by, it was nice.

Shark bay - actually we are unsure if that is it's real name but it was what we called it.

Sam had her birthday on Koh Tao and we got to celebrate it with her by going on a snorkelling day trip. Throughout the day we stopped off at about 5 different locations around the island for a dip and finally visited a small island that has been made a national park sort of thing for a rest a relax time. 

Isaac and John sneakily organised a cake through Mam, (the lady that runs the guest house we were staying at) and she - equally as sneaky got the taxi driver to sneak it on to the boat and give it to the captain and crew to hide until after lunch. It was pretty special for Sam, especially because two boat loads of snorkellers joined in to sing happy birthday to her making her a very embarrassed birthday girl.

The day was really nice, we saw some reef sharks, loads of colourful fishes and corals and some great island scenery.

                                End of a great day - everyone still happy but a little worn out!!!


A few days later - John tried out a traditional Thai style of Tattooing - with bamboo. He found a nice, clean shop and spoke with the people there and finally decided on an image that came from a Thai story that he knows and likes. The tattoo took around 4.5hrs.

WARNING - THE NEXT TWO IMAGES MAY DISTURB SOME VIEWERS 

So we had a little accident and Ann's toe was dislocated. The worst part of the whole experience was that the doctor on Koh Tao would not try and fix it and insisted that she spend a night in hospital and we take the morning ferry back to Koh Samui. So they fussed over her, took her blood pressure, temperature, gave her some pain killers and a dip until morning, then send us to Koh Samui with a nurse, who again continued to take her pulse, blood pressure, and temperature every half hour, even whilst she obviously was having a bout of sea sickness.

The boat ride was in parts quite terrifying, the boat swayed from side to side in the massive swell and to make things worse for Ann the air conditioning unit above her dropped about 500mls of ice cold water on her with every big sway - eventually she moved seats. Finally we got to Samui unscathed a little giddy and an ambulance was waiting at the end of the pier. We were taken to Samui Bangkok Hospital and within the hour Ann's toe was jerked back into place with a little help from a little morphine and a nice Doctor. A few hours later and a few phone calls to the insurance company - Ann was discarded and we were on our way back to the Samui Beach Resort where we stayed 3 weeks ago.       

See below for the grossly dislocated big left toe.

Not as gross as you expected now was it...................

Koh Phangan 6th-9th

Koh Phangan is famous for the full moon parties it holds every month, as well as half moon and a party every night on the beach. Many young traveller from all over the globe come to this island to get drunk, dance and be a little silly. Fortunately, (and cause we are all grown up now) - we missed the full moon party - but we did go for a look at the famous Haad Rin Beach night life and had some fun. 

Koh Phangan is the second or middle island of the three off the east coast of Thailand, other than being party central for youngsters, it has really nice resorts and beaches and is a great place to relax.

We travelled the island on mopeds with our mates Isaac and Sam and got to see some great places - hidden beaches and resorts, bars, and restaurants

                                                                                     

This video is a bit long so you don't have to watch it all

This little beach stretches out to a small uninhabited island - along the beach there are massage kiosks and a bar or two.

A night out in the famous Haad Rin, where they hold the  full moon parties (massive beach party held once a month where around 10,000 - 60,000 people attend). The night we went their was only a hundred or so people around - we had fun watching the fire twirlers and party boys and girls dance and play around -  John had a go skipping the fire rope.

 

When you go out to the full moon parties or half moon parties on Koh Phangan lots of people paint them selves with fluro paint. I got really excited and painted myself all over, then there was a massive storm and the rain was really bad, and on top of that our friend started to feel sick from some food he ate, and we decided not to go, ......... Big sigh...... so John took photos of me and I washed it all off hahaha, but I still had fun painting it on.

<------ This massive gecko lived with us in our little bungalow - he had a very deep cheep like a bull frog

One morning at about 7am - I went walking and found the beach looking totally different to the other times I had seen it. The tide was low, revelling shells and corals, the local dogs were out sniffing around and there was no one else in sight except two locals launching their long-tail boat for an early morning spot of fishing. I enjoyed a short stroll watching the dogs playing together, Ann slept.

long tail boat

Koh Samui 4th-6th Sept.

Ko Samui island of Surat Thani Province (or Koh Samui, Thai: เกาะสมุย, Thai pronunciation: [kɔ̀ʔ samǔj]), or often, simply Samui as it is referred to by locals, is an island off the east coast of the Kra Isthmus in Thailand, close to the mainland town, Surat Thani and in the Surat Thani Province. It is Thailand's second largest island after Phuket, with an area of 228.7 km2 and a population of over 50,000 attracting 1.5 million tourists per year. It is rich with natural resources, white sandy beaches, coral reefs, waterfalls and coconut trees. . . . . thanks wikipedia.

On Samui we stayed at the Samui Beach Resort - a lovely place right on the beach in an area called Lamai we were spoilt with a clean and clear pool that overlooked an amazing beach and sat beside a very nice bar and restaurant.

Our little cabin/room at Samui Beach Resort was more than comfortable and a great price of only 550 baht per night (17AUD or £11).

Lamai Beach

Relaxing in the pool

The view from the pool terrace at Samui Beach Resort

Storms a brewing over Lamai Beach

Isaac and Sam from Portsmouth - become great friends of our and we travelled together for a few weeks

Samui also hosts some great treks and waterfalls - one day we felt energetic so we tackled a massive mountain to find a nice little waterhole and waterfall - on the way there we had many breathing breaks - on the way back we made our own track.

Mountain Goose

On our way back from the waterfall we stopped at a little family run restaurant the food was great and they really liked having us there - they took a photo of us before we left and told us that we should go and visit a temple just up the road because there was a mummified monk there - which is pretty unique and also amazing. So we said our goodbye and hopped on our scooters to find this temple. Not too far up the road we came upon the temple and shrine. It was an amazing site - the monk sits in a glass box, cross legged with Ray Bans on. You can see him rotting away - slowly, his hair still on his head and his skin slightly dehydrated hanging over his skinny bones.

Later in our adventures around Samui we found the big Buddha (see above) - we also found yummy pancakes, a really nice bar called Karma Sutra and some great Italian food, oh and a book shop selling second hand books that had been brought over from the UK - for double the price they were for sale for in the UK.

Mr Content