Thailand: Kicking off in Koh Tao


After starting in Bangkok but then bouncing all over SE Asia, the next stage of our journey allowed us enjoy a little more of Thailand’s beauty. Some time on a beautiful island in a turquoise sea is part of most people’s vision of a visit to Thailand and that was exactly what we were after. There are a lot of suitable islands to choose from but my desire to do a PADI course and get qualified for Scuba Diving led us to one particular place – Koh Tao.

Koh Tao Ferry Terminal

The trinity of Koh Phangan, Koh Samui and Koh Tao have been on the tourist trail longer than most other Thai Islands. As the northernmost and quietest of the three Koh Tao is generally reported as the place to kick back on the beach, swim in the coral reefs and escape the hustle and bustle that pervades SE Asia. Various tour operators throughout Thailand will be able to get you there, with various options of price and comfort. Our journey to the island was through an Air Asia combined flight and boat which, although it was a little pricey by Thai standards at £37.50 each, got us from Bangkok to paradise without any hiccups in 8 hours. I’ll take that over a cramped overnight bus (complete with sleep-deprived driver) any day.

Koh Tao Ferry Waiting Room

 

Koh Tao Ferry

As I mentioned before, Koh Tao has the reputation of being the island to escape the busy booziness of its two bigger brothers. Despite this one of the first things you hit off the boat is a 7-11, so to say it’s even a short hop from the beaten track would be a push. That said it still ended up being one of our favourite destinations – offering the balance of beauty and serenity, a splash of upbeat nightlife and plenty of great food & drink options.

Koh Tao Arrival

Our first few days were earmarked for learning to Scuba and our accommodation was included in the deal for the dive courses. The apartments were called Utopia, they let private rooms from about $18 per night and from what else we saw we’d highly recommend them. This was at the southern end of the huge bay on the island’s west coast (99% of the island’s development is down this coast). This end of the bay is a bit quieter than the northern end; the southern beach, known as Mae Haad, is a bit rockier and all the boats arrive/depart from here. However there are still a good number of bars and restaurants around, the beach is quieter (and still beats most other beaches hands down!) and the snorkelling is much better at this end so weigh up your options first.

Koh Tao Sairee Beach

Following the dive course we decided to move up to Sairee Beach at the Northern end of the bay to get closer to the nightlife and see what was going on at the other end. Sairee beach definitely had more going on into later in the evening; we really liked the chilled out beach bar setups, with massive beanbags and excellent cocktails aplenty. Local hippies provided ample entertainment by fire-spinning and juggling flaming torches. Our only problem on the beach was the terrible EDM blasting out of a few of the venues and spoiling the vibes in other places.

Koh Tao Sunset

In hindsight we’d probably have not bothered moving hotels to the other end but sometimes you have to see if the grass is greener. Given that Sairee’s nightlife is only a short songthaew ride from Mae Haad and that the best nightclub we found (MOOV) was actually in Mae Haad, if I went back I’d stay in the quieter ends. Next up, what we got up to in Koh Tao…

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