Koh Tao Discoveries

View from above - Koh Samui

To finish off our time in Thailand we decided to head over to the Southeast coast to Koh Tao, a small island I had always wanted to check out (Koh or Ko means island in Thai and Tao means turtle). I heard multiple people mention this island on our trip so it seemed it was time to have a look. There are three main East coast islands of Thailand that people tend to visit; Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao. Koh Samui is the largest of the islands with an airport you can fly into, Koh Pha Ngan is the second largest and is famous for its full moon parties (a scene I consciously avoid) and Koh Tao is the smallest of the three measuring approximately 8 sq. miles. To get there you fly into Samui, then take a ferry for about two hours stopping at Koh Pha Ngan along the way. I had heard Koh Tao was the more mellow island in this chain, yet it still had a fun beach bar scene with fire shows and sun downers. It is also a diving mecca and known for an abundance of marine life.

Sairee Beach

Shark Bay

Banana Rock Beach (Not the official name)

We decided to use Airbnb and found a lovely house with an AMAZING ocean view in the hills above the largest beach area, Sairee. As I was not familiar with the island deciding where to stay was a difficult task, and while the house was lovely it ended up being slightly inconvenient for us due to its location up an incredibly steep hill and 94 steps to the front door. As Juliet was not an experienced motorbike rider we decided to forgo the bikes, otherwise the location would not have been such an issue. However, being a small, remote and hilly island the roads were all pretty bad so we decided opting out of the motorbikes was probably for the best. The host, Franzi, was super sweet and provided us with an old school Nokia (which we affectionately named the "bat phone") programmed with her personal taxi driver's number who would show up within minutes of us calling him no matter where we were. We also had a house mascot, a lovely kitty named Vincent/Travis/Greg; Vincent was the name from the original owner, Travis was second owner, and we decided we would rather call him Greg like our other doggie friend in Phuket. Greg generally hung around the house and was always staring into the window in the early morning (sometimes looking very creepy about it) waiting for us to come say hi, he even did yoga and meditation with us on the patio.

Just a few of the 94 steps to our Airbnb villa

Although the view from the patio made the trek worth it :)

Vincent/Travis/Greg waiting for his morning attention

Yoga with Greg

Kitty meditations

Our first night out I had visions of mellow sunset cocktails with chill music and maybe a nice fire show, however the party scene of Sairee ended up feeling more reminiscent of my experience with college frat parties. I was shocked to find the famous Thai "buckets" being advertised everywhere, basically a bucket full of local Thai booze (usually Sangsom rum) and mixers such as red bull that is guaranteed to take anyone to a high level of intoxication. It was clearly a younger feeling crowd stumbling around the streets, so we made our way to the most mellow feeling beach bar and made the most of our evening. We had a fun time nevertheless and if anything the people watching was quite entertaining! The next night we decided to avoid this area, and found an awesome Reggae bar called Baby Rasta near the pier that had a much more relaxed vibe. This bar was like a Bob Marley version of the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, a place pictures will never be able to show how magical it really is. You enter from the main road to the bar, but then down some stairs it branches out and just keeps on going. It had all these little areas and enclaves with cushions and couches for hanging with small groups including some you reach by going up various ladders, and a main stage where live music was played. We happened to be there on Friday night, and apparently that is BBQ night where the owners cook up dinner for everyone at the bar which was really sweet. We enjoyed just hanging here, chatting, listening to reggae music and playing cards - much more our pace.

Rasta Baby - A must visit in Koh Tao!

Relaxing by the stage

Over the next few days we were able to explore the island a bit more and found some gorgeous spots away from the crowds. We discovered that due to the terrain of the island, all the best beaches were mainly accessible via long tail boat or hiking in. As Thailand seemed to be in a heat wave we didn't do much hiking, but I managed to make it to one of the main viewpoints called Mango Bay as I woke up early to beat the heat and the view was definitely worth it. We hired a long tail driver for one of the days who was fantastic, and he took us to a remote beach called Banana Rock (for the driftwood bar on the beach there) and that beach was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. It was a small cove with large boulders sheltering the beach area and we had an incredibly relaxing day there enjoying the scenery. The next day we headed to Shark Bay in hopes of finding some turtles (it is "turtle" island after all) and also black tipped reef sharks that are apparently abundant in that area. Sadly, I didn't spot any turtles, but I did swim with multiple sharks which was really cool, one of them must have been at least four feet long. Unfortunately, on my swim back to shore I kicked a sea urchin and got some spines in my toe which was unpleasant, but now I know how to deal with that if it ever happens again! I immediately went to the walk-in clinic where the gals in there seemed quite unfazed by my urchin spine issue, and they basically told me to get as much of the spines out as I could and to soak my toe in vinegar and it would dissolve the rest. Problem solved :)

Mango Bay View Point

Beach swings are everywhere in Asia!  I love it!

Jess looking very relaxed and fly <3

Crossing over to the next tiny beach

Lunch with Banana Rock Bar in the background

Thai menus and spelling are always entertaining :)

Twilight at Banana Rock

Long tail boat ride back from Banana Rock Beach

All in all it was a beautiful island, and once we got our bearings we had a great time finding some different beaches around the island. If I went back I would definitely find some beach front bungalows in a more secluded area and just take in the beauty of this small island. Before flying out we had one night in Koh Samui, and caught an amazing last dinner and sunset in Thailand and the best fire show I have ever seen. It was a great send off! Until next time, Thailand...

Last meal in Thailand

My faves for the last meal - Pad Kraprow Gai (Basil Chicken) with steamed rice and an egg

Sunset Sendoff in Samui