Ko Tao, Thailand

My first exteneded journey outside of Bangkok would take me to 3 islands in the south. To get there would be a bit of a trek.

The bus system in Thailand is much different than what I experienced in South America. A van picked me up at my hostel and took we to another hostel/travel agency where a group of us waited a little over an hour. They use a sticker system to make sure people are getting on the right bus and going in the right direction. After our wait we were told to follow one of the organizers to the bus stop ( the hostel was located down a very little alley that a bus would not fit in). So there were about 15 of us with our luggage following this guy on a walk that a one point took us through a muay thai boxing training ring. Finally we arrive at the "bus stop", which really was just a busy street. We join people that had already been waiting and now there were about 50 people just standing on the street. After about 5 minutes a bus pulls up and everyone rushes to get there luggage and themselves on board. There was no tagging of the luggage or assigned seating, it was every man, women and child for themselves.I have to say that everyone was really polite about the situation.

The bus heads out of Bangkok at 7:00pm and the ride is about 7 1/2 hours and we stopped once for a food/bathroom break. I'm at the back of the bus which is really bumpy, but still I'm able to sleep. At 2:30am I'm awoken to the driver saying "Koh Tao, Koh Tao, get off", no please or anything. So about 15 of us stumble off the bus and grab our luggage. Now I knew that to get to Koh Tao the trip would involve a bus and boat ride, what I didn't know was that we would have a bit of a wait for the boat ride. The boat was not scheduled to leave until 7:30am. So it's the 15 of us, the man from the boat company and a couple of stray dogs. There just happens to be a shed like building and so we all pile in and go back to sleep, on the floor. Around 7:00am we wake up to find about 30 other people have joined us at some point during the night. A short while later we all load onto the boat, with most of us falling right back to sleep. The boat ride is a little over 2 hours but when I look outside I see beautiful green mountains and blue water that is just so inviting.
The place that I was staying (Scuba Shack) were these nice little bungalows. Mine had air conditioning and a mini frig. It also had one of those all in one bathrooms, with a self flushing toilet. The all in one means that there was no separation of the shower from the rest of the room. The "shower" was really a hose with a nozzle and depending on how you worked it everything in the room could be wet by the end. The self flushing toilet meant that after you did your business instead of pushing a handle on the side there was a bucket on the ground under a spout and you would fill this up and pour it in the toilet, basically using displacement to clean the bowl.

From my bungalow it took me less than a minute to get to the water. The water was realy warm (warmer than the "shower" in my room). You could walk in the water, swim, snorkle, or as one guy was doing sit in it and smoke a joint, whatever you were in the mood for.

There was no doubt that the unusual journey was well worth the beauty the islands had to offer.

I signed up for a snorkling tour around the island. Getting out on the water gave me chance to really see this beautiful island. There were houses/huts/bungalows built right on the side of the mountain. Some looked accesible only fromt the water, while they had beautiful views I would hate to have to drag things up to them on a regular basis. The mountains are green and beautiful, even the large boulders have a certain beauty to them.

As we ride to our first destination at one point a school of little silver fish jump out of the water right next to our boat as if to welcome us to their stompping grounds, that seemed to set the tone for the day. We stopped about 5 times to snorkel in different spots around the island. The water is fairly calm, and it's so clear it easy to see so much. The coral reef is so colorful, there is red, green, blue and even pink colors. I had flashbacks to my anatomy classes as some of the coral reminded me of dissecting brains (sheep, not human). A couple of times I found myself right in the middle of a giant schools of fish. One of the spots was know for being able to see sharks. Unlike in the Galapagos Islands they didn't tell us that they were vegetarian, instead we were told "don't bite them and they won't bite you". I did not see any sharks but some in our group did.

On the boat there was free cold water, coffee and tea as well as sodas and beer for sell. After second stop there was freshly cut pineapple and watermelon. I was really surprised by the lunch which was chicken and rice in plastic containers that somehow they managed to keep warm, I was fully expecting a cold lunch. All the crew on the boat were fairly young (except the captain) and seemed to really enjoy their job, although who wouldn't love a job where you get to be in the sun, on the water, and push tourist of the boat.

The last stop of the day was to a a series of 3 little island connected together. We had about a 2 hour stay so we could do anything from snorkel, to eat to, go to the top of one of the island for what was said to be a beautiful view point. Not that I really wanted to climb to the top of the mountain in the heat, but I know the view would be something else. What they don't tell you is that in order to see this wonderful view when you get to the top the stairs end and you have to climb up a couple of boulders. For many the climb was just not possible and they headed down. My flip flops were already slippery so I took these off to climb the boulders, but my feet were also slippery so I took it slow. My stubby legs worked hard to get me from one boulder to the next but finally I made it to the top and yes, the view was something else. The only thing that would have made it better would be if there was a spot to just cliff dive right into the water rather than having to climb down again.