Here we are...and now we are gone

Here we are in a cheap internet cafe in Koh Tao. We are leaving tomorrow to go back to Bangkok and then up to Chaing Mai. We thought we would post about Koh Tao before we left though because it is DEFINITELY worth mentioning. Here is a map of the gulf of Thailand so you can see exactly where we are:

We took a relatively uneventful bus ride from Phuket to Suratthani on Friday afternoon. We were to leave on an overnight boat from there at around 11pm. So first we walked around town. It was a pretty cool town beacause not many tourists make it there so there wasn't as much hassling. We found a really cool market. The best we have been to yet. I(Larissa), think it was so cool because it wasn't dependent on tourists. In fact, we were about the only white people there. It was such a cool market. It reminded me of a carnival. I wish the US would have markets like this. We have Farmers markets but those seem to have become something that only rich people can afford to go to on a regular basis. It really is too bad. Here is a picture of me wandering through the market:

We took the overnight boat because it was cheaper and we figured it would be a cool adventure. The boat was pretty cool. It was composed of a floor with mattresses. These mattresses had numbers above them and there was a corresponding number on your ticket. This is definately one of those times that I am glad to be traveling with someone. The mattresses had two numbers per mattress so if the boat was full and you were traveling by yourself, you would have to sleep in the same bed with a stranger. Here is me perched on our mattress:

I slept rather well actually. The only thing was bothersome was the little kid sleeping the next mattress over. He migrated and writhed in his sleep and smacked me in the face with his hand several times. When we woke up at the dock in the morning, we got off only to be immediately barraged with taxi drivers saying "Hello! Where you go? Taxi?" As I mentioned before, we find this quite annoying as we have to tell each and every driver "no" since they can't seem to hear us say no to the other drivers. We were very glad at that moment to know that our dive resort was going to meet us at the dock to take us and our bags to the resort. After coldly saying no to all the taxi drivers, we walked down the pier looking for our people. They never came. Jason went and bought a calling card and called them. They didn't answer. Finally, about 45 minutes after we arrived, Jason reached them on the phone. They said "oh, uh... just take a taxi and we will reimburse you" ARGH! So "tail between our legs" we had to approach a taxi driver we had refused before because "we already had a ride".

We arrived at our resort and the beach bungalow we had reserved had been filled by someone else, so the put us in a little room. Jason complained and so they kicked some guy out of his bungalow so we could have it. Jason insisted that they didn't have to do that! They said, "Oh he is happy, we moved him to an nice big air-conditioned room." Oh. This bungalow turned out to be not inside the resort grounds but down the road and around the corner. Definitely not on the beach. But very close to this internet cafe so we are happy. heh. Here is a picture of our little place:

After we got settled we immediately went off to explore the island. From our map, it looked like there is a trail that goes from one side of the island, over a mountain, to the other side. Off we went. Right as we reached the edge of town, a dog joined us. He seemed to think he was leading us. He would trot off ahead of us and then wait for us to catch up. He seemed to have hardly any trouble with the hike, while Jason and I quickly guzzled our water almost gone. Sometime on the other side of the mountain a bright green snake slithered across the road in front of us. Jason went running after it of course and I had to scream at him not to touch it. I let him take a picture though (but not too close). Not a great picture but anyway...

We also saw 4 monitor lizards and a sugar glider! That was pretty cool. We got the other side of the island HOT and exhausted and were greeted by our doggie friend. He went snorkeling with us for awhile. Here is a picture of swimming Fido:

We saw some cool things. Like some cuttlefish. Then we started our hike back. We noticed a trail on the map that would take us to "Two View". We assumed this was a lookout point so we checked our water supply (dangerously low) and decided to go for it!

It was an awfully long hike and we were weren't sure it was going to be worth it. We finally made it to the top after a couple of false views (we kept thinking "this is it??"). Here is the view from two views.

Pretty huh? I was completely done at this point and didn't even want to think about hiking all the way BACK. Jason on the other hand got this sickening second wind and announced that he was going to find the "third view". He launched into a spiel about how "the locals are the only ones who know about it!!" while marching through the underbrush. The view at the third views was a couple of trees. Very worth it.... Here is a picture of where we hiked, taken from the beach.

We got lost trying to get down the mountain. We were out of water and very tired and thirsty. Speaking of which, Larissa is tired and thirsty right now, so I (Jason) will take over the writing from here. Larissa had the brilliant idea of breaking open a coconut. Without any hesitation, we started investing the last of our energy into extracting any food or milk that we could from a coconut. It didn't take us more than a couple of minutes to crack it open, our Palau training coming in handy. Unfortunately, it was fairly old, and the milk had turned to a spongy paste. We were told in Palau that this was a delicacy, but neither of us has been able to develop a taste for it. Nonetheless, we were content eating the nut part. Eventually we found the right trail, and made it down the mountain. I thought that it was a great hiking experience. Dense jungle, no crowds (in fact, no other hikers), wildlife, nice views, cool water at the end, what could be better?

We got back to our bungalo having completely exhausted ourselves. I am always wary of these moments because we tend reward ourselves with an excess of cold sweets. No harm done this time though, I think we settled for a couple of fruit shakes at a little place down on the beach.

Koh Tao is our kind of place. It is layed back like you expect islands to be, but it is full of things to do. Diving is at the forefront of activities around here, and is essentially the reason that Koh Tao is on the tourist circuit in the first place. We read a bit about the history of this place. Only a decade ago there were virtually no accomodations available here, neither were there any dive operators on the island. Eventually, dive boats from the neighboring Ko Phangnan started exploring some sites around Koh Tao. These sites proved to be some of the best dives sights in the entire Gulf, so dive operations started to become established on the island. Along with this development came the bungalo craze. There aren't any high rise buildings here, but there are lots and lots of bungalos. We have found it quite charming. Because the quality of the diving, the inexpensive cost of living, and the relaxing atmosphere, Koh Tao has become the mecca for diver training in S.E. Asia.

There are a few restaurants around that show a few movies each night, free of charge. Both Larissa and I have taken quite a liking to this. I like it because I can take her out to a movie for free, and she likes it because I can take her out to a movie without complaining about the cost of the tickets. Last night we ordered a pizza, which was ready shortly after the movie began.

Yesterday we went out to Chumphon Pinnacle, the first dive site we would see in Ko Tao. The visibility was not great, but we did manage to see some cool stuff. Here is a Blue-Spotted Stingray: Here is the dive boat:
It is convenient to get to the dive sites around here. The boats leave right from the beach, and it is less than a forty minute boat ride to most sites. We did two dives yesterday, and three more today. Todays first dive was at Sail Rock, supposedly the Gulf's best dive site. Unfortunately for us, the visibility was really low today. We did see some good stuff though, like a few huge schools of Barraccuda, some of them around 6 feet long.

While we are very fond of this place, our time in Thailand is growing shorter, and we have a lot left to explore.

For now, its back to the bungalo. We'll leave you with a beautiful Sairee Beach Sunset.