Crossing to Koh Tao

Today we took the ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Tao. It was a relaxing 2.5-hour trip with a stopover in Koh Phangan.

The night before, we said goodbye to the owner of Reuan Phaolai over a few glasses of gin and tonic. She was always very helpful, and we really enjoyed chatting with her since she loves to travel as well. She also recommended a few nice places for our next trip to Thailand; Chumphon seems to be quite unspoiled since it’s mostly only Thais who vacation there.

Our new accommodation, Tao Thong Villa 2, is a bit secluded and has been nice and quiet so far. Aside from the sound of the ocean and a few animal noises, there’s nothing to be heard.

You can go snorkeling right in front of the restaurant here. That will probably take up a large part of our vacation on Koh Tao, since the roads all over the island are very steep, going up or down, and we’re getting around without a scooter. But after six weeks on vacation without snorkeling, that’s okay too.

In the afternoon, though, we did make our way to the nearest 7-Eleven… which, however, was harder than we thought; the two kilometers seemed to go on forever. It was a steep climb up the hill the whole way. And, of course, we were once again the only pedestrians in sight. On the way, we even stopped for a break at a coffee shop. The owners looked at us a bit pityingly when we arrived completely sweaty.

After we’d regained some energy, we even made a little detour to a Chinese shrine (Kannon Bodhisattva) with some very beautiful statues.

Then the path finally went downhill for quite a while, though very steeply, which was tiring on the legs again, and by the end we were walking on jelly legs.

Once we arrived in town, we immediately raided the first fruit stand, and I was even able to log my first geocache in Thailand—a simple traditional cache behind a street sign.

On the way back, we ended up taking a taxi, which we loaded up with water canisters so we’d have enough for at least the next few days.

Back at our accommodation, we cooled off a bit in the sea (not much—the water here is quite warm) and spotted our first fish.

In the evening, we enjoyed the beautiful ocean view from our bungalow, and Simon relaxed in the hammock on the balcony.