Koh Tao - 8 days vacation on perhaps the most beautiful island in Thailand - Plus our conclusion about Thailand

Yes, we're back in Thailand. But that was planned regarding our travel route.

Maybe the headline of this post confuses some of you. '8 days vacation?! But they've already been on vacation for about 3 months'. We have to correct this view right here. Our journey is by no means relaxation overall, although not pure stress either. One can say that it is relaxing on some days and stressful on others. But in order to really relax and enjoy the tropical and holiday paradise of Thailand, we decided to spend 8 days on the island of Koh Tao. It is located in the Gulf of Thailand about 75km away from the mainland. And it is tiny (7.5km x 2.5km), which gives it a certain charm.

In the night bus from Bangkok to the ferry, we met two super nice girls who, on top of that, come from Stuttgart-Möhringen! Isn't the world small? Anyway, we have met very few Germans on our journey. Now we meet some again, and the two are from Möhringen. Since we got along so great with them right away, we also met a few more times on the island.

Maybe you're wondering what we saw on the island. In advance: No temples! There is only one on the island, and we drove past it on our rented scooter. We can well imagine that some of you, like us, have had enough of temples.

In the classic sense, we didn't 'see' anything in these 8 days. In the end, however, we still saw the whole island, which is of course also due to its 'size'. It shines with beautiful beaches, secluded bays, turquoise blue water, great coral reefs with a large variety of species, and much more beautiful nature. Additionally, it is currently not rainy season on the island, so good weather is almost guaranteed. We bought snorkel sets for both of us on Ko Tao to explore the reefs. This investment was definitely worth it. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any underwater photos, otherwise you would definitely see them. To explore the island, we rented a scooter twice. That was also worth it, as we could visit almost every beach and see the most beautiful reefs.

But why continue talking when pictures can say so much more than words at this point.

After Ko Tao, we're heading to Malaysia - on the overnight ferry... The pictures we saw when booking looked promising. So we were all the more disappointed when we were allowed to 'admire' the lined-up body-wide mattresses on a wooden floor in the ship. The only hope was that we wouldn't be lying next to a rather unwashed person, which gave us hope for a peaceful night. Also, the fact that the ship wasn't fully booked ultimately turned out to be our luck and resulted in the best night transfer - despite sometimes rough seas.

We are very curious about what awaits us in Malaysia. What we have read and heard about it is not easy to categorize. This makes the whole thing even more interesting for us.

The conclusion about Thailand

It is the number one backpacker country. No doubt about that. It feels strange sometimes to meet more foreigners (primarily Europeans) than locals. But tourists bring money into the country, which is probably one of the main reasons why we are so welcome. Thailand, needless to mention it, is a holiday paradise for beach lovers. But it also has a lot more to offer. Bangkok, for example, is an impressive, diverse city, although not particularly beautiful. Much is of course geared towards tourism, which results in the fact that the original Thailand is more difficult to find, especially in urban areas. The country is felt to be miles ahead of its neighboring countries Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. So if you want a sunny and civilised holiday under palm trees, Thailand is the perfect place.

The locals are open-minded people and usually have a smile on their lips.

We have also felt more at home in probably no other country. The feeling of being far away from home is not as pronounced in Thailand as it is, for example, in Laos or Vietnam, not to mention Myanmar. The many European tourists certainly also play a big role. The infrastructure is good, there are highways (which significantly reduce transfer times in comparison to other countries), and the supply network is sufficient, so you can get food in even the smallest villages at any time. That's at least our impression.

However, Thailand has a big problem that clouds the mood a bit: stray dogs. Especially on Ko Tao, they are a problem. While they like to roam and sleep on well-visited beaches during the day, they lurk in all sorts of corners at night to defend their territory with loud barking when someone approaches. Phuket has already taken care of this and announced island-wide rabies vaccination for stray dogs. Sterilization of strays island-wide might have been a good option at this point as well. And it should be considered in other places in Thailand too.

In summary, it can of course still be said that we had a very nice time in Thailand. It can definitely be recommended for people looking for relaxation. It also has something to offer culturally. But if you want to get to know really foreign cultures and experience adventures, it is probably not the right place.