Koh Tao / Night train to Bangkok

Hello,
upon arriving at the beautiful island of Koh Tao, we decided to walk to our nearby accommodation this time. However, we quickly abandoned this decision after finding a great offer from a scooter rental located along the way. After a short negotiation, we rented a scooter for the next 4 days for only €15. With the scooter, we quickly reached our hotel. The check-in process was very atypical, as normally passports and booking confirmations are required, but here, the hotel employee simply nodded and motioned for us to follow. We climbed a staircase to a room that he unlocked and then left us standing there in silence. The room was spacious, equipped with a bathroom and a balcony. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and were already in the pool of our complex :) in the evening, we set off to the port to find a restaurant for dinner. Matthias really wanted pizza, which was not so easy to find. After some back and forth, we finally found a pizzeria with a wood-fired oven that made great pizza. The next day, we went to a beach resort near us, where we climbed to a viewpoint for the first time. After taking some photos, we went back down and went straight to the beach where we could snorkel at a great reef. Then we went to the next beach where we could rent a kayak. After some initial difficulties paddling, we finally got the hang of it and headed to another reef for snorkeling. In the evening, we went back to our hotel pool and then to town for dinner. The following day, the alarm went off very early because we had planned to go to Shark Bay to possibly spot the infamous sharks. We were already at the beach at 6:30 a.m., but the sea was very rough and the water was turbid. We jumped into the water and started swimming, but after just 100 meters, we realized that we couldn't handle these waves for long. So we went back to the beach, where we borrowed life jackets and swam out to the sea again. We could see a beautiful reef with many fish further out, but unfortunately no sharks. We had breakfast on the beach and then went to the next stunning beach on the west side of the island. The sea was very calm here, and a beautiful reef with many fish awaited us just a few meters from the beach. The last beach we visited that day was Ao Leuk Beach with its marine blue water and beautiful beach loungers. In the evening, we went to a motorcycle rental shop that we had found the day before, where we rented a motocross motorcycle for the next 24 hours. Since Matthias had never driven with gears before, there were some difficulties at the beginning. We did reach the first destination that evening and enjoyed the sunset with a drink on the terrace of a restaurant. After a good breakfast, we went to Tanote Beach. Here, there was a beautiful reef off the coast, and Julia jumped into the sea from a high rock after a daring climb. With motorcycle and scooter, we continued to a beautiful viewpoint high up on a mountain. The next beach offered an unpleasant sight, as there was litter everywhere on land and in the sea. Nevertheless, we briefly snorkeled along the coast. Our further journey took us to a parking lot after having lunch with schnitzel and fries, from where we walked and later climbed to a rock with a view over the entire west side of the island. Then we headed to the famous Mango Bay, but the path there was very steep and difficult, so we decided to continue by scooter together. After countless stairs and climbing between the rocks, we also went into the water here to explore the reef. We saw many beautiful fish, but the water tasted oily somehow. Then we noticed an oil slick on the water's surface, so we immediately went ashore. After the exhausting return journey, it was time to return the motorcycle. After that, we went to a nearby beach again to watch the sunset. Our departure from Koh Tao was in the afternoon by ferry to the mainland. We were taken to the train station by a tour bus, where we stored our luggage for the next few hours and strolled through the city. Our train to Bangkok departed at 8:30 p.m. We got a sleeper compartment with two facing beds and fell asleep shortly after. We woke up at 6 a.m., reached our destination well-rested, and now we are looking for accommodation.

See you later,
Malia