Travel to Koh Tao

It has been some days since we were in Trang -- Trang was a cool bustling town, and we ended up spending our whole time there just wandering around checking out the local sights and markets, and getting a little consumer-oriented for the first time (we found some really cool t-shirts there). We were going to try to check out some of the waterfalls in the surrounding areas, but in the end we did not get a chance to see any due to a transportation issue and to me (Skye) suddenly becoming extra safety conscious despite the fact that most of our travel so far has pushed this little issue -- somehow I just couldn't 'get behind' climbing into the back of a pick-up truck with the kids and then barrelling down the highway to our destination 45 minutes away -- I couldn't rationalize how that was any different from a tuk-tuk (which is also like a very little pick-up truck with benches in the back and a little roof -- and we've gone in tonnes of these), but somehow it just seemed more risky. Oh well, we'll have to see waterfalls elsewhere.

A gigantic Buddha being built on the temple grounds in Trang.

After two days in Trang, we lugged ourselves over to a minibus terminal to travel onwards to Surat Thani -- a town on the Southeastern side of Thailand, and a jumping-off point for all of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand (Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao). When we got to the terminal, it didn't look too busy, and we thought there would be plenty of room, especially important for Ronato whose long legs present a bit of a problem in vehicles here in Asia. We climbed into the large van which seated 15 and settled in, feeling pretty comfortable, but then at the last minute people just kept climbing in until almost all 15 seats were filled (all except one beside the driver). The driver took off, honking and weaving through traffic, as is the Thai way, only to pull over about 10 minutes later to pick up another rider . . . hmmm where would he sit? Just squeeze in at the back. We thought that must be it, but no, we had at least 2 - 3 more stops with additional passengers climbing in so that by the time we really got on our way, the van was crammed like a sardine can. Now the driver could really put the pedal to the metal and get going! Thai driving is a crazy affair -- half the time they are either overtaking another vehicle, honking to let them know to move over, or are at least driving on the middle line, in case they have to quickly go around a scooter or other vehicle -- all the while honking. Never mind if a car is coming up from the other direction -- they just have to move over! Our driver obviously knew what he was doing though because we got to Surat Thani safe and sound, if a little squished.

Once in Surat Thani, we quickly found a hotel near the river (thinking the boat left from nearby) and dumped our stuff so we could get out and about to figure out how we were going to get to Koh Tao. We quickly realized that most ferries to Koh Tao actually leave from a point 60+ km to the south of Surat Thani -- drat . . . and we'd already picked our hotel! We did notice, however, that we could book a space on a night cargo boat heading to Koh Tao that left just a few blocks from our hotel -- we went to check it out and after climbing on board the boat to see what it might be like, we saw that the whole top was set up for sleeping, so we decided to go for it -- so what if we'd already booked a room (it was only 350 Thai Baht, about $13 Cdn), the room would give us a place to camp out with our stuff until the 11pm departure. Plus, it would be a whole new "method of transportation" adventure.

We had quite a few hours to kill before our departure, so we did a little chilling out in our room and then we went out to check out the night market. Wow! Yet another different market -- it was packed to the gunnels with Thai people (we only saw one other traveller) and a crazy myriad of food choices. Another yummy food adventure -- see below for some of the choices and some of the other markets, food stalls we've checked out in the last little while:

Food in small town Thailand









Limes, which people here call lemons! Great night markets with cheap excellent food









Fish kept live for fresh eating. Dumplings in all shapes and sizes -great in soups

Sun dried salted fish. Ducks on from a past firing squad

More bird carnage

A constant favourite - Red curry with coconut milk

This dinner was on our last night in Trang, we had been trying to find a noodle soup place, but weren't having much luck, so we just wandered into this place trying to say something about soup. With some minimal English (on their part) and lots of hand signals we managed to order the above meal -- it was really delicious, and everyone in the 'restaurant' (actually an open, but covered, tiled-space with tables and chairs) seemed to get a real kick over the farangs trying to order and eat! A little girl, about 1.5 years old could not stop staring at us.) In the end it was another one of those rich experiences we seem to keep having.

So, back to the night boat -- after the night market we went back to our little room, got our stuff organized, showered (it is really hot here), and worked hard to keep Kai and Pippin from trying to lie down to go to sleep, we still had to get to the boat! By 10:30 we wandered over to the ferry with our stuff and climbed on -- it was already about half full (lots of farangs) and we made ourselves busy by getting ourselves settled in, making sure our bags were within reach (we'd heard that you needed to keep your belongings close, due to theft issues), claiming beds, etc. By the 11pm departure the boat was pretty full -- though I noticed that one side was less full -- I realized that they must have sold tickets for farangs ('white' travellers) separately from Thais as our side was only travellers, and chocka-block full, while the other side was less full -- when a couple of other travellers tried to choose beds on the other side, one of the Thai women said, "Let me see your ticket number. No, you are over there!" Funny. The boat ride was not exactly the most restful, though both of the kids slept through most of the 8 hour journey, so that was great. There was the requisite crying child in the night and the lights would turn off and on randomly, so sleep was broken, but hey, it was yet another part of this adventure.

The night boat

We arrived on Koh Tao by 7 in the morning and were met with cries for "Taxi!" as soon as we stepped off our boat. We knew where we were headed generally, but of course all of the taxi drivers are also linked to resorts, so we got directed to one in the south of the island right on Shark Bay (that was where we wanted to go). When we got there, it was quite nice, so we checked in but quickly realized we were a completely captive audience with only the restaurant of the resort and one next door as possible eating venues -- as I'm sure you've all guessed, the prices were quite elevated. We ended up only staying there for two nights -- it was very beautiful, but maybe a little too isolated (you should have seen the road to get there -- all the taxis here are 4WD trucks), and not enough options for eating. We did do some snorkeling there, and saw some really, really big tropical fish, but swimming was challenging because the coral basically came almost right up to the shore, making it difficult to get into/out of the water without hitting the coral. This provided a bit of a challenge for the kids.

Here are some images from our time at Shark Bay on Koh Tao:

Fresh coconut! We got to watch a man climb the coconut palm like a monkey and then cut all the coconuts down. It didn't taste like any of us expected. Interesting . . .

The view from the resort restaurant. Pretty nice view, but the food was mediocre for Thailand!

Kai on a walk around the bay, sporting some of his cool new clothes.

Amazing shells to be found everywhere

Coral washed up on the beach

Learning backgammon. We've managed to teach both Kai and Pippin -- lots of fun!

So now it is the weekend. Yesterday we decided to come up to Sai Ree Beach on the western side of Koh Tao -- we found a very comfortable resort with a pool right on the beach -- and it has a movie channel with lots of English movies!!! We thought it would be fun to be in a busier part of the island and in a resort with some special comforts for the time leading into Kai's 11th birthday on Feb. 24th. The kids are thrilled and we are continuing to have a great time. There are even some more European style bakeries here, so we can get a birthday cake made!

Well that's it until our next post . . .

Skye, Ronato, Kai & Pippin