05.12.2006 

It is quite interesting how traveling works here on the small islands. After you pay, the agency just fills in a form by hand which finally is the ticket for the whole journey. The man of the longtail boat gets a call and picks you up at the agency at a specified time. From Railay the longtail boat first went to Nammao Bay. Half an hour later a minibus brought us to Krabi Bus station. There the ticket was changed into another hand written ticket and again maybe half an hour later we drove with another minibus to Surat Thani. You just have to believe in the driver of the bus that he brings you to the right destination. For example people who wanted to go to Koh Samui had to wait for another bus although the ferry leaves from the same pier.

At 7pm the minibus stoped in front of a small restaurant/one-woman travel agency in the middle of nowhere (but probably a few kilometers away from the pier in Surat Thani). The driver just said someone else will pick us up later. We handed the ticket to the agent and all we received instead was a Koh Tao (or Koh Phangan) sticker for the t-shirt. Of course it is a bit suspicious when something like that happens the first time and you feel like you booked and overpriced coffee trip. But we could order normally priced food and had the possibility to watch a movie, so finally the idea to make a stop is not all too bad as there was more than enought time. But it would be interesting to see the internal money flow of such a long trip - who has to pay or receives how much for bringing you to one place instead of another.

When I arrived at the pier in Surat Thani I still had more than two hours so I walked around with an Italian couple which wanted to go to Koh Tao as well. On the main street near the pier there was something like an evening market. At 11pm the night ferry left to Koh Tao. Night ferry in this case meant that maybe 60 matraces of 50cm width were lying side by side without any space in between or space for walking. The Italian woman head a few concerns and I also haven’t seen anything like that before. But one or two hours later I was asleep and slept the whole night until somebody woke me up ten minutes before the ferry arrived. So although very crowded it was in my opinion by far more comfortable than having a chair with limited leg space in a bus or plane - at least if you have a good sleep.

When I arrived at 7am the people offering taxis, accomodation or diving courses were already waiting (like always when you arrive somewhere). So I took the free taxi offered by a diving center as I first though about doing a fun dive in the morning until I meet with Moritz ans Isabelle. But they all prepare their boats already the evening before, so I had no chance to go for a morning dive. At Sairee Beach there are maybe about 15 diving centers just a few meters from each other and most of them also have restaurants so I stayed at one which wanted to offer a welcome drink although I said that I am not sure where I will stay. I head breakfest there and then Moritz called that they will arrive shortly, a few hours earlier than originally planned. So I walked back to the pier to meet them. Moritz and Isabelle had met two guys from Chile and a guy from Quebec at the boat who wanted to join us.

After a long discussion we decided to go by longtail boat to Tao Tong Villa which a friend of one person had recommended. The bungalows were ok and had a nice sea view but it was very isolated there - a few bungalows with and own very small beach but nothing else. So we decided not to stay there. The two guys from Chile wanted to go back by boat to Mae Haad Town or Sairee Beach where there is a lot of night life. The rest decided to follow the recommendation which two German girls gave me the day before and to go to Chalok Baan Kao in the South where it is more quiet than in the West but there is still a nice beach with a few diving centers, restaurants and bars. As another guy told us the East of Koh Tao is very quiet again and has only stone beaches, so the South seemed to be a good idea. We (Moritz, Isabelle, Giome and I) stayed three nights at Sunshine Resort which is part of the diving center Scuba Shack (www.divingkohtao.com). In Koh Tao you often get discounts for the rooms in case you book a course. Moritz wanted to do his Open Water Diver (instead of 9800 Bath and 450 per night for the room he payed 9000 and had the room free for three nights), I had the choice between doing fun dives for 1000 Bath each or doing the advanced course for 8500 Bath. As the advance course includes 5 (speciality) dives and they offered a free room for two nights I decided that getting more training as well as the book and the certificate is worth the price difference. Part of my advanced course was a deep dive to 30m, computer dive, navigation dive, night dive and under water photography (I got a CD with the pictures I made - I haven’t seen them yet but in case there are a few good pictures I will make them available here). Moritz and I were mainly diving, Isabelle and Giome rented a scouter together to explore the island but Giome had his small accident during the first minute right in front of the store and Isabell wasn’t more lucky the next day when driving on a sandy bumpy road in order to get to a beach on the East side (but both accidents were mainly due to unexperience in driving). So afterwards they mainly stayed at Scuba Shack as well. For the evening there were two little chilly bars on the beach and as we met every day at 6.45am for diving this was enough for the three nights.

Categories: Getting around
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