Well Koh Tao has certainly changed a lot in the intervening fifteen years. I remember the road layout in general and where most things are. Roads that were sand are now tarmac, which makes things easier, even if less of an adventure.
My friends are all gone, although there are those around that remember them. I used to belong, but now I am an outsider, pretty much just another tourist, albeit one with a stack of memories and a lot of knowledge about the island, even if it is a bit outdated.
One of the apartments I stayed in with my daughters for a couple of months in the summer of 2006 had just been built (Tommy’s apartments) at the time, but they look old and dilapidated now.
Many of the bars and restaurants I loved, have gone, moved or are being refurbished. Choppers, Morava, Whitening and Thipwimarn to name a few.
It’s very very busy and much more commercial, there is even a sizeable hospital now, to deal with the Koh Tao tattoos, as they used to call the various scrapes and grazes that were part and parcel of riding a moped on the treacherous roads here.
One of the latest wheezes is that you now have to pay to go on quite a few of the beaches. As many are public it’s just a scam to get more money off people. It’s frustrating when you are driving around and stop to have a look at a view or a beach to be asked to pay. There are many other little instances of this creeping ‘tax’ on everything, but I won’t let it spoil my stay.
After a lot of looking I finally found my old house, where I spent a few months and one Christmas. It took so long to find because it used to be surrounded by greenery and sat on an unmade road. The road in question is now tarmac and there is a big supermarket directly opposite as well as numerous other buildings and shops, its almost completely unrecognisable. I worked it out from the mountain in the background and the balcony design. For all that the island is still beautiful, friendly and away from the hotspots is less busy.
The Balcony Villa’s apartment had a few issues, mainly dodgy wifi and lack of hot water, but these were resolved quickly by the owner. The views from our appartement are fabulous though. The owner is a real character and has been on Koh Tao 24 years and speaks good english, so we had a good reminisce. There is a wardrobe in the apartment, but no hangers. When I pointed this out, the joker brought me half a dozen hangers, but actually there is no rail in the wardrobe to be able to actually use them 😂.
Of course, I had to do some diving, this being Koh Tao and as my old dive shop Buddha View is no more, I thought back to the big name dive shops from the past. I wanted to go with one of the originals as there are now countless dive shops on the island, but I have no idea of the facilities or quality of the newcomers.
I went with Phoenix Divers in the end, a name I remembered and was not disappointed. The registration process was all digital and really easy. Their boats are pink rather than blue, but otherwise I could almost have been on ‘big buddha’, the flagship boat from the old Buddha view dive shop.
They are based right on the beach, so we hopped on their long tail and chugged out to the main boat. Visibility at the dive sites is ok as you can see from the photo’s. The dive sites were Twins and White Rock, both of which I have dived before several times. Twins, I last dived on 4/9/2006, they still had the little clown fish in it’s circular home. I expect it’s the great great great great etc grandson of the one I last saw! I also saw, groupers, banner fish, Angel fish and many others as well as a Trigger fish, the bane of many a diver in these waters and lord of the area unless, of course, a shark comes a calling.
Emily, the Brazilian divemaster, was great and I was buddied up with Edward, a German guy who passed his advanced certification yesterday, so he is right up on all the protocols. This was rather useful as I have forgotten a lot of them, but they soon came back 😎. I even managed to blow a few bubble rings (like smoke rings, but underwater).
Diving is still great, I really enjoyed it and it’s not too expensive at 1800 baht for 2 dives, everything included.
After diving, we climbed up to John Suwan viewpoint, where you can see both sides of the island from its narrowest point. It is beautiful, from the tropical forests to the mountains and deep blue sea. It was a bit of a climb with boulders to scramble over and on occasion having to pull your self up with ropes. The new ’best flip flops in the world’ had a stern workout, but were up to the job. I’ll let you into a secret though, the new flip flops are fine, but they are not in the same league as the ‘best flip flops in the world’. They lasted about 20 years took me over all types of terrain and multiple countries and they glowed in the dark, so you never lost them in the big pile of flip flops by the entrance, when you came out of the night club at 3 am. Not that I do that sort of thing anymore 😉 RIP
Back on the beach, watching the world go by after getting very hot on the climb to the viewpoint I ordered a coconut. It tasted alright, but the texture was awful. They had jellied it! Meet the Thai version of jellied eels, jellied coconut, I can’t honestly say I’d recommend it.
It’s fun whizzing around on our little 125cc twist and go scooter. It’s quite gutsy and needs to be as there are some monster hills. We have been from one end of the island to the other several times and from side to side as well as up and down and yet 150 baht of fuel has done it all.
Having been pummelled with a thai massage, I thought I’d try the back, neck and shoulder version. Ouch! those elbows really hurt on your back, definitely not much more relaxing. They reckon I need another 10 massages to sort me out! I’ll be black and blue by the end.
We decided to extend our stay by a day and having changed the ticket, bike rental and hotel, we rode out to Tanote bay on the other side of the island. Having been disappointed with Aow Leuk, which had mostly closed up, including the restaurant we used to eat at. I have photos of my youngest daughter Danika, doing the splits there, but its just a dusty floor with a few chairs and tables piled in a corner now. Tanote bay is great, there was a little BBQ going with kebabs of chicken, vegetables and chunks of pineapple in a light spicy sauce, some nice seats in the shade and a big rock 20m out to sea that people climbed up using a rope and then jumped off, if they dared. Some people took a long time to pluck up the courage to jump and others couldn’t climb up. It was entertaining to soak up the peace and quiet while watching.
For the last night we ate out western style, a first time for my friend. What was great is that the Cafe del Sol is still there, as it was one of my favourite places back in the day and the food is still as fabulous as I remember. Bruschetta followed by beef carpaccio and a glass of wine! A rarity in Thailand, at least compared to France.
Tomorrow it’s back to the mainland and a stay in Hua Hin on the way north.
