06/06/2023 From Koh Phangan to Koh Tao
What to expect
- 1 Koh Tao
- 1.1 Rent a scooter and explore the island
- 1.2 Go snorkeling at Tanote
- 1.3 Watch sunset from Fishbowl Beach Bar at Sairee Beach
- 1.4 Eat dinner at Mama Tam
- 1.5 Go scuba diving
- 1.6 Have a coconut at the “Love Koh Tao” viewpoint
- 1.7 Go snorkeling at Ao Hin Wong
- 1.8 Do a yoga session
- 1.9 Have brunch at the Factory Café
- 1.10 Rainy day means planning day
- 1.11 Take a long boat to Koh Nangyuan
- 1.12 Hike to the Koh Nangyuan viewpoint
- 1.13 Do a Thai cooking class
- 1.14 Watch sunset at Sairee Beach
- 1.15 Watch a fireshow at the beach
- 1.16 Eat a roti pancake
Koh Tao
Easy public transport
The boat ride from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao only took 1.5 hours. Taking a boat or a bus in Thailand is overall very easy as you always receive a coloured sticker for you and your baggage that tells the crew where you’ll get off. So technically you can’t get lost 😉.
“Beginner country” in South East Asia
This is one of the reasons why a lot of backpackers choose Thailand as their first country to travel to in South East Asia (besides Thailand being a safe country with a lot of other backpackers). Furthermore, a lot of Thai people speak English in the backpacker towns and on the islands.
For the first four nights Blake and I stayed pretty central in a really nice hotel with a pool.
Rent a scooter and explore the island
Just like on Koh Phangan we rented a scooter for the next few days to explore the island and to be flexible.
Go snorkeling at Tanote
First, we stopped at Tanote for some beach and snorkel time. The water was really clear here and even right from the shore you could see lots of coral and fish under water.
Watch sunset from Fishbowl Beach Bar at Sairee Beach
Unfortunately, on none of the nights did we get to watch a beautiful sunset. However, the sunset spot was always great. We made use of the “2 for 1 cocktails” at “Fishbowl Beach Bar” and got cozy on bean bags right on the beach.
Eat dinner at Mama Tam
Afterwards we had dinner at Mama Tam, which is a very popular spot amongst backpackers – mainly because you get tasty Thai food for very little money (around 2€ per dish). Being “a bit older” in the backpacker world, we did enjoy the food, but I’m not sure if it’s really worth saving this much money in order to wait for your food for one hour in a crowded non-local restaurant. It’s not really the authenticity I was looking for 😉.
07/06/2023 Koh Tao
Go scuba diving
Getting up at 5.30 a.m. for work sounds crucial to me. Getting up at 5.30 a.m. for a dive, however, seems totally normal to me.
Many agree that the reefs around Koh Tao are designed for diver training. The water is warm and most of the time crystal clear. In addition, the weather is great, visibility good and currents mild for most of the year. As a result, we can dive all year round.”
saireecottagediving.com
During my last visit in Thailand in 2016, I only ever dove on Koh Phangan and Koh Phi Phi. So diving on Koh Tao would be a first for me – and after seeing the great underwater world yesterday while snorkeling, I had high hopes.
The first dive was great with good visibility and many schools of fish. Unfortunately, I felt a bit rushed jumping into the water and therefore left my gopro on board.
Poor visibility
During the second dive we wanted to dive into a shipwreck. But we never made it to the shipwreck as the visibility of less than five metres didn’t allow it. We couldn’t see anything other than very murky water and little jellyfish around us.
Feeling a little seasick
On top of this, I’ve felt quite sick on the boat with the choppy waves so that I threw up in between the dives. Since the glass is always half full for me, I was happy that it at least hadn’t happened during the dive 😉.
Have a coconut at the “Love Koh Tao” viewpoint
In the afternoon Blake and I drove to a viewpoint where we enjoyed a coconut and the wonderful view over the coastline.
Go snorkeling at Ao Hin Wong
Afterwards we drove to Ao Hin Wong, where Blake did some more snorkeling while I relaxed at the beach.
Better luck next time
In the evening we went back to our sunset spot at the beach from last night – again without a nice sunset.
08/06/2023 Koh Tao
Do a yoga session
Another early morning – this time not for diving, but for yoga. I joined an 8 a.m. yoga class at “Living Juices”, where I also had a coffee afterwards. Blake and I both think that it’s very healthy to also do things apart. So if Blake doesn’t want to do yoga (which I understand), I won’t make him and enjoy my me-time instead.
Have brunch at the Factory Café
Afterwards Blake and I had a late but delicious breakfast at the Factory Café.
Rainy day means planning day
Then it started raining and didn’t stop until the evening.
On the road and especially after all the heat in Vietnam, we don’t mind rainy days. To be honest, rainy days have been rare for us. We can use the time to either relax or book some more trips and make more plans without feeling bad of not making the most of a sunny day outside 😉.
09/06/2023 Koh Tao
Take a long boat to Koh Nangyuan
In the morning it was sunny again. So today we did what we had originally planned for yesterday: a boat trip to Koh Nangyuan. The ride in the long boat only took ten minutes. Nevertheless, we got soaking wet because of the high waves.
Hike to the Koh Nangyuan viewpoint
The island itself is very small and beautiful. On this island we experienced one thing here that we hadn’t experienced on the entire world trip: Waiting for 40 minutes for a photo at the viewpoint. We couldn’t believe it, but this is probably the number one viewpoint near Koh Tao that got hyped because of social media. To be fair the viewpoint was very stunning, but waiting in line for that long in the heat wasn’t really our idea of fun.
Do a Thai cooking class
Back on Koh Tao, we quickly showered and then took the scooter to our next activity for the day that we were both really excited about: a Thai cooking class.
High expectations
After our amazing cooking class in Hoi An, Vietnam, our expectations of a cooking class were quite high and we were aware that those expectations might not get met.
However, the cooking class took place on the rooftop of a house in the jungle that overlooked the ocean and lots of palm trees. It was stunning! Joy, our Thai chef for the day, was very experienced and taught us a lot about the different spices and other ingredients.
All in all we cooked a tom ka gai soup, a paneng curry and pad thai. (We chose those dishes beforehand, the other two people in the class chose fried rice and khao soi.)
It was an awesome experience! I would love to think that we will cook some of these recipes once we will be back home again.
10/06/2023 Koh Tao
An amazing surprise
Today was our last day on the island. Blake had a surprise for me which was a really nice resort on the other side of the island. The resort named Haad Sai Daeng was gorgeous!
It was built like a village with a restaurant and spa right by the beach, an infinity pool with a pool bar overlooking the ocean on a higher level and all the different bungalows spread out around the cliffs.
You know you are in a fancy place when you and your backpacks get driven to your bungalow in a tuk tuk. We were certainly not used to that!
From our bed and our balcony we could watch the ocean from the first row. I was really impressed by what Blake had planned here!
Watch sunset at Sairee Beach
Since the place was too beautiful to leave, we spent the entire day in the resort. We only left our place for one last dinner at the beach – again no luck with a nice sunset.
Watch a fireshow at the beach
After dinner we watched one of the typical fireshows in a bar at the beach, which was quite impressive.
Eat a roti pancake
Before we drove back to our place, I “had to” try one of the roti pancakes which you can find as street food everywhere on the island and where every street food stall claims to have “the best and healthiest one”.
With the amount of chocolate and condensed milk they put on it I am not so sure about that statement though… 😉
Bye bye, Koh Tao
We ended the night and our time on Koh Tao on our balcony where we enjoyed being so close to the ocean one last time.
We were both quite sad to be leaving the relaxed island life and the ocean behind. But at the same time we were both really excited for our next destination.
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