THAILAND - KOH TAO: AUGUST 2019

After leaving Chiangmai we began the very long and arduous journey to the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. This journey consisted of a couple of taxi rides, two planes (from Chiangmai to Bangkok and then on to Surat Thani), a coach and a ferry trip. Everything was running smoothly until our ferry trip. After an hour on the ferry, the bad weather started and we ended up having a very rough journey there, so rough that my friend and sister were almost sea sick. 5 hours later we arrived at our island of Koh Tao, exhausted, ill and a bit fed up. All we wanted was a comfy bed, some aircon and a meal. Instead we were greeted with a bed as hard as the floor, a weak fan as a substitute for aircon and a shower without hot water! Guess that’s what you get for paying £6 a night!

Unfortunately, the rest of our time in Koh Tao wasn’t much better! The next day was miserable. The weather was horrible, with rain and wind throughout most of it. We didn’t do much on this day, as our plan was to have a lovely day on the beach!

Luckily the next day was sunnier, warmer and more like what we were expecting when we arrived at this tropical island. So, we went on a snorkelling trip, got on a boat and travelled to a different island (Koh Nangyuan) for one of the snorkelling spots, the other 4 were dotted around Koh Tao. Apart from having a bit of a panic in the water and hyperventilating, we had a great time seeing beautiful fish, sea turtles and the marine life of the Gulf. Well, we had a great time until we got back to our hostel and noticed we were sunburnt to a crisp! Needless to say, that night we suffered and barely slept. I was in so much pain, I had to sleep with a wet towel on my back to cool down my burns.

The next day was also fairly dismal. We spent most of our 4^thday on this island, soaking ourselves with aloe vera and aftersun, taking constant showers to cool the burns and complaining and crying because of the pain! The day just continued to get better when the electricity on the whole island went out several times, and after the power came back, the plugs started effecting our phones and we could not charge them anywhere! So, we left the hostel for dinner, where to top the day off, a small fire broke out behind us while we were eating. Lovely.

Koh Tao was a disappointment. Nothing really went well, and we don’t have happy memories from it. But I guess that is the reality of travelling around, not everything always goes according to plan!