Krabi to Ko Tao

Today has been the first day that it hasn't really been "beach weather". We were supposed to head out and do some deep sea fishing today but windy conditions have put that activity on hold for the moment. So today has kind of been a "free day" and I'll let you know in a bit what I've been up to.

In the previous post I said we were going to head North of Krabi in search of some more affordable accommodation. Well, we never did find that accommodation but we did manage to see some awesome parts of Thailand that I feel not a lot of people have seen. The spot on the map we were trying to find on the one day was actually called "Unseen Thailand". Call us suckers if you will but we decided that this was definitely a place we had to check out. Turns out we should rather have asked a 3 year old Thai on the side of the road to draw us a map, because the one we had was definitely not to scale and roads were simply missing in reality or were fiction on the map. Anyway we never did find Unseen Thailand according to the map but I think we definitely ventured into territory not often stumbled upon by many tourists. The evidence to support this was the fact that we drove around for about 2 hours without seeing a single white face and we were getting some odd stares from the Thais around this rural area.

On the way home we were cruising at about 60 k's an hour and the next thing Bren's bike (with Laura on the back) starts veering from side to side. The roads were dodgy in patches and a puncture was inevitable. Now it was about 5:30 in the arvo and there weren't any big Shell Ultra City's in the vicinity and we were in a bit of trouble, plus I could definitely have taken down a pepper steak pie and a Super Moo, so that was unfortunate. Luckily a Thai couple stopped to help us and slowly led us to a "garage" where we could have the tyre fixed. The dude fixed it and literally shut up shop straight afterwards, so 5 minutes later and we would have been seriously stranded. The next day I managed to get a puncture as well so were having a bit of bad luck last week.

Anyway after Krabi it was time to head to Ko Tao. From Krabi we had to take a frikken hot bus trip to the station, then catch an "air-conditioned" bus to Surat Thani and from there an overnight ferry to Ko Tao. As with all these overnight missions the best way to do them is, drunkenly. Colin lost the ching to try out a new cheap beer called Cheers Beer and his cotch the next day told us that a few extra bob goes a long way.









On the ferry we met a few Irishmen and as you come to expect with these Irish lot, they kept us entertained. I thoroughly enjoyed the guitar session and the apparent disregard for other passengers on the boat trying to sleep, brilliant!!! This is why drinking on the overnight missions is always recommended.

Ko Tao has by far been the best place I've been to I think. Everyone told us it was going to be expensive but we've found some of the best deals here since we started this trip. Food is pretty much the same price, but accommodation is very reasonable and the location of some of the bungalows is unbelievable. Some of the resorts you can only get to by 4X4 or with some very skilled bike riding. Yesterday saw some more casualties and we found out the hard way that scooters definitely limit you to only certain areas of the island.





So today I've opted for something more capable of tackling the roads around here. I picked up a motorbike cross scooter and did some exploring around the island for the morning. Some pretty hectic roads to negotiate and you have to keep your wits about you. Luckily all I got away with were some singes on the leg from the exhaust pipe but no damage to the bike which is all you're really worried about.

And other than that, the time here at Ko Tao has been spent lazing on the beach, snorkelling and fishing. Like I said earlier we didn't manage to get out for our deep sea fishing jol today but it's provisionally on stand-by for tomorrow. They guarantee that we'll catch fish - the likes of which on offer are Barracuda, Travelli and Red Snapper.

Until next time here's what's been going on lately, hope you guys are all well........


Shoo Baj that's a cuck view hey, you sure you don't want something nicer?








So that's what that basket is for