Ko Tao

Dear All,

Its raining here in Ecuador so we´re hoping to get you updated on some of our activities of last year. Shameful I know that we haven´t updated this sooner but we will try.

Okay so we last left you in Ko Samui. Since we wanted to end up in Ko Phangan, the middle island for the Full Moon party on Christmas Eve,we made our way to Ko Tao next.Ko Tao is the smallest of the Thai islands. It started off completely as a diving resort cause the waters around the island are so clear.As for the island itself,there isn´t much there except the main tourist village where the ferries land. On our boat there we met loads of people already on their way to Ko Phangan in search of accommodation before the Full Moon party but luckily we had already booked ours.

We read about this accommodation called Mr. J in the book.When we got off the island we already saw signs saying things like ´Buy Mr.Js condoms and get free can of Pepsi´.Finally after asking people we reached Mr.Js emporium.He had a bookshop,accommodation,souvenir and foodstore and a travel agent.We guessed that Mr. J was Chinese.He showed us accommodation and promised us a free can of Pepsi if we stayed three nights. Since we only stayed two, we got a bar of chocolate each.It felt like a teacher rewarding us!He had a chart up showing the different nationalities of backpackers and how much each spent.The Irish were right up there.He had sayings about the different nationalities as well such as how tight the Dutch were. We were only a stone´s throw away from the beach so went there to relax for a while.The sunset was fabulous.

For the following day we arranged a snorkelling trip around Ko Tao and 3 islands ajoined by a sand bar not far from Ko Tao. The weather was just perfect. The water was crystal clear and visibility was excellent. To encourage the fish over to the boat, the crew threw in breadcrumbs and they swarmed around the person next to the bread.If the bread was really close to your skin they nibbled on that too!But with all my trying I still didn´t get to touch any of them,they are just too quick!

The photos are of the coastline of Ko Tao,both myself and Bourkie in the water and an excellent one of the bottom of Bourkie jumping off the boat. The colour of the water was amazing!

After circling the island and snorkelling at different parts the boat dropped us off at the Nang Yuan island. This is basically three islands connected by a sand bar.We climbed the hill on the first island to get a good view across and the view was amazing. Went across to the main island and had a bit to eat.

The next day we got a boat across to Ko Phangan.By this stage we knew the prices of taxis and refused to pay their price. We started walking in the heat with our backpacks when a local with a small jeep stopped and offered us a lift for half the price of a taxi. We were delighted at our new found persistence.