Koh Tao Island

            I’d like to blatantly rip off / paraphrase and change the context of a fantastic quote from Dan Fazio’s “The Reluctant Traveler” in reference to the sunset we just saw: Even if we were watching this particular sunset from a Starbuck’s stand in a McDonald’s parking lot, it would have been amazing! (BTW, thanks for the book recommendation Heidi – it’s been a hoot watching Johanna giggle endlessly while reading it.)

            We arrived on Koh Tao Saturday morning via high speed ferry, which due to the swell and the velocity of the craft, was more of a tourist puke factory.  Truly, it sounded like a post surgical recovery room with no zofran – we couldn’t even hear the complimentary movie over the moaning and dry heaving going on around us.  Miraculously, Jo and I remained unscathed thanks to our iron clad, street food conditioned stomachs.  Anyway, Koh Tao is nicknamed “Turtle Island” due to the fact that it is shaped like a turtle, and once upon a time was a breeding ground for actual sea turtles.  It is a world renowned diving destination, though due to our relative budgetary constraints we are content to explore what lies above the surface.

            I am writing this from one of the coolest, most unique hotel rooms that we have ever stayed in.  This hotel, Tommy Resort it’s called, is built upon a rock pile that splits Saire Beach on the island’s west coast.   We have a corner room with lots of windows, a fantastic fan and a view to die for. 



View through our front window

            We can walk right off of our porch onto the rocks and jump in the bath-water ocean.  The Thai people that we have met on this side of the island have been some of the biggest smiling, most hospitable people we’ve had the privilege of meeting.  We feel like we’ve landed in a veritable paradise since checking into Tommy Resort today.  Perhaps this is partly a result of the contrast with the past two days. 

            Back in Bangkok, we broke down and elected to have a travel agent book our arrangements for getting to Koh Tao as well as our accommodation here.   Sight unseen, we staked our hopes on the “tranquil”, “beach front” hotel / “dive resort” in which we were booked.  I believe we were both silently concerned as our “taxi” pulled up to the “resort” on Saturday through an alley littered with debris.  The “beach” was roughly 5 feet wide from bulkhead to ocean at low tide.  The hotel was clean enough, though the faint hint of sewage that we could smell in our bathroom had us both missing our budget accommodations in Bangkok.  Determined not to be “Debbie Downers”, we set about convincing ourselves that we could easily make the best of the situation.  We took an adventurous hike/scramble to the neighboring bay and found a more hospitable swimming beach.  Later that night we watched a futbol game on the bar next door’s wide screen TV and sipped on a Singha.  Still acclimating to the time change, we retired to our non-A/C room to pass out for the night….or so we thought.  When we left the bar there couldn’t have been more than 10 people, however at 2am when those 10 people were still getting after it spring break style, it sounded like a stadium of drunk college kids all trying to outdo each other in a game of “who can be the most obnoxious drunk”.  Its also important to mention had we fallen off of our balcony, we would’ve landed on a barstool, so there wasn’t much distance to dampen the noise. 

            Day Two in paradise:  We awoke early and chose to walk the 2 km to Saire Beach just to see what other types of accommodations exist on Turtle Island.  Our intention to find the silver lining amidst our dashed expectations was repeatedly assaulted as we encountered one beautiful, quaint and affordable hotel after another as we walked along Saire Beach.  In order to make an adventure of our “walk”, we decided to take the long way home and traverse around the island’s southwest side along a vaguely labeled trail.  What we lost in sweat and fatigue was repaid with the discovery of some magnificent and remote coves as well as a network of huts and bungalows clinging to the steep and rocky shoreline. 

            But I digress.  By the time we made it back to our hotel in amateur drunk cove, we were just happy to take down a couple of ice cold cokes and an “Awesome Egg Sandwich”.  Truth be told, if every other part of our trip sucked, I still might be able to find salvation in having discovered the “Awesome Egg”…it truly is that good.  Once again, over dinner and another futbol game, we decided to continue to put our best feet forward and make the most of our situation. 

I think our idealism checked out sometime between 2 and 2:30 in the morning after another night in which it seemed like the world’s worst drunks were yelling at the tops of their lungs directly into our hotel balcony window.  A look is worth a thousand words, and the look Johanna gave me as we stumbled out of bed the next morning could have written a novel.  “We have to get out of here and I don’t care what it costs!” 

            So here we are.  Settling in for our first night at Tommy Resort and all we can hear are the rippling waves lapping against the rocks outside.  The fan in this room could propel a black hawk helicopter and the ocean breeze feels and smells heavenly.  Sometimes you just can’t put a price tag on happiness.  There are certainly times when one must “grin and bear it”.  In this situation we chose to “follow our bliss” and we couldn’t be happier with the result.