Koh Tao

Up at 5:30, laid in bed, got up at 5:45 and at 5:50, Suda knocked on my door, the van was here already. Me and two others went to the train station, waited for a while, but didn't pick anyone up, then we picked up more people from other guest houses, then off to the boat, which left at 7:00.

Uneventful boat trip, about 3 hours. On the boat, talked to one of the touts, told him I wanted to stay on one of the south beaches for cheap, he pointed out some cheap bungalows on my map. He told me to either take a boat taxi or get a regular taxi to Chalok Ban and then walk, about 20 minutes. Many of the bungalows on Koh Tao are associated with dive operations and only divers get to stay there.

Got off the boat and a taxi tout asked me where I wanted to go, I told him June Juea Beach, he pointed me to a water taxi guy. 300 baht for me alone, but he tried to find others going there too. Alas, no one else wanted to go there, so he did drop the price to 250 baht, though.

As we were coming to June Juea Beach, his motor made a funny noise and then conked out. He lifted it up and he had got a rope all tangled up in it. "Oooh!", he said. He used a long pole to push the boat to shore, I paid him, then he grabbed a bunch of tools from the bungalow and worked at getting the rope free from around his propeller.

I checked in to Moondance Bungalows, 200 baht a night. Simple hut with a bed and bath, right on the beach. The beach here is very secluded, sandy with big boulders on it.

Decided to try to walk to Chalok Baan Beach, and took a wrong turn. I ended up walking up the side of a mountain and down the other side in the blazing noon sun. I don't think I sweated so much in my entire life. Eventually made it to the main road quite a ways up from the beach, so had to walk back down to the actual beach front area. Koh Tao is very beautiful.

Had lunch, then found a proper path back to the bungalow, only a 20 minute walk. Doh! This path goes through a bunch of other bungalow operations before arriving at Moondance.

Along the way, stopped at Viewpoint Resort to inquire about bungalow pricing, as the map guide said it was budget. When I was there, ran into Sabrina, who was one of the dive masters on my Similan Islands boat. She was talking a little holiday with her parents, who came over from Germany. Viewpoint has bungalows for 250 baht, much closer to Chalok Baan, but they're full, and don't know if they'll be full tomorrow night. I have to come back tomorrow morning and find out.

Went back to bungalow, went for a swim, lounged in my hammock, wrote in journal. So hot today.

Two hot girls came along with a Thai guy and some camera's. He started doing a photoshoot of the girls. They must be models! My bungalow is the first one, and closest to the beach, perfectly situated. The other bungalows are further up the high ridge behind the beach. As they were taking pictures, posing on rocks and in the water, the photographer telling them what to do, I decided to go snorkelling. One of the girls was looking at me a bit, so when the photographer was off taking pictures of the other girls bum, I went and asked the other girl if she was a model. She laughed. She was travelling alone and she wanted to have some pictures of herself. They found this Thai guy who does it as a hobby. The photographer came back and politely told me to get lost, and that I can talk later.

Did some more snorkelling, never did get a chance to talk to her again.

Walked back to Chalok Baan, the main "town" in the south and used the internet, then went for supper at Ricky's, had a large Chang beer and burger, then went to Bubaloo Bar, a beach bar on the way back to my hut. Sat down and had a large Chang beer. Bar was dead, just a french girl and a Thai guy working. She said everyone was at Mae Haad, the main town and where the main pier is. There's apparently a big party there, a new bar has opened up. After a bit, a number of other people showed up, but they were all together, a diving group or something.

Feeling quite drunk for some reason, I headed back to the bungalows around 9:00 or 10:00, I don't even know. I laid in bed, and the whole room was spinning, like I'd been drinking all night long. I've experienced the Chang effect. I've been told that many locals don't drink Chang because there's not much quality control on them, and you nerver know what you're getting in it and it can screw you up. No more Changs for me!