- - Quiet getaways are nice, but not being remotely close to any civil/socialization may not be optimal during the new year period.
- - Things in Thailand don’t happen on time, they happen on Thaim (meaning you better get comfortable when sitting down to dinner).
- - WE SWAM WITH SHARKS!!!!!
The Thai Restaurant Version
After being at the Mango Bay bungalows on Kho Tao for 24 hours, I (Craig) have realized two things…
1. 1) When perched on the cliffs of a desolate Thai lsland resort, it’s tough to tell the difference between the blue ocean and the equally blue sky above the horizon.
2. 2) Things don’t happen here on time, but they do happen on Thaim. Meaning, our dinners may not come out as hoped at the same time as each other, but they’ll each eventually get to your table. One possibly 20 minutes after the other. Also meaning that you pay $5 more for the quicker 1pm ferry, but after watching the cheaper 2pm and 2:30pm ferries load and leave in front of you, you finally board yours at 3pm and arrive at your destination over 2 hours late. That’s Thaim, and that’s just how it happens around here. Thank God it’s the most relaxing place on the planet, because the difference between time and Thaim isn’t that big of a deal when all is said and done.
The Mango Bay bungalows are at the north tip of Koh Tao, and it’s as remote as a resort can get. The rest of the island is easily connected by roads and quite active, but the only activities happening at our resort are snorkeling between the bungalows and distant beach, and watching the power turn off between 10:30am and 5pm, which basically forces you out of your hillside bungalow during the day because the fan is non-functional and the room becomes a sauna. Therefore, no lazy days in bed, which are nice to have once in a while.
Don’t let that make you think this place isn’t enjoyable, because it very much is, just in its own way. Just like Koh Pha Ngan was a progressive step more relaxing than Koh Samui, Koh Tao is the ultimate pit for leaving the world and its stresses behind.
During our first day at Mango Bay, there was no Internet. No TV. No stroll through town or hike to a waterfall. It’s you, the cliffs, some snorkel gear, and a restaurant who's speed matches that of things happening in the lazy and disconnected world outside. We still have 4 more days here, and we're already unwound like a broken watch, and we can’t wait to find out the depths of how far this unwinding can go…
(fast forward 2 days) Okay, it’s day 3, and this place is starting to get to us. Yes, we love our little bungalow hideaway, but we can’t stand the fact that electricity is off from 5:30-6:30am (shutting off the fan that keeps us cool at night) and 10:30am-5pm (shutting off the fan that keeps us cool during the day). Yes, we love the beautiful sunset and incomparable snorkeling out front, but we can’t stand the fact that the only restaurant choice we have within reachable distance without a 40 minute long and $20 boat ride is our resort’s restaurant, and the food is getting worse every day and the owner is the world’s grumpiest and least accommodating person we’ve ever met. He makes us feel bad that his (advertised free) wifi is down and that his staff screwed up your order after it took an hour to get to your table. He’s like the soup nazi who bought a pair of flip flops, sold all of his upper body clothing, and decided to open a joint in the middle of BFE Thailand.
Enough of the bitching, but this guy is bad, and we needed to get it out in the open after the way he just treated Tania. If I hadn’t stepped into their conversation, the guy would have ripped her off and treated her like and a-hole without realizing how he was acting.
We had a great day taking a tour boat with about 30 other people today around the island, stopping at all of the key snorkeling spots. We got to test our new snorkeling gear that Tania convinced us to buy yesterday. Thank God she did because having good gear makes the whole experience so much better. Breathing is easy, even when water gets in the tube. Seeing is clearer because the mask fits your face and doesn’t leak water. Spending 30 minutes face down without coming up for a breathe is the right way to view shallow waters, without going all out and take courses to go scuba diving.
(Parents, time for eye muffs. Cover ‘em up for the next paragraph)
The first stop during the tour was at Sharks Bay. Yes, you can guess why it’s named that. As we jumped out of the boat and paddled a few feet away, we saw two sharks swim 4-5 feet directly below us. They skimmed the floor of the ocean, while we skirted the surface. After picking our jaws up off the ocean floor and changing our shorts, we both looked at each other the way two people face down in the water do and pointed at the sharks in the same direction in pure astonishment. We were actually swimming with sharks!!!! Bucket list, check!
Two more stops of some more amazing snorkeling led our tour boat up to Mango Bay, where our hotel is located. After some shifty maneuvering to get our gear from the boat across the bay and up to our hotel, we left the group at this stop so we didn’t have to find our way from the docks to our hotel, which is a 40 minute, $23 long boat ride.
We relaxed on the deck and read our books to finish the day. Time to rest up tonight before tomorrow, new year’s eve. Our plan is to meet Jackie (from Tucson) and Leon (Aussie) for a quiet dinner on Sairee Beach before the festivities begin.
Fast forward to January 1, 2010. We had a great time with Jackie and Leon on Sairee Beach last night. We partied on the beach amongst the fire dancers and floating torches until we caught a long boat back to Mango Bay at 2am underneath the full moon. Somewhere on a nearby island (Koh Pha Ngan), there were 50,000 party animals adding to the legend known as the Full Moon party. We were not part of that crowd, and we were instead happy to have had a fun island night capped off with a good night’s rest. All we can say for our last day on Koh Tao is that it wasn’t too active. We’re sure it had nothing to do with the night before or anything.
We’re taking off for the western Thai coast tomorrow. Catching an overnight boat to Surat Thani, then a bus to Krabi. Then we’ll be on Koh Lanta to meet up with a friend of mine from traveling through Europe 9 years ago, Emma Jones. Should be fun to see an old friend, and the difference between the western and eastern islands.
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