To Koh Tao
I left Bangkok on the train to Chumphon at 7.30 p.m. The trains leave Bangkok on time, however, I think that that may be the last time they keep to the timetable.
Political Demo
As we left the inner city we passed a ‘political meeting’. Apparently there are a lot of these meetings going on around Thailand; however, they are not getting much coverage in the local or international media.
Train Trip
The long distance trains in Thailand are a hoot. They are (Queensland Style) narrow gauge. The sleeping cars have seats that turn into beds on the bottom level and beds that fold down from the wall for the upper level. You sleep, north/south (i.e. the direction of the train).
This train had a buffet car, serving excellent Tom Yum and nice cold bottles of Singha Beer. I chatted with a couple of girls from Leeds in Yorkshire. Like so many other younger people I have met recently, they have left their jobs to go on extended trips through SE Asia and beyond. One the girls told that her parents really only left Yorkshire to go to Malaga in Spain for their annual holiday. They virtually went nowhere else.
In Koh Tao
The train arrived in Chumphon abot 6.00 a.m. This was followed by a short ‘bus’ ride (actually a truck) to the pier and then ferry ride Koh Tao.
Koh Tao is great little island. It is quiet small and is a renowned diving place. I have been diving a few times – in the Solomon Islands, PNG, the Great Barrier Reef and in Sharm el Shiek Egypt. However, all those occasions were a long time ago. To do it again I need to do a beginners course. This involves a lot of buggerising around. I enjoyed my dives, but so much as to want to do it over and over again. That may be sign of old age.
Rough Seas
I decided to go a simple boat trip with snorkeling. Planned itinerary was to circumnavigate the island, stopping a various beaches on the way.
Before we departed, the Pommie Operator of the company told that “due to Typhoons in the South China Sea, the water is likely to rough and it may not be possible go to eastern side of the island.
More Dutch Travellers
I ended up chatting to a couple of Dutch girls as we left the pier. There are so many Dutch people travelling. One of them had been working a volunteer teacher in Nepal. She was now travelling through SE Asia until the end of January.
The other girl was from Leewarden in northern Holland where she works in “three jobs, including a cultural events manager. I passed through there on my bike in August last year. This girl was very amusing. She told us that “her body was not suitable for travelling in Asia. She got sunburnt even when fully clothed, she was allergic to mosquitoes bites and suffered extreme motion sickness”. The last malady was going to prove to be an issue on this trip.
Sharks seen, but not by me
Our first stop was ‘shark bay’, where we all jumped into the sea looking for the ‘sharks’. I didn’t see the sharks, but there was lots of colourful fish. A few of others on the boat had seen sharks. Estimates of the size of the sharks varied greatly.
We stopped at another beach on the SE side of the island, before back tracking to the west due to the heavy sea. The Dutch girl headed to back of the boat to suffer motion sickness in peace.
Surrounded by Japanese
We stopped for lunch and then headed to our final stop on a small island, just west of the main island. It is fairly spectacular. Check out the Flickr Link.
The two Dutch girls and I found a place of the beach surrounded Japanese tourists. There were an equal number of Japanese scuba diving in the water in front of us.
Flickr Link Boat Trip
Flickr Link Sunset
billrider2013 