Koh Tao

A holiday that was much planned a year back and awaited for has finally come and gone. It was an awesome week away by the sea. What initially started off to be a hardcore diving trip for me turned into a really chillax time.

So much was heard of Koh Tao and we even saw some really great videos of our friends there with whale sharks, but somehow we saw none cos apparently the whale shark season is from Dec - Feb. However, someone did just see whale sharks at Koh Phangan about 3 weeks back, so it's really hard to say. Whale sharks are now being sighted in so many different locations in Malaysia itself  (Tioman in March, Redang in Sept).

The dives were not spectacular in Koh Tao. I preferred my dives in Redang to some extent. But we did see some really cool stuff like a 1.5m Garoupa, over 1m turtle which was nestled so calmly in a cave (I nearly missed this fella if it wasn't for my friends who pointed out to it), the cutest juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips, a huge hermit crab. And I certainly will never forget some of the underwater 'stunts' performed by some of the buddies, of in the case of Ms Siow, the double out-of-water performance she gave us.

I went for my 2nd night dive in Koh Tao as well. The first night dive that I did during my Advance course was a huge flop. We had a horrible instructor who didn't give clear instructions and I got stung big time by a sea urchin - not fun! So you can imagine my 'eagerness' to go on another night dive. But since all my other buddies were heading out, I didn't wanna miss it. We had a she-male as our Dive Master. She was a lot of talk but no action! My buddies were quite disappointed with her but I was oblivious to it all. I was busy trying to calm myself in the dark of the night. They say that it's so bright underwater with all the other torches and the light from the boat, but I still think it's freakin dark. This was the only dive that I held J's hand throughout the entire dive, especially during our descend and ascend. It's really dangerous to be holding your buddy's hand underwater but I was fearful of being lost, cos it was really dark for me and my rented torch wasn't all that great.

I only did 7 dives in total of my 5 night stay in Koh Tao. We were supposed to do a minimum of 10 dives but since the dives were so-so, some of us decided we'd ease up on the dives.

There were 12 of us on this trip, met some cool new friends and caught up with a few that I've not seen in over a year. 4 of them took their Open Water license, 2 got their Advance license while 6 of us did fun dives.

We rented bikes and explored the island of Koh Tao, found some really cool spots. We also managed to trek up to Two-View. It's called Two-View because it's about 610m above sea level (if I'm not mistaken, or was it 310m? hmm) and both sides of the hill overlooks this amazing view of the sea. One of which was the Sairee stretch where we traveled frequently and you could also see NangYuen Island, a really small island with a long white patch of sand.


I think I spent the most on food during this trip, apart from the dives. Each meal was a minimum of RM10 and we were having 3 to 4 meals a day. Some of them were pretty yummy meals, not to mention the regular chocolate-banana pancake dessert that we had every night. They call it pancake but it's actually roti canai.

One of the best meals was on our last night in Koh Tao, the rest had gone for their 2nd night dive but J and I decided to stay back and chill. We decided to try one of the restaurants that we pass by every night. Each time we pass it by, their BBQ smelled so good. We paid a good RM46 for 2 huge sticks of chicken kebabs complete with veg and fruits on it, roasted potato salad, coleslaw, Thai fried rice, huge portion of chicken with chilli and basil, a plate of white rice, mango juice and chocolate-banana pancake (this time the real pancake batter). I must say that that was one of the cheapest meal we had there for the portions we ordered.

I managed to not get so tanned during the trip but all failed on our 2nd last day there. We had to take a boat from Koh Tao to Koh Samui and the fumes in the air-cond rooms were really bad that we decided to sit out on the deck. It was a 4 hour boat ride of which 3 hours was spent on the deck. I covered my arms and legs with my jacket but a bit difficult to cover the whole face la :P So I came back tanned! I tan so fast but yet it takes months for it to disappear. Even my lips became so dark, which is so weird cos that has not happened before.

The only thing I liked about Koh Samui was their airport. It's gorgeous! Feels like you're walking into another resort. The people in Koh Samui were very cocky, simply because they know that they can squeeze the white folks dry so they don't really bother much with us Asians. Only managed to do some shopping on our last day there in Koh Samui, bought some goodies for the family members. We rushed through it all though cos we only had about 1.5 hours to finish our shopping before we had to wash up and leave for the airport.

Oh the massages.. How could I forget that! They're so cheap in Thailand, like a good RM20-30 for an hour, depending on where you massage. The prices vary from island to island. I was tempted to go for one everyday but managed to refrain myself to just 3 session throughout the entire trip.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any shots during this trip, so you and I'll both have to wait for the pics to be posted by the rest on Facebook :p Don't think I would return to Koh Tao or Koh Samui anytime again soon. Although we didn't get to explore the beach at Koh Samui, so may return for that.

Sigh I already miss the breeze, the taste of salt in my mouth, the waves, the reggae music by the sea as we munch away on our breakfast.. and definitely the company. So of which I know I won't see again till probably another trip next year. Holidays by the sea are one of my favourites! Can't wait for my next - which will probably only be next year, sadly.