The Islands of Thailand

Oh we had been waiting for them. Not knowing what to expect of Asia in general, we were at least sure of one thing: The islands of Thailand, we were going to enjoy.

We arrived on Koh Tao on the 21st of May. Koh Tao is located in the Gulf of Thailand, so on the East coast of the South peninsula, about 500 kms from Bangkok. The boat that took us from the mainland to the island was a catamaran, same as the Isle Of Wight Sea Cat, maybe a bit bigger. Thais are nice and relaxed though, and on this one you can sit outside and not just stand inside listening to the health and safety tape!
There was a group of british guys on the boat next to us that, as soon as they got onboard took off their shirts, started spraying sun lotion on the milky white skin, they were funny... They just didn't count on the rain that started falling as the last one of them was finishing his painting job... Ah the British... No offence (it's the French Jenny talking, not the British one...).

The rain didn't last anyway, and soon the sun was shining, the island getting closer, the water getting shallower and at the same time... clearer.

As we approached the old wooden pier of Koh Tao's main harbour, we could see to the bottom, and exotic fishes were just wandering around there...

We met a girl from Venezuela (1st ever!) and a swiss woman in the boat, and as we were, as usual getting attacked by loads of taxis and resort touts, we decided having beer was the thing to do. Ok, it was 9am, but when you've spent a night in a bus, you simply don't call it a night, it's like it never happened, and you can just keep doing what you were doing before getting on the bus!

As we were chatting, and drinking more beer, a quiet little thai woman approached us. Unlike the usual touts, she didn't sound pushy, and just discreetly placed a photo album of her resort on our table. We looked, and it looked awesome, turquoise water, fish that come eat from your hands (bread, not your hands), little quiet beach, a few bungalows, a jump rock... Steve and I just wanted to relax, like i said in the precedent messages we've been feeling a bit tired of the moving around, and when we got into that truck on the way to Laem Thiem, Ping Pong's resort (Ping Pong is the woman... ) we knew that we'd stay a while.

The road we took was ... not a road, more like a mud track going straight up the mountain. Oh yeah, islands in Thailand are far from flat, they are covered with lush jungle, coconut trees, and pretty much only the coasts are inhabited.

So the road, well, you'll understand that it destroys less forest to make the roads straight right, instead of winding around a hundred times to just get to the top. Well, the people here just make the road straight. You sit at the back of a toyota (most of the time) pick up truck, and hold on, while the truck litterally climbs up the gravelly, rocky, sometimes muddy, dusty track up, and then obviously down the other side. To give you an idfea, the resort was just about 4/5 kms (2 miles) from the harbour, but it took 30 minutes to get there!

It was sooo worth it. As we arrived, the pictures we had seen came to life. The little round bay, the simple huts, the rocky landscape, the fish eating from our hands... everything was perfect!

We took a bungalow which already had a resident: An enormous geiko, when i say enormous i mean it, we've seen plenty on our trip, butthis one was the hercules of geiko. It didn't help against the monstruous spider that we met later, but hey, he had the right to be scared of that monster too (i know i was... picture will come, and you will understand).

Oh dear, it has happened again, half the message has just been deleted.
For the info, Steve and I haven't touched a cigarette in 6 days now, but strangely, tright now, i'm more tempted than ever...
I will continue the update soon, but just for you to know, today is the 8th of June, and we have arrived in Malaysia, and are staying on the island of Penang.

Will let you know more soon!!
Lots of love to everyone!!

xxxxxxx
J&S