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TONY T's 4th THAILAND TRAVELS
KOH TAO
Page 6
Tuesday 22nd March:
Awake at 2am and into the taxi ahead of time. Little traffic at this time of day/night so we arrived at Don Muang Airport a bit on the early side
Koh Tao is a small paradise island in the Gulf of Thailand covering 21 sq kms, located approximately 70 km east off the coastline between the provinces of Suratthani and Chumphon, or 44 km north of Koh Pha-Ngan and 45 km Northeast of Samui.
Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, was named by its first settlers for its turtle-like shape and also from the many hawksbill and green sea turtles that lived on the island decades ago. It is rumoured that during the 1940's (1933-1947), it was used to hold political prisoners captive. They were transferred from Koh Tarutao to Koh Tao because of its isolated location in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand.
Check-in and security check a cinch and flight to Chumphon (1hr 20min) on time.
Flight was on an ATR72 500; it's been a long time since I've been on a prop-driven plane. A bit on the noisy side but typical of these short haul internal flights, you've no sooner sat down and buckled up when the plane is in the air. Similarly when landing, the plane just drops and lands; no circling or dithering like on big airliners at busy airports.
Once on the tarmac at Chumphon we entered the tiny terminal building and the first case I saw was ours.
Booked in for the 1 hour mini-bus ride to Thung Makham Noi Pier and arrived for a long wait at the pier for our catamaran sailing at 11:30am.
It's only claim to notoriety was in 2014 when the brutal murder of two British tourists occurred.
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TOP LEFT: The Nok Air ATR720 prop plane.
TOP RIGHT: Chumhon Airport; crowded not.
CENTRE: Beach adjacent to ferry terminal at Thung Makham Noi Pier.
BOTTOM: Catamaran ferry and inside the floating cattle truck.
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TOP LEFT: Ferry terminal at Mae Haad Village on Koh Tao. The catamaran's bows far right.
TOP RIGHT: Main street in Mae Haad Village leading up from ferry terminal.
BOTTOM: Main road rumnning from Mae Haad to Chalok Baan Kao Bay.
Tuesday 22nd (cont'd): TOP ROW: Our 'home' for the week; a 'bungahigh' rather than a bungalow?? BOTTOM LEFT: Chintakiri's pathways. BOTTOM RIGHT: The small pool at Chintakiri with its commanding view into Chalok Baan Kao Bay.
Waiting for boarding the catamaran ferry was mega tedious. I wish now in hindsight I'd booked a much later flight from Bangkok, but my online bookings were made late in the evening and when I was knackered. Great thing this hindsight.
Another disappointment was the ferry boat itself which was, frankly, horrible, like sitting in huge auditorium with horrible ultra tinted windows which made things very claustrophobic, it was fast though. Furthermore, the boat stopped off at athe smaller island of Koh Nangyouan where several people got off but literally hundreds of day trippers got on; it was chaotic especially so when the boat reached Koh Tao and everyone tried to get off at once.... not impressed.
Once we did manage to disembark, we were met promptly by a 'rep' from the resort brandishing a handwritten board with "TONY" scrawled on it... that'd be me then.
Away through the tiny town on an open (Baht-bus type) wagon and first-gearing up the steep hillside to our place of stay, Chintakiri Resort.
Very polite welcoming and we were shown to our bungalow high up on the hillside with a rather beautiful view of Thian Oy Bay.
But, there were numerous problems with the room:-
1. The bedroom air-con didn't work, the temp in there was 35˚C.
2. The safe didn't work.
3. The shower was broken.
4. The main entrance door lock was faulty.
All 4 items were corrected within the hour but really this lot should NOT have been left. Typical Thai mentality; no maintenance; wait until it fails then replace it; really bad!!
In spite of the problems with villa, I have to say the staff attended to them very quickly and apologetically.
The bungalow/villa has two bedrooms and, for some reason, three TV's. I would have preferred NO TV and a kettle to make a brew in the morning instead.
What was left with daylight hours was spent cooling off and waiting until all 3 air-con units had done their stuff.
Strolled down the incredibly steep (1in1) hill to the beach area and tried out a couple of bars which were surprisingly quiet. Wandered further into 'town' and ate at a small restaurant. BIG problem here too; although my food was good, Aom had a nasty shock to find a cockroach had been cooked along with her meal, disgusting!. Naturally we refused to pay for her meal and after a bit of a fuss, they agreed. And here's me thinking all our problems were over; let's see what tomorrow brings.
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