Koh Tao

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  Koh Tao, Thailand
Saturday, April 1, 2006

I have been in Thailand for several days now and the phrase you hear most in SE Asia describes it best. "Same same but different." Is Thailand really so much like Cambodia and Vietnam? In some ways it is the same. The people are nice, the travel is cheap, the food is good (actually great) and there is plenty to do and see. But in other ways it is noticeably different. The most apparent difference is the western influence, more correctly the tourist influence. Since it has been touristed far longer than Cambodia or Vietnam, it has definitely compromised a larger portion of its culture in an effort to provide greater ease to the lazy tourist and make sure they keep coming back. Another example of their tenure in the tourist trade is evidenced by the skills of the various scam artists who have created high art out of plying dollars away from westerners.

Bangkok, being the capitol, is the main hub for travelling anywhere in Thailand, and as a result they get first shot at newbies before they travel either South to the beaches or North to the mountains

01 Michael and Bela leaving Cambodia

. It is a huge city, and in many ways looks just like any big city in America. Skyscrapers, malls, office parks, and suburbs. Lying in the middle of this very modern city, is Banglamphu, and its famous street, Khao San Road. This street is Las Vegas for backpackers, and like Las Vegas you are in awe for the first day, followed by plans for a speedy departure to more sane surroundings. I arrived on Khao San Road at 8pm on a Friday night after an extremely long journey from Siem Reap. I had left Siem Reap at 7am, travelling in a 12 seat mini-bus with 22 fellow passengers and their luggage heading for the Cambodian-Thailand border. The five hour journey to the border lasted seven, and was made more pleasant by the heat, dirt and bouncy ride. When the bus arrived close to the border, we disentangled ourselves from each other and got on another bus that took us the last 2 miles to the border, where they dropped us off and left. Navigating the border checks for Cambodia and then Thailand took about 2 hours, after which you walk into Thailand hoping that the bus you paid for is waiting for you. It was there, and it had air conditioning. Thailand also has paved roads. Between the a/c and the smooth road, I slept most of the remaining 4 hours. To start the day in sleepy Siem Reap was quite a contrast to where it ended. Khao San Road is brimming with bars, live musicians, DJ's playing music out of the back of VW buses, food stalls with every variety of food, lady boys looking for love, lady pros looking for money, neon signs littering the sky and 25 year old backpackers doing their best Hunter Thompson impressions

02 Grounds of Ko Ratanakesin...Royal District

. I found a reasonably quiet room, left my bags and foolishly went and got a haircut at 10pm by a lady lacking any depth perception.

On day one in Bangkok, I visited Wat Phra Kaew (home of the Emerald Buddha), the Grand Palace, and Wat Pho (residence of the 46m long reclining gold Buddha). I will let the picture provide the description, with my only commentary being that all three places were pretty amazing. The main tourist stops out of the day on day one left me with little to do on day two, so I spent most of the day trying to find areas of Bangkok not touristed, which wasn't very easy. That afternoon I went over to PatPong, and if I had taken pictures I don't think I would show them. It is the famous red light district, and a few hours is more than you need to get the general idea. I made it an early evening with plans to move on the next day. The next day I had booked a ticket on the night train to Champhon, and then a ferry to Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. After a few days of Bangkok, the natural setting of an island sounded perfect.

The train got into Champhon at 4am and I boarded the ferry for Koh Tao at 7am, for the one and a half hour ride. Koh Tao was just what I wanted, seclusion with plenty of dive sites. I found a great bungalow, about 10 paces to the beach, in a cove on the southern tip of the island called Ao Chalak Ban Koh

03 Golden Stupa in Royal District

. I have spent the last four days hear and done some diving and snorkeling. The waters around the island are fairly common territories for whale sharks, but I wasn't lucky enough to see one, even though I had a couple of close encounters with some other fish. On one of my dives, my last in Koh Tao, we went to an island called Shark Island, which as the name implies, you would expect to see some shark. No shark, but a nasty little fish called a trigger fish. Prior to entering the water, my dive master asked if I knew the signal for trigger fish. I showed him the signal, even though I had no idea what the fish looked like. I thought he was just checking with me so that if we saw one he could point it out, by using the signal, and I would look at the pretty fish and be appropriately impressed with its beauty. He explained that we would not be looking at it, we would be trying to get away. Evidently these trigger fish don't like humans invading there territory and will attack. He then explained what to do, and assured me it would go after him, since he would be in front.
Basically these fish have territories like inverted cones, and the only way to get away is to swim on your back, kicking your fins into the fish while going down in depth, so you more quickly get out of the cone that marks their territory. One problem, I still have no idea what they look like, but I am imagining a really scary looking fish with lots of teeth. As we are swimming along, I get a little ahead of the dive master, no longer thinking about the scary fish with all the teeth and sure enough here comes a trigger fish. I didn't know at first it was a trigger fish, because as I said I didn't know what they looked like, but I surmised it was one as it had plenty of teeth and wasn't too happy with me. Truthfully, what felt like 10 minutes was probably about 30-40 seconds. I couldn't seem to get out of this guys cone quick enough. The only thing other than my soaring heart rate to suffer was my fins, as the trigger fish took a few healthy bites out of them

04 Another building in Royal District

. That was enough diving for a few days.

Yesterday, I went to Shark Beach, which is the next cove over the hill from where I'm staying. The beach is really deep, and the snorkeling is great. The name stems from the abundance of reef sharks that patrol the area. In case you are thinking I am absolutely mad at this point, I asked several locals and divers if these things ever went after humans and they assured me that they did not. I swam out to the end of the cove and was not disappointed. The first one I saw was only about three feet long, and I thought this is great. They are really graceful, and to watch a shark flick its tail fin once and propel itself through the water at incredible speeds is amazing. The next one that swam by was larger than me and after yesterdays episode I wasn't sure if swimming with sharks was such a good idea. I ended up seeing several and that was too many for my comfort, so I swam back to shore, wishing I could propel myself through the water with a sharks speed, gracefulness be damned.

So now I am waiting to board the night boat to Surat Thani, where I will board a bus to Krabi on the Andaman Coast in the Indian Ocean. From Krabi I will take a ferry down to Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi. Koh Lanta's interior is virgin rain forest and Koh Phi Phi is where they filmed the movie "The Beach". Both were affected by the tsunami, so I will let you know how they have recovered. Take Care and I will update you soon.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

05 Doorway in Royal District	06 More of Royal District buldings	07 Still more	08 Grand Palace
09 on the grounds of Wat Pho	10 Face of reclining Buddha	11 Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho	12 Mother of Pearl inlaid feet of Buddha
13 Koh Tao from ferry	14 View from room at Chalok Ban Koh, Koh Tao	15 left side of Ao Chalok Ban Koh	16 Sunset on Sai Ri Baech, Koh Tao
17 Same same	18 My Bungalow	19 Puppies outside my Bungalow

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