Sim says: Koh Tao - Free Travel Blogs

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	Jakarta Capital Region Arrived on 5th Jun 2012
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Blog updated: 4th Jan 2013

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Clouds over the island

My latest 5 Diary Entries

Vagabonding

9th Oct 2006
Sim says: Koh Tao

It was with reluctance on the 9th, that Mal and I dragged ourselves away from the joys of Koh Pan Ngan and the beauty of the Lighthouse and comfort of our new friends to make the journey over to Koh Tao. It was just a short hour-and-half ferry from Koh Pan Ngan to Koh Tao- it was jam-packed with people (full moon party residuals) and I was pleased we got a seat in the aircon cabin! On the ferries, there are always touts selling resorts and other touristy packages to the new-comers to the island, and so we used this as an opportunity to research which dive operator wed go with for doing our PADI Open Water Certificate. We have many things on our side at the moment- its low season and this means we can negotiate hard for good deals! We spoke to about 5-6 different on the operators on the ferry and sussed out what they were willing to offer and which companies seemed the best. In the end, we decided that Bans seemed the most professional (although not the cheapest course) and could also offer us the most in terms of accommodation benefits. With Bans, we could do our whole PADI cert and get FREE accommodation in a bungalow for 4 nights for just 9600 TH Baht. Pretty good deal which makes it totally worthwhile to be here in low season!

They had someone meet us at the ferry terminal and take us to the resort where I started to get really annoyed as I felt like I was being herded into something I wasnt mentally prepared to do on this day. They first showed us a room which was not what we wanted- wed been told we could have a bungalow. They told us wed have to pay for a bungalow, which we obviously didnt want to do. Luckily, we had a few second and third choice of operators so we told Bans wed go with them if they didnt give us a bungalow (the room was ok, but had two single beds and not a double and was in a noisy position). Our hardcore negotiations and threats to go elsewhere got things going in our favour and they ended up offering s a bungalow for free with the course- whoopee, a win in our favour! However, no sooner had we seen the bungalow and agreed to take it than we were told we had to meet for orientation for the dive course that started the next day. I was completely exhausted at this stage, and also absolutely ravenous for food (it was 3pm and had last eaten at 9amplus I was still in recovery mode from full moon party!) and had just been so much looking forward to having a day off before starting the course to chill out a bit. This was starting to piss me off! The orientation would be just half an hour, I was assuredso off we go and TWO HOURS LATER (!!!) we leave, after being made to watch a preliminary video and actually start learning some material! I was feeling rather unpleased, not ripped off as such (because we had ended up with a good deal) but kind of like I was being pushed and pressured into doing something, which is never really cool.

Koh Tao itself is quite small- just 20km from north to south- and were staying in the heart of the town at Sairee beach. Its just a small place (and at the moment, quiet too) place, built with enough restaurants and bars of various niceness and prices to cater for everyone. The whole island is really just designed around catering for the multitude of divers who come every year. They say Koh Tao is one of the Top 5 diving sites in the world, so you can just imagine the amount of tourists who come from around the world to dive here!

It kind of reminds me of a small skiing town which only really exists because of its snowfields and skiers. Everyone who works and lives on the island is in some way associated with diving or the related services and infrastructure. We have found our favorite little Thai restaurant- it seems the locals all frequent the place and for good reason. We just stumbled across it and the cheap prices appealed- then the delicious food took us back again for more meals! I think Mal has found a new addiction to take over from Pad Thai which I think hes had every day since being here- Massaman Curry (an old fave of mine which I introduced to him). The weather has been pretty dull- rainy and overcast (it is low season for a reason I guess!) but I can see that this is another beautiful island. How Id love to live on one of these islands one day. Hmmm.maybe Koh Tao could do with a TESOL training college catering to backpackers on their way up to Bangkok for workthe land prices here are ridiculously cheap. A peek in the windows of the real estate today revealed a piece of land could be purchased for 1 million Baht..

Either that, or maybe working in the diving industry is a goerbut more about my diving experiences in the next blog,