getting down with the fishies ...

Finding the others on Ko Tao proved rather more difficult than expected.

Since my last visit 8 years ago, the main beach of Sai Ree has gone from 3km of unspoilt coastline to a fully developed resort with 7-11's and ATM's. Although in the end it wasn't the increase in size that stopped us finding them - it was the fact they weren't there.

We found them the following evening in Chaalok Bay to the South of the island to discover the mobile phone we'd been calling had suffered seawater damage, during what is probably best described as an apres-pub night-snorkelling expedition, that also added additional cuts and bruises to the growing list of injuries. We set off back to Sai Ree armed with the number of the remaining mobile, promising to call the next morning once accomodation had been arranged for the whole group.

I don't think the question of whether that one was lost or stolen was ever conclusively answered, but either way it had achieved missing in action status by the time we called the next day. So it wasn't until 48 hours after our arrival on the island that the full group assembled, having collectively incurred more injury, loss and travel disruption in 4 days, than in the whole of the previous three and a half months.

We spent the remainder of the week taking advantage of the excellent scuba-diving and of course frequenting the equally impressive bars along the palm fringed beach.

Arguably the most exciting land-based incident happended one evening during a tropical storm when a giant centipede (2cm wide by 25cm long) ran across our bar table, seemingly flushed out of it's usual home in the wall by the rainwater. On seeing it, one of the staff quickly ran out from behind the bar and cut it in half, only afterwards pausing to explain how poisonous its bite would have been.

On reflection the timing was fortunate, just moments before the barman's cleaver-wielding arrival, two of our group (who shall remain nameless) had been trying to poke it with their fingers - narrowly avoiding an additional entry on an already impressive injury list ...

Guy's - it was a pleasure to see you and a real change from the kind of travelling I'd been doing ... although please don't take offence when I say I definitely couldn't cope with it for 52 weeks running! Travellers planning a SE Asia journey take note; it may take Thailand's reserves of Tiger beer and English breakfast ingredients some time to recover ...

A big thanks to Jim and his disposable camera for the photo's on this post ... after Angkor Wat I found myself giving my shutter finger a well-earned rest on Ko Tao. I hope I''ll soon be in a position to reciprocate with some fresh Jim Thompson information you may find of interest ...

Finally, if anyone's interested I'm currently having a rant about responsible travel over on day12.com, you can catch the full article by clicking here. If you've an interest in travel you'll find the rest of their site well worth exploring too.