Off On Our Next Adventure

Our journey from Khao Sok to Koh Tao was straightforward and uneventful, although it was a long day of travelling, departing at 9am,  arriving around 12.30pm in Surat Thani for our bus transfer to Don Sak pier and then boarding the 2.30pm Lomprayah fast ferry to Koh Tao.

Fortunately for us, because we were the final destination, we were invited to board the ferry and stow our luggage first, which meant a relaxed boarding and guaranteed, air-conditioned seats up the front of the boat. Our friends told us that when they boarded the same fast ferry at Koh Samui with their kids a few days later, they were literally shoved out of the way by other travellers rushing for the empty seats. Unfortunately, we got to witness this for ourselves on the return journey to Koh Phangan.

I must admit that it’s surprising how many people lose their manners and consideration for others during their travels…on the Lomprayah coach transfer to the ferry, the young woman sitting behind me talked VERY loudly to her friends in her best outside voice for the entire journey. I get that she was excited about seeing them again, but I was kind’ve tempted to turn around and suggest her inside voice might be used instead. There was a French family just in front of us, and the mum turned around, met my gaze, and archly raised her eyebrows (as only the French can), whilst imperceptibly shaking her head. She was thinking exactly what I was thinking. I nodded and smiled back, enjoying the moment of restrained solidarity.

Don’t get me wrong, we have also met plenty of wonderful, respectful and polite travellers along the way, but you do get to witness the whole range of human behaviour in an extended period of travel. That’s part of the fun of it!

Pranee Amata Hotel

By 6pm, we had arrived at our temporary accommodation, where we were staying for two nights ahead of our friends arriving from Koh Samui. The Pranee Amata hotel had pretty mixed reviews on booking.com but we had a very enjoyable stay there, and the family room we booked was large and comfortable. It didn’t include breakfast so the following day, we found a place up the road called De’Coffee, which served very yummy, healthy food and had lovely, friendly staff. We ended up going back the next day as well.

We enjoyed a pretty quiet day, wandering around the Sairee Beach shops and then relaxing by the lovely, if somewhat over-chlorinated, pool in the afternoon. Leo discovered a gaming lounge that had an Oculous VR so he enjoyed having a go with that.

The area also had a Dairy Queen ice cream parlour, which the kids were keen to try. A single scoop ice cream was about 50 cents!

Reunion at Sairee Hut Resort

The next day, we checked out and then walked 100 metres down the road to the Sairee Hut Resort, where we were meeting our Kiwi mates later in the day. They arrived at about 3pm and it was a joyful reunion. We usually holiday once a year with Nick, Sarah, Lucas, Ben and Sophie in NZ, so our kids were stoked to have playmates who they know well for the next couple of weeks.

We enjoyed a couple of very lazy, relaxing days by the pool, on the beach, and trying out the local restaurants.

The kids invented lots of games to play in the 3m deep dive training pool, which kept them entertained for hours while we were able to lounge by the poolside reading our books. The only interruption to the tranquility was Leo noticing the images of stylised genitalia on the bathroom doors across from the pool. He laughed and then yelled out across about 15 people……”DAD!….THERE’S A PENIS ON THIS DOOR!!” Shaun didn’t shrink from parental responsibility and front footed the announcement with a thumbs up, yelling back “Good stuff….thanks for that, Leo!” as muted amusement could be heard from the surrounding sunbathers.

After dinner each evening, we wandered back to the resort along the beach, enjoying the fire shows along the way.

By the last night on Koh Tao, the kids had gotten brave enough to ask for a lesson, and the lovely fire dancer gave them some coaching, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Tanote Bay

After a couple of relaxing days, we decided to leave the comfort of the resort and get a taxi over to Tanote Bay on the other side of the island. Nick and Sez had stayed over here years ago and were keen to revisit it. The taxis on Koh Tao are open-air, converted utes like Nissan Navaras, with bench seats on either side. They are surprisingly comfortable and fitted all nine of us in. The good thing about getting a ride over is that you can then get the driver’s WhatsApp details and call him when you’re ready to go back.

There were some big rocks down the southern end of the beach, so we headed for them and found a good spot to leave our stuff.

We were pretty impressed with the snorkelling here – we only needed to swim a few metres out from the beach to find incredible coral and a gorgeous array of tropical fish. It also made it so easy to take the kids because they didn’t need to swim very far out at all to see the magical underwater world.

After a good look around, we had a quick afternoon snack and drinks before calling our taxi back to Sairee  Beach.

Fun for Everyone

The following day, Nick had booked into a scuba diving trip, so Sez and I took Sophie and Anna out for the morning, while Shaun and the boys went off on an exploration of the island.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed getting their colourful hair braids, although we all had to contribute to first undoing the 90 odd braids that Sophie already had in her hair. Once the lady had finished Anna’s braids, she and Anna joined Sarah and I with undoing the remaining braids!

We found a sweet little local place for lunch before wandering back up the beach to Sairee Hut. On the way, we bumped into the Dutch dad from our Khao Sok Overnight lake trip… they were also enjoying the warm island weather after the rainy jungle.

Meanwhile, Shaun and the boys had their own adventure, heading off on a walk that ended with them hailing a taxi and going to a lookout over some of the eastern beaches.

Before their hike, they had looked around some of the local shops and each selected a wristband.

The view was incredible, and after all their walking, they had earned a nice cold drink.

On the way back, they stumbled across a shooting range. While the boys were all far too young to actually practice shooting, the Welsh guy running the place, who was British ex-army, gave them a lesson in how to hold, point and shoot a pistol, using imitation rubber guns.

They stopped in to see our friends at De’Coffee and Ben got a mango smoothie.

Their last stop of the day was the gaming lounge where they played some of the Playstation games on offer, and Ben and Lucas tried out the VR. The air-conditioned space was a welcome relief after their hot day out.

They arrived back at Sairee Hut around the same time that Nick returned from his scuba diving trip. Sarah and I had enjoyed a very relaxing afternoon at the resort, reading our books poolside while the girls had a wonderful time swimming in the pool and playing together.

Koh Tao Snorkelling Trip

On our fourth day at Sairee Hut, we booked a boat trip to go snorkelling over at Koh Nangyuan before circumnavigating Koh Tao and going to the best snorkelling spots along the way. We were collected from our accommodation just after 9 am, and after being taken to get our gear and pay our marine park fees, we boarded the boat at the pier. It had plenty of seats with good shade, as well as a jumping platform and a slide. The kids were all very excited!

There was a bit of a delay leaving, so by the time we arrived at Koh Nangyuam, it was about 11.30am. We were meeting back at the boat at 1pm so we decided to skip the congested walk up to the lookout point (a lot of boats had arrived at once) and get straight into the snorkelling, since all the kids were itching to get started.

The beach there was beautiful, and after a cold drink (coke in glass bottles since no plastic bottles are allowed on the island), we headed for the sheltered southern side of the island for our snorkelling experience. All the kids were straight into it, and we thoroughly enjoyed this introduction to the day. There was good clarity and a variety of gorgeous fish and coral to look at.

After an hour of fun in the water, we made our way back to the boat, where we were given packed lunches of Thai basil chicken and rice to eat on the journey to our next snorkelling spot. The boat anchored at the northern end of Koh Tao and we had a brief snorkel here, although it wasn’t quite as interesting as our first spot.

We were only here a short time before continuing on to Mango Bay, where the water was deep enough for people to jump off and use the slide. Lucas, Ben and Sophie had a great time leaping off the jumping platform. Shaun and Nick also got in amongst the action.

Leo was eager to try the slide but ended up landing awkwardly on top of the water, severely winding himself, although he still managed to bellow out the f-word several times at the top of his voice to express his agony, much to my embarrassment. Saying that, very few of the other passengers seemed to notice since they were busy having their own fun snorkelling, sliding or jumping.

Our next stop was near the lighthouse, where we saw a large triggerfish as well as lots of other smaller, colourful fish, including some clownfish. After this, we stopped at a couple more spots, before heading to Shark Bay. This turned out to be a highlight of the trip as there are several turtles that come here to feed in the late afternoon. One of the guides had an underwater camera and took photos of people with the turtles, including most of our crew. It was so lovely to see turtles again, even if a lot of the coral around here appeared to be dead.

The kids enjoyed posing for underwater turtle photos.

I did some reading up about the coral, and it turns out that Koh Tao has experienced several mass bleaching events in the past 20 years. In addition to this, the coverage of coconut plantations on the island has increased, leading to soil erosion, which impacts on the water clarity and subsequently on coral growth. It’s such a shame that the confluence of climate change, mass tourism and capitalism all conspire to threaten the beauty of places like Koh Tao. While the majority of snorkelling trip providers have banned fins in order to protect the regenerating coral, there were still plenty of people out there using them. You’ve just got to hope they know what they’re doing.

We spent the following day enjoying the resort and beach before packing up and preparing for our journey to Koh Phangan the next day.

Anna’s Koh Tao Highlights

Seven Nights on Koh Phangan

Koh Phangan is famous for its huge full moon party, which is very popular with backpackers and is held every month. A lot of the young travellers that we met at Khao Sok were headed that way, as the full moon occurred while we were staying on the quieter Koh Tao. We had planned to arrive a few days after the full moon party, and found it to be even quieter than Koh Tao after the exodus of partygoers, which suited us just fine.

The departure of the fast ferry was delayed by nearly an hour, and our lovely driver from the resort waited patiently for it to arrive before transporting us across the island to Haad Rinn, where we were staying at Tommy Resort, on the famous full moon party beach.

Holiday Mode

Tommy Resort was an awesome place to stay…the staff were super friendly and helpful, the pool was huge with plenty of space for the kids to play, and the buffet breakfast varied and delicious. In addition to this, our rooms were large and comfortable, and we ended up in a family bungalow right on the beach.

We spent the next few days in total holiday mode, relaxing by the pool, enjoying the beach and the local restaurants.

The kids all enjoyed the pool tables, and this became the favoured entertainment for adults and children alike.

It was fantastic seeing the kids work on developing their accuracy and skills.

And we all enjoyed the quality time chatting between games.

An Island Tour

On the fifth day there, we booked a taxi van for the day to do an island tour and our driver took us to several different beaches, as well as a temple. These were all quite different in character; the first one being a good snorkelling location, although with the tide out, it was too shallow to do any decent snorkelling.

Our next stop was a beautiful lookout spot called Ko Ma, at the 420 Club. We climbed up the steep path and stairs to reach a platform, where we could take in the stunning view of the beach and sandbar where we had been earlier.

From here, our driver took us to an amazing place for lunch called Koh Raham Restaurant and Bar.

It was such a cool place, decorated with drapings of amazing rope, shell, and seed pod artistry, as well as swings and hammocks.

Tables of various sizes were dotted around the place, nestled into nooks amidst palm trees and cosy bamboo structures. It was a really gorgeous place to eat a delicious lunch and look out at the sea.

We had a huge table for the 9 of us, and the kids enjoyed playing amidst the magical swings, ropes, and sculptures.

Our final destination of the day was Coconut Beach, a stunning white sand, calm beach that was great for swimming. Saying that, it was almost too calm, and it’s a little disconcerting swimming in water that is what Leo describes as ‘pee warm’ and has almost no movement in it!

After a swim and an ice cream, we made our way back to Tommy Resort, stopping to view a beautiful Hindu temple along the way.

As we drove over the big hill leading to Haad Rinn Beach, we spotted loads of monkeys on the side of the road. Our driver stopped so we could look at them, but we chose to stay in the van and were content to look from across the road, because these monkeys were  getting very familiar with the other tourists who had stopped, climbing all over their motorbikes. It seemed a little too close for comfort, having seen how aggressive monkeys can be if provoked.

That evening, we went for a wander and found a place called Mama for dinner. It was run by a group of three women who doted on the kids and proceeded to feed us delicious food.

Anna’s Koh Phangan Highlights

A Birthday Celebration

The following day was Sarah’s birthday and our last day on Koh Phangan. For a birthday treat, Sarah and I walked across to the Vanee Sands Resort, where we each got an hour long relaxing massage.  Despite our wishes to not have any of the more vigorous Thai massage action, both of us ended up getting bent forwards and sideways like rag dolls by our small but deceivingly strong masseuses towards the end of the experience. This was followed up with  several vigorous backslaps, just to wake us up at the end of the massage!

Despite the seemingly rough treatment, we both noted that our neck cricks and stiff backs had completely disappeared afterwards. Before floating back to our resort, we stopped for a cold drink by the pool at Vanee Sands, enjoying the peaceful, four star luxury surroundings.

We dined at Tommy Resort for lunch, as Nick had organised a surprise birthday cake for Sarah, made by the aunty of one of the resort staff. It was beautifully decorated, brought out proudly by all the staff singing happy birthday, as we joined in. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed her birthday surprise and the cake not only looked beautiful but also tasted delicious.

After our last bit of pooltime, we got organised and went out for dinner to the Lucky Crab Restaurant. We adults shared a delicious assortment of Thai dishes, while the kids each ordered their own choice of meal. The spaghetti bolognaise proved to be a hit with the girls.

After dinner, we stopped for a couple of games of pool before heading back to the resort for a very late bedtime.

I set my alarm all ready for our early start the next day, when a taxi was taking us to the ferry at 7.30am.

My Top 5 Things on Koh Tao and Koh Phangan

By Leo

5: Swimming

We had great swimming on both islands. At Koh Tao, we had a really deep pool and a shallow pool. And at Koh Phangan, we had a really long pool.

4: Shooting Range

On Koh Tao, there was a shooting range that we went to. Of course, I was too young to shoot the guns. But the guy who worked there taught us how to hold a gun and even gave us some shells. I got a 9mm, a 222 magnum, and a 12-gauge shotgun shell. Unfortunately I had to leave them behind because you can’t travel with them.

3: Snorkelling

On the snorkelling trip, we went to a few areas where we saw tons of fish, and at the last spot, we saw a huge turtle that we had a photo with. The only reason this is lower is because when I went on the slide, I flipped over, bellyflopped and got winded.

2: Playing Pool

On Koh Phangan we played a lot of pool, and it was super fun. I’ve been practicing and I’m getting really good at long range shots as well.

1: Gaming Lounge

There was a gaming lounge on Koh Tao, and it was amazing. The first time we went there I went on the oculus/meta quest 2 and I played beat saber and the walking dead saints and sinners which my parents didn’t like because of the graphic violence, which I personally was fine with. My mum was pleased that I only got to try the tutorial in that game. The second time, we brought our friends and got to play the PS5.