Ko Tao is an island on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, world-famous as one of the great diving paradises, with incredible marine life and a huge range of genuinely cheap scuba courses. The silhouette of this Thai island resembles a turtle — which is exactly what its name means in Thai.
We stayed on Ko Tao for around ten days, arriving from Chumphon on a night ferry and settling into the cheapest bungalows I could find at about $4 a night.
Most tourists spend their days on Ko Tao drinking beer, eating pad thai, scuba diving and renting motorbikes to get around the steep little island. We, as usual, were the exception.
What to do in Ko Tao?
The dive courses were relatively cheap, but they still didn't come in under €200 per person for four days. We thought about it a lot, went back and forth endlessly, and in the end food poisoning "helped" us let the opportunity pass.
Ilze insisted on exaggerating my fever, and it didn't occur to her to do anything other than write to her family saying I probably had malaria… The next day I started feeling better and she forgot to give her mother the "good news". You can imagine the rest.
Even so, we made the most of the free pool introduction sessions offered to anyone thinking of getting their PADI, and spent a session in the pool with full scuba gear.
The sign says it all — prepare to suffer
Distances on Ko Tao are no problem — the island is small enough to cover on foot. The problem is that the roads are in constant steep incline, which is why residents and tourists alike rely on motorbikes and 4x4s. We decided to walk: up the hills and back down under a suffocating sun, stopping at the tops to take in the spectacular views and getting lost in the forests.
Our favourite beach is one of Ko Tao's quietest — barely a handful of little white houses fringing Ao Hin Wong Bay.
On Ao Hin Wong beach
The beaches of Ko Tao weren't the first we'd visited since arriving in Southeast Asia, nor the first place we'd snorkelled, so we were prepared. During our days couchsurfing in Phnom Penh we'd bought a pair of diving masks that we'd been carrying with us everywhere since.
It was on Ko Tao, especially at this beautiful beach, that we got the most use out of them. The marine life was incredible and the water crystal clear.
And not only underwater — on the rocks of Shark Bay we found an enormous number of crabs.
Crabs fighting — which one are you backing?
Food and accommodation on Ko Tao?
The area around Ko Tao village by the pier is the most affordable. A couple of hundred metres to the right, walking along the beach, you reach Save Bungalows — the cheapest on the island.
Heading to the bathroom at night was quite the adventure — geckos over a foot long and spiders the size of your palm roamed the surroundings. You were well advised to move quickly, to try to avoid mosquito bites or at least keep the number down.
In this same area were the sandwich and pancake stalls with the best prices and biggest portions, as well as a 7-Eleven with (almost) normal prices. Even so, as on any small island, if you want to eat really cheaply you're better off bringing your own food from the mainland.
