A Day in Ko Tao

IMAGINE sitting on a peaceful beach watching the bright orange sun setting in the horizon, creating a beautiful silhouette of the passing ship on the clear blueish green waters of this glorious island as you sip on a fresh tropical fruit juice.

Ko Tao is the place to be if you want to get away from the demands of real life, and live a fully laidback live even for a day.

Within minutes of getting on this small island on the east coast of South Thailand, I my mind was already shouting out, "This is the life!" and I wanted to run to the beach and roll myself in the sand (But no, I didn't do it).

Besides the amazing feeling of being surrounded by nature's finest, it is so easy to fall in love with laidback atmosphere and the friendly small town community that lives in Ko Tao.

Ko Tao translates literally to "Turtle Island" for its geographical shape — like a turtle. It is also one of the most popular diving spots in the world, for its vast marine life.

The economy on the island itself is based mainly on water activities; predominantly scuba diving and snorkelling.

Having only one day to spend in Ko Tao before I make my journey to the next island, there was too little time with too much to explore.

My main purpose to visiting Ko Tao was just for diving and chilling on the beach. Coincidentally, I met a fellow traveller with the same mission, on the boat to Ko Tao.

He was visiting the island for the second time to see an old friend and to do some diving.

We stayed at Ban's Diving Resort, located in Sairee Beach on Ko Tao for really cheap - 600 baht ($24) per night. A fun dive with Ban's cost only 1000 baht ($40), I would have done two dives if it weren't for my seasickness from the choppy waves. Oh well.

Despite the poor visibility at the Hin Pee Wee dive site due to bad weather, I managed to get up close with the yellowtail barracudas, some angelfish and the Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish, to name a few. HPW was also known to be a place to spot whale sharks.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky then. This means a second trip!

Ko Tao has some kind of charm to the people who have been to the place.

And it's apparent with the number of tourists who return to work there for months to a year because they could not get enough of the island's beauty and laidback life.

I found myself sitting on the beach that evening, enjoying dinner with some newfound friends; sharing our life stories and how we ended up in Ko Tao. The rest of the night let's just say, was history. (It includes watching fire shows, doing daredevil acts like jumping through a ring of fire, and walking around town and meeting more new people.

It's exactly what I love about travelling; meeting like-minded people and having a good time as if you knew each other for a long time.

Although I wished I had more time in Ko Tao, I was more than excited for my next destination - neighbour island, Koh Phangan. But Ko Tao, I will return!

Getting there

Getting to the island can be quite a journey, especially from Brunei because there are not that many flights out of here.

That's why I think longer trips would be much more worth it.

The best connecting places from Brunei would be Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Singapore.

I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Hat Yai, from where I took a train ride to get to Suratthani for 406 baht ($16) that took about five or six hours.

A taxi ride from the Suratthani train station to the ferry terminal cost about 300 baht ($12) for one journey. The more people in the taxi with you, the better so you can split the cost.

From Suratthani, there are ferries to take you to the nearby islands including Ko Tao. The ferry ride to Ko Tao takes between seven and nine hours depending on whether you take the fast or slow boat. The slow boat, which I took, cost 550 baht ($22) per person one way. It is overnight and features mattresses for sleeping. When you arrive in the morning, you're up and ready to do things!

The Brunei Times