Bridge: We ‘scooted’ into Ban Mae Had and enjoyed pancakes and coffee/mango shakes for breakfast before we packed up our room at Freedom Beach and headed to Ao Leuk. We traded our slightly weak scooter in for a new one with a bit more power and thicker treads on its wheels as the road leading down and up form Ao Leuk is at a 60 degree angle and rather treacherous!
We exposed our very shiny white bods to the sun after we checked into our cute little room and then spent the afternoon exploring the island on ‘Oliver’ we found an internet cafe and skyped Smurf and Lisa. Lisa told us she had quit her job at the Oasis Academy – I was so proud of her! I now lie in our room with Quint fast asleep next to me and a rather large rain storm brewing outside....it should blow over in a few minutes – I hope!
Quint: Much to my dismay it was an early awakening this morning as Bridge had planned a boat rode around the island for the day after I had been chirping it wasn’t in our budget – aren’t I a cheap-skate!
The 4x4 picked us up at 8am sharp as we wolfed down the remainder of our chocolate waffle breakfast. Off to Baan Mae Had (‘town’ – as we now call it). We were the first to arrive at Diamond Tows reception and we were told that the small ‘long-tailed boat’ that we had arranged just for the two of us was not going to happen – reason was never explained. We would instead, be going on a large boat with about 20 other people! We thought this probably wasn’t such a bad idea as the water seemed a little choppy. Much to our horror, suddenly 4 large 4x4’s pulled into the pier loaded to the hilt with our companions for the day. Every one of them carried a Samsung waterproof camera, dressed in uncomfortably tight neo bright speedos and posed with peace sign symbols for every photo – yes, you guessed it – Beijing had arrived!
Frowns and eyebrow raises intact, we set off into the early blue. We headed around the south side to our first snorkelling spot “shark bay!” beneath the sea, the coral and sealife was amazing in some places and a bit broken and tattered in others. At one stage in the day i decided to take a break for a while on deck and let Bridge head off by herself. She had not been gone 5 minutes when i heard that high pitched shriek and cackle i know so well coming from the back of the boat. Without her knowing it, as she slid into the water, the tour guide on board had sprinkled crumbled biscuit down the back of her life jacket and before she knew it she was under attack by a giant swirling ball of reef fish! The photos are fantastic!
Our last stop of the day were the magical small islands just off the north east coast of Koh Tao known as Koh Nang Yuan. It consists of 3 small islands all joined together by long stretches of beach – arguably on of the best sights in Thailand!
After much sun and enjoyment we had a relaxed evening at our resort with yet another amazing dinner. We were still laughing over my near-death experience in the bungalow earlier when I had been searching the depths of my rucksack. Something suddenly wriggled in between my fingers and clothes which threw me back in fright! My first thought was it was a bladdy snake! I ran with my rucksack at arms length out onto the balcony and hurled it onto the deck – next thing a huge water lizzard lurched itself out of my back, across the floor and off the side of the balcony into the bush. Ah – just another day in the tropics!
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