Just a slight warning, Koh Phangan has the biggest population of hench, odd looking men and a collection of the worst tattoos I have ever seen in my life. 

(Collector's album coming soon...)

Boxing Day, Koh Tao - Thailand

During the Christmas period we used Koh Tao for holiday purposes rather than travelling purposes. Koh Tao is the best island in Thailand to try out dewater activities; it specializes in free diving, snorkelling and scuba diving. This being said, it is also the cheapest place to do diving and there are resorts all over wifi I offer 1 day - 1 week courses. If you do a course it the price usually includes accommodation, food, equipment, lessons etc. There are also some beautiful beaches worth checking out (another thing we didn't do). The best way to get around is by moped - the island isn't big but it's quite hilly. When you arrive at the port, there are free guides worth picking up. They give you all the information you need to know about Koh Tao.   

Anyway, back to Boxing Day and we spent half our day laying by the pool. Opposite our hotel, there's a small island called Koh Nang Yuan. Apprently it's one of the worlds most beautiful islands and I can't help but agree. We caught a taxi boat  from Sairee Beach for 300TB each (includes a ride back aswell). The ride doesn't take long, around 15 minutes but once you get out of the bay, the sea is extremely choppy - we were scared for our lives. When we arrived at the docks, we were both soaked through, so I'd reccomend just wearing a bikini or whatever on the boat ride. 

There's a 100TB entry fee for the island and it's open between 9am- 5pm. If you catch a boat ride from Champkong, this would be the first island you dock at. The island is just amazing; 3 small islands joined together by sand banks. There's a bar and restaurant on the 2nd piece of land and you can hire out deck chairs and snorkelling equipment. There is also accommodation on the island. I would reccomend that you make a day out of the island and get to it as soon as it opens. There is a view point which is a 10 minute trekk up to some boulders that over look the island. The view is incredible so don't be put off by the steep stair ways.

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On our ride back, we had to tow another taxi boat behind us which was an interesting experience with the bugs waves. We headed for a cocktail at a bar called "Fizz". It's usually quite expensive and the decor is very modern but for happy hour you get 20TB off all beer, spirits and cocktails so it's a good place to check out between 4-8pm. 

http://instagram.com/p/iaxJ8cwd70/

Christmas Day, Koh Tao, Thailand

Christmas Day didn't really feel like Christmas Day. Lounging by the pool by the sea definitely didn't feel Christmassy. The only thing that felt remotely Christmassy was the fake, tacky tree that was slouched in the lobby. The previous day, we had planned to do a bit of Christmas shopping and buy each other presents but never got round to it. Luckily, we still had one present from England so we opened them and headed for breakfast. 

While both of us were being soppy, we decided to try and find a place serving Christmas Dinner. Funnily enough, it wasn't so difficult - many places were serving Thai and Western Christmas meals along the beach. All these were priced around 1000TB and in reality, we couldn't afford it. We ended up treating ourselves to a massive sushi lunch at a place called 'Baboo Sushi' on Walking Street. We shared a massive platter for 500TB, and shared a plate of salmon nashimi for around 200TB. The sushi was surprisingly good and much better than a Christmas meal. 

The rest of the day just seemed like any other day in Koh Tao, so we headed to the beach and met Lloyd and Ben. It all felt a bit odd, since a lot of people were dressed in Christmas hats (Tiger included) but the scenery didn't suit. That night, we cracked open a bottle of champers and headed to the beach to see if anything was going on. Weirdly, everything seemed a bit shit compared to Christmas Eve so we headed back for an early one.

 

Christmas Eve in Koh Tao - Thailand

2013 would be our first Christmas away from home. It was quite weird and both of us were feeling very homesick. We decided to rent a moped from a place down the road for 200TB + 50TB for petrol. This is roughly the same price around the island, so don't bother trying to find a place that does it cheaper. We rode to the other side of the island; towards Shark Bay (famous for sightings of black tipped sharks hence the name). Unfortunately, we didn't actually do our research before hand since we found out that the best way to visit shark bay is by boat. The roads are waaaay too steep the drive down on a moped (unless you're an experienced driver with a death wish), and are too far and steep to walk down/up (we were more concerned about walking back under the blistering sun). 

We drove back to Sairee beach where we went swimming in the sea. The sea is cystal clear which starts off turquoise and gradually turns deep blue the further out you go. Fish swim in between your legs and you don't need to go out far to see some amazing marine life whilst snorkelling. We grabbed a coconut and some munch at a bar called "Wind Resort", while the sun started to dip behind the horizon. This bar has a swimming pool with a pool bar which the public can use all day for the price of 200TB. It plays good music, chilled out stuff in the day and house at night (non of that commercial bollocks). We headed back to the supermarket to pick up some champagne for Christmas Day and some Thai whiskey for the evening - I'm not the one to usually drink whiskey but Thai whiskey is actually really nice. 

Christmas Eve in Koh Tao was absolutely mad. It's just one massive beach party. We started off sharing a bucket at the Wind resort for 250TB. Like I said, the musics really good and they have a pool table and these Thai cushions to sit on. We met some guys - Lloyd and Ben in the queue for the toilets and stuck with them for the most of the night. The next bar we headed to had a fire show and fire limbo but the music was more like Carly Rae Jepsen. The beach was lit up by candles and the fire limbo was placed in the middle.  Oh Tiger LOVES her fire limbo. Well she did until some guy drops the lit bar and it flips onto her legs, leaving a bit juicy burn her thigh. Once the clock hit midnight, fireworks started going off and the general atmosphere was amazing. While we walked along the beach we came across a group of 3 Thais with a guitar and had a sing song with them, it was so, so cute. 

A few bars later, we end up at Cacuns which seemed to be where everyone ended up. When I went to go order some balloons from the bar, the bar tender turned round and BOOOOM I was in shock. He was an old school friend of mine which I'd known since reception but hadn't seen in around 7 years. Fuck me, I was bloody speechless. So yeah, that happened and still I don't think I've come to terms with it. However, knowing the guy behind the bar has it advantages as we got discounted balloons all night - yay! It came to around 4am and Tiger decides to go for a night swim in the resorts swimming pool. Some guy dived in and hit the bottom, loosing his tooth. More and more people join us in the pool which was a laugh. 

We headed home after leaving a 12 year old boy who became the new dj. He was actually really good but by 5am we decided to call it a night. Still, it was the best Christmas Eve. 

Koh Tao - Thailand

So, currently sun bathing by the pool and have a lot of this shizz to catch up on. We arrived in Kho Tao around 4ish on Monday 23rd Decemeber, just in time for Christmas. We were both so happy to be on sandy beaches and away from chilly Laos. 

As a cheeky Christmas present, we splashed out on our accomadation which was the best idea. We had to catch a taxi from the port to Sairee beach (the longest and most popular beach on the island), where our resort was located. The taxi itself was already more expensive than up North and cost us 125TB each. We were staying at Koh Tao hillside resort for £29 each a night. The place is just perfect. We were welcomed with a drink of some sort, and our bags were taken to our bungalow. We'd originally booked a deluxe bungalow but upon our arrival, we were told we'd been upgraded to a superior bungalow. PERFECT!! The bungalow is amazing... So nice to be staying in a decent place with daily room service, a good shower, good bed/pillows, infinity pool and a buffet breakfast. Literally in love with this place. Not quite sure how I'm going to cope going back to budget accommodation (cry). 

After settling in, we caught the daily shuttle taxi that the resort offers into town. By this time, it was getting late, so we attempt to find some grub at a reasonable price. Everything is so expensive in comparison to what we've been paying previously; restaurants, bars, even street food. Dining in Koh Tao is more like dining in Brighton, there's food of all sorts; Mexican, Italian, Japanese etc. Everythings based around tourism really. We finally found a small decent place that does dishes for 60-70TB so tucked into some pad Thai and some chicken noodles. 

Night life in Koh Tao is mainly along Sairee beach - bars offer sun loungers and serve cocktails just off the sea shore. We went for a wander and decided to head back (up a ridiculous amount of steep hills) to the hotel.