Koh Tao, Thailand

On July 13th we left the island of Koh Samui and took a boat over to the island of Koh Tao. They really try to maximize the number of people on the boat, and therefore do not have enough luggage space! They loaded up all the luggages at the front of the boat, both inside the passenger area and outside on the front deck (you can see in the photo below the luggages on the deck are covering the view outside the front window),

The reason for the influx of people to the Thai islands is the fast approaching date for the famous Full Moon Party, taking place on July 17th on the island of Koh Phangan. When you looked around on the boat almost everyone was young (in their 20s or early 30s). It seemed as if all the families had left the islands and in their place flocks of young people were arriving. The Full Moon Party brings about 20,000 to 30,000 people to the island of Koh Phangan every month for the party. We were gearing up for the party too! We had 3 nights booked in Koh Tao before heading over to Koh Phangan to join in the festivities.

Our resort was right on the water, and the waterfront was lined with restaurants and resorts.

The beach here is pretty different than the other beaches. The tide goes down during the morning revealing a very wide sandy beach area. It slowly rises throughout the day and by the evening the water is so high there is barely any room to walk along the beach without getting soaked!

When the tide goes out it leaves these interesting sand piles along the beach. We couldn’t figure out how they were made, but we think some sort of animal makes them.

Another thing to note about this beach is that it is very shallow, you could walk for a while in the water before you can actually swim. Because of this, the water is so warm, and almost feels like a hot tub!

The atmosphere here is also very different. Everyone on the beach is young, everywhere you look all you see is young people (in their 20s and 30s). I know this is because of the Full Moon Party, but it creates a very different atmosphere than if you have a mix of different ages, people and families. Also, since Koh Tao is known for it`s incredible diving, many people flock to this island to go scuba diving, or to learn how to scuba dive. Every morning flocks of people line the beach and board the boats with their oxygen tanks, flippers and diving gear, ready for a day of diving.

We spent our time in Koh Tao mainly relaxing on the beach. We had been doing so many day trips on boats to see different sights that we hadn’t had a few solid days of beach time in a row.

We ate breakfast overlooking the water every morning:

And we had dinner out at one of the beachside restaurants every night.

During the day we got massages, went for walks along the beach, read and relaxed on our private balcony.

While walking along the beach, at the end oft he sandy part we found an area with cool rock formations, and cottages built between the rocks:

The cottages looked really nice and secluded, and I`m sure had a beautiful view!

While we were here we also had our laundry done. It’s interesting having your laundry done in Asia. You bring it to a local laundromat,  you pay per kg of clothing, and they will wash your clothing for you and hang it to dry outside their establishment. We walked by the laundromat later that day on our way to dinner and we saw our underwear and clothing hanging out to dry on the side of the road, on display for all to see!

Koh Tao was awesome, and we loved the vibe and atmosphere of the island and of the people. We really enjoyed our time here, but were beyond excited for our next destination: Koh Phangan and the Full Moon Party!