Thailand

Visiting Thailand again post covid held big expectations, particularly Gary's fav Choa San Road.  

Upon arriving it felt much the same (except louder), but we soon realised things have moved on.  The street is now a 'giant nightclub' with ~20 different bars blasting music as loud as possible from around 9pm to 2am (and likely 2-3 times louder than what is safe for your eardrums!), and the street markets and food stalls, although still there, are very limited.

Good to see the surrounding streets still doing their thing and we did manage a boat ride on the river and a visit to the Train and Damnoen Floating markets, which was awesome.

Short stop in Bangkok as we headed for the islands.

We stayed in Koh Samui 1 night either side of transfers to and from Koh Tao.  A quiet spot that made getting to and from the ferry nice and easy, and a couple of beautiful beach walks to whittle away the time.

Two and a bit weeks on Koh Tao and we were so excited to somewhat unpack the bags and settle in, as well as oddly looking forward to boring things like a supermarket!  The restaurant photos below (with the hanging decorations) became one of our favs :)

Koh Tao didn't disappoint.  It's not high season currently and although it's matured a bit since we were here last (2016), it's still held on to that chilled out, relaxed feeling.  

Lots of sunshine and exercise mixed in with some Vietnam planning and of course the mandatory R&R, so feeling good.  A special call out was completing a 1 day DSD course (discover scuba diving) and we both managed two dives at the 'Japanese Garden' (to depth of 12m), and 'Twins' site (to 11m).  Very proud of ourselves and an amazing experience.

We 're-did' an island snorkelling day trip too which is always worth it.  The water is so warm (far from it for us to say almost too warm!), it's super easy to get in and stay in.  The Wind Beach Resort, where we stayed) had a colder pool which ironically was often needed to cool down in the ~29-30 degree temps.

It was satisfying to see some amazingly colourful fish and, in particular, flourishing coral as well as a couple of turtles.  Had lots of fun on the curly boat slide and just jumping off the sides in between snorkels.  (Note underwater photos are a mixture of ours and 'We Travels').

We did feel the need to do some exploring with a couple of walks.  The first to Laem Thian, a bay only accessible by foot or boat on the other side of the island.  Turned out to be pretty challenging, given a wrong turn in the jungle (and an extra 2-3kms), as well as the heat, but enjoyed the greenery, and the peace, having the place almost all to ourselves.  

Felt pretty privileged to see a couple of White Bellied Sea Eagles (protected and not commonly seen in Thailand) as well as somewhat of a surprise crossing paths with a vine snake (nothing venomous here and they are just as scared of us).  An adventurous and somewhat strenuous day out that required buckets of water to rehydrate.

The other walk we did was from the main pier to Chalok.  A little less arduous than the first but no less hot and humid.  We walked through some back streets, jungle paths and resorts passing by multiple beautiful view points and beaches including Jansom, Sia Nuan 1 & 2, and June Juea (snorkelling a couple of times also), and finishing up at Chalok Baan Kao Bay, where we rewarded ourselves with lunch and a couple of cold ones at The Happy Monk before making our way 'home'.

Must be missing home (i.e. K Road) as had to venture in to the Queens Cabaret Koh Tao.  Have to say I definitely do not know where 'it' goes but they were fantastic, led by Pretty Miss Cairo (English) who had a fantastic voice - the evening was full of humour and entertainment (and a late night out for us at 11pm, note FYI x-rated photos!).

Our time on Koh Tao has been just what the doctor ordered with no schedule, friendly people, great weather and living totally on island time (far fewer alcohol free days than there should have been!).  

Our biggest question with this part of the trip was whether we would be able to sit still.  To be fair there wasn't alot of doing nothing but the answer is absolutely yes, we can reside in one place for longer than a week.  After 16 nights we could have definitely stayed longer and just 'fit in,' but we are now on an exciting mission to check out Vietnam.