Stop 6: Holy Cow, Ko Tao! -- Koh Tao, Thailand

Ko Tao, the lively younger brother to Samui and Phagnan, was our last island visit in Thailand (for now). On the bus to the ferry we met a sultry British prostitute from Brighton and decided within the next four minutes to invite him to join us.  The three of us planned to share a bungalow and all was well in Ben, Cam, Jen world. UNTIL…invasion of the THINGY, a stage five Canadian clinger who insisted on being the fourth person to share a 3-person bungalow within three minutes of meeting on a bus. If he had caught on to our awkwardly overt hints, he would have taken the first ferry back to the mainland.

Thingy and Cam on our porch

For our first meal together we ordered pad thai from a roadside stand, sat on the beach and watched a fire show at a nearby bar. The highlight of the night, and arguably the island, was the most overdone and extravagant drag show we had ever seen (and, let us tell you, we’ve seen our fair share). Being the most straight looking guy in the audience, Ben was (reluctantly) pulled onto stage where his ability to go with the flow was tested to the extreme. He passed with flying colors and won about 627 points in our book.

We had several lovely rainy days on this island, which usually found us in the over-chlorinated pool, desperately soaking in the air conditioning at seven eleven, or cuddling in bed watching episodes of Jersey Shore.  Cam would occasionally pretend to work on her graduate school applications. We would have spent much of this time reading in the hammock outside of our bungalow, but Thingy’s fat ass (never mind the fact that he’s stick thin) broke it on the first day. UGH. Mostly, though, we snuck away to visit 8 2-week old puppies and their mother, tucked behind a local restaurant. Their eyes were barely open and they seemed to ice skate as they learned to walk between their towel and their mom. We watched them sleep, eat and play at least once a day, often stealing them from their mother for a few minutes of cuddles. She was always happy to see us arrive, would excitedly wag her tail as we’d approach and wake the puppies up to play. We so badly wanted to smuggle them all into our (still massive) suitcases.

Situation Game

Stupid Daddy's Boy

In the evenings we cooled off with an ocean dip, which was so warm that it often served more as a sauna than a mist room. We also enjoyed the pleasure of Sophie’s company, a stray dog that took a liking to us our first day on the island and walked around the local area with us. She would fall asleep on our balcony and, without fail, we’d find her there in the morning.

                           

Dinner on our second to last night consisted of Indian food and a shared bottle of vodka at an empty (and closed) restaurant on the beach. Ben mixed it with an M-150 (which could be a firework or a mixer, we’re still not sure). A prepped out Daddy’s boy from England joined us and we danced the night away in a bar with schnitzels (of course), throwback music and no idea of our location.

no thats not a pool.

 

For our last day we took a boat trip around the entire island, visiting Shark Bay (where Ben saw an actual shark), jumping off the boat, and getting stuck on a sandbar during a quite surreal rainstorm. While Ko Tao was a huge hit all around, we were particularly sad to end the island portion of our trip. By morning, we’d be back on the mainland.