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Climbing onto the boat going from Koh Phangan to Koh Tao was a difficult mission to say the least! It was a flimsy wooden plank with only one hand rail going up one side so Emma clung on with both hands, this meant she put pressure on her bag at the side and her bottle of water that was neatly tucked in the side of her bag popped out and landed in the sea. So we were one bottle of water down before we'd even set off!
The journey itself was ok and we arrived in Koh Tao about an hour and half later. However there was the 'plank' to get back down. It was a struggle to up it, it was even more of a stuggle to get back down. Candy was more than a bit panicked at this prospect and promptly started to hyperventilate. To be clear, this wasn't even an over-reaction, the plank was steep and not even, so therefore one wrong move and you were basically in the sea. So rather panic inducing. Clinging on for dear life Candy made it off eventually only for us both to have real trouble walking along the pier. Mainly because it was falling apart, had no hand rails and was moving with the sea. Not really an enjoyable experience anyway, let alone carrying a 85 litre backpack. But we done it and the four of us set about finding our 'taxi' to our hotel. After two phone calls and some more waiting, a guy arrived and walked us to another pier where he had a taxi waiting for us. Well, we say taxi, it was a truck with some seating on the back. But unlike tuks tuks, there was nothing to support your back so you were literally sitting on the edge of the truck, if he had swung round a corner quickly (and from our experience with drivers in Thailand, this was completely possible) then we would have all been over the edge. But luckily, this didn't happen and we all made it to the hotel in one piece.
When we checked in at the hotel we were told 'Congratulations! You've won free wine!' - unfortunately it wasn't a free crate or even a bottle, but a free glass each that night at dinner. After the plank and pier experience, it was really needed! So after checking out the room (which was nice) we headed to the restuarant. Before we get to that though, we should say that whilst checking out our room, we found another gheko. It was really small and kept scurrying round the walls. Again, we didn't want it in the room as it wouldn't survive so we grabbed a glass and carefully got the gheko back outside. Another rescue mission completed!
After that we met up with the gingers and headed to the restaurant for our free glass of wine. After dinner we walked around the town and found 'Choppers' - an australian themed sports bar. There was live music and it was really busy so we all headed inside. We all had to take our flip flops off at the entrance, most places in Thailand such as internet cafes etc ask you to do this so we thought nothing of it and took them off, adding them to the pile that was already there. Inside we had some drinks followed by some more drinks and ended up dancing along to whatever the singer was singing. We should probably also mention that this dancing took place on the tables, it was ok though everyone else was doing this aswell and the staff didn't seem to mind. We think it's fair to say a good time was had by all! After we were all danced out, we went to leave and get our flip flops at the entrance. Everyone found their's easily as alot of the pile had gone, everyone except Emma. She couldn't find them anywhere and after looking for several minutes, it was clear someone had taken them by mistake. Or on purpose if they were a shoe thief. So Emma had no shoes for the evening. But then she spotted a pair of white havanas that looked like her size. She tried them and they were. She needed some form of footwear and hers weren't anywhere to be seen, there was no one around that seemed to be heading for the flip flops so she slipped them on and carried on walking up the street. Yes, they weren't hers but she had no choice! After that we walked for a bit until we came to the beach and stumbled across Lotus bar. It was right on the beach and had good music playing, we stopped there for another drink. We then were walking along the beach when Candy and Kelly decided it would be a good idea to try and steal a boat. There were many tied up along the beach front and for some reason, stealing one seemed like a very appealing option to them. Hayley seemed to also think this was a good idea and joined the girls as they waded into the sea. Emma tagged along, at this point not entirely sure what was going on but just thought she'd follow suit. However after a little while in Hayley felt something brush up against her leg and screamed. We then all screamed - the three of us didn't know what we were screaming about at the time but we proceeded to do so anyway. Once Hayley explained why she was screaming we all quickly ran out of the sea and onto the beach. Plans for the boat stealing were aborted. Stopped before they'd even really started, maybe it was nature's way of discouraging criminal activity.
A few nights later we went to a lady boy caberet. We'd seen it advertised when walking around the town and thought we'd give it a go. It was so funny. The dancers and 'singing' (they all mimed along to recorded tracks) was really good, very entertaining, they all really went for it. Highlight was the Beyonce style 'booty shaking' which was done very enthusiastically! At the end they pulled some random guys from the audience and dressed them up in sequinned dresses and head dresses. It was a really good night!
On the Saturday it was Kelly's birthday, so to celebrate we all got out the neon paint again and decorated ourselves for some celebrations! We went to an italian restuarant and the owner (who was from Essex too!) couldn't help but notice our glowing faces and arms, and asked what was the occasion. We told him it was Kelly's birthday and he said she could choose any shot she wanted for free (unfortunately this offer didn't extend to all four of us but still good to get a freebie!) He also brought a slice of chocolate cake out for her too with a candle in it. He ended up making a random shot from a concoction of different drinks and we all ended up having one so that was good! We went on to Lotus bar and Fishbowl - which was another bar along the beach with a live band. It had a more chilled vibe than Lotus but was still a really good night. And great place to spend a birthday!
We really liked Koh Tao, after Phi Phi, it is definately our favourite island we've visited. The hotel was nice, location was really good and there were cool bars and restuarants dotted around. We were also right near a 7-11 so could get plenty of banana cake (that was more the gingers than us though). We had some good weather in Koh Tao too! So was nice to lounge by the pool and do nothing for a few days. Going through quite a few books just chilling out, we keep making sure to 'pick some up' along the way though so we don't run out! After Thailand though we'll probably be too busy to read but just incase. We're hoping the reading is expanding our brains but who knows? We're sad to leave Koh Tao but had really good time here, next stop is Koh Samui...
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