Flashback: Ko Samui 25 years ago

 

Ko Samui is a bit like Ko Phuket, only not as developed. The luxury resorts are missing, and rooms are cheap and simple. The island does make up for it by providing picture-perfect beaches and palm forests. The picture on the left shows the entrance to the hotel park with the huts to both sides, seen from the hotel beach.

Ko Tao is largely undeveloped. Undeveloped doesn't mean pristine beaches but construction and wild garbage dumps because the lack of development obviously cannot be tolerated. Power failures happen here. Not really recommended except as a base for diving.

I went to the supposedly nicest hotel, Ko Tao Cottages. The room was nice enough but the beach was filthy, there was construction, the showers were cold, and the outdoor restaurant was so poorly lit that the waiter brought a flashlight. The food was good though, and I discovered fresh coconut milkshakes.

I took the speedboat from Ko Tao to Chumphon, a distance of about 80 km. A speedboat is a small boat with two large outboard motors, much smaller than the boats in the picture (the boat hadn't arrived yet). Once clear of the island, the waves got higher and the boat started to bounce off the waves - a splash, the motors go idle, a moment of weightlessness and then the crash into the water. What started out fun got worse. The sea turned dark gray, deck plates shook loose, and the left motor started to be thrown up in its gimbal mount. The pilot and copilot stopped and fixed it with some rope while the boat was bobbing on the waves. Some time after that both motors made Ko Tao pier, 6.9kfunny noises - more inspections, and we were now asked to wear life jackets. The waves were now so high that if one of us went overboard it would be impossible to see him more than ten meters away. Meanwhile, the pilot was conferring with someone on the radio (we had radio - good). I don't speak Thai, it could have been an SOS or an advice that they'd be late for lunch. We went on at lower speed for hours, with several more motor problems.

When we finally reached Chumphon, after twice the normal travel time, the sea went green and quiet and the sun comes out. As I sit here safely on the pier, I decide to take a good look at the boat that will take me to the Caribbean next month.

Retrieved from Travelhog.net. Originally published January 2000