Day 43 - Like A Bat Out Of Hell

We had a decent nights sleep & I had to drag myself out of bed at 8.40am, when scooter rental man came knocking on our door. I signed my life away & was given the keys to an orange 125cc scooter.

We got ourselves ready & went to the breakfast room for our ‘superb’ breakfast. Silly Ninny gave us a coffee & then disappeared without asking what we wanted. I had to find her to tell her I didn’t eat fried eggs. She later returned with 2 American breakfasts with scrambled eggs that were definitely not superb. At the time of writing we will probably just have coffee in future!

The German owner, Tom, made an appearance with a baguette, which he had bought from somewhere else which probably told us all we needed to know about our free breakfast. Whilst he was present & knowing that he owned a personal laptop, I innocently enquired with him if he knew of anywhere where I could borrow (or rent) a laptop or computer for a few hours. His reply was “Impossible “. Thanks for your help mate!

After breakfast, we hit the road on our new scooter like a ‘Bat Out Of Hell’. We zoomed over to Sairee Beach to find Bo. We walked up & down the promenade & eventually found Sairee Beach Cabana. We enquired about Longtail boat trips around the island & we were given a price of 2,300 baht, about £60. I asked if Bo was still working & the receptionist didn’t really understand what I was talking about. We did try!

We then embarked on a tour of every beach that we could reach on our scooter. Our first planned stop was Mango Beach, but we soon discovered that it required riding for quite a few miles down a rough dirt track. We bottled it on the basis that we had suffered one flat tyre already on this trip. Instead we continued to Hin Wong Bay, which took us down an incredibly steep road to a little car park. There was a 20 Baht charge to leave our scooter, but in exchange the lady gave us a small bottle of water. The beach was quite nice & there were free beds if you were a customer at the restaurant. The sea was very choppy, but we decided it was probably worth a return visit.

We then headed towards the south of the island & completed a comprehensive tour of all the reachable beaches in an anti-clockwise direction. We started at Tanote Bay, a wide sandy beach with a huge rock in the bay & then Lang Khaai Bay, which was down a 600 metre track & the abandoned & derelict Yang Bungalows. Next was Aow Leuk Bay, where a road sign as we came away from the beach warned that only one person was to be on a motorbike going back up the extremely steep hill. I chanced it with Jackie on the back (see the 1st photo) & we actually made it. It the bike had come to a standstill we would have been in trouble!

It was then Sai Daeng Beach, which had 2 hotels including Coral Beach Resort. We were seriously considering booking our stay on Koh Tao at Coral Beach Resort, but we are so glad we didn’t, because it was in the middle of nowhere & it looked like no one was staying there. From there we went to Thian Og Bay & parked up & walked through the posh, but also virtually empty Jamahkiri Resort & Spa, which had a stunning view over Shark Bay. We didn’t go down to the beach, but rode to Freedom Beach, where they wanted 50 Baht entrance fee. We decided to save that for another day & so we head back into town.

We had to make an emergency toilet stop at our Miracle Guesthouse suite, then we drove down to Ko Tao pier for some urgently required refreshment. We parked up & selected Bro & Sis Restaurant & Bar which looked out over the bustling Ko Tao Pier & bay. Over the next hour or so we shared a.couple of large Changs & watched the world go by.

Around 4pm we headed over to Sairee Beach to purchase the cheapest, nastiest sets of mask & snorkel that we could find. 250 Baht (about a fiver) each bought us a dodgy snorkel & mask.

To celebrate our bargain purchases, we popped in to Blue Water Cafe to take advantage of their happy hour. We ordered a ginger mojito & a bamboo cocktail with a plate of cheesy chips & basked in the late afternoon sun. It was bliss, so we ordered a second round of cocktails, I had a gin ‘n’ jam, whilst Jackie had a pineapple margarita.

Being responsible, after just 2 lovely cocktails, we sadly had to pay up & rode back home on the scooter. Back at the suite, we learnt the sad news that Michael Lee Aday had died at the age of just 74. Whilst getting ready, we played our own musical tribute to Meatloaf.

We went out for a walk around town that evening & went back to the same restaurant that we dined in last night. We had a Pad Thai, a chicken & cashew nuts & a large beer that cost just a fiver.

We picked up a new bottle of Hong Thong & coke & returned to our suite for an early night.

Song of the Day: Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf.
For Crying Out Loud by Meatloaf. (One of Wedding 1st Dance Songs).Read more