Ao Hat Yao

17:20
We’ve an alarm at 07:00, but I’m awake comfortably before it. I’ve not slept badly, but equally don’t feel like I’ve had nearly enough. I promise myself a chunky afternoon nap when we get to our accommodation on Koh Pha Ngan.

The early alarm is to make sure we’re at the ferry pier in time for the catamaran to Thong Sala, a 1 hour journey South of us. Since my Sri Lanka trip, I’ve been inspired by Vicki to invest in some packing cubes. They make packing a WHOLE lot quicker/easier. Vicki takes a little longer, but we’re both packed and ready to go a clear 1/2 hour before we need to be.

Our catamaran starts in Koh Tao today, so we board immediately after checking in, and grab a bench seat in the shade (just) to await departure. The boat’s a little late leaving - maybe 10-15 mins, but the breeze once we get underway is a delight. It may only be c. 10:00, but the sun is already strong and hot. The sea is substantially choppier than our journey to Koh Tao on Wednesday. There’s a noticeable lilt and roll to the boat’s motion. We both feel a touch strange for a few minutes as we adjust to it, and elsewhere on the boat there are some casualties with their heads between their knees. There’s a refreshing spray coming up from the sea as the boat crashes down into it, and I enjoy the feeling of being just a touch soggy. Unbeknownst to me, this is not the dampest I will be today. The 1 hour journey passes quickly enough, and we’re soon docking at Thong Sala pier.

Our accommodation is up on the North West of the island, a 10km / 20 minute drive from the pier. Today is the first day of Songkran, the Thai New Year, the main feature of which appears to be water based fun. We saw countless water-pistols being sold in Koh Tao, and as we drive along the coast, our cab is constantly having water thrown at it - from buckets, water-pistols, hoses - even a pressure washer at one point. We’re safe and dry in our vehicle, but see countless scooter riders who are DRENCHED, and frankly a little bit wobbly as they’re riding along. We’d talked about hiring a bike while we’re on Koh Pha Ngan, but think we’ll leave it a couple of days until the celebrations have died down a bit…

Our room at TropiCoco is ready for us on arrival, and is lovely - a garden bungalow, with a beautiful terrace in the garden, and the comfiest bed either of us can remember being in on our travels for quite some time. I think we’d both sleep if we tried, but we’ve not eaten yet today, so lunch is called for. The resort has a beach bar attached to it. They serve us some good wine, an outstanding Spicy Thai Basil Chicken dish with rice, and a way better than we thought it would/should/could be pizza.

We head for the shortest of wanders after we’ve eaten, largely in the interests of finding a (some) new hat(s) for Vicki. Sadly (snigger) the hat shop is closed for Songkran, so shopping is off. We grab a few supplies at the 7/11, and park ourselves at the restaurant that’s attached to the beach bar at TropiCoco. If that sounds convoluted, it sort of is. We discover an Italian family running things, and the brilliant pizza starts to make more sense. Their menu promises a selection of great Italian favourites - those pizzas, some great pasta options, traditional meat and fish dishes. I’m completely sold when I see their description of Spaghetti Carbonara as containing only Guanciale, Eggs, Parmesan and Pecorino cheeses. We decide to book a table and come back for dinner this evening, helped in no small part by our discovery that they have a bottle of Café Patron behind the bar - a tequila and coffee liqueur that we can no longer source in the UK, and which has been a real favourite of ours for years.

On our way back to TropiCoco (all of 30m), I get soaked by a passing pick-up truck, loaded with kids and their various water devices. I cackle with laughter. We’re back at our room by 15:00, and asleep not much later. My alarm wakes us at 16:45. We need to get freshened up and out for dinner at 19:00. It’s a very hectic schedule…

21:30
We both have cracking sleeps. About 90 minutes for me, and a full 2 hours for Vicki. YUM. We head round the corner for dinner to the Italian place we visited earlier. It’s pretty busy - we suspect in part because a lot of the local Thai businesses are closed this evening for New Year. The food we eat is amazing. We’re tempted to have a starter of Café Patron - but resist the urge. Vicks has a very good Caprese salad, while I have a carpaccio of red tuna, which is sensational. I can’t not have the Carbonara, and it’s brilliant. Correctly made with about 4 ingredients, it’s properly banging. Vicks has a sea-bass fillet that is the size of a small horse, perfectly cooked, and gratinated with herbed breadcrumbs. Stunning stuff.

Amazingly, we hold out until this point to order our round of Café Patron. There’s some slight confusion when I ask if I can take a picture of the bottle. I manage to explain that it’s no longer available to buy. We suspect the bottle has been on the shelf for a number of years. When our shot glasses arrive, they’re accompanied by slices of orange, which seems strange until our friend Pawel explains that tequila is typically served with orange in Mexico, rather than lemon or lime. By the power of Grayskull, it’s good, and brings floods of memories back. A real treat. We reckon there are maybe two shots left in the bottle, and consider ourselves to have demonstrated huge amounts of restraint to leave these for tomorrow, even though this risks someone else snapping them up in the meantime…

23:45
We decide to spread our wings a little after dinner, and head to a beach bar a little ways up the beach from TropiCoco, called Vagga Bar. This somehow ends up reminding us both of Vagator in Goa. The seats at the bar are swings - a simply excellent notion. We spend a joyful hour or so swinging backwards and forwards, and sideways on a couple of occasions, nearly coming a cropper several times. There’s some great house playing in the background, but the bar is pretty quiet - maybe 15 customers. We’ll come back another (busier) night to check it out, for sure. We briefly discuss our plans for tomorrow, which amount to quite a lot of not very much. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday promise to be fairly full-on, so we’re making the most of some downtime until then. We walk back up the beach to the beach bar at our place, which is in the process of shutting down at around 22:30. Despite our afternoon naps, we’re both looking forward to a decent sleep in our ultra-comfy bed…Read more