TURTLE ROCK
Koh Tao in the 20th Century: Part 3
Excerpts taken from Naked Farang: Four Weddings and a Coup
While Koh Tao was a great place to relax and unwind, there was so much more that the island had to offer. Days were spent doing as little or as much as fitted the mood, but it was a rare day indeed that didn’t involve at least one swim. I’ve never been a strong or confident swimmer. In fact, I have a phobia of deep water that has prevented me from diving, yet I would spend hours snorkelling over the shallow reefs just off the main beach, Had Sai Ree. It’s crazy, but I freak out in deep water, yet I’m fine when it’s 2 metres. It earned me the nickname of “the six-foot diver” among some friends at New Way.
Once, a group of us chartered a boat for a day trip around the island. For our first stop, we anchored in the wonderfully named Shark Bay. Everyone dived in and set off in search of the harmless reef sharks that are known to frequent the bay. I plucked up the courage to enter the water and made the mistake of looking down. Realising I was in about 6 metres of water, I immediately started hyperventilating. I swam twice around the boat, hoping to overcome my deep water fear but failed miserably. In my panic ridden state, I swam so close to the boat that I scraped my shoulder on its barnacles several times and finally gave up. Everyone else eventually returned on a shark high that my stupid phobia had robbed me of. A rare chance to swim with the sharks was lost. I’d just have to wait until I met up with the dry-land variety back in Bangkok.
Back at Had Sai Ree, the fact that I could wade out to where the reef started made it easily accessible. For a reef so close to shore, it was so colourful and full of life with huge brain corals, antler corals, fan corals, giant clams, sea cucumbers, parrot fish, trigger fish, clown fish, rays, turtles and many more. Stan named it the “underwater garden.” When I returned a few years later, the coral had been bleached by rising sea temperatures, and this was just another reason why I slowly fell out of love with Koh Tao.
Apart from Had Sai Ree, there was a myriad of other bays where the coral was within easy reach. Just south of Ban Mai Had, one of the bays had an old iron shipwreck wedged in its reef, a legacy of an earlier typhoon. For someone with a deep water phobia like me, it was a rare chance to explore an underwater wreck.
And if Koh Tao wasn’t a big enough slice of heaven, there was always Koh Nang Yuan, three exquisite islands for the price of one. Just as with Goldilocks’ bears, the islands came in assorted sizes. The daddy island had a few bungalows on it, even in 1995, and several more by 2000. The mummy island has a trail leading up to one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. To look back from her peak at this amazing family of islands was breathtaking. As the tide recedes, a sandbar rises to connect the three beaches and make it possible to walk from one island to the other. The baby island ate all the porridge and has a restaurant and an ugly antenna.
Down at sea level, the snorkelling is excellent, although the development that slowly blighted Koh Tao was equally evident here, too. On my last visit, I was nearly mowed down by a speedboat full of Japanese tourists. Once ashore, they all tried their hands at snorkelling. Even though they were only in water one metre deep, they all kept their life jackets on. I may be the six-foot diver, but I was outdone here by these three foot snorkellers.
While lazy days were spent reading in a hammock or playing backgammon in the restaurant, there was plenty to do when we were feeling energetic. I perfected a few Frisbee tricks for a start, and a group of us would sometimes play football on the beach before sunset. Ot would often join us in all these activities on my first trip, but as the island boomed and his workload increased, he had less and less time for play.
The island offered some great trekking, too. We would cut across the island to the rocky bays on the east coast or climb up to Two Views, so named because of the stunning vistas it afforded down to the sea on both coasts.
On my last trip, an American guy had imported some ocean kayaks that he was renting out. After making it to Koh Nang Yuan and back on one trip, a few of us had the bright idea of kayaking around the island. We blithely estimated that we could do it in a day as it was only sixteen kilometres. Fortunately, we never got around to trying because taking into consideration the vagaries of the coastline and the currents, it would have taken us nearer a week to complete. Nevertheless, it would have made a nice trip, spending the night at various resorts along the way.
In 1995, there wasn’t much in the way of nightlife on Koh Tao. It wasn’t that kind of island. There were a few bars where travellers would gather in the evenings to drink communal buckets of alcohol through straws, but that was about it. By 2000, there were a number of clubs catering to the growing demand and more were being built. One of the reasons why the ferries from Chumphon sometimes sank was that they were over laden with building materials.
My last visit was from 1999 to 2000, so I was there for the millennium party and spent most of the night drinking and dancing with friends at a bar on the beach. During the evening, Bob cut his foot on some broken glass and had to go to the local medical clinic the next day. He came back with six stitches in his foot and a course of ear drops! He said that as soon as he hobbled into the clinic, the first thing the nurse had said was that he looked like he had an ear infection! I can only assume that she had a large stock of ear drops to get rid of and so was trying to sell them to everyone who came to the clinic. Once he’d bought the ear drops, she tended his foot. Only in Thailand!
I returned to Koh Tao three times over five years, staying for two months each time. During each trip, the changes were subtle yet all too tangible. The whole island became like a boom town in a gold rush. The only difference was that the “gold” was silence, which depreciated with every new convenience store and dive shop that opened. One of the main attractions of Koh Tao was its solitude, but everyone wanted to be alone in the same place it seemed.
Koh Tao was more than just an island. It was, for a short time at least, a way of life, a state of mind. The modern world was something that other people were doing somewhere else.
It’s ironic that when I visit Koh Chang, friends, both Thai and farang, tell me about how beautiful it used to be before it became so developed. I just don’t get their point. Yes, there is a road around the island, convenience stores and banks in the main town, and high-end resorts in some of the bays, but when I wade out into the crystal clear sea and look back at the beach, the bungalow where I am staying almost disappears as it blends into the island’s flora. I can look around and see nothing but sea, sand, trees, mountains, sky and a few half-hidden wooden bungalows. Please define “developed.” What am I missing?
Koh Chang is a big island, and there are resorts to match every taste. I like that it is only a forty five minute ferry ride from the mainland. I like that I can walk along the beach into the town and get whatever I need. Equally, I like that I can be the only person swimming in the sea or sitting on the beach. To me, Koh Chang has the perfect balance of natural beauty and convenience. What my friends are lamenting is the paradise lost that I never saw. No roads, no convenience stores and just a handful of bungalows.
With Koh Tao, I saw it in its virgin state. I experienced its innocence. I have memories that I want to keep just the way they are. Unfortunately, because Koh Tao is such a small island, the development is inescapable. I am not going to moan about this. I am as guilty as the next person of being lured to its once distant shores, mesmerized by its charms, and then spreading the word.
I would still recommend Koh Tao to anyone. I just have no plans to return there myself.
Paul Snowdon - Excerpts taken from Naked Farang: Four Weddings and a Coup
Related article – Turtle Rock: Koh Tao in the 20th Century Pt 1
Related article – Turtle Rock: Koh Tao in the 20th Century Pt 2
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