Day 93: Mae Haad & Sairee, Koh Tao
Claire: Due to our hotels rather remote location they offer a free shuttle (aka a bench in the back of a pick up truck) into town. This shuttle only runs at 8:30am or 1pm. We had planned for 8:30am so we could pick up a motorbike for the day but, well, we overslept a little. Oops. So after a lazy breakfast and spot of sunbathing we got the 1pm ride, only to learn they didn't have any bikes!! No worries, we'd go back later.
Mae Haad is the main town in Koh Tao where we first arrived on our ferry. It's a small port town, with a bank, post office, police station and still retains some Thai charm between the dive shops and backpacker bars. We found a perfect healthy lunch spot at Coconut Monkey where we sat watching all the boats by the pier.
Strolling from the town up towards Sairee beach we accidentally timed it with a ferry arrival. So weaving in between hundreds of backpackers and eager hostel owners and desperate taxi drivers we realise it really is quite the backpacker central! There's a very young crowd here but as we get closer to Sairee the crowds disperse and we see old women gardening and old fellas snoozing outside their shops.
Sairee beach is lined with beach bars and trendy cafes so we stopped for a coffee at Blue Water. It's been a little grey today but still so warm, perfect to laze in a deck chair people watching!
Heading back to the bike shop and alas he still had no bikes!!! We realise the free shuttle back to the hotel leaves at 4:30pm and it's now 4:37pm... so I RAN. Somehow we managed to catch it (would've been a £12 taxi otherwise) but within moments the heavens opened. And a torrential tropical storm is not what you want when sat in the back of a pick up truck.
Looks like we're staying in again tonight then...
Gav's day 93 takeaway
- Ahhh c'mon, give us a scooter!
