Hey Hive! It’s time to take you back to my regular spot of traveling - the islands around Thailand. Last week we went to yet another amazing place called Koh Tao

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is one of the most popular diving destinations in the world. Now with tourists slowly coming back to Thailand there were quite a few foreigners around. We’ve done some snorkeling around Koh Tao when we were in Koh Samui last year but didn’t explore much of the island.

This trip we decided to drive to the island. We took Nat’s dad with us and stayed in Hua Hin for a night on the way to Koh Tao. The trip is fairly long - 450ish km drive to the pier plus a 2 hour speed boat to the island.

The weather wasn’t the best and the sea was quite restless. The waves were massive and the boat ride wasn’t very pleasant. Me and Nat got strong stomachs but her dad felt the sea sickness. So did many people around us.. let’s say a lot of food was wasted that day. 😄

This island is quite curious because of the rock formations all around it. It is like nothing I've seen before but all the rocks around look like some modern architect put them on top of each other.

There are these big blocks fit on top of one another all over the place in interesting shapes and sizes. Some look physically challenging and I still wonder if they often fall pushed by the winds or due to corrosion.

The place we stayed at was called DD Hut. The resort was small but it was part of a family business. The villa Nat’s dad stayed at was owned by the parents. The one we stayed was part of their son’s side and there was a separate resort next to ours that was ran by the daughter of the family. The place was really cute but half its facilities were closed. Even with tourists coming back, most hotels were fairly empty.

The wind was so strong the 2 days we were here that I didn’t even think about taking out the drone. I could probably fly in these weather conditions but didn’t want to risk losing the drone in the sea.

DD Hut

The place is on the eastern side of the island where we could see all of these beautiful sunrises from.

The villas were very different on the outside and inside. Seems like every family member had different ideas and they just went with whatever they liked. However the whole place looked super nice and cozy. I feel like it was giving off the perfect island vibe.

Here's a tour of our sleeping place for the next 2 days.

Even though we didn't really need it, we had a third bed on the side.

The bedroom led to a small corridor that split in two directions - one leading towards the bathroom and the other one towards the toilet.

A small makeup table, fridge and a safe for our convenience.

The villa was very bright and even though you could see time taking its toll on some of the walls and ceiling, it was a good place to spend a few nights at. The outside area though is what really sold me.

As you go by a narrow little street towards the sea front, even though there were construction workers on the side building an extra hut, the sidewalk was nicely taken care of.

Most islands around Thailand are either cat islands or dog islands. This one I'd say is a heavily contested territory since we saw plenty of both around.

This little path I found pretty cool. It was leading towards the closed restaurant area and the small terrasse above it where Nat and her dad were enjoying the view.

From the little terrasse I could see both ours and Nat's dad's villas, as well as the neighbouring hotel and the shoreline to the end of the island.

There were many fishermen and night diving boats in the near distance. A lot of them were lit up at night to create some extra vision for the night sea explorers.

And of course the pool was nicely lit at night.

The first day we did very little since we arrived at around 4 in the afternoon and needed to freshen up and rest from the long road. The only thing we did was to go have dinner at one of the nearby beach restaurants. The name of the place was 'The Whitening'. A bit odd I'd say for an island that has almost 100% white tourists but people seem to love it. The food was quite expensive but pretty good and the beautiful sunset was worth the table in the sand.

Here is some of the local cuisine

I'm not a fan of oysters but I'd say these were nice. They eat them raw in here with a bunch of sauces and spicy goodies on top.

That was a grilled king mackerel which wasn't bad but I expected a bit more out of one of their specialties.

This here thing is quite popular around the sea. It's a fish soup that is constantly heated while you are eating ut. There are many types we've had before but this one was with pumpkin and cauliflower. They are always rather spicy but pretty tasty.

At the end we shamelessly indulged into some desserts.. and guess who had to finish them all. We had a brownie, orio cheesecake and a banana split. Tasted nice but it was hard getting back to the hotel after so much food.

With this our first day on the island was complete and we went to bed quite early to get some shut eye before the big upcomming day. We were about to go on a full day snorkeling trip, exploring Koh Tao, hoping to see some whale sharks and much more. The weather predictions were against us but we managed to miss the rain at least. How that went on I'll share with you in the following days. The trip was amazing and one of the best under water experiences I've had so far. I just have to go through a ton of photos and see which ones are good enough to edit and share.

Thanks again for reading! Hope you enjoyed the little photo spam and to be ready for an even bigger one coming up next. Have a great weekend and see you again soon!