2 days worth of solid travelling to get to Koh Tao was really intense but the minute I stepped off the boat and took a glance down into the ocean at a fascinating school of multi coloured tropical fish, my tired mind and body felt as if I received an electrical shock from a defibrillator and my whole energy was brought back to life. I was back on a paradise island and it felt good!
Island life is ever so chilled and slower paced so I'm just going to go into detail about the special moments that really made an impression on me...
I struggled getting into the party spirit when it came to my first night out in Koh Tao because of the lack of music that I enjoy listening to whilst on a night out, so through a friend I made back at the hostel I was then connected with two guys. Jen's and Luka, one from Berlin and the other from Barcelona. They were finding it hard to get into the swing of things also so as a collective we decided to slope off, head back to their Bungalow which was right at the opposite end of Sairee beach (the most built up and lively part of Koh Tao) and on the way grab a few more drinks for the road. In traditional German spirit a round of Jäger's were also knocked back! I swear shots sent us all slightly loco or "ting tong" as the Thai's would say, as we all ended up taking a dip into the sea, where we swam out to a boat that had been docked to then hop on board and dance around like pirates who have had way too much rum. At the time it was coming up to the full moon so the moon was just glowing so strongly above and around us. Once back at the bungalow we carried on our silliness, battering each other with pillows.. And yes it is as ridiculous as it sounds but as my Dad would say "You must never loose touch with with your inner child"

I feel really honoured and blessed to have had my path align with some really incredible people here especially this German girl Laura who I met through the hostel I'm staying at. She was well aquatinted with Koh Tao so she very kindly took me under her wing and shared with me how she would spend her favourite day in the life on being on this Island but before we got to this point we had a few very special moments where we connected and was totally on the same wavelength. She is an artist and for her diploma she had to create a collection of images using different mediums, Laura has this view that in life you create your own paradise but to get to paradise you'll need to go by this special form of transport. When she shared with me the images she created from her collection I was totally speechless, they were very impressive and this very moment I started to really admire her... We also have this massive thing for shell collecting and peanuts. The way our minds work in more of a creative way made us become really become fond of each other. This is a day I'll never forget when Laura took me to the most magical beach on the island, Freedom beach. Your not embraced with the real beauty of it when you walk out onto the beach for the first time until you have to follow a pathway built above the water that hugs the edge of a cluster of bungalows... At the end of the pathway you step onto the soft sand to look out onto the most romantic looking beach. A line of tree's that have grown on the connection where the sea meets the sand and when there is a high tide the sea actually swamps the base of the tree trunks, then dangling off the branches of the tree's are hand made dream catchers. It really is so special here.

Although a very intensely sad ending happened between Viktor and I here in Koh Tao we had this really fun day where we went right to the end of Sairee beach to a cluster of rocks and I spent lots of time snorkelling in between the crevices of the rocks whilst Viktor clambered them. The tropical fish you get to witness here are mind blowing. All different shapes, colours with interesting patterns.. You cold easily stay underwater for hours. "Do something that scares you everyday and you will grow..." This was my thought process when I decided to join Viktor on the rocks, clinging on for dear life my adrenaline was whizzing round my body and it was really exciting. It was a great feeling when I made it to top and Viktor showed me lots of appreciation. The day before that, I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my nearest and dearest from back home. Kerry and her Husband is touring Thailand for their honeymoon and swung by Koh Tao after we made arrangements to both be here at the same time. To see a familiar face from back home, especially hers and the fact it was her birthday that day was just so warming!

I feel like I'm having this fairytale like dream here in Koh Tao. One evening whilst out partying at my all time favourite bar here "Bar next 2" - This place is the coolest and I'll tell you why... The inside decor for a start, behind the DJ box is a display of vinyls including artists like Daft Punk. They have a big silver "Rock 'n' Roll" microphone to make announcements out of!! The main DJ "Lek" absolutely raises the roof night after night, he's mixing is quality. A set of Start Wars masks are also on display also behind the DJ booth and this isn't even the half of it. I adore that place, I mean the other evening they had two DJ's one with a set of vinyls and then one with a set of decks mixing together. Say whaaaaaaat!? Haha. So anyway, back on track.. Sak one of the fire dancers at Bar next 2 was brought to my attention by Laura that evening we were out partying as she was expressing to me how cool she thought he was and I couldn't help but totally agree. He sat there behind me looking just looking really chilled out, bottle of beer in front of him with he's friends and at that moment I just was agreeing with the truth. It wasn't until the next night when he caught my eye, just hanging out standing there on the edge of the seating area with he's long hair tied up and two dread locks hanging down quirkily decorated with handmade jewellery crafted by him. Wearing all black everything which is a major thumbs up in my eyes I had this massive pull inside of me to go over and speak with him. The rest is history...
We've spent time together ever since, not only have I had the chance to spend time with him but by doing so I've had the chance to get to know he's friends and they are all such fascinating people.

The only real quality time I get to spend with Sak is after the bar closes or if it's not so busy in there, Oh!. Thats another thing... The Police have laid down this rule that all the bars have to turn their music off at 12 o'clock but this place keeps alive until 2 o'clockish when the police will show up and demand that the music is turned off. Then once the place is cleared out and cleaned we'd go and hang out at a lock in somewhere. Usually "The Rock" or "Why not?"... This is the only time these seriously hard working machines... (I'm not even going to call them humans because no exaggeration they'll spend pretty much all of the day making a living) get to just free their minds and hang out with friends.

Their English is pretty decent so we will all genuinely have good conversation between us, they are surprisingly SO funny and playful also. This one evening I went down to "The Rock" bar after Bar next 2 had closed and the guys in there was just cleaning up. As I walked in they were transferring the huge bean bags from outside and was piling them all up on top of each other inside. It's was a conveyer belt like procedure but as one of the boys caught me walking in he launched this massive bean bag at me and I just hit the deck, went down like a ton of bricks! It was hilarious, we were all roaring laughing but let's just say I didn't let him get away with it...

I have the most precious piece of jewellery on my upper arm right now. I've wanted to find this style of jewellery for a while now but never come across something that I've fallen in love with. My ethos when it comes to this sort of thing is that I like to have something unusual, something with a meaning and a story behind and the boxes were all defiantly ticked when it came to this one. When Sak has some spare time he likes to get stuck into making jewellery so this one time he shared with me he's creations and how he made each piece. They were ever so cool and then I shared with him how I was after this certain style of jewellery. With that he picked out this black cuff style band which was a piece of coral from the reef of Koh Tao.. The coral in its original shape grows straight upwards from the reef and is very brittle (It physically can't be bent by hand otherwise it'll just snap) So what he had to do was manipulate it in a special way. He handed over the piece of coral to me and asked me to put it onto my upper arm. No word of a lie it fitted perfectly! Nothing more was really said on the matter but the next day he took me to another part of the island called Mae Haad to a couple of he's friends shops. They were both jewellery shops but the "Coconut shop" really stood out to me. The hint is the name but the guy who owns it makes all of he's little treasures incorporating the fruit somehow. We spent ages in there, I was just gawping at everything but yet again there wasn't really anything that felt right on my arm. When we first walked in, the craftsman was working on these little pendants to then go onto making them into a necklace. After a while of being in the shop Sak called me over to the workshop area and was like how about we attach this pendent to the coral? This happened and I was wowed, this is something that only I have. It's beautifully special and the components have a story behind them, I really do feel so lucky to be able claim that it's mine.

This one evening Sak had some very rare time off so he took me back to Freedom beach but this time with a difference, we climbed a cliff face for about 20 minutes or so... It was so much fun. "Shake your boobs.. Move your arse" was he's alternative to saying come on. Being cheeky is their form of humour and it does works because I always found him funny and endearing. The end result just left me completely and utterly gob smacked. I stood up tall at the very highest peak on this mountain top and rotated slowly completing a 360 degree. This view point looked out over the whole of Freedom beach and Shark Bay (if you are lucky enough to be there at the right time you can actually encounter a shark sighting) and it was phenomenal.

Koh Tao wrapped me up in the most wonderful dream catcher, days spent exploring different beaches, collecting treasures, hanging out with genuinely good willed people. Paradise! I felt so content but now we have come to the fruits... This was a saying shared with me by the marvellously hilarious gorgeous George. A Greek/Italian who stayed in the dorm as me with an odd mind somewhat similar to mine and Laura's. We all loved being around each other. It was defiantly the right time to exit when I did but I'd happily go back in the blink of an eye. Oh and I will...

I hope you can get a feel for how much attachment I had to this place as it'll always hold a piece of my heart.

Miss and love you all, always! xxx