It is located on the east side of the Surat Than coastline with two neighbouring island, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. The name in English means "Turtle island" as the island used to be inhabited by turtles. Also I heard that the island shape is thought to resemble a turtle when viewed from Koh Pangan. At the widest part, Koh Tao measures 3.4 km and is 7.6 km long. It has a rocky shoreline, consists of 11bays and ten capes with a surrounding coral reef spanning 8km. I discovered butterflies in size of small birds, beautiful plants, jungle and horrible mosquito's, which I am really scared of because of the dengue fiever virus.

I arrived 4:30 am with my Belgian friends Tina and Lindsay took a Jeep taxi to the main attractive beach "Sairee Beach". I had no sleep at all but it was a very peaceful moment when the sun rised up and we sat on the lonely beach. We checked the prices in the bungalows and decided in my opinion too early to take it. Mine was smelling a bit rotten and I was afraid of bed bugs. The beach is unique with its rocks, blue water and white sand plus the Thai longtail boat. Even though it is a paradise, very less people are there because of low season. Normally in November it should have rained a lot, but I was lucky. Maybe it has something to do with the clima change.

I tried to sleep at the beach but I guess I was just too excited so I decided for a kajak trip. I told my friends about it and that they should make an alarm when I am not back until 7 pm. Yes, I take more care now :-)

The tour was amazing and I felt so indipendent. I paddeled 45 mins to an Island "Koh Nang Yuan" which connects two little Island with a sand bank. I decided to go further when I realised that behind the island were higher waves and strong wind. I asked my self to rather return or go round the island. My gut feeling told me to return but then I was so curious about the next corner. Then I really had to struggle of high waves, great flow and the running time, cause I only had one hour until the darkness. So I tried to paddle as much as I could and finnally arrived in sunsetting.

The evenings were also nice. Here are a plenty of bars with guitar player and nice fire games b but very touristic. The other day I moved forward to the other site of the island "Chalok baan kao bay" where I rented a mountain bike in order to make a trip in the hills. Sadly I started at 11am and it was already 33° and the grade of the hill killed me so I moved back to a lonley beach and swimmed. Actually for me the first time travelling alone it is strange but also an experience. But after a few while I got bored and tried it again to move upwards. It was so high that I more carried my bike then drove it. I couldn't find my planned viewpoint where I also planned to drink something cause I was running out of water. I passed a tin shak house and tried to show with body language that I need water. She took me with here and helped me out. Here in the hills and not touristic place the Thais are more friendly then down on the beach. I get the feeling that here on the touristic island the unfriendliness of the tourists is blowing off the Thais naturality. I felt stupid to do the traditional greeting. Koh Tao is a beautiful tropical island but I don't see a culture cause they tourists took over. Later I got to know that here are less Thais. The people who I thought are local are in fact people from Burma who try to make better money in this island.

Pretty funny is that not only when you get in the temple you get off your shoes, also in the hostel and sometimes in a supermarket and other stores. That is how they avoid dirtiness.

Here on the island I entered the underwater world for the very first time. Thank my German friend Malte, who has surprisingly a similar background than I have, we were best well prepared for a snorkeling trip from Chalok Baan Mao Bay to the next Shark Island. We figured out the route, prepared a waterproof sack within second cloth, camera, money and valuable stuff, which he carried with. I rented a snorkeling equipment for 100 Baht per day (2,50€). I had trubble to dive for longer caused by the to big sized diving mask. We discovered several stunning coral reefs. The conditions were very good with crystal clear and shallow, calm water. I saw many colourful fishes, bigger ones, sea egale, sea cucumber, a big turtle, swimmed with shoals of fishes and enjoyed the rustle of the water and then he came, the shark. Even though I know they only eat fishes, it was something of an hallacious and fear feeling to see and following it. I was totally amazed and overwhelmed of this impressions which I only know from underwater documentaries. I don't have any underwater camera unfortuantely. As we came closer to the beach we noticed plastic waste on the surface. It is so awful people just throwing waste in the water especially the fisher boots of the Thais I heard, but also the wind, the stream and season are reason of it. Plastic is dangerous for the animals because they simply break down slowly into ever smaller particles until the sea animals eat it accidentally and die. We felt responsible and collected it and threw it into the bin on the next beach.

The back of my body is totally burned -beginner mistakes! We arrived the next private and luxurious beach in the darkness and had to walk 45 mins through the hills full of mosqitos but incidentally and luckely we got an adventurous lift from a bustaxi we were standing on. The next day we got up at 6:30 am, rented a motorbike and got to a very nice diving riff in hope to see some sharks. We didn't see them but amazing fishes and riffs again but also plastic bags, can, fork ... Again I was collecting a huge plastic rice sack when suddenly something sharp pinched me on my shoulder. A black handsize crab tried to find pruchase on me. I pushed it away instinctually but my friend took it to the rock.

To see and collect all the plastic made me think and react in the future even more. Of course, the are many item's in the world we can not avoid to use plastic, but we don't need so unuseful plastic things. This is I want to appeal also to you. Don't get plastic bags in the supermarket, take cotton bags ;-)

Like: riff diving, kajak trip, landscape and leisure people

Dislike: horrible mosquito's, plastic in the sea, too touristic

Transportation used: Nightferry, Jeep, Kajak, Mountain bike, Motorbike

Highlights: following a shark, long chat with a German couple who live on Koh Tao 11 years, when the island had not even a street

Average expenditure for accommodation: 600 baht for bungalow, 200 baht for dorm

Things I don't wanna miss: Sleeping bag, camera, pocketknife, mosquito's spray, sagrotan, comfortable sandals

What’s next: I guess Bangkok, let's see