Crystal Divers, Mango Beach and food

We really felt lucky to have taken the decision to move over to Koh Tao for the snorkeling and diving, which in short was excellent at for instance Chumphon Pinnacle, but slightly better overall in Phi Phi (where we were in 2008) because of the vast variety of small/big fish and coral at the latter. Outside of Koh Samui it actually seemed non-existing though, so if you are interested in diving or snorkeling, go to Koh Tao, besides if you specifically want to go to Sail Rock (which is closer to Koh Samui). Sail Rock is known for its sightings of really big fish like manta rays, Chevron (giant) barracudas and especially whale sharks. Otherwise, Koh Samui is fine for shopping and massage, while they have both the latter at more or less the same prices and qualities in Koh Tao. In addition, during low season (now), it's pretty much possible to get a room anywhere as a walk-in and if you book 2 weeks advance you almost always get 20% discount.

We woke up to a slightly windy day..

..and pretty much had the worst breakfast ever. Everything smelled a little bit of fart and looked horrible = we decided to never do that again to ourselves

My dude decided to cancel the morning snorkeling..

..so we packed ourselves on the ATV..

..which I of course had to 'borrow' the key for (could have been wrestling a bit/giving it my best shot with the whole puppy-eye-thing) and at least back it out, just to learn the ropes. However, Jonas decided us not let me drive an ATV for the first time basically straight up a 'cliff' with varying 'road' qualities (in hindsight this was probably a smart decision), but he hadn't seen the end of it by then!

After a short breakfast, we drove straight to Crystal Divers and in general they were professional, safe and cheap. We booked two dives for the next day and I got some homework on deep diving, since I had decided standing there that if I wanted to do this for real, I might as well get advanced asap

We then packed ourselves back up on the ATV and set sights on a whale skeleton site (don't even ask)..

..which turned out to be complete BS..

..along with the eminent warning sign we found on the ATV

Very hot and sweaty, quite hungry and exhausted several hours later, we found our way down another hill that seemed to have no end, to Ao Hin Wong Beach. It was just heaven to jump into the clear and wonderfully blue water from the cliffs and we were in for almost an hour spotting small Barracudas, soft coral and other small fish. I however got two cleaner fish following me, obviously trying to help me out, but I got slightly offended and decided to get up 

I waited for Jonas and chilled out in the shade for some time..

..studying for my deep dive..

..and then had the best curry I've ever had when he got up. Seriously, food wise (which we should have learned by now): always, always get the local Thai food at a cheap place. Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai, Massaman curries etc are just smashing. On the other hand, we found that BBQed skewers from street stalls were quite horrible, and not at all like in Singapore. We also noticed that we have started becoming slightly Singaporean, since we brought napkins to most food places!

We then headed for Mango Beach and the most interesting journey we've been on so far started with inclinations and road quality being completely mad..

..until we could no longer use the ATV, since the road was less than a meter wide with steps. Jonas got a wild look in his eyes when he saw this and the conversation more or less went: 
(me) 'Don't even think about it'
(J): 'But it might be fun!'
(me): 'Yes, but we might also become very dead'
and that was the end of it

It was a GOOD decision not to take the ATV, since the 'road' was leaning at points so steep it was hard to even walk down..

..with us wondering how in the world we would get back up

Finally down we were soaked..

..so jumping in the crystal clear water off an old, abandoned pier..

..and snorkeling made perfect sense. It well worth the climb, since the water was full with small fish in all the colors of the rainbow (I have to get an underwater camera), following us and sort of keeping us company. They also kept on picking on the air bubbles on our bodies, which made me swim a rather twitchy manner, since it really tickles! 

 

However, if I thought going down was bad..

..going up was completely mad..

..and I promised myself never to stay on a road again, if it was so steep I couldn't see the end of it. At several occasions I was very close to scream like a girl, but managed to control myself ;)

When we finally got up the hills we had a long water break..

..and found a quiet little harbor to have dinner..

..sitting just by the water..

..with a lot of highly personal decorations in the form of plant pots made out of coconuts..

..which we realized were hanging dangling just above our heads

The sun set fast..

..and we had a really,..

..really..

..interesting..

..food experience. I learned there are very many ways interpreting Pizza Quattro Stagioni and to just forget about western food the rest of the week. Then we had an early night to prepare for the diving the next day