Day 246: Journey to Koh Tao
Our journey to the island of Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, required a taxi to Krabi Town, a 4hr. shuttle to Donsak on the gulf coast, and a 3hr. ferry – needless to say we had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and spent the whole day travelling. The first leg of the journey quite pleasant – luckily for us only two other girls were travelling from Krabi to Donsak, so our transfer was via minivan rather than a bus. The ferry, however, was a bit of a disaster.
When we first boarded the ferry, we decided to sit up on the top deck – not only would we get a nicer view, but there were fewer people sitting up there. Now, we’ve been on boats before and are well aware that if one is prone to seasickness, the WORST place to be in on the top, where the side-to-side rocking will be the strongest. If one feels queasy, it is best to go to the lower, back deck where the boat is the most stable. Wish the dozen or so passengers puking their guts out all around us knew this little factoid. For the record, neither Lindsay nor Igor threw up on the Seatran.
We have to leave the resort in Krabi before the 7:30AM breakfast, so they pack us a to-go bag for our 4hr. shuttle ride from Ao Nang to Donsak
Boarding the ferry from Donsak to Koh Tao
We have pretty sturdy stomachs, so even though the waves are REALLY choppy we settle into a pair of seats on the top deck of the ferry boat – wish our fellow travelers would stay below if they are going to puke
However, once we docked at the Mae Head Pier in Koh Tao, our day took a turn for the better. Be and Rachael, two of the managers from our hotel, The Place, met us at the dock and escorted us to heaven on earth – seriously, I’m barely exaggerating. The Place is a boutique resort targeting honeymooners (not children under the age of 18 allowed in the rooms – NICE!) – normally way out of our price range, but they had one room available (potentially a last-minute cancellation). We checked TripAdvisor reviews, which recommended booking directly with the hotel rather than a third party like Expedia for last minute deals, so we decided to splurge a little.
Besides, can you really put a price on having YOUR OWN PRIVATE POOL?
The Place is our own private oasis – LITERALY! Those are *our* names on the door!
Our luxurious accommodations include a desktop computer, a TV pre-programmed with over 1,000 movies, and our own PRIVATE INFINITY POOL
Can we live here? This place has more square footage than our midtown apartment…and that BATHROOM – it’s like having the tranquility and atmosphere of an outdoor shower but without the bugs or loss of privacy!
Throughout our travels we’ve come to appreciate the small ways in which hotels try to reduce waste – like having refillable soap and shampoo dispensers. It’s a tiny gesture, but it really adds up
The Place take the whole “refillable containers” to the next level in the kitchenette – not only does the sink have a water filter to reduce plastic bottle use, but they even provide condiments like ketchup & mayonnaise in cute ceramic jars
So part of the reason we chose The Place was because it has a kitchenette and we wanted to both save a little money on meals and just control what we ate – we knew from TripAdvisor reviews that we could expect a welcome basket with some complimentary groceries to get us started (super generous – love it!). What we did *not* expect was a FREE bottle of Prosecco as a welcome gift! Turns out, the manager at The Place did a little snooping online and FOUND OUR BLOG and decided to give us some Prosecco because she read that we “like bubbles!” DO WE EVER!!!
Even though we had enough groceries for our first dinner, we decided to take the hotel’s bicycles into town to stock up for the next few days
Lindsay in the kitchen, whipping up some veggie pasta (topped with a healthy dose of cheese). We raise a glass to our wonderful hosts at The Place on the first night of our official “second honeymoon”