Koh Tao, Thailand 11/14/06

Koh Tao, Thailand 14/11/06

I have been here about a week and it is exactly what I needed after koh Phangan. Koh Tao of course is another beautiful island with a mountain, or hill, in the middle; a common trait I'm finding of these islands. It is only a few square kilometers and if it wasn’t for that hill, or hills, in the middle you could easily run all over the island. I say that from experience. After running a few days along the beach I thought I would just run over, literally, to the other side. I almost needed a heart and lung transplant when I finally reached the top, which of course is only half way. I took satisfaction from knowing I had at least made it to the top but going down the other side just to have to run up it again was enough to deter me. Contrary to what my sister thinks I am not insane.

Oh, while I’m thinking about fun running memories I need to document another. I think it was my first run here and even though I knew this island didn't see a lot of joggers I went anyway. I only got a few strange looks from some young male backpackers who were probably thinking “Bloody Hell?! Why would you be exercising on holiday?! There’s beer to be drank and it’s already 4 p.m.!”

The fun part came when I got to the little port area of Ban Mae about 2 km from where I stayed. The beach trail that I was running ended so I took the road for a little while. As I was heading up the steep but now paved road that headed out of town I passed 2 little kids on a motorcycle and side car hauling cardboard. That’s a common scene here and these two looked like an older brother/ little brother team of about 10 and 8 years old.

The little brother was ridding in the sidecar holding the cardboard when I ran by them. It was a look of bewilderment at first. He was definitely not used to seeing someone run just for the fun of it. Then the look turned to “Hey, he just passed us!”

Even over the sound of the motorcycle , and in Thai, I could hear him start making fun of his older brother who was having some trouble finding the right gear to tackle the hill. Sure it was a different language but a little brother getting a chance to knock his big brother down a peg is international and a sound I know well.

I was probably 20 feet ahead of them when his brother found a decent gear and pulled up along side of me. I looked over to smile and picked up the pace to match them. The little brother loved this. The game was on! They both were grinning eat to ear. The little one started hitting his brother in the arm. They were now a team again. His brother lowered his head and shoulders into a racing streamline and cranked on the gas.

The little motorcycle made a gurgling noise trying to handle the sudden flood of fuel. This gave me at least a second or two to pull ahead again. Of course the engine soon caught up to the gas level. By now I am in a full sprint and even though the road has leveled out they soon make up the few strides I had on them and my lead was gone. They steadily pulled past and away cheering the whole way. I laughed and waved as they did the same. I slowed back down to a normal jog and hoped the burning in my legs would not last the rest of the run.

About 50 yards down the road I saw them sitting on the side looking back. When I got close enough to see their faces the little one started waving me on. Basically telling me to come on, we are waiting! Let’s do it again! I cracked up. I laughed while I put my hands up and shook my head no. Sorry guys I am not in Repeats shape. One sprint is all I got!

They understood the look of exhaustion on my face, smiled and waved again as they sped away. My only hope is that eventually they had to answer to a mother that said “What took you so long?” Just like my Mother said to me almost everyday when I did my paper route. It makes me feel good to think I was a fun distraction from some kids doing their chores.

I got off the main road soon after my race and made my way up a steep dirt path. The path continued past some shacks and huts where some locals obviously lived. Eventually it was just trees and boulders. I reached a clearing with a view of the bay below near a grove of trees and stopped there for my turn around rest. Out of the trees came an old guy who stopped at one of the trees and chopped off a huge bunch of bananas with a 3 foot long machete. As I stood there catching my breath he picked up the large bundle of bananas and walked over to me. He laid down the bunch near me and with surgical precision lopped off a single banana and handed it to me. He spoke no English but understood my “no money” gesture. Again, I don’t speak Thai but understood his “Don’t worry about it.” gesture. He hacked off one for himself and sat down. There in silence we both just looked out at the water view below and ate our bananas.

I looked around to see if there was by chance a Gatorade tree nearby with another old guy harvesting them but alas I had to settle for just a banana and a good traveler feeling. I gave the old man a heartfelt “Kawp Khun Kawp” (thank you) and a bow. He nodded in return and I started my run back down and home. Ahhhh, I do so love a good run! You never know what you are going to see.

This island is quiet compared to Phangan and most people come here to dive which is basically what has taken up most of my time. I now have my PADI Open Water certification and am 3 dives away from completing my Advance certification. I love diving, like there was any doubt that I wouldn’t. I can’t believe I live in Florida and it took me this long to do it. A great example of just how easily life gets complicated and you put off doing even the simplest thing because you will get to it later….but of course you don’t.

The place I dove with was great too, a place called Asia Dive. Great staff. Professional yet laidback attitude. As my dive instructor Al pointed out one night over beers at the dive shack bar. “Mat I hate to disappoint you but I’m just a stoner that knows how to dive.”

I think it’s time to go see some new stuff though. I will probably finish up my Advance dives when I reach the West coast of Thailand next week or so.

Dive class of course makes it easy to make new friends and I have added several more e-mail addresses to the rolodex. For some reason the place is crazy with Irish this week. My main hang out buddies have been Mark, Jason, Donna, & Roxanne, all from Ireland but mostly traveling alone, and two Swedish girls, Anna & Lin. All good times of course and I hope to cross paths with a few of them again later on in Thailand.

My little bungalow is nice here but I didn’t fall in love with it. I’ve gone econo and am no longer right on the beach. Now I am about 50 yards off the beach and my AC and hot water are gone too. It’s still pretty though and for about $10 a night you can’t complain. It is surrounded by beautiful flowers and palm trees and I think the local grounds keeper lives nearby. As I walked up to my shack on the first day I even saw chickens pecking around the grass and trees. How cool, I thought! This ain’t no chain motel that’s for sure!

Well it was cool until 5:30 a.m. when I was reminded that where there are chickens there are roosters. The “cock-a-doodle-do’s” didn’t stop until 8 a.m. No worries. I laid there and chuckled to myself every time they woke me up…..and have eaten chicken at every meal since!

I think that about sums up my time here in Koh Tao. I am off tonight on the overnight ferry to Surat Thani and then a bus to Krabi where I will set up camp again for a few days. I hope there are more great island bars like the Lotus Bar here in Koh Tao. It is the best beach shack bar I have ever seen!

Running, diving, bars. Running, diving, bars. These are rough days!
MJF