
Cherry Blossom Season in Japan
March 31, 2018
January 24, 2018
After I finished my yoga retreat on Koh Samui, I joined Daniel on Koh Tao, where he was doing his advanced open-water diver certificate.
Koh Tao is much smaller than Koh Samui, so it doesn’t have Samui’s horrible traffic and crazy numbers of tourists. Diving is by far the biggest activity on the island: there are dozens of dive shops, you find people here who are learning the basics of diving, people who are doing advanced dive courses (such as Daniel), people who are doing just-for-fun dives, people who are doing the dive master training, and people who are studying to become dive instructors – pretty much the whole range of diving-related activities is covered.
A close second most popular activity seems to be getting a tattoo – there are tattoo shops every few meters on the main tourist streets. Which begs the question: Just how many people are getting tattoos here, so that all these shops stay in business?!? Just by looking around, it seems like a lot: people without tattoos such as us are in the minority.
Koh Tao is quite small, so there is not much you can do in terms of sightseeing on land. There are, of course, a few nice beaches, but some of them are private and you have to pay a small entrance fee. Nevertheless, in general I liked Koh Tao a lot more than Koh Samui – it seems more authentic and feels more like a tropical island to me.
Our stay in Koh Samui in a small villa with its own pool was rather indulgent, so when we left that hotel, I said good-bye to such luxury accommodation for the rest of our trip. Which was ok – in the end, we don’t need a villa with pool everywhere we go. We plan to travel rather modestly for most of this long trip.
At least those were our intentions. The reality turned out to be different. On Koh Tao, we’re again staying in our own villa, with its own infinity pool. Although it contradicts everything I just said about our travel style, we decided to stay here because, after some bargaining with the owner, Daniel managed to get the villa for half the price. Which doesn’t mean it’s really cheap, but it is, nevertheless, a very good deal. Plus, we’re here for Daniel’s birthday, so we’ll celebrate in style – who knows if we’ll ever again spend one of his birthdays on a tropical island, drinking champagne by our private infinity pool?
Anyway, although that was not the original plan, here we are again, in a villa with pool… Never say never, I guess.
Highs:
Lows:
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