Woke up early to catch the ferry back to Koh Samui and then the plane back to Bangkok. But first we had breakfast. And a lot of trouble giving the tip to the very friendly and helpful staff at our hotel. Why was it a trouble?

Well, we asked one of the waiters a few days ago about giving tip in Thailand. He told us that it is becoming more common with tip but that it never goes to the staff but to the owner or manager. So the tick is to give tip to each individual personally and to not make it obvious so that anyone else knows about it.

They also had a tip bowl at the reception, but that goes right down into the owner’s pocket. Which is not quite what you want when you pay tip. We managed to pay a small tip to the people we had most interacted with without being spotted anyway.

We arrived at the Koh Samui airport 3 hours before our flight. So we went to the stand-by counter and put us on a waiting list. While waiting we had something to eat and drink. And then I was called to the stand-by counter, but they only had one seat so I said ‘No thank you’. We flew to Bangkok with our planned flight.

In Bangkok Chie checked in at the Amari airport hotel and then we went into Bangkok for dinner. We first made a short visit to Jim Thompson, famous for their silk work. Then we had dinner at MK Restaurants. Hot pot the Thai way. It was tasty, but not as good as Chie’s.

When we finished dinner it was time to go back to the airport by taxi. I checked in and then we went to Chie’s hotel room for a shower, and talking. Last time to see each other for a while.

At 11 pm we walked back to the airport to send me to Sweden – Chie’s flight was early the next morning in the opposite direction (to Tokyo). Bye for a while.

When I was waiting in line to pass the customs a small girl in line next to mine threw up. She just stood there and uruurgh, here whole stomach came up. And her German father sounded angry. Poor girl, I think if she could choose she would not have thrown up at all.

Went to the Jansom Bay again in the morning. This was the second time. It was as nice as before and we had a relaxed day there. Reading and snorkeling all day long.

Again we bought some fish food and fed the fishes while snorkeling. A good way to become popular. Among the fish that is.

At 5:20 pm we took a taxi boat to Mae Haad to return my rental fins and to have a massage. This time Chie had an oil massage and I had a Thai massage.

We had dinner at Farango pizzeria. Greek salad and pizza again. Coconut shake for me and Singha beer and red wine for Chie.

Then we got a ride with a taxi back to our hotel. The taxi driver was smoking pot while when we started. Even asked if we wanted to smoke too. When we did not want to he said he was sorry and throw the joint out the window. We got home safely anyway.

This is the last night together in Koh Tao so we had to pack. It was done quite quickly.

It was fun to visit Koh Tao but we both think it was the first and last time. It is a beautiful island with very friendly people, but it is a very small island and we have visited most of the beaches during our 10 day stay. Also, there are not so many good restaurants here. Unfortunately they have aimed at satisfying the European tourists with only traditional tourists restaurants and not so many genuine Thai restaurants exists. Too bad.

We did not do much today since Chie felt sick. Most of the time we just spent at the hotel. A short visit to the pool. Then sleeping in the room. I was reading while Chie slept. (By the way, we have bananas at Thipwimarn)

By 10 am we were picked up at the rocky beach just below our hotel. We had to wade out to the long boat, which could not make it all the way in. We had asked to be taken around the island for snorkeling at some places which cannot be reach by car, or are difficult to reach.

First stop was outside of Thian Og Bay (Rocky Bay). When we got into the water it started to itch all over the body. It was some kind of small animal that were biting us, at least that is what our captain said.

Next stop was Hin Wong Bay. Then Gluay Thoen Bay, Mango Bay, and finally Japanese Garden (Nangyuan Island). It was fun and interesting to see Koh Tao from the waterside. And it was very comfortable temperature in the nice breeze.

When we got back to our hotel we were quite tired after 5 hours of riding the boat and snorkeling, most of the time was snorkeling. It was quite difficult to walk all the stairs back up to our hotel from the beach. We were too tired to go anywhere to eat so we had dinner at the hotel. Red curry for Chie and I had a grilled White Snapper. Yummy.

Our plan was to go to Sairee Beach today but after breakfast we found out that the hotel’s beach trip had changed to a beach we had yet to visit, Thian Og Bay (Rocky Bay) with a view of the shark island. We managed to join the rest even though we were short of time.

At Rocky Bay we found out that the tide was low. Unfortunately that made it impossible to snorkel or swim in the water. The only thing that was possible was to walk out and sit down in 30-35 degrees water. No cooling effect at all. We stayed in the shadow all day long instead, reading.

This night we went to Sairee Village and had dinner at Choppers. It was the only place with a lot of people. A little bit loud music and not so tasty food. We went home instead.