Trip report - Koh Tao (the mysterious "Death Island")

[bkkmfj2648]

Koh Tao trip report - Monday 24 June 2024 - Saturday 29 June 2024

My Thai volleyball friend and I, we have been discussing where to go for our next island hopping trip in Thailand.

We already visited Koh Larn, Koh Samet, and Koh Chang.

For this trip, which is about to commence as of the writing of this trip report (22 June), we chose the mysterious, Koh Tao - as it has been given the label of "Death Island".

Below is a Youtube documentary as to why it has been given this name.

Consequently, my Thai friend has been kindly asked by me to keep his eyes on me at all times as it seems that over 20 non-Thais have been murdered on this mysterious island.

From a logistical point of view, our trip here has taken quite a lot of effort to organize, as it is not easy to arrive there from Pattaya.

Our itinerary is:

Monday 24 June - Taxi limo from Pattaya to the Novotel hotel in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport (flight is early in the morning next day so we wanted to already be at the airport when we wake up and it gives a chance to my Thai friend to have his family come and visit us at the airport - as they live in the nearby province).

Tuesday 25 June - Flight from Suvarnabhumi to Koh Samui airport

                              - Taxi from Koh Samui airport to the Maenam/Pralarn Pier for the inter-island Lomprayah ferry

                               - Pickup from the Mae Haad Pier on Koh Tao by our resort

The above map gives you a good idea about the logistical challenge.  In hindsight, perhaps flying to Chumphon airport would have made the trip somewhat easier as the ferry ride would only require one inter-island stop - instead of 2 from Koh Samui.

I initiated this trip report before its commencement and conclusion - just in case I would become the next death statistic on Koh Tao - hopefully not, as I would like to truly finish this trip report - as I see we don't have many trip reports to many of Thailand's hidden secrets - as we tend to limit our travels to the traditional tourist places like; Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin, Pattaya, and Bangkok.

Stay tuned.

[gayinpattaya]

Well at least I know who you are now. 
That's a relief. 

[bkkmfj2648]

17 minutes ago, gayinpattaya said:

Well at least I know who you are now. 
That's a relief. 

is that a "good" thing or a "bad" thing ?

[reader]

Bkkmfg2648, enjoy yourselves but I hope to read about your adventures only on these pages and not in Thai media. 🙂

[Londoner]

It  looks beautiful; probably less  so if you are a Burmese fisherman.

[vinapu]

9 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

 

I initiated this trip report before its commencement and conclusion - just in case I would become the next death statistic on Koh Tao - hopefully not, as I would like to truly finish this trip report -

don't worry about anything and just go. Forget statistics about the island, after all so many people in Pattaya jumped from balconies and somehow you are not one of them. 

[Keithambrose]

9 hours ago, vinapu said:

don't worry about anything and just go. Forget statistics about the island, after all so many people in Pattaya jumped from balconies and somehow you are not one of them. 

Fair point, the Pattaya flying Club is attracting more members.

[bkkmfj2648]

So, we safely returned from Koh Tao yesterday evening, 29 June 2024.

There was no sex on this trip so if that is what you are looking for in this trip report then you can skip this article.

We took a limo car service from Jomtien to the Suvarnabhumi airport hotel = Novotel, which is located within the airport, on Monday 24 June, as our flight was very early on Tuesday.  Also, it was an excuse for me to meet my Thai volleyball friend's mother and sister, as they took a taxi down from the nearby province to eat dinner and hang out with us at the Novotel.  I always enjoy meeting the family members of my friends as it helps me to understand better their nuances - as an important human trait is to be indoctrinated by our family.

Next morning we were up early and took the Novotel shuttle over to the Bangkok Airways check - in counter.  All went well.  On our way to go through the domestic security, I was emptying out all of my pockets of metallic items into my backpack when I realized that my small bag was missing, which had my documents and cash for our trip.  So, panic ensued and my friend and I ran out of the airport (our luggage already checked in) and took a VIP urgent taxi back to the Novotel to open my room safety lockbox to retrieve the missing bag and the same VIP taxi took us back to the airport.  We had a good laugh after we got through security and still had 30 minutes to spare before boarding for our flight to Koh Samui commenced.

Travel modalities - plane, taxi, & ferry

Flight was good and non-eventual and we landed just 10 minutes late at the Koh Samui airport - which if you have never been there is an outdoor open-air airport complex.  The only other airport that I have seen that is similar is in Hawaii.

The airport was all decked out for their Pride Nation celebration, to be celebrated on 29 September 2024 --> which will become important at the end of this trip report.

      

Then we took a short 20 minute taxi ride over to the Pralan Pier to catch our Lomprayah ferry. https://lomprayah.com/timetable

We were very surprised to find out that this catamaran type of fast ferry service offered by Lomprayah, can also originate from Bangkok (near the famous Khao San backpack haven road) for a total transit time of 10 hours by bus + ferry (1 stop from the Chumphon Pier to Koh Tao) - which explains why we saw a plethora of backpackers on Koh Tao.

Our catamaran high speed ferry took 2 hours from Koh Samui to Koh Tao - which consists of 2 stops:

• Koh Pha Ngan - which was about a 30 minute ride - but as the ferry was super packed we probably had a layover of 20 minutes - as this is the famous "Full Moon" party island, there were a gazillion young and sexy backpackers exiting and then entering onto the ferry.  What slows everything down is the moving of luggage from the ferry up onto the pier BEFORE they let the passengers off of the ferry.
• Koh Tao - which took up the remainder of the travel time.

Upon entering at Koh Tao - one has the mental vision of a cramped pier town - somewhat dated back in time - that has a feel of like a pirate's or hippies town.  The attraction of this island is the numerous diving centers, diving schools, and diving trips.  The main port definitely needs an overhaul - because the wooden/cement passageways are just too narrow for the throngs of people that need to move about with their luggage in tow. Our resort transportation was waiting for us at the pier but we could not leave until all of the passengers were off of the catamaran with their luggage.

My Thai friend is 30 years old and I am close to 63 - and I could feel that I was one of the oldest persons here on Koh Tao.  Back in Pattaya, in the Jomtien Supertown Complex, I tend to be on the younger side of the local inhabitants.  So, if you want to be surrounded by energetic youth - then Koh Tao and Koh Pha Ngan are for you.  In addition, the majority of the workers on the island are almost ALL from Burma / Myanmar.  My Thai friend was quite shocked to feel as a "foreigner" in his own country - because often when he spoke Thai - nobody understood him and replied in English.

Our destination was the Jamahkiri Resort & Spa https://www.jamahkiri.com/ which is located at the southern tip of Koh Tao on the famous and beautiful "Shark Bay".

We had 2 accommodations with stunning breathtaking views of Shark Bay. (overhead shot of our resort - note the numerous steps up and down - good to stay in shape)

Photo of one of our 2 accommodations. 

Day one - as we arrived around 3pm and being very tired, we just hung out at the enormous resort and explored the grounds, rented motorbikes for 4 days, and went to 7-Eleven to stock up our room refrigerator.  While driving around on the main road - we could not find what is known as the party zone - as we were not looking in the right place.

 

Day two - determined to find the party zone - we realized that there was a parallel beach road - to the primary big road.  This beach road was more like a side walk that meandered through all of the various bars and restaurants, and hotels on Sairee Beach.  We parked our motorbikes and walked on this pedestrian walkway and eventually by accident we ran into the famous "Big Rock", where those awful murders of the 2 Brits took place.  The hairs on my arm stood up and I told my Thai friend, when we return here in the night time let us stay away from this area - I just had a bad feeling - but probably just paranoia.

While walking around there were signs everywhere for the local Pride celebration festivities at the Lotus bar https://www.facebook.com/Lotusbeachbarkohtao/

and so, we returned later that night to see what it was all about. Well, it was so packed, as they were having a Koh Tao bar crawl - so the bar was full of young university farangs who were there to party and celebrate.  They had the traditional fire shows - but so many young farangs were so drunk it is amazing that none of them ran into the swinging fire balls.  Lot's of eye candy to look at - but I was the oldest person there and I just enjoyed the view and energy.

During the day we rode our motorbikes across the island to the opposite coast to snorkel and swim at Ao Hin Wong - Freedom Bar beach https://www.islandtravelkohtao.com/koh-tao-beaches/hin-wong-bay

This was a real hippie beach as you could smell whiffs of weed everywhere, relax on a blanket or beach chair, swim in the water that was FULL of coral with amazing colorful fish to look at.  It was truly a great experience here.

Afterwards, we drove up the steep mountain on dirt rugged rutted roads.  This really tested my motorbike skills - as my heart was racing and I was so tense - but I was with my Thai friend who was also my motorbike instructor to prepare me for my trip to Da Nang, Vietnam back in April - so I wanted to make him proud.  But, at a certain point, the dirt road just became too steep for me to feel comfortable, that I just parked my motorbike and walked the rest of the way which was only like 100 meters more - until we arrived at the Jim View Bar overlook and Mango viewpoint - https://www.islandtravelkohtao.com/viewpoints/jim-view-bar

Day three - Late morning wake-up after the previous night watching the youngsters party.  Just rode our motorbikes back to the main Sairee Beach pedestrian road, as we wanted to get our souvenir shopping out of the way, eat a nice lunch at one of the beach restaurants, and to get a massage (professional clean one for my Thai friend). Back to our resort to relax and enjoy the resort.

Day four - Today I was determined for us to rent a kayak and to kayak over to the Shark Beach area - which is within view from our resort and was very enticing.  You could see that this is where the really rich people enjoyed the nature.  While laying on the pristine white sand beach, a Thai family was near us and they had a professional private  photographer who was photographing their family of 3 adorable children and the husband and wife.  The husband would speak to the 3 children both in English and Thai.

   

Just like at the other beaches - when you walk out in between the coral structures you could see amazing fish and marine life in full amazing colors - hence the reason why Koh Tao has its tourist allure for nature and diving.

Back to the Sairee Beach pedestrian road to eat, buy last minute items, as we depart tomorrow morning.  My Thai friend decided to get a massage and I decided to return to the resort by myself on my motorbike - hahahahaha - and guess what, I fall down on the turn from the main road for the road that goes to our resort.  Thank God nothing was hurt - me or the motorbike.  I got up and was ready to go - but my pride was hurt - as a very sexy young farang ran over to me and said, Mister, are you ok ? do you need me to help you up.  I replied, no I am ok (but inside my ego was hurting).  I was too embarrassed to tell my Thai friend what happened later that evening - until AFTER the motorbike company came to pick up their motorbikes - and I could breath a sigh of relief as they did not find any damages - and then in that moment I told my Thai friend what happened.  

Went to bed early as we had to already be packed with our luggage at the front desk by 8:30am and already had breakfast. 

Day five - Check out was a breeze, and then the resort took us back to the main Koh Tao pier (Mae Haad) so that we could check-in and then wait for us to be allowed onto the 9:30am catamaran ferry boat for Koh Samui.  Again, it took 2 hours with the longest part from Koh Tao to Koh Pha Ngan and then 30 minutes more to Koh Samui.

As mentioned on Day one of this trip - we did not know the significance of today, 29 June 2024.  It was Koh Samui's Pride Nation festival and when our ferry arrived into the Pralarn Pier we were greeted with large festive Gay Pride decorations.  @reader, we somehow missed this news broadcast with all of the other Thai Pride announcements.

It was now 11:30am and our flight for Bangkok wasn't until 5:25pm, so I convinced my Thai friend for us to go to Chaweng Beach, where all of the Pride Nation festivities were being prepared.  The gay parade would not start until 4pm, and we would already need to be at the airport, we were able to catch some of the gay festivities.  Had I known prior to making all of these bookings for this trip, I would have had us stay the night, 29 June, so that we could have participated in the Pride Nation festivities.

As was the case in Pattaya, Pattana who owns the various Central shopping centers in Thailand was the main driving force behind the Pride Nation celebrations in Koh Samui.

    

Here is a Youtube video of what we missed because we had to depart on Pride Nation day.

and the party info:  https://www.pridenationsamuifestival.com/

Summary

Would I return to Koh Tao?  Yes, it was a unique fantastic place.  But I would combine it with a longer trip to nearby Koh Pha Ngan - to see the Full Moon Party and to spend more time on Koh Samui - as I see that their gay center in Chaweng beach is much bigger than when I was last there back in 2014.

Would you change anything if you returned to Koh Tao?  Yes, I might change the travel modality to fly from Bangkok to Chumphon airport - because then the ferry ride only requires 1 stop - Chumphon then Koh Tao.

Did I ever feel to be in danger?  Not really, but we made sure to stay away from those mafia bars where the prior incidents occurred, and I had a Thai person with me to watch over me - as I believe that all of the 24 murders to date on Koh Tao were to non-Thais.

A funny story.  A guy on Hornet wrote to me who works on Koh Tao and he was really pushing for a hookup.  I was not interested and he was insistent.  On one of his messages he wrote to me, I see you with your Thai friend - I know where you are.  That gave me the creeps.  But, I compared his photo to the photos of the alleged Thai mafia killers and they are not similar at all - so I think that this was just a random weirdness situation.

Gay activities - there was only the party at the Lotus Bar.  In Grindr, Hornet, and Heesay, there were perhaps around 10 to 15 possible gays online on Koh Tao. However, the number greatly increased when looking on nearby Koh Pha Ngan (30 guys) and on Koh Samui (100 guys).

 

 

 

 

 

[reader]

Great report! You made me feel like I was there (particularly the going down on motor bike). 

[vaughn]

nice report, sounds like a great getaway!

I'm a diver and have Koh Tao on my list of places to visit, but i'm too reluctant to go alone because of the frequent deaths reported there. I just need to find a LLT MB that has his diving cert haha.

[bkkmfj2648]

3 hours ago, vaughn said:

I'm a diver and have Koh Tao on my list of places to visit, but i'm too reluctant to go alone because of the frequent deaths reported there. I just need to find a LLT MB that has his diving cert haha.

Hi Vaughn, you are in luck.

If you use the EXPLORE function on Hornet or Grindr, and search on Koh Tao, you will see 2 to 3 very sexy gay dive instructor profiles. I bet that if you contact them they can arrange for you to:

Have a great dive,

Feel safe,

Stay in good company.

 

[vinapu]

You were with guy so I wonder why did you look for Hornet options? Scientific research perhaps ?

[bkkmfj2648]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

You were with guy so I wonder why did you look for Hornet options? Scientific research perhaps ?

Hmm curious Vinapu :>))

I was with my Thai volleyball friend and he is also my motorbike teacher.

We travel very well together. You may have read in my trip report that we had 2 (two) accomodations.

We don't have sex, even though he is very sexy - he says that I am not his type = old, fat, and ugly.

If you go to the Sansuk Sauna in Pattaya you can see him at his hotel job.

But, I am now into my 6th week at the gym with my aggressive female trainer - so eventually we can change that list from:

 

old, fat, ugly

to just:

old, ugly but - with muscles and toned body

 

Then we will see if my luck will change.

The checking of Hornet, Grindr, and Heesay was for this trip report, as this was a non sex trip, I was sure someone from this forum might want to know if any PLUs (People Like Us) were available for consumption on these very remote exotic beautiful islands - since 95% of our forum readers don't seem to venture outside of our favorite gay sex ghettos of:

Bangkok

Pattaya

Phuket

Chiang Mai

 

[vinapu]

8 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

 

The checking of Hornet, Grindr, and Heesay was for this trip report, as this was a non sex trip,

 

so I was right, scientific research, very thank you

[bkkmfj2648]

Dam, I am so disappointed that we missed the Koh Samui Pride Nation gay pride festivities.  As reported above, we were only able to catch a few hours of the pre-parade festivities.

My most FAVORITE Thai singers, BADMIXY performed on stage at the post parade concert.

Here are some Samui parade clips:

 

Party clips:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/453558187496164

 

BADMIXY singing on stage - their best song in my opinion - is "Sugar Daddy":