We left Ko Tao shortly after New Year. Its such a beautiful place. Really chilled and nicer than Ko Pha Ngan.

Ko Tau means Turtle Island in Thai. Apparently the island gets its name because of its shape rather than its wildlife, but there are turtles to be found here.

According to the guide books it used to be uninhabited and then was used as a political prison. This would have been their view...

The beaches are quite resort like, but stunningly beautiful and really clean. Although the island is quite developed for tourism now, there are still parts of it that cannot be reached on foot, so the best way to see the whole island is by boat.

It's got a small, but busy high street filled with shops, diving kit centres, and cafe/bars where you can eat and watch illegal dubs of movies. They tend to freeze just when it gets to a good bit in the film, but I guess that's part of the fun. The 'English' sub-titles are hysterically funny. I thought that the mistakes were genuine at first, most are I think, but some are so outrageously rude I'm convinced they are done on purpose -nothing I could repeat on these pages, put it that way. It certainly takes your mind off the poor quality of the picture.

Ko Tau is renown for its dive sites and the snorkelling is fantastic too. We stayed in this fabulous little place that had it's own little beach bay. You can see a multitude of fish just by looking down into the water - no need to even put your head under.

A word of warning though....

Many people come to Ko Tao especially to take diving courses. If you are travelling Thailand you might hear rumours that non divers aren't catered for. Ignore them - it's just the touts trying to get you to sign up for a course. We hadn't budgeted for any diving, but it didn't matter - we found good cheap accommodation really easily, fantastic food and lovely people - and bar the odd fish with a penchant for humans the snorkelling is so amazing there's barely need to dive.