And the next stop is...who knows!

Yesterday afternoon I sat sipping a lovely Singha in Shark Bay on Koh Tao. You may recall my last post that I was headed to Koh Phangnan...or so I thought. After deciding to leave Tonsai for sure and making arrangements to head to Koh Phagnan for the rest of my trip I had two interesting things happen that redirected me once again. I had arranged for a bus/ferry combo to leave Ao Nang at 12:30 pm on Wed. The woman who owned the little travel center was really great and we were equally annoyed when the company failed to actually pick me up despite repeated calls to the man and their insisting they were on the way. So that's ok, we arranged for me to get a later bus and take the night ferry to KPN. After a harrowing bus ride back to Surat Thani where I was supposed to catch the night ferry, I was informed by a woman that there is no boat to Koh Phagnan. No Boat...what do you mean no boat? This is a daily ferry trip and it just happened not to be there on this day? And so it is sometimes here...Anyways, after a long discussion that led virtually nowhere, I jumped on the night ferry to Koh Tao.

If Tonsai/Railay was not all I expected, Koh Tao is so much more!! It is so beautiful, and has great vibe (the main attraction here is scuba diving), and not so much exploitation. People here seem to be more aware, which makes sense since they are here to explore the natural resource in the sea! I considered and actually signed up to do my open water dive certification, but dropped out at the last minute and am spending a couple days volunteering at the Koh Tao Animal Clinic. I have spent my whole trip watching the stray animals around Thailand and Lao, and now I am excited to give back to them a little! I am very happy to have ended up here, no matter how circuitous the route!

New photos posted! http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/vEjgORaAew-pjltt40HSCA?feat=directlink