I slept until the boat arrived in Koh Tao early at 5.45, so I rushed to get my things together while others were already leaving the boat. I squashed my shoes on and left to find only taxi people there waiting while I wanted somewhere to stay. I walked past the taxis and past a 7-11 and most places there were closed, so I carried on up the road past more closed places. There was some rain so I got my umbrella out and went south along a road with some places now starting to open but only selling food. The rain got heavy, so I stopped at a closed bar which looked disused and I sheltered for a bit and blogged the previous day. At 7am the rain let up so I carried on and found a hostel called V but it was 350 baht, so I went to the next hostel which was 300 but I got on their WiFi and booked it for 200 baht, it was called the white jail and the room was a bit full so I got a top bunk. I left my things, had a shower, changed my shorts and clothes and then headed out and walked around town looking for scuba dives, food and a boat to my next place Koh Phangan. The boat was 309 to Koh Phangnan but there was only a 10am one. The Scuba advertised was 1600 for 2 dives, which seemed the best price and was more than in Malaysia, but the food was OK and I got pot noodle and then a bunch of bananas. Back at hostel I sorted out my washing and left 1kg to be washed and then left for a walk starting along the front and after a bit came to a temple which looked ok but wasn't fully built. I had thought my GPS was working, but it seemed it was only while it had WiFi and it had stopped again. I wanted to climb to the top of the island so I took a path up but came to electric pilon dead end. The next path was better but not great and 2 dogs joined me for the walk. I walked around with the dogs often running ahead seemingly knowing where the path was, only there wasn't really much of a path and again I changed direction but did end up finding a proper path and left dogs behind. I got to the top of the hill and walked along a bit before heading down and there were lots of millipedes mating. Koh Tao means Turtle island, but from what I've read there aren't so many turtles here, not like Indonesia so maybe millipede island would have been more appropriate. I managed to get lost, maybe too much thinking about millipedes and so I used my phone with its diminishing battery and I wasn't as far along as I thought. I took the path north and came to a stall where the guy was selling cocktails but also really wanted to sell me weed. I carried on and got to more bars and crossroads of viewpoints nearby. I had a look towards sunrise view but it was downhill and could be a way so I missed it and headed to sky view where a couple came out of and the guy recommended the place. I couldn't see a price listed so I went to have a look. There was a house and I went round the side, where there was not a great view. I took 2 pictures and was going to leave when a woman in the house said I should come in and so I went because it seemed rude not to and she asked for 50 baht. I had gone in and through the house taking my shoes off and put them back on and went to leave and she tried to grab me. I walked away and then she wasn't happy about me not paying 50 baht and started attacking me with an empty petrol canister. I carried on towards the gate and she ran past me picked up a hoe and then closed the gate. I shouted at her that she was a maniac, fucking crazy and went round the fence to the right where it ended and I could get back onto the path. She threw stones over the wall at me and I walked away and a man came out of the house and tried to flying kick me, but it was easy to block and he didn't look to dangerous to me. I left and went back to the junction and went to see the mango view and took my shirt off as I'd seen lots of people wandering round like that. There was no path that way though as it was a private road which cost to go along and see their view so I headed back to the junction to continue on the path North I'd planned at the start of the day. The man from the house came on a motorbike and stopped next to me and we had a more reasonable conversation, but he was saying the price was there and I was saying there was no price visible when I went to the viewpoint. He wanted to show me the sign but I didn't want to go back with him as he might have a few crazy friends there , so when he made a phone call I walked on the other way, but he came back past me on the bike. I didn't know where he was going and who he knew there so I changed direction and went back to the junction where the woman from the house and a friend of hers on a motorbike followed me round for a bit. Then the guy came back on his bike and showed me the sign that said 50 baht and out of the 3 signs that was smallest and didn't have a clear direction which view it was pointing to. They were still mad claiming I owed them money for seeing their view, possibly trespassing and taking photos, so I deleted my camera photos and headed off and the woman a got stick to chase me away and as I wasn't moving fast enough for her she threw it at me and it missed and I went away faster. I left along another road and a guy there told me it did go through a long way to a beach and it wasn't so far along the path to a viewpoint which looked like the end of the island. I looked around after a few photos and there were no paths to go down so I went back and I couldn't see any paths to the side either. I checked the map on my phone which cost me more battery power and there was a path near the beach I wanted to get to so I went and decided to find a way through and I found a steep path down with my umbrella still in hand I headed down the steep slope wet with rain still coming down. Pride made me keep the umbrella up as I went down, but thankfully there was no fall. I got down and there was kind of a path which I followed round and I ended at a place with a generator and a tent which I wasn't sure what it was. There were rocks around an I had a good look around but I didn't find a path. I gave up and went back a bit and found what might be a path so I headed along that in what seemed to be a northern direction and I really wanted to go West. After a short while the path petered out so I had a look around and used maps.me on my phone which reduced my battery to 50%. I tried to head down and round to avoid having to climb the hill, but there was no easy way and I ended up going over some rocky terrain with ropes left there by some rock climbers. It was fairly dangerous, but I made it across and on the last bit of climbing over a ditch onto a tree I slipped and got deep scratch on my arm from the tree branch. It looked like it might bleed soon, so I covered my arm with a towel and headed on. I got a bit further through open forest and came to an area with a few trees but I was still 120 metres from the path and the trees were too plentiful in that direction so I gave up and went back to try a different route down to the beach. I had to go through a few plants and bushes and climb through, but then I found a path which I followed. It split and paths went up and down so I tried down to get to a beach, but it came to a dead end despite being a good, wide path so I went back up and took the other path which carried on for a while. It came to a dead end, seemed to be how my day was going and there was a circle area surrounded by bushes and trees. My right shoe didn't feel normal so I checked and I and had a stick stuck in all the way through which I removed and then checked my phone map and my battery went down to 40%. I headed down a steep slope as it looked like there was only 50 metres to go to the path. The first 10 were fine, the next 10 also ok, but then there were fallen tree trunks to climb over and I got attacked by what looked like the flying things from Kota Kinabalu - ouch! I ran to get away and carried on through the trees in the same direction I was going in. I stopped when I came to a dangerous rock and tree bit but climbed along and made it down, but I still didn't see a path or any sign of the hotel that was supposed to be around there. I checked my phone map again and I'd gone far enough but not in quite the right direction so I changed direction and headed the right way. It was not too bad going for a bit but then there were rocks with plants on which were not so easy to climb across. I trampled the plants down and made it across from rock to rock and saw the path so I climbed up and joined it at last. I walked along past an abandoned JCB which had a can of beer in cab so I wondered, did it crash? The path was good, made of concrete but fairly steep and it took me to the bottom, where I had a look at a resort but it was 100 baht entry although that did include a soft drink. Time had got on, so I headed south, along a busier road with shops, hostels and other things until I came to a beach and I went on and walked along it. I stopped halfway along to swim since it looked like my stuff wouldn't get stolen there and the water looked deeper. When I came out I noticed that my shorts were filthy from walking through various jungle places. I dressed and carried on to the end of the beach where they had a King Rama statue and a nice rock. I walked into town and went to a Dutch dive shop called Impedia and while I waited I used their WiFi and it looked like rain for the whole week. I tried, but couldn't book a hostel for tomorrow night though, but then the guy was free and I said I was looking to dive and it looked like I might be going with people on a course which would be a bit like the dives I had done recently in Malaysia. I went back to hostel and the guy did have a room for tomorrow but I still couldn't book on Agoda which I wanted to do as I was a bit low on cash and the bank charged a lot for withdrawals. I checked out another dive shop called French kiss, which was almost ok as it was with fun divers but there was a 6.30 start, it cost 1,800 baht, I didn't remember the names of the sites they were going to from the magazine I had read and of course they were French. So I headed on and went to the 7-11 where the water was expensive and I bought 2 noodle packs for 6 baht each and ate one which was a bit spicy. I bought some 5 baht osmosis water at the same place I'd done so in the morning, and went back to Impedia where I double checked on what the course dives were going to be and one of them was navigation which was boring so I didn't sign up. I went and sat on the dock eating the rest of my pot noodle and watched the sunset. I wondered if I had made my choice on not diving based on money and what would I do otherwise the next day. When the sun had gone down, I wandered to get some more food and got stopped by some guys at dive shop looking for people to dive the next day. I was interested so went through the details and it seemed ok although both dives were at the same place I booked it, filled out the forms, and it turned out the shop was SSI not Padi. I went to get some money out but all the ATMs charge 200 baht fee so I paid by card for the dives instead and then went and got some food nearby in a restaurant where I ordered maasdaam curry. It was right next to the beach with good views of the sunset when it happens and I quite liked it especially as they gave me a free banana when I was leaving. I went back to the hostel and prepared my things for tomorrow as I'd have to be up early. Then I went to the communal area and sat and read the Koh Tao free guide and blogged a bit while a group of tourists and a guy who worked there chatted around a table. He said my room for tomorrow was ok which was good and I stayed when they all went to watch the live music next door. I went back to my room and shaved for diving so that the mask filling up with a moustache wouldn't be a problem. The music next door was loud and there was a guy sleeping in the bunk below my bed, which was probably the worst place he could be. I got my action camera out for the dives the next day, and it did work, seems it just didn't like one charger so I left it charging and went back upstairs to read until it was time for bed..
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