It is our last full day in Koh Tao and we began with a lazy start to the day. We had a bit of a late breakfast and spent a couple of hours talking it easy by the pool. We are starting to rough out some ideas of what we are going to do with our time in Chiang Mai so poolside seemed like a good place to do that.
As they often do our plans here have changed a bit – our travel buddy Erica has decided that she wants to stay longer in Koh Tao to take in the island vibe and to do some rock climbing. It does not come as a huge surprise to us as everyone has different things that they gravitate to, but we had thought it would be a bit farther into the trip before she ‘ditched the olds’ 😉 All is not lost though and we are not fully relegated to the ‘boring people’ designation because we have added a new person to our traveling group. There is an Irish chap named Thomas that is staying at the same hotel as us, and he and Erica had started chatting a couple of days back. While sitting about we started talking about traveling, photography and the typical topic of where everyone was going next came up. Thomas was thinking about going to another island but had not made any firm plans, and when we started talking about Chiang Mai he got quite interested in the place. He booked a ticket straight away, and wants to take in some of the sights with us up north. It is always fun to meet interesting people and seeing the sights with friends just adds to the adventure, so like we did last year with Jackie, Bruce and Stephanie we have banded together for a few days before Thomas heads back to Ireland.
We the day now half gone Mrs. Columbus and I decide that we should take the rest of the afternoon and go for a walk/hike up to a viewpoint that is noted on the map. The island is not that big, and we can see the place where the viewpoint is from our hotel so it does not look like it is all that far, and according to the people at the hotel it is about a couple hour walk, so off we go to conquer the wilds.
As often happens when we go out exploring we find that we have overlooked some details or need to deal with the unexpected, this trip is no exception. The first thing we did not really spend much time thinking about is how high up the viewpoint is. After setting out on the walk we look on the map and see that the vertical rise is about 350 meters (about 1200 feet), which would not be so bad if it was gradual over a distance, but the jungle does not build things that way, and the road ahead is uphill, uphill, uphill, and to really make you feel the burn throw in some downhill so that you can walk back uphill again before the next rise. Mother Nature throws in her bit as well because it is hot, humid, and because the road goes through the jungle, you can’t even catch a breeze 🙁
However this is not our first rodeo and we like a challenge so we press ever forward on our way to the top. There are a few times when I wonder if we should not just walk back to town and rent a quad for this, but we push through to the end knowing that the reward at the end will offset the effort. Finally we make it to the top and from here we can see almost the entire island and the view is spectacular. We sit on top of a big boulder at the edge of the viewpoint and take in the breeze and the vista for a few minutes enjoying the surroundings before starting the trek back down to the beach.
The good news is that the downhill is much easier than the uphill and aside from having to stop for the occasional snake crossing the road we make pretty good time and are back in town in time for a refreshing dip in the pool before meeting up with Erica for dinner and to say farewell before we head off in the morning.
