TaNNNOOOO!!te Bay

Koh Tao has been criticized for becoming an overly-commercialized backpackers paradise, and rightfully so. Tao’s Sairee Beach has exploded in the past ten years into a place that totters on overdone. The entire beach is set up for tourism – internet cafes, laundry services, scuba centers, restaurants advertising “Western and Thai Food” on their signs. We travel for the moments where you feel like you’re really getting a taste of somewhere, where you visit rather than tour. So when the last dive was done, we blazed a trail across the mountains, a far cry from Sairee, to Tanote Bay.

Tanote Bay Treehouse

Our first attempted trip to Tanote Bay wasn’t what I’d call a smashing success. Knowing our deal on the accommodations would expire soon, we had rented a motorbike to scope out other parts of the island. Turns out, it’s not that easy. We’d been banking on something being in place, an infrastructure of sorts, made up of… oh, I dunno… roads?

With the sun setting and a mere 4.5 kilometers (not quite three miles) to go, I felt sure we could scope out potential new digs. Heading off the main road, Michael steered onto the dirt path. No big deal, I thought, this bike has spiky tires. Spiky tires will keep us safe. Then the pitch of the mountain changed a bit, and it became rockier. He struggled to keep the bike upright with me on the back of it, but pressed on. Michael is a determined man, and I am a reasonable woman. This is why we began to differ in opinions on whether we should continue on this sandy, rocky path. After two or five times abandoning ship when we slipped uphill, I became firmer in my convictions and started trying to talk some sense into my fiancee. “We are NOT taking this bike any farther!” With my faith in the spiky tires diminishing, I managed to talk Michael down from the bike just before we hit a downhill patch of impassable boulders. We ditched the bike and walked the rest of the way, hopeful we were on our way to an island paradise.

Shortly thereafter, we saw some lights down below and hoped we’d made it to Tanote Bay. Stopping by the first place we found, we hoofed it down an impossibly steep driveway with an amazing view of the ocean. It was called Poseidon, and not surprisingly they offered to accommodate us. We gratefully accepted. This part of the island was unbelievable! Relatively unpopulated, this was exactly the escape we were looking for. How did they manage to build anything here? I can only imagine the materials arrived by boat.

Tanote Bay Bungalow

For the next two days, I sweated how were were going to get back there. We’d seen a pickup truck spinning and struggling to get to town on our way back to Sairee Beach. We certainly couldn’t get there on a rented motorbike, as we’d proven last time, especially with our packs. The people at the dive shop weren’t keen on waiting around until after our night dive to take us, but they did have a four-wheel drive truck. Michael managed to arrange this and I braced myself for a death-defying trip across the mountain.

Just another Tanote Bay boulder

It came time to leave Sairee following our night dive, and I was sweating bullets. Our driver walked us to his truck, which I was relieved to see was a jacked up 4×4, just like the ones back home. (Oh, sweet West Virginia hills! Where there is no danger of plunging into the Gulf of Thailand!) This truck would navigate the sandy mountain rocks, no problem, I thought. What I hadn’t accounted for, was the speed with which the driver would attempt to doso!

Holding on for dear life, we blew past the traffic of the town and hurtled into the mountainside. I gripped the rails so hard I thought they would rip right off. Fortunately the road became more difficult for this driver and he was forced to slow down. We crept up the steep part, he gave it some gas to get over a rock, and didn’t quite make it. We rocked back, he spun the tires again, and again were unsuccessful. The driver did nothing for what seemed like the longest time, before he gathered up the courage to try it again. Over the rocks we leapt! Across the bend in the road, and down the boulder field. The boulders looked much smaller from the relative safety of the truck bed. Michael told me the driver had been changing the truck into four-wheel drive during the time I thought he was praying. Why not have it in four-wheel drive before this time, driver?!

Albeit no easy feat to get there, Tanote Bay was quite a spectacle. Isolated and remote, this was just what we’d been trying to find. Finally! We could catch up on our journaling, do some reading for pleasure, and enjoy delicious island fruits in the shade. We checked into a bungalow on the hillside, and guess who was waiting for us when we got there?

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5 Responses to TaNNNOOOO!!te Bay

  1. Momma Lou says:

    Your mother (in-law to be) is feeling throw-up nervous over this last post. I am a visual person and it was not good!!!! B, if you just sit down, stop talking and refuse to go, he won’t go alone. Michael…be safe…please…for me..

    • Brooke says:

      Michael will probably reassure you it wasn’t scary at all, and possibly that I’m adding a little spice, as we’ve been known to do. 😉 But no, this was really terrifying. Worse than the food on Laos Airlines!

  2. Margaret Polk says:

    Hi, there! I am glad you two got to experience this isolated and beautiful bay. BUT…Oh my gosh, what a frightening trip! Getting to Tanote Bay sounded so dangerous!! The return trip was no better by this old lady’s standard. However, I did not get to see the actual beauty of the bay, feel the ocean breeze or feel the ocean’s water upon my flesh. I am sure the good memories will erase the bad and to hear you recount the overland story will be something to hear! Safe traleld, Brooke &Mike 🙂

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