I can't believe that I'm here again.
When I left Koh Tao the last time, I made it a promise that I'd be back again and here I am, almost two years later to the day. The journey here was as complicated as I'd remembered: a bus straight from the airport in Bangkok to Hua Lamphong station. Hours spent in Hua Lamphong, buying novelty snacks from the 7/11 and laughing about the monk who had been gifted with a Dunkin Donuts.
This was followed by the famous sleeper train down to Chumphon. The last time I made this journey, the sleeper train resembled something from a 1940s film and we spent the journey drinking cans of Chang with American and Scandinavian tourists. This time round, the sleeper cabin was completely sold out and we were forced to endure an 8hour journey, sitting on highly uncomfortable recliner chairs with an arctic breeze billowing from the incessant air con. We sauntered, like zombies, onto the speedboat to take us to our final destination. The company had swapped 'Cliff Richard in concert' for a new (very new. Too new. Definitely counterfeit) Woody Allen film. Concentrating was made difficult by the waves that were englufing the speedboat every two seconds, inclining me to chant 'Hail Mary's over and over in my head.
And then that was it. Koh Tao.
A long time ago, when everyone was doing it, I read 'The Beach'. It is an excellent book and one that I would recommend to anyone who would label themselves a "backpacker". And to those who wouldn't. Koh Tao is mentioned in the book. Richard, the protagonist, is told that Koh Phangan is no longer the untouched paradise that all backpackers seek, and that Koh Tao, a small island just 45km away by boat, is the holy grail. 'The Beach' was written in 1996. When I made my first journey there in 2007, things were still relatively quiet. Yes, the beach was lined with bungalows and bars and restaurants, but Tao was practically deserted compared to its neighbours to the south, Phangan and Samui.
It's amazing what can happen in two years. Koh Tao is no longer a backpacking secret. That much became glaringly obvious as soon as I dumped my bags in my beach hut. I stayed in the exact same place that I had stayed in the last time...except that it was 300baht more expensive and there was now a giant, cement building where the little cafe used to be. The beach was littered with tourists (albeit still backpackers. Koh Tao certainly doesn't attract that many families...yet) and...well, litter.
Or maybe it's me that's changed. Maybe I'm seeing it with jaded eyes. Maybe the fact that I'm here with B rather than my friends is what has made the difference. I sat down for dinner tonight at a local restaurant overlooking the sea. (the food, of course, was unbelievable! No restaurant anywhere else in the world can replicate the flavours of a good Thai red curry) A man (older, maybe early thirties?) was sitting himself, snapping away at the landscape with an SLR. He gradually started to make conversation with B and I, and we invited him to join us. He had worked as a businessman all his life: earned his wage, bought nice things and repeat. And then one day he gave it all up and went travelling. He described his journey to me with all the enthusiasm I felt the first time I arrived in a place this foreign, and then it all came back.
I suppose that you can pretend you've done it all and seen it all, but backpacking is like a disease. It stays with you. It never goes away. Even when you're in reality.
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