What do I need to know about Koh Tao besides the diving?

[FettSolo]

Hey folks,

I am going to be arriving in Koh Tao at the end of the month and just have a few questions:

1) What is long-term accommodation like? I know I should just show up there and look around, but if anyone has any details about places, rates etc...

2) How realistic is it to walk places? For reference, I am a long-distance runner, so I have a relatively high tolerance for how far I'm willing to walk to places.

3) What is the deal with keeping my belongings safe? My dive gear will mostly be with me during the day, obviously, but I also will have a Macbook Pro and a Canon DSLR. Are there safes at most accommodations, or is that not even an issue?

4) Any suggestions for what I should pack? My dive gear, bathing suits, sunscreen... that is clear. I am looking for the not as obvious things, that I would not necessarily think of.

5) Anything else I should know about the place?

Thanks for your help, everybody.

[supergaijin]

1. Define long-term. An apartment/detached room works out cheaper in the long run. Depends on how much luxury you expect ie. hot water, tolerance to wildlife etc. One can normally negotiate a rate at resorts- depending on season, who you manage to talk to, your attitude in negotiating and length of stay.

2. Getting from one side of the island to the other can be done on foot but it's pretty steep and you have to take incredible care from stoned/drunk tourists on scooters and thai guys with pickups and bull-bars.

3. Things do get stolen from time to time. Good idea to insure the valuables.

4. Half the clothes, twice the money. Copies/scans of all documents.

5. IMO, Thailand is the land of smile masks. Once settled it's usually really nice, but if you manage to actually get to Koh Tao without having to pay twice for a ticket or some other scam, you're ahead of the pack.

[Quero]

Depending on your dive gear, you might want to bring along replacement parts. Lots of Americans show up here with brands that are not easily serviced locally, e.g., Oceanic, Sherwood, Tusa, Aeris, Zeagle, Atomic, Hollis, etc. While a good tech may be able to do a rebuild on a reg set, getting a service kit may not be so simple. Even something non-technical like replacing a cracked battery cover on an Oceanic computer can be complicated.

[DevonDiver]

1) What is long-term accommodation like? I know I should just show up there and look around, but if anyone has any details about places, rates etc...

There's a bunch of decent long-term accommodation on Koh Tao - but finding it tends to rely on 'word-of-mouth'. It's typical to arrive and seek economy (pay-per-week) accommodation for the short-term, whilst networking to find more efficient long-term options.

On arrival, you might want to look at the rooms available in Mae Haad (where the pier is), as these are cheaper than the resorts in beach locations. The top of Mae Haad hill (the two roads that run up there) is a good place to start. Most of the long-termers stay in cottages that are set-back, away from the beaches in the hills.

The prices are much better further from the beaches - but you might want to budget for a scooter for transport. There's usually plenty of scooters being sold cheap (renting long-term is expensive)... again, networking to find those... there's always someone leaving who needs to sell-up (same for furniture etc). You'll also want some transport for going shopping - the better supermarkets (not tourist prices) aren't located near the beach areas. Same is true for monsoon season - you won't want to walk anywhere far during the heavy rains. Also, if working as a freelancer (common when you first get there), you'll need to transport yourself, and all your dive gear, at short-notice to different dive centers - a scooter can be critical for that.



Here's my old house - affordable to a 'regular' instructor or working-couple. Located about 2km back from the beach. 1 bedroom, kitchen, lounge, reception, furnished with cable tv.



2) How realistic is it to walk places? For reference, I am a long-distance runner, so I have a relatively high tolerance for how far I'm willing to walk to places.

It's easy to walk between Sairee and Mae Haad. The other bays/locations aren't accessible on foot on a day-to-day basis.

3) What is the deal with keeping my belongings safe? My dive gear will mostly be with me during the day, obviously, but I also will have a Macbook Pro and a Canon DSLR. Are there safes at most accommodations, or is that not even an issue?

There were spates of 'break-ins' when I was there. I used to take my laptop into work with me each day - it was safer locked/supervised in the dive center, than left at home, when I was out diving. I never heard of a house having a safe, although that wouldn't be a bad idea, if you could arrange it.

4) Any suggestions for what I should pack? My dive gear, bathing suits, sunscreen... that is clear. I am looking for the not as obvious things, that I would not necessarily think of.

Clothes, holiday 'stuff' (sunscreen etc) dive equipment are readily available on Koh Tao. Same for music, DVDs and other entertainment stuff. Luxury/expensive items are rare - take those with you (or buy them in Bangkok on the way).

Check that your scuba equipment can be serviced there - I went with Poseidon regs for my tech kit and ended up selling them, as spares weren't readily available.

Consider taking a 'spare' credit card, or something like a Travelex card. Many of the banks will occasionally flag up a 'warning' about suspicious spending because you are in Asia long-term. I've had a bunch of credit cards blocked/frozen for no good reason - and that can cause some significant money issues. I got a 'Travelex - Cash Passport' because it won't get cancelled and I can transfer money to it via online banking - which means I always have access to my money, even if my credit card gets frozen.

Scan all your important documents and email them to yourself - that way you can retrieve/print them anytime you like, at any internet cafe.

Same for all your important phone numbers; friends, family, embassy, local consulate, DAN, bank, credit card etc. Put them all in an email and send them to yourself, so that they are instantly accessible in an emergency.

On arrival, investigate all the critical local points-of-contact - your embassy/consulate, 24hr medical/accident clinics, recompression chamber, police etc. These are typically hard to find at short notice, via word-of-mouth etc. Put them on your phone (local sim card) and stored via email. I was amazed at how many 'resident' divers didn't have immediate knowledge of this stuff... and then panicked at 2am when they saw someone crash a scooter etc.

5) Anything else I should know about the place?

If you're not prudent with your funds, you'll go home a lot sooner than you plan for.

[LaMissJude]

A good mosquito repelent (dengue occurs from time to time). Mosiguard is an efficient one, without DEET. It was available in Malaysia, I think it should be available at least in Bangkok, as I can not remember if I found some in Koh Tao or not...
Maybe a little "pharmacie" as even if doctors are available and medecine not to expensive (depending on your budget), not everything is there.
Spare parts for diving equipement, as Quero said, might be a good idea too.

About what I remember for accomodations, around the 4000 baht per month (I think) was for something descent (not hot shower though, no kitchen but a fridge and a sink). Maybe it went up since, that was in 2010.
For 2-3$ you can have a REALLY good meal.

Depending where you live, it can be quite close to everything, or not, with pretty steep roads sometimes. If you end up renting a scooter, take the least nice looking one, or you might be charged for a little mark on it, and as the road are not the best, it easy to have little rock leaving marks on the scooter. Also, steep roads, a 50cc with no gear... Be carefull to not end up with a "thai tatoo" :-)
You can also buy one and sell it when you decide to leave, if you stay long enough.

I remember that some dive center were offering accomodation for the duration of a course.

The diving is a real industry over there, it can be crowed.

Usually nice people, nice bars (Chang-over is pretty bad though), you can also find your way if you're not, onto "Full Moon Party" and all that sort of things, nice food.
Stealing appears as well, take the usual precautions.

And last thing, if a taxi/mini-bus driver ask for your ticket, show it to him, but don't give it to him.
=> we left from a backpacker from Phuket, took a minibus to the bus station, then a bus until the ferry for crossing to Koh Tao. The minibus driver asked for our tickets. Took it, and ran away with it as soon as he dropped us off at the bus station. As everything was on the same paper, we had to pay for it twice, and met a few people on the way to whom the same thing happened... Usually tourists that just arrived, so that are not aware of that sort of things :-)

Otherwise, have fun!

[FettSolo]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all this input! It definitely helps. What about-

1) Cell phones? Is there service on the island, and how cheap/easy is it to get a phone for an extended period? Let's say three months, roughly.
2) Internet service? I assume there is wi-fi in a number of bars, etc.
3) Coming from the US, do I need any special voltage adapters when it comes to charging my computer, etc.?

[Quero]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all this input! It definitely helps. What about-

1) Cell phones? Is there service on the island, and how cheap/easy is it to get a phone for an extended period? Let's say three months, roughly.
2) Internet service? I assume there is wi-fi in a number of bars, etc.
3) Coming from the US, do I need any special voltage adapters when it comes to charging my computer, etc.?

1) You can buy a pre-paid SIM card for a standard phone. If your US phone is "locked," you will need a different device. You can buy simple phones pretty cheaply, sometimes even used ones.
2) Yes, there is internet service.
3) No special adapters are needed. Sometimes the outlets have only space for two prongs (without the ground pin), so maybe a small adapter to convert a two-flat-plus-round-ground to the simpler two-flat prong style. Alternatively, you can just pick up a power strip with "universal" outlets in it when you arrive and plug all your stuff into that.

[ayeshacantrell]

Longterm (monthly) accommodation starts from as little as 4500B a month - this is a fan room and share bathroom and then it can go up to 15/18000B for a 2 bed house. You are best to get somewhere cheap for a few nights and wander to look for what suits you. I live here so you can get intouch with me and I can give you some pointers.

Wifi is widely available but the strength varies - if you want stronger more consistent internet then it might be an idea to invest in a USB dongle with Sim inside. These are available on Koh Tao (again I can point you in the right direction) but they are cheaper on the mainland / BKK.

If your phone is locked then it can be unlocked here and you can use a local prepaid sim. If you dont want to do this a cheap fone will set you back about 1000B - again these are about 800B mainland or BKK and you can buy a sim and credit at the 711.

Many centres and accommodation have safes and lockers - do as Devon Diver recommends.....

From what you have said - walking around the main areas is going to be fine for you - however if you are freelancing then you often have to be a centres quite quickly and with your gear - wherever that is .....

See you soon !
Ayesha

[Buadhai]

3) Coming from the US, do I need any special voltage adapters when it comes to charging my computer, etc.?

The current is 220 volt, 50 Hz. Most modern computer and phone chargers sold in the US can handle this, but you might want to check.

[OzGriffo]

I always advise people traveling to take a local power strip, that way you only need a single power adapter. Multi style sockets tend to wear out pretty quickly.