Koh Tao is... Death Island!

[FettSolo]

Thai Paradise Gains Reputation as ‘Death Island’

I worked on Koh Tao for a couple months in 2012 and enjoyed my time there, but even then its reputation was mixed.

 

[Kharon]

And people bitch about the pilfering on Bonaire. Koh Tao - one more place I have absolutely no interest in visiting.

 

[kelemvor]

And people bitch about the pilfering on Bonaire. Koh Tao - one more place I have absolutely no interest in visiting.

I was thinking exactly the same thing... Not that I'm "a pretty girl enticing people to rape me with a bikini" or whatever bunk that official spewed.

 

[The Chairman]

Wow... the “I’m asking, if they wear bikinis in Thailand, will they be safe? Only if they are not beautiful.” quote tells it all.

 

[Trailboss123]

So sad what has become of it. I was there in the 80's before it was truly discovered. It was gorgeous.

 

[drbill]

Sad. I as there in 2001 and had a good time (but rental gear at the shop I dove with could kill you)

 

[divinh]

I was just there in September. It was where I got my OW and AOW, starting some nine years ago. The September visit was after a 4 or 5 year gap.

The thing about the island is that no matter what time of year you visit, it's like it's frozen in time, in the sense that the weather is about the same, the crowd is about the same, and the general "vibe" is about the same. Before arriving, I contact the dive shop for pickup from the pier to the associated hostel. On every one of my visits, five now, it's the same person confirming, the same pickup driver, the same person running the restaurant/bar, etc. On the September visit, the driver recognized me and asked how's it been over the last year /since/ I visited. I told him it's been 4/5 years!

The biggest changes I noticed are: one story buildings becoming two, more shops, more pharmacies and clinics (probably to service all the scooter accidents that have always been happening!), a new road connecting east and west sides of the island, and more families instead of just backpackers.

The dive sites are about the same in quality, though one site was definitely damaged by coral bleaching (lots of algae). Whale Sharks still pass by.

 

[Blasto]

Koh Tao is getting overpopulated. And it's getting much murkier than it used to be a decade ago.

But "death island"? There's a reason it's tabloids, not actual journalists, calling it that.

Thailand as a whole - as well as all of the developing world, and less than most of it - is a much higher-crime country than Singapore, pre-refugee EU, Luxembourg, or whatever you hold as reference. Organized crime was responsible for killing the head of the most influential non-crime family on Tao a decade ago.

That said, Tao is not much better or worse than the rest of Thailand, and probably on the better side. And Thailand is one of the most tourist-safe places in SEA.

The truth of life is you take on extra risk every time you leave your house. No way around it. Out of Koh Tao's now 200,000 population, 180,000 rotate monthly. That's a lot of people coming through, and things happen to first-comers much more than to permanents, especially in a party-heavy place that Tao's become in the last decade. Happen everywhere, and I've seen a lot more (lesser) crime from tourists than from locals. But at least as far as diving goes, it might be one of the safest places short of a pool.

 

[kelemvor]

But "death island"? There's a reason it's tabloids, not actual journalists, calling it that.

The article calling it Death Island isn't on the national enquirer, it's on the new york times. It's written by a journalist named Richard C. Paddock. He's been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Independent, National Geographic and some others. This is a mainstream news business, not a tabloid. And if there is such a thing as a journalist, that guy seems to meet my understanding of the title.

That said, I agree that most mainstream news businesses have been exposed to be less than trustworthy. In this day and age being a journalist isn't exactly something a person should tell their mother about. Are you saying that the information presented in the article is false/fake news?

Edit: Co-authored by Muktita Suhartono who has been published in The New York Times,The Independent, O Globo, Sydney Morning Herald, The Boston Globe, Seattle Times, Star Tribune and more. This person seems slightly less published than Richard Paddock, but still a "journalist."

 

[Blasto]

The article calling it Death Island isn't on the national enquirer, it's on the new york times. It's written by a journalist named Richard C. Paddock. He's been published in ...

Edit: Co-authored by Muktita Suhartono who has been published in ...

And the direct quote from the article is as follows:

"British tabloids began calling it Death Island."

As for the facts presented, I've addressed that above. Koh Tao is one of the safest places for a dive vacation, but its safety won't compare to staying home watching TV exercising and eating white fish.