Thaisland hopping

I tried to make a panorama, but the experiment failed miserably

Last stop on the snorkelling tour was Koh Nang Yuan, a dinky island that I've wanted to visit since I first saw it on the approach to Koh Tao. It's private land, which means a small entry fee, a fascistic approach to littering (which should be implemented globally) and no worries about pesky health and safety concerns when designing perilous tourist trails.

You'd better appreciate these photos - my respiratory system was already knackered even before the climb, thanks to breathing through a plastic tube for most of the afternoon. Maybe that's why this pair of grassy mounds, connected by a strip of beach, reminded me of a pair of lungs? On a normal day, my thoughts would probably have been elsewhere (though still in roughly the same anatomical region).

Face-first in the sea

When I mentioned that I was thinking of taking a snorkelling trip in yesterday's blog, I bet none of you expected me to follow through on that. Mainly because no one actually reads this, but also because I often fail to live up to these vague promises.

Well in your face, nay-saying non-existents! I did it just to spite you. And to make things worse, it was ace.

Turtle power

Turtle Island, Thailand

There are more than 80 islands in the Gulf of Thailand, and I had to visit at least one on my pointless pilgrimage. With some being too small or undeveloped to visit, and others like Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan being too much in the other direction (unlike Michelangelo, I'm no party dude), the lean, green Koh Tao was the obvious choice.

The fact that its name translates as 'Turtle Island' sealed the deal, as I've clearly never grown out of the fixation I developed for the amphibians at an early age, since being corrupted by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.