A Tricky Paradise: Koh Tao

   Sawadee Kap! Here we are in the island called Koh Tao in the middle of the gulf of Thailand just above the famous islands Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. We needed a little brake for cycling after ten days of riding and we took a boat from Chumpon to here. The reason we ended up here is that we thought the other islands would be too crowded by the backpackers and party freaks and also high end tourist resorts so this one would be more calm and less expensive. But at the end we realize that it is just another island turning into a huge holiday resort.
  The tourism industry on the island is based on diving here and almost all the coastline is divided by the resorts fencing the shores with their concrete walls. The most thought-provoking thing for us is that none of these tourists seems to care the preservation of this natural beauty. So Culu did this welcoming sign for the ones who concerns.

   There were thousands of cigarette butts on the beach and it was just so easy to write this sign by collecting them in a few minutes. That saved the beach of the resort where were staying for a day but the next day it will be sadly just the same. Humans are humans wherever they are.

  So we just rented this bungalow looking at the Ban Chalok bay at the south end of the island with Umut and Culu and didn't move too much all the week. They had a relaxed week by editing the road videos, writing and managing the posts. And i just slept long hours during the crazy hot days outside. The resort was looking very fancy but their internet connection is something that all the guests staying their were making fun of it. Very poor in hospitality and all they wanted is to find a way to charge you anything upon your request. It was free the electricity in the bungalow of course but if you plug your electronics anywhere in the resort they were asking you to pay for it.

   Sadly, instead of finding a more appropriate solution for these paths along the shore the owners of the resorts chooses quick developments around the island. By building these ugly concrete walking paths, walls and bricks. They are not just spoiling the beauty of the island at the same time damaging the natural habitat of many other creatures.

  Everyone is trying to take a piece of that cake. There you see again these bricks poorly placed on the rocks in order to build these bungalows competing each other to get the best sea view.

 This is Sairee Beach. The most populated side of the island on low tide couple of days before the full moon.

I am still keeping my shape well but poor Culu keeps loosing weight as you can see. 

   The coolest vibe we felt on the island is inside the artist village. There were nobody when we were visiting but we checked around anyway. They made sculptures and create tons of stuff by recycling plastic bottles, cans and whatever they find basically.

  On the way to Tanote Bay we sometimes had to push our bikes to reach the top of these steep hills. The weird traffic sign on the left proves how steep is that one though.

  This place's called the Campsite overlooking the east coast of the island. I think they were making parties and events back in the time somehow but at the time we were passing by it was just empty. Couple of tents were placed at some corners of the land. It was such a silent place. If you are searching for a place to camp for free in Koh Tao i don't think no one would say anything.  

  Finally at the top of the hill in the middle of the day. It was the craziest thing we did with the guys by climbing those ramps under 40 degrees celcius.

 Tanote Bay

  Totally different side of the island. The water is clearer at any time of the day where you wouldn't need a snorkel to spot fishes coming close to you while you're swimming. But the dogs there didn't leave me alone when i wanted to go in the water. After having a lunch to get the lost calories back Culu and Umut took a nap before we leave the bay. And that was the last day of ours on the island before we took of to Surat Thani. 

  At least we had a wonderful day with pride by seeing the coolest side of the island with a smile on our faces. Then we had a last beer with our great friend Linda in our last hours at the beach with the satisfaction of knowing another free soul living on this planet. Eventually, this is why we are traveling. Aren't we?

a tricky paradise from gizemaynagoz on Vimeo.

Road With Umut

 Hey guys. On this post we share the videos we couldn't upload during the road to south Thailand. Here is the road we did with Umut for ten days to reach Chumpon on our way to Koh Tao island. We will be posting the island episode soon. For now, have a great day wherever you are.

a journey with hope from uluc ali kilic on Vimeo.

a journey with hope part2 from gizemaynagoz on Vimeo.

a journey with hope3 from gizemaynagoz on Vimeo.

The Journey of Hope

  Hey there. Back again with a powerful post this time. We have been pedaling with Culu's old friend Umut since 10 days and finally arrived to our recent destination. We didn't have internet connection on the road and we camped during the road so now we are able to post our journey from our bungalow.
  "Umut" means hope in Turkish. That is why we decided to name our post "The Journey of Hope". In fact, this travel is all about hope. This was never just a bicycle trip for us. It is more like a quest for a suitable place for us to realize our dreams. Like Culu's always mentioning, it is more a mental endurance than a physical strength. If you keep the hope alive  in you, you can always achieve your goals. So keep the positive vibe alive in you guys and never loose hope.

  We keep on going from where we stopped. If you guys remember we were staying with our great friend Olivier, Nood and Ari at their beach resort close to Hua Hin. We promised to upload the videos later and so we are. After leaving these wonderful people back we spent ten days on the road with a lot of wild camping before arriving to Chumpon where we took the boat to the island Koh Tao. So, this post is about these crazy ten days we did with Umut.

   At the beach of Kuiburi where we enjoy the evening with our Australian mate Jules. We watched the kiteboarders. There will be a championship on the 7th and 8th march 2015.

 Our second camp

 Climbing to Phraya Si Nakhon Cave

 One of the holiest place i've ever been is this cave.

 This cave has been formed by limestone in thousands of years. And used by buddhist monks for ages. There was a shrine in the middle of it. The acoustic inside the cave is same as a cathedral hall.

  You wouldn't believe how meditative is to be inside this huge worship hall.

And the outside was even more heavenly beautiful.

  It is about a ten minutes hike to reach the beach from the gate where we parked our bikes. And thankfully the ladies at the gate allow me to enter the national park with Culu and Umut. Usually they don't let the dogs to go in but when Culu left me next to his bike i have barked a few times there and somehow the attendant wouldn't take the risk of me making noise right next to them until Culu and Umut comes back from their visit to the cave. It was a clever move from me which saved our day to enjoy everything all together.

  You can also reach there by boat if you don't want to climb the hill but you would pay the 200 bahts fee in any case.

   Passing through the great mountains around Prachuap Khiri Khan.

   We have been seeing dead snakes since the beginning of the trip but this one was just dropped from the tree and it's deadly poisonous according to the guy who came to check it out with us.

   Another camp we had with a few dog fellas around. There even was a little scorpion in our tent that Culu somehow noticed it before he took care of us.

   We were seeing these temples along the way at top of the hills looking wisely to the horizon. Culu and Umut didn't miss the chance to climb one of those and visited it. The chinese wall paintings inside were just amazing. It wasn't an old temple staying there for years guys. It's been build in the passed 20 years i guess.

   The large veranda of the temple allows us to look back and check from how far we were coming that day.

   We were starting the days very early to be able to advance more during the day. When the weather becomes unbearable around the noon, they were stopping by the sea to have a quick drop in to water then we went back to road. But from that day we started having long lunch breaks and rest until two pm to be back on the road again. It is senseless to pedal at 40 celcius in the middle of the day. First of all it isn't to funny and the second is you loose more energy and risk yourself getting a sun stroke.

   Look at how serious Culu is on that photo. Don't think that he usually is like that. You would noticed that on the videos.

   We got lucky almost all the way but this was an exceptional place though. We were trying to decide our camping spot late in the evening and Culu asked the lady back in that house. She told us to stay in front of this house with a great view of the beach and the sea. This was the day we lost Umut on the way but then we found him back waiting for us at the side of the road. It was our last camp in these ten days until Chumpon.

   It was around the midday we saw Umut stopped to say something to us. Culu had his earphones and listening music. Then we heard the tunes of an electric guitar coming from the banana plantation. We checked and suddenly found ourselves eating with our new friends delicious rice soup, fresh shrimps out of the sea, great homemade coconut vodka and many more stuff. They fed us like hell and shared everything they have as well as their true friendship. We took the midday break there and left those guys back to reach our final destination that day. They took my pictures and videos while singing with Culu. We can never forget that lunch break. That was a true Thai hospitality.

 Here we are finally at the pier in Chumpon while waiting our ferry to Koh Tao. We met Den there. A french diver who lives on the island. Thanx to him we had our first knowledge about the island from him.

  We are sorry to inform you about that we can not upload the videos we have done about the road for instance. The connection on the island doesn't allow us to upload them to this post. We will be posting them as soon as we find a better connection. So bye bye now and keep it real!