Day 74 Shark Point

17/05/13
Yan, Melanie  lorraine and I decided to hire motorbikes and explore the island. Neither of the girls had ridden a motorbike before so rode pillion. The system of hiring a bike here is mad, there is a list of all the bike parts and the cost of replacing them if they get damaged. Nowhere else I have hired a bike has been this anal about renting. We first went to Hin Wang Bay, the roads there were treacherous  they were unbelievably steep, a couple of them were 45+ degrees and I needed to hit them with speed otherwise we would've stop halfway, as it was we crawled up some of them, probably doing the bike no good. When we got there we were the only ones there, it started to rain whilst we were there but as it was warm rain and we were swimming we hardly noticed. We had lunch back at Sairee Beach and left Melanie (who had a sore back) and headed to the Southeast corner and Shark Point. I didn't have a mask but Yan who did didn't see any. At the point we met 2 other English guys who were also staying at the hostel, just in a different dorm. Yan, I and these 2 lads all swam out to Shark Island, seemingly just a short distance away but it still took us half an hour. When there I think all of us cut our feet on the Barnacles etc whilst getting onto the rocks. Naturally we went to explore and found 2 huts perched on the cliffside. To get to them you had to do some sketchy climbing and cross massive crevices on wobbly bamboo bridges then climb equally dodgy bamboo ladders to reach them. The risks taken were totally worth it as the huts were incredible, so well built, I have a lot of respect for whoever built them. I not sure you could find a more secluded spot on/around Koh Tao. By the time we had swum back to the main island I was thoroughly worn out and glad to be on solid ground. We rode to the opposite corner of the island to a viewpoint. On the way back Loraine asked if she could ride the bike, so when I round a suitable flat bit of road (no easy task), I got off and handed her the keys and gave her a few instructions. 5 minutes past and I knew something was up so I went in the direction she had left. When turning the bike round she had over revved and driven the bike into a sign which she had to pay 500 baht (£11) to repair but thankfully she and the bike were fine. Back at the bike shop the owner noticed to small scratches (no longer than an inch). The price to replace the "damaged" parts was 4500 baht (£100). They obviously didn't need replacing, you could only see these scratches if you were physically looking for them. Loraine had to pay 3000 baht ($100) in the end and unsurprisingly she was extremely annoyed and angry at such a blatant ripoff. For dinner we went back to the pizza place and were joined by £ newbies to the dorm, Samantha, Dan and Katie all from England. Yan, Dan, Katie and I stayed at the restaurant 2 hours eating pizza then went to join the others on a pub crawl. As part of the crawl we went to a ladyboy show (men wearing dresses, with fake boobs, wigs and lots of makeup). I hope that it is an experience that I never have to repeat again!

(L to R) Yan, Melanie, Lorraine 

Shark Island from Koh Tao