KOH TAO: The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful

[@Constellasian]

The crime involving the Westerners was terrible indeed. The way the case was handled didn't help Thailand's overall image either. It's unfortunate that the Western couple had that happen to them, but many of the Thai locals, including Thai lawyers, also pressured the Thai government about the handling of the case as well. Bad characters exist everywhere. Similar crimes happen in places like Belize, Bahamas, and Hawaii. Koh Tao didn't deserve the sensationalized bad press it received. It's a safe place overall. Foreigners just need to be aware and careful, but not fearful. Don't put yourself at extra risk by getting shit-faced drunk. Don't wander around into desolate places at night. Basically, don't forget common sense; especially in places where you're a foreigner.

[@alrightanton]

Yup totally agree with this. Bad things happen everywhere unfortunately. You need to be careful and avoid doing stupid reckless things. You might be lucky once, twice, but for the twentieth time something can happen. Koh Tao overall was just lovely. The people there were nice and kind. It’s really beautiful and there’s a lot to explore. Would be a shame to miss it just because of those stories.

[@Lhamshing]

As a Thai, I think he is definitely not a local. He might be a Burmese worker who came to work in construction on Koh Tao.

[@kevinf-b5065]

Good advice re the trigger fish. They are nasty especially in the breeding season in March-April. The "murder" by Burmese is complete BS. The guilty person was a son of a local Mafia boss, therefore was not prosecuted.

[@alrightanton]

Oh really? Damn, yeah the sotry on the whole did sound pretty dodgy, though I didn't dig really deep to investigate what happened. I had some guy commenting this video who said that acutally there has been a series of murders there, quite bizzare!

[@leebryantravels]

Yeah crazy how people just believe things and speak about it like it's a one off, the culprits were found and jailed and now the island is safe........

[@alrightanton]

Well you have to be watchful anywhere, be careful and watch your belongings. But I can’t say that I felt in danger there. It was rather laid back and chill

[@Joe-mz6dc]

@@leebryantravels There have been MANY murders on that island. The people who run that island are sketchy as fuck.

[@mattinterweb]

I went there in 2003. It was paradise. I stayed at two beaches that at the tie were called Sunset and Moondance. Perhaps renamed now as I can't find them online. Curious whether it's now Been developed and is Tanote Bay. Basically if you are standing on chalok ban kao beach and facing out to see you would turn right and walk around the headland and there it was. Is this Tanote bay, or perhaps its still a secret - but I doubt it!

[@StephAndBurim]

Great video, super informative and we are so happy you went diving and overcame your panic. Steph had a hard time learning too (she was also very young) and now after 20 years and hundreds of dives she still loves it! In fact, she is going to be in Ko Tao in November :)

[@alrightanton]

Oh I'm envious! I really liked Koh Tao, it's compact but has plenty of things to do, and well the diving schools there are pretty decent. I had a great experience there!

[@TekendraThakuri-u1p]

loved your video. really informative and explained detailly. I am going Koh Tao next month for scuba diving license. really excited ! Thank you

[@alrightanton]

Have a great time there! It’s a lovely island with some really cool diving spots! Good luck with seeing the whale sharks!🎉

[@sandeep78858]

If we don't know how to ride a scooter, is it possible to get around on bicycles?

[@alrightanton]

It is doable… The island is not very big so it’s manageable to get around by bicycle. It’s just you’ll need to be ready for a sweaty ride. It gets quite hilly especially when you get out of the main settlements.

[@SteveJones-gz4vd]

In my younger years I stayed on Koh Tao for 9 months in 1994/5 I have photo of myself sitting on the main beach and being the only person on the whole beach, it has changed so soo much, not even a road when I was there and only a few places to stay

[@alrightanton]

That must’ve felt like a different world back then… It’s growing and expanding now. What keeps me fairly optimistic is that mass tourism doesn’t like difficult destinations, if there is no direct airport landing strip then there still a chance that a place will keep at least a part of its natural charm.

[@kikiandjasmine]

Nobody can deny the beauty of Koh Tao. However, please be cognisant that this island is controlled by the Thai mafia. Lots of people have had mysterious deaths here, the latest victim being a 32 year old British teacher. Be respectful of Thai culture, and please respect the Thai people. Saving face is very real in Thailand.

[@alrightanton]

Yeah I think being respectful is a general rule wherever you travel. I never really felt threatened there but probably again because I was careful and didn’t do anything stupid.

[@itcantbetrueable]

Great informative review with excellent drone shots. Liked the way the development appears to be low key and low rise. I think I would love this island. Unfortunately if this was Vietnam they would bulldoze the foreshore of the best beach and build high rise 5 star hotels, add a cable car somewhere and build a cringe fake European theme town mega resort.

[@alrightanton]

Hahaha yeah Vietnam does that. They have a bit of a strange look on the nature and how it should be preserved.

[@Bumpy_Ears]

#1 Tip: Don't get lost in the jungle like I did 🤦‍♂️

[@alrightanton]

How??? How did you get lost???

[@Bumpy_Ears]

i was trying to find the abandoned hotel LOL@@alrightanton

[@alrightanton]

Haha well yeah that sounded like a great plan😂 To be fair I was curious to find that old prison, but couldn't really see it anywhere...

[@PEDROGAITASCNFANS]

Many people die in this island...please dont goo there..police corruption.

[@alrightanton]

I’d say that it didn’t feel more “dangerous” than any other place in Thailand. A rule of thumb is that you have to be careful and vigilant when you’re on holidays. Tourist areas attract all sorts of people unfortunately. I was on my own in Koh Tao and stayed for about a week and the place felt super safe for me. I guess if I’d been getting drunk all the time and harassing locals I’d probably would’ve got into trouble but I think this would happen anywhere really, not just in Koh Tao… The island is lovely and it would be a shame to miss it because of all this bad rep

[@juliesmith1704]

Where is the best Muay Thai gym in Koh Tau?

[@alrightanton]

Oh no idea, I didn’t do any Muay Thai training there😬 But I suppose locals will guide you. At least the hostel I stayed in was very helpful

[@kevinf-b5065]

For Mango Bay use a water taxi; easy!

[@alrightanton]

Ah yeah, I should've taken that option, we were actually planning to do that, but then the sea wouldn't let us do that

[@lavender3171]

Thank you for sharing,Koh Tao is really beautiful,I will visit soon ❤

[@alrightanton]

You’re most welcome, I’m sure you’re gonna have a great time there!

[@AlmaNewman-s8k]

Bailey Spurs

[@TheTomsolo]

My favorite island .

[@alrightanton]

It is awesome indeed🤩

[@G13RS]

Koh Tao is partially controlled by the Tuwichian family. My thai friends advise not to visit as even themselves they don't like to go there. However i did visit for 4 days but kept to myself late in the night. One hotel owner told me that the whole road next to the strip is owned by the same person who lives on the top of the hill and they all pay rent to them. Every video about Koh Tao must bring up the 30+ deaths on this island as it is not a joke recommending a place to someone that could cost their life especially naive tourists who have no idea and just want to have a good time in Thailand. A simple google search will reveal tons of info

[@alrightanton]

Yeah I’ve seen comments about that before. Well again I can only speak from my experience, to me the island felt extremely safe. With all these travel places I would be more concerned about drunkards being completely out of their control after a boozy night. Koh Tao is not really a party island and feels more like for sporty/family people. I didn’t sense any threat there. As usual you shouldn’t be doing anything stupid but that’s the same rule everywhere. You piss off locals and they’ll come after you.

[@G13RS]

@@alrightanton What makes you think that the people that vanished were just drunkards? That sounds very ignorant. Even if that is the case does a drunkard tourist deserve to die or become food for the animals in the jungle like some of the victims? If you were a girl and a thai man made advances and you just were not interested would that mean "piss off locals" and deserve to die? What is happening here is surely something more sinister than that.

[@alrightanton]

No that’s not what I was saying. I mean I would be more concerned of drunkards approaching me and try to get something from me. People getting wasted and deliberately trying to get into trouble with other foreigners on their holidays. To me that’s a bigger threat really. Obviously nobody deserves to die but genuinely this whole “Koh Tao Death Island” drama seems to be massively exaggerated. I spent a week there doing my license and exploring the island, and doing all that on my own and never seen any thing that could be considered as a “threat”.

[@sebastiancarr7195]

very nice presentation

[@alrightanton]

Thanks!☺️ Yeah I tried to cover most of it to give a very clear overview of the island. Shame that I couldn’t film my scuba diving experience, this is something for me to do next time😅☺️

[@sbmillward]

Thank you for the review. Very informative 🙂

[@alrightanton]

Thank you for the feedback! I tried my best to keep it light and interesting and avoid overloading it with the information😅

[@sherbetthin]

Beautiful shots as always!!! After watching this, I am adding Koh Tao to my list! Would love to visit there one day! 😊

[@alrightanton]

You really should!🤩 It’s very relaxing and has got so much to do even if you don’t do scuba☺️

[@Lhamshing]

Did you know that this is an island that was used to imprison political prisoners before becoming a tourist attraction?Next time if you guys have a chance to come here, please exchange connections with me. I am Thai and ready to make new friends and serve my fellow tourists. It is good and safe to have a kind Thai like me to serve you. 😁😁😁

[@alrightanton]

Yeah yeah I’ve read that story pretty wild. Apparently it was a hell ok earth some time ago. A horrible prison island with a high mortality rate. And now look at this, so nice peaceful…

[@alyonaglushkova5377]

Дякую!!! Неймовірно! Здається, що вже не може бути краще🤩 А кожного разу- це відкриття нового куточка чарівного світу. Особливо приємно- твоїми очима🤩🤩🤩 Супер!!! 🥰🥰🥰

[@alrightanton]

Дякую матуся😍 Я дуже критично відношуся до своєї роботи то ось у кожному відео бачу щось таке що можно було би покращити и зробити ще ліпше. Так що майбутні відео будуть ще краще😍

[@alyonaglushkova5377]

@@alrightanton Перфекціонізм🤩 Але він також допомагає рухатися вперед 👍 Саме тому, твої відео стають все кращими!!! 🥰🥰🥰🙏🥰🥰🥰

[@alrightanton]

@@alyonaglushkova5377 так. Я вважаю що крапля перфекціонізму ніколи не завадить. Звісно не будити фанатиком цього, насправді в цьому відео я багато речей трошечки зроби легшими для себе, що допомогло пришвидшити процес. Наприклад вибір музики у я зараз роблю значно швидше. В минулому це займало в мене тижні. Зараз я роблю це трошечки швидше бо ну не варто воно так багато часу витрачати на це

[@anastasiiaglushkova4627]

What a marvellous video!! I especially love the underwater shots, simply amazing 🤩

[@alrightanton]

Thanks! Ah yeah, the underwater shots, I was happy to finally be able to record those pesky little sharks and turltes. So beautiful!

[@philcallil8517]

Excellent, heading there later this week.

[@alrightanton]

Lovely! Enjoy it there and make sure you do both snorkeling and diving! They are both worth time and money!

[@dem0_o14]

Murder island, go at your own risk!

[@alrightanton]

Haha yeah I’ve heard those stories. I think if you’re careful and respectful you should be all good. I stayed there for almost a week and was totally fine

[@moreiradd]

How about the weather in June?

[@alrightanton]

I’ve never been there in June, I heard it can be a little bit more rainy than in February but at the same time it’s still not the rainy season. So still should be good enough to go

[@moreiradd]

@@alrightanton I thought June was already rainy season

[@alrightanton]

I checked here, apparently their real rain season is in October/November... www.sunheron.com/asia/thailand/southeast-thailand/koh-tao-weather-climate/#:~:text=Koh%20Tao%20(Thailand)%20is%20a,94%20%C2%B0F)%20in%20April. Well, it's also important to note that those are tropics, it can rainy any time really. Just in some seasons it rains more and in some less...

[@Shithappenswhenu]

Thanks for this video, I have to go do diving course there, but I had never heard of it before! This video was very helpful and informative! 🤙

[@alrightanton]

Oh I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy it there! Lovely place! I did my dive course with Rocktopus there. Those guys were mega professional and the staff atmosphere was extraordinary.