Yes, I have been to this little paradise again… 
My parents (dad and step-mum) came down to celebrate my 30th birthday with me. They’d asked me to find them a place like Koh Tao used to be 20 years ago, so Koh Talu it was. To be able to spend some uninterrupted time together my wife and me spent 2 days with them on Koh Talu, and I must say I was really happy to have spend those days with them.
Unfortunately this time my visit has been less satisfactory than my first visit.
Here I got to make a cut and say something I have realized about Germans (as my parents and I are…) in general: German people are usually very polite when being abroad… but dare anything being “wrong” that should be “right”… man… Germans can talk about a dirty towel for weeks! At “home” we are even “worse”, for living in one of the most advanced nations in the world, we manage to sound like starving Africans quite a lot… A German comedian said it quite well a couple of years ago: “We are only satisfied when we’ve got something to complain about” and another quote from a german musician: ” I am thankful for having the luxury to complain”. I only bring this up because since I live in Thailand I have adapted pretty much to the “mai pen rai” attitude of the Thais, and there is hardly anything that can throw me off. It sometimes amused me how my parents could talk (complain) about things I hardly even notice for such a long time.
So, now I got to do my German “thang” and let “yall” know why I didn’t have such a great time on Koh Talu as I did the first time.
1. Unmotivated staff & non-existent customer care
If I would have to give stars for the staff: last time 4 stars, this time no star. Really, if the nice old guy wouldn’t still be there trying to keep the show running with the little resouces he has, it would have been a disaster. The last time we were there, the staff were VERY friendly and always trying to make “your” stay as nice as possible. I really felt welcome. This time is was almost the opposite. Apart from the old guy who really tries to take care of the customers, there was no one willing to deal with the guests. We have had a guy simply turning his back to us, when we were asking a question. Ok, I understand by now that this person can’t speak any English and simply didn’t want to loose his face, and therefor just ran off, but for someone like “my parents” this is simply RUDE! Then a little stab in the back was the “welcome” mats that were placed in front of the doors of Thais arriving, while those were nowhere to be found in front of the doorstep of foreign guests.
2. Food shortage
For an all inclusive deal it is unthinkable that someone would not have enough to eat. This is absolutely outrageous in my point of view. My parents spent 4 days and 3 nights on the island, my wife and me were only there during their 2nd night. They told us about the nice food you get but that there is not enough, and that the people would circle the buffet like vultures waiting for the food trays to be dropped. I thought they were over exaggerating, but it turned out to be true.
3. Dirty beach
For advertising a “eco tour” the beaches look like a waste dump. Trash all over the beach, and no one there to clean it.
4. Deadly activities
Last visit I took a little kayak trip with my wife. As I mentioned before it is FREE, so we went to the beach and the guy there gave us some life vests and paddles and prepped a kayak for us, it was great. Now this time… no staff at all on the beach, no life vests either, we graped a kayak and took of ourselves. My dad and me got about 100 meters away from the beach when the kayak started sinking, once we rescued this…titanic we found out there was a big crack in the bottom of it, it really was a titanic. A little later we saw a guy going out with 2 kids at the age of maybe 4-5 (all without life vests) on another kayak… I was just wondering how this would have ended if they would have chosen ours.
Well… there also was the waste dump which evidently produces swarms of flies on a regular basis, an amazing music selection of 5 CDs at the(only) beach bar, and what else… to put it all together I must say, this trip was not as nice I had imagined it to be. Still, I enjoyed Koh Talu, and if the trip would have cost half the price, I would not even consider to complain about anything. I was VERY happy to see my dad and my step-mum and to be on Koh Talu once again.
I hope the owner of Koh Talu gets to read this, then kicks his staff’s butt and hires some extra staff that speaks English!
And if he does read it, here’s an idea: how about a little “Spa & Massage” area? Would be nice, both for the visitors and the cash register 
