Since Koh Samui was the only island with an airport, we took a boat north to the next island of Koh Phangan. This island is known to be more of a party island for tourists, with its world famous "Full Moon Parties" every month at Hat Rin beach. However, we weren't exposed to any of the craziness we had heard about four two reasons. One....we were ahead of the next full moon by about a week. Two....we stayed on a secluded beach on the opposite side of the island called Bottle Beach......and of all the amazing experiences we have had on the trip so far.....Emily and I both agree that this was one of our favorite spots and a highlight among highlights.
To get to bottle beach we all loaded up in the back of pick up trucks. We literally drove up and over the top of the island, going off road most of the way, driving on small dirt paths through the middle of the jungle, down slopes so steep they made us wonder if we could even come back the same way when it was time to leave. It was a white knuckle adventure in itself and felt like a theme park ride.
Bottle Beach is a very quiet little bay protected by palm tree covered hills on both sides. There are four small hotels, but only two seemed to really be operating. It has an awesome "cast away...deserted island" feeling to it and we would absolutely recommend it to anyone visiting the island. The staff was also extremely chill and friendly and helped make the stay so much fun.
It was really hot and humid so everyone checked into their rooms and headed straight to the water. It was so warm and refreshing we stayed in the ocean swimming, floating, talking, hanging out for 3 hours before anyone even considered getting out. It was so relaxing and refreshing. Emily and I went back to the room for a nap which again turned into about a five hour snooze.....sleeping through the group dinner on the beach. We were awaken be fireworks being set off from the beach right below our balcony. We went down to join the group and grab a late meal. After the fireworks the hotel staff put on a fire show (juggling fire sticks and chains and basically anything that burns). Around midnight a handful of the group members went to bed but Em and I were wide awake from our nap. All the lights in the hotel were turned off along with the music in the bars. Everyone who was left grabbed a spot around the fire on the beach. With all the lights out we could see stars like we havn't seen in such a long time living in so. cal. A bunch of the Thai guys who work at the hotel came to hang out and tell stories. One even brought his guitar and started playing a bunch of songs. The whole thing was AWESOME to say the least and I don't think life could have gotten much better at that point. We finally called it a night around 3 am.
The next day was much of the same. Emily and I spent a lot of time reading on our Kindles, swimming, eating, napping.....really grueling activities. It was our tour leader's birthday as well as another girl in our group so we celebrated with an awesome beach bbq. The coolest part about the night, and one of the coolest things we've done on the whole trip was after dinner as everyone got to release floating lanterns into the sky over the water. The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful and amazing it looked to see all the flaming lanterns float up into the black night sky and drift higher and farther out to sea.
The next morning we didn't need to leave until around noon, so Emily and I got up early and did a hike up to the top of one of the small mountains that lock in the beach. Incredible hike with outstanding views. Some of these pictures turned out great as you can see below. We were both bummed to leave...like I said...this has been one of our favorite places we've been and we would both rush to come back here with friends and family some day.
The boat from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan
Bottle Beach
Emily went out early one morning...pretty sure she was the only person awake on the whole island....but got some really cool photos
The floating lanterns
Looking up from a hammock
Hiking through the jungle...only bad part is Emily ended up with 28 mosquito bites on her legs to show for it......but me.....0.
Bottle Beach from up above
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