Bottle Beach Lifestyle

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So today we hopped on a ferry to Ko pha-ngnan which is the island famous for having all the Full Moon parties. The parties are held in Hat Rin where most of the backpackers go to stay and they have a beach of course but it’s really touristy. We had read up about a beach called Bottle Beach that is quite secluded and meant to be the most beautiful beach on the island. Since neither one of us was interested in more touristy stuff we decided to give it a go and stay out there.

Once we got off the ferry we found a truck that would take us up to the north port on the island so we could take a long tail boat to Bottle Beach. So once we got up there we were ushered over to a long tail boat. I was wearing my longer shorts and trying to put your BIG backpack onto a boat that is sitting in the water with waves moving it all around I got really wet haha. But it was cool, we hopped into the boat and took the slow ride out to bottle beach. We passed amazing coastline. We pulled into bottle beach and we were blown away by it’s beauty.

I stayed with the bags while Michelle walked up the beach to check out all the places. While we waiting for the longtail boat we met two Canadians who had just stayed at bottle beach and recommended Bottle Beach 1 to us. Michelle came back after investigating and for the same price we could have a hotel suite looking out to the ocean at one place or our own Bungalow with two double beds overlooking the ocean. The bungalow seemed cool so we chose that one which was at Bottle Beach 1.

The view from our deck was just straight beach and ocean and AMAZING!!!! We went straight into the water for a swim. The water here year round is 31 degrees. It feels like you are swimming in bath water. While it’s not refreshing from the heat it’s still really really nice! The water is quite shallow for quite a ways out so it’s the perfect beach.

The next day we spent doing the same thing. In between reading on the beach and swimming we would walk over to our resort restaurant and hang around with the guys that worked there. They were all young thai guys who were all really funny. It’s a tough life!

The next day we did a tour to Ang Thong National Marine Park. A longtail boat came and picked us up and we were met by a taxi and taken over to the office where the tour goes from. We met two girls from Kelowna also going on the tour. While I was inside the office the one girl pointed out a cockroach on the floor stuck on his back. Yikes! So after we get our tickets and all that I was headed back outside and the girl had tried to help the cockroach and got him back on his legs it came RUNNING at ME. AHHHHHHH!! I’m sure you can imagine the horror on my face haha. I went running and screaming “NO NO NO NO NO!!” right out of the office haha. One of the tour guys ended up killing it then.

We all walked over to the boat once everyone had arrived. We all piled into the boat which was another speedboat. We sped off towards the islands that make up the park. Our first stop was to snorkel. They would throw bread into the water to attract the fish. I wasn’t as scared this time getting in until they threw bread right next to me and all the fish came hahaha. But it was cool and amazing coral around. We headed all around to check out some of the other islands and then we stopped at our lunch spot which had beach that was really rocky so it was hard to get to the shore.

Some people had paid more money and went kayaking in sea kayak around the island while the rest of us just relaxed. There was some swings hanging from the trees on the beach which was fun. We ate some lunch which was provided to us and enjoyed the view. In the distance we could see funnel clouds forming over the ocean. The tour guys said that it was common to see them touch down with the water. CRAZY!!!!

After lunch we went to this island with the Emerald Lake. It’s a lake that has never been touched by the human body and they want to keep it that way. The water is an amazing green colour. But, to get there you have to climb up these stairs they have built around the rocks and it’s boiling hot out and you’re just drenched in sweat. It kind of sucks but the view is worth it. On one side is the lake, on the other is the ocean and more islands.

From here we went to a private beach where just our tour boat was at. But, the beach wasn’t very well taken care of as there was all kinds of garbage everywhere. One couple just sat there disgusted and complaining. But Michelle asked the tour guy for some garbage bags and a couple of us cleaned up a bit of the shore as much as we could. There was a lot of glass bottles. The complaining couple did not help which was rude if you ask me. Why complain about something and then when other people try to make it better you just sit there and don’t help?!

We headed back to Ko phangnan in our speedboat but the waves were quite rough and basically we just sat there in the boat and got DRENCHED. I got so much water in the face haha. All you could do was sit there are laugh and enjoy the ride. Everyone was soaked. One guy made a joke and put on his snorkel mask haha. It was fun.

The next day was just a chill day on bottle beach as we were exhausted from the full on tour the day before. The next day we were planning to leave to get to Chumphon so we could get a night train to Bangkok. This was also about the time when all the protesting came to a big fight with the guns and people being killed so we werent exactly in a huge rush to get to Bangkok haha. But we managed to get a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and we needed to somehow get to Bangkok.

The first night we were going to leave our thai friends at the bar let us do a lantern which is for good luck. We wrote little messages on the lantern and then went down to the beach at night and they light this things thats attached at the bottom and then we hold the lantern and wait for it to fill with hot air and then when we feel it start to pull we let go and it goes floating up into the night sky. It was sooo cool!!!

This is also the night that Yod, one of the thai guys decided to let me know how much he liked me haha. He was a sweet guy but barely spoke any english so it was a confusing conversation. The boys played the guitar for us and one of them did some fire spinning for us which was really cool.

The next morning Michelle decided she didn’t want to leave yet so we stayed another night and we got to do another lantern, whoo hoo! This time they did a fire down on the beach even though it was way too hot for a fire it gave us some light and they played the guitar and sang songs which was cool.

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Comments

[Mommy]

WOW
Your pictures of Thailand are great!!! I am sure you are glad you went there. You look tanned and relaxed.