Off to Paradise!
This morning, we packed up our things and rushed off to the airport to catch our flight down to Koh Samui. Great experience with Bangkok Airlines. The comfort, service, and food are better than on our international flights with Air France.
We arrived on Koh Samui in the middle of a torrential downpour. I was hoping to get lucky with the weather, but it’s monsoon season down here, so this is unfortunately pretty typical. By the time we landed, I had befriended the guy sitting next to me. Jerry, an Irish man here to visit his brother, was traveling with his young son Connor. Like us, they were headed over to Koh Phangan (PAN-YAN), so we made our reservations together and followed them to the ferry. The ride from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan was bouncy but pretty quick.
Getting to Bottle Beach, where we had booked two nights of accommodation, was a bit of an adventure. After disembarking, we were crammed into a van. The plan was to take the van as far as possible and then to hop onto a boat at Chaloklam, since there’s no road running all the way to Bottle Beach. But when we got to the pier, the waves were apparently “too big” for boat service, and our only option was to pay up for a 4-wheel drive vehicle to cut through the mountainous jungle in the middle of the island and back up to Bottle Beach.
We shared the ride with Kyle and Beverly, a nice young couple from South Africa. Sitting in the back of a pick-up truck, the trip over the muddy roads of central Koh Phangan was fast and treacherous. We held on for dear life. At first, we were annoyed by the extra travel time and cost, but I think the natural beauty of the island, even when raining, won us over.
Finally pulled up to Bottle Beach. Seems like a fantastic place. Just getting ready to head back out to Haad Rin for the New Year’s Eve Full Moon Party on the beach. By all accounts, it’s going to be pretty crazy.
A big “Happy New Year” from me to you!
My name is Jeff. I'm a
One Response to “Off to Paradise!”
March 25th, 2013 at 10:20 pm
I would highly rmnmeoecd it to everyone especially if looking for peace and quiet, although I wouldnt necessarily go out of my way to go there during a full moon party. If you happen to be there in an off week, it should be fine too. I should make a note though that some dive shops change their scheduled dive sites if less people are there. So it might be worthwhile to be there a little before or after the party as well if you do go at that time. Out of my 8 dives, I still got out to Chumphon Pinnacle twice, which was the highlight of my dive trip there. They just postponed it 24 hours for more people.