Sunny Koh Phangan

View from our bungalow at Haad Yao Beach.
see all photos »

Having settled into island life well and truly we decided to leave Koh Tao Island and head south to the beaches of Koh Phangan Island.  One hour south by fast ferry we arrived at Koh Phangan which is located between Koh Samui and Koh Tao.  We headed north west to Haad Yao Beach (Hadd is Thai for beach) which was like stepping into a postcard it is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island and only 1km in length.  We booked ourselves into a beach front bungalow at Sandy Bay Bungalows which takes up the whole southern end of the beach, it was well worth our $24 NZD as we were literally on the beach.  Next door to our resort was the Eagle Bar where we spent a couple of nights toasting the sunsets and of course eating some of the best english food yet, Kev laid claim to the bangers and mash and their home made pies with mash and peas were pretty awesome, we heard it was owned by an english guy which would explain the great food.

Haad Yao Beach.
see all photos »

We then headed over the hill to Haad Salad Beach, with the main attraction being Salad Hut Bungalows which there are only 10 of and of course an infinity pool right on the beach.  This place is just awesome, very low key with the resorts motto "Shiny, Happy people, a good place for chilling out" and that it was, our only activity here was taking the resorts sea canoe for a paddle around the point to the other beach.  After 3 nights we headed onto the famous Bottle Beach accessed only by boat.  Wow and Wow would describe this beach white sand and cyrstal clear water perfect for swimming.  The beach has only 5 accommodation places to choose from, all bungalows ranging in price from about $10 - $30 in low season depending on how basic you want your stay to be.  Our first 3 nights were spent at Bottle Beach 2 which were right on the beach but very basic, but the staff were so friendly and the food was the best.  We then headed up the beach to Bottle Beach 1 where we had another beach bungalow this time a little more flash where we spent 4 nights.  Our daily life at Bottle Beach consisted of sleeping, eating, swimming, sunbathing, eating, swimming etc, pretty awesome.  After 7 nights we returned to Salad Hut for 2 nights before heading back to Vietnam.