Monday was another long day of travelling, but in the end all of our connections worked really well and were almost seemless as we were herded off one bus and onto the next. By the end of the day we had made it from an island off the West coast to one off the East and even overcame the bus to Surat Tani breaking down - with a lot of help from a nice Thai lady who was going to Ko Pha-Ngan herself and who spoke really good English and took us under her wing for the rest of the journey and helped us out big time; all we had to do was follow her lead!

On the boat over we met a guy touting a resort and went with it since it looked nice, was cheap and included a free taxi half way up the island, which was the direction we wanted to head in anyway. Unfortunately the resort wasn't brilliant and all the staff were really miserable and the type who were never there when you wanted them and always there when you didn't. The fact that they only ever had warm beer was the final nail! It could have been a nice place as it wasn't the worst setting in the world, but we just spent the next day relaxing and planning our next move, before a nice sunset with the added bonus of some serious canine humping in the foreground! The most offensive aspect of the place was the guy who ran it, who clearly thought he was very important and when we asked for a room without a 45 degree tilt he said "Not for 300 Bhat a night! If you want to relax more, you pay more!". Clown!!

Anyway, on Wednesday we got a taxi to Chaloklam and then after waiting around for a bit a Russian family did us a massive favour by rocking up to make our longtail boat over to Bottle Beach miles cheaper. The journey over was pretty choppy and I swear at times we came close to capsizing - probably not helped by the fact that the guy had just had a spliff before we set off! He didn't exactly make things easy for us when it came to the dismount either - meaning we had to heave our bags off ourselves and wade through thigh high waves to make it to the beach!

Heading up to remote Bottle Beach had been a bit of a risk but it paid off handsomely as we finally hit the jackpot and found what everyone seems to bang on about - a little bungalow right on the beach. It wasn't quite for 100B but still not bad, and the sea was literally 20 steps from our bed with lush green mountains in behind. It really was a gorgeous beach and had a dead laid back vibe - everything was spot on. So we chilled out in the shadow of our humble abode for two days, and the most energetic thing we had to do was walk 5 minutes to the other end of the beach to the Smile Bungalows restaurant where we had tea and soaked up the relaxed atmosphere whilst sat at the low tables and struggling slightly to master the art of getting comfy on the cushions and eating with chopsticks without making a mess!

We were a bit sad to leave behind our little bit of solitude that we had craved, as it had probably been the most enjoyable beach time we have had, but we decided it was time for a bit more action and so we got a white knuckle taxi ride which took us on the unsealed roads through the jungle back to the pier for a boat to Ko Tao on Friday afternoon.