We arrived on the quiet side of Koh Phangan and it was a beautiful day! We had already made a reservation with one hotel which was very out of the way of any tourist life! The hotel itself was brilliant - it had a huge pool which overlooked the beach (which was unfortunately not so beautiful). The bungalow was spacious and comfortable, the restaurant area was very nice but a bit slow with the food! The staff all seemed very friendly, and we were the only ones at the hotel except for a German couple. We had planned to stay here for a few nights, but we started to regret our decision as we realised there was nothing to do around the hotel.

I didn't sleep well that night, because I woke up in the very early hours and could have sworn I saw a giant cockroach crawling along the bed next to me! At breakfast, the German couple approached us and asked if our room was OK. We said it was fine, but they started to tell us that there were cockroaches in the room during the night and one was crawling on his head! This confirmed that I probably DID see a giant cockroach in our bed, so we made the decision to look elsewhere to stay. James hired a bike out (I was too chicken because the road was very rocky and uneven), and he managed to find a beautiful place along a white sandy beach, and with other tourists there!

We got a taxi to Haad Salad bungalows - the room was fantastic and it was 5 footsteps away from the beach! It was very reasonably priced, with a restaurant on site too. There was no pool, but we didn't need it because the crystal blue sea was seconds away from us.

The weather was very nice, very warm but not too intense. Katja & Sandra who we met in Koh Tao turned up on our last day to see us which was a nice surprise. One of the staff at our hotel lent his guitar to James, so he could play music on the beach - needless to say he was one happy man!

The nightlife is very chilled out - several restaurants and bars to go to, but no one was partying which is just what we needed, as we knew there would be no rest when we headed to the party side of the island.

We would go here again in a heartbeat and would recommend it to anyone!