Nicest place in the world (so far) award goes to... Ko Bulone!
After Ko Lanta, we headed off to the smaller and more 'remote' island of Ko Bulone. It took us about 2 hours or so on a speedboat to get there and it was totally worth it.
It was a bit strange when we first arrived as the speedboat just sort of stopped in the water near a... well, near a nothing. We waited and then a longtail boat arrived. After questioning people, it turned out that we should get off the speed boat and into the longtail. So we did.
Luckily the longtail was a taxi boat and it took us to the main beach resort.
We had been very adventurous with Bulone and had not booked anything in advance (we were very pleased with ourselves for being so adventurous!) But the place we had expected to stay at was full. Most of the island was full.
I started to have a mini panic but the lady at the main resort was amazing. She was phoning round all the other places on the island and she kept announcing 'This place has a room for 3 people, this other place has room for 2 people for 2 nights...' I loved this lady.
She told us where to go (although we got lost anyway) and when Nic said 'It's ok, we'll get a taxi' she explained there were no taxi's on the island but she then offered to help us with our bags! How amazing is that?!?
We thanked her, but bravely declined her kind offer. We dragged our bloody bags off down a dirt path. We got lost. Not very lost, but it was a bit difficult because the whole island is a massive mountain.
Eventually we found Mama and her Viewpoint resort. Mama gave us a bungalow on stilts and it was so lovely. It was basic (ie: no air conditioning and the bathroom had no hot water or roof) but we were ready for this by now.
Mama and her 3 sisters all have resorts along the same beach in Ko Bulone. They compete with each other and keep an eye on which restaurant which tourist eats at. We liked Mama the best. She was sweet and re-barbeque'd our fish when we didn't eat it all.
We have loved our time in Bulone and are a bit sad not to be there right now (we've just arrived in Langkawi). We went on an adventure in the jungle. We followed the signs up but then the signs stopped and we couldn't see the signs back down again, so we were then officially lost in the jungle. It was awful. There were so many mozzies and we were wearing shorts (because we stupidly thought it would be cooler in shorts)
Our legs got bitten to shit, but these were evil mozzies as it didn't hurt immediately. Only 12 hours later we were lying in bed in agony desperately trying not to scratch anymore. It was hard. We had not yet discovered tiger balm.
After Ko Lanta, we headed off to the smaller and more 'remote' island of Ko Bulone. It took us about 2 hours or so on a speedboat to get there and it was totally worth it.
It was a bit strange when we first arrived as the speedboat just sort of stopped in the water near a... well, near a nothing. We waited and then a longtail boat arrived. After questioning people, it turned out that we should get off the speed boat and into the longtail. So we did.
Luckily the longtail was a taxi boat and it took us to the main beach resort.
We had been very adventurous with Bulone and had not booked anything in advance (we were very pleased with ourselves for being so adventurous!) But the place we had expected to stay at was full. Most of the island was full.
I started to have a mini panic but the lady at the main resort was amazing. She was phoning round all the other places on the island and she kept announcing 'This place has a room for 3 people, this other place has room for 2 people for 2 nights...' I loved this lady.
She told us where to go (although we got lost anyway) and when Nic said 'It's ok, we'll get a taxi' she explained there were no taxi's on the island but she then offered to help us with our bags! How amazing is that?!?
We thanked her, but bravely declined her kind offer. We dragged our bloody bags off down a dirt path. We got lost. Not very lost, but it was a bit difficult because the whole island is a massive mountain.
Eventually we found Mama and her Viewpoint resort. Mama gave us a bungalow on stilts and it was so lovely. It was basic (ie: no air conditioning and the bathroom had no hot water or roof) but we were ready for this by now.
Mama and her 3 sisters all have resorts along the same beach in Ko Bulone. They compete with each other and keep an eye on which restaurant which tourist eats at. We liked Mama the best. She was sweet and re-barbeque'd our fish when we didn't eat it all.
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| Mama's place |
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| Looking cool in my dork shorts |
Our legs got bitten to shit, but these were evil mozzies as it didn't hurt immediately. Only 12 hours later we were lying in bed in agony desperately trying not to scratch anymore. It was hard. We had not yet discovered tiger balm.
I have to admit, I was not a big fan of the jungle, and several times I really thought that we might die in there.
Here is me in the jungle:
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| This is a fake smile |
And here is an amusing picture of me on some rocks telling Nic how big the sea louses were...
But despite all the bugs and nature stuff, we had the best time ever at Bulone and want to go back there.
More pictures are here.
Did you feel like Robinson Crusoe and Girl Friday? I love these islands that are so unspoilt by mass tourism. Ko Bulone sounds like a real discovery! You are spoilt for life!
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