Koh Bulon Lae, Thailand – November 11th – 17th, 2016

On the morning we were supposed to depart for Koh Bulon Lae, an island off the west coast of Thailand, we got the bright idea to call to see if we could secure accommodations. This did not go well. At first, all of the places we called either did not answer or informed us that they were closed for the season. Thanks to the language barrier, we were left wondering whether the island was open at all. We had read that the tourist season typically started in early November, but apparently the rainy season was longer than normal this year. Since we had already booked the minibus there was not a lot we could do, so we boarded the bus anyway. En route, we got a call back from one of the more expensive resorts which told us that the island was indeed inhabited and open for business, although not fully. Phew, crises averted yet again.

After an uneventful minibus and speed boat ride, we made it to the tiny island of Koh Bulon Lae. We had been on the move every couple of days for weeks and were in some serious need of a little down time. Bulon is a little known and even less traveled island that takes only 10 minutes to traverse on foot. There are several “resorts”, a stunning white sand beach, and best of all you can stay and eat for less than $50/day for two people! There are only several downsides to the island: there is no power during the day and there is really nothing to do except relax (which if you are a normal person is ideal, but for those of us that can’t sit still, it was more of a challenge than a positive attribute).

Island paradise. 

As we discovered earlier in the day, most of the “resorts” and restaurants were not open yet. We walked around with all of our stuff in the humid Thai heat for over an hour trying to bargain for a bungalow at the few places that were open. We settled on a grass bungalow on stilts close to the beach for just $22.50/night. Unfortunately, the restaurant was still closed and for meals we had to either eat at the “expensive” resort nearby or walk 10 minutes up a small hill (which seemed rather large when you are hungry). Therefore, the next day we were convinced to switch residences when the restaurant owner offered us a bungalow for $14/night. As we soon found out, the downside to this plan was that our bungalow was not nearly as nice as the first one and we had bungalow company – ANTS! So many ants!... thousands of them actually. Our time on Bulon can be accurately categorized as follows: sleep, eat, lay, snorkel, read, kill ants.

Island life. Monitor lizards were HUGE and everywhere - completely harmless, but intimidating nonetheless. The bungalow we abandoned for a cheaper version is in the top center and Andy rescuing a drowning butterfly in the bottom center.  

Regardless of our ant problem, the food, scenery, and people on Bulon were incredible. We had daily iced chai, ate authentic Thai food (including fresh fish right off the boat), and even frequented a beach Italian place with the best pasta we have had since Rome (no kidding, it was amazing). With only about 100 locals and 25 tourists on the island, we found it easy to connect with people. On the full moon, the family that owns our hotel taught me how to make a banana leaf float which we lit incense on and set out to sea as part of their Loi Krathong festival. We also got to know many of the frequenting tourists which return every season. This included Philip, the Frenchman that wore only a G-string most of the time, and the Italian restaurant owner, Luca (we only saw him fully clothed). Since we were now in true vacation mode, we treated ourselves to Thai massages on the beach (for the bargain price of $8). The women issuing the massages were very VERY strong and it was by far the most painful massage either one of us had ever endured.

Around Kho Bulon Lae. My very sweet shell collection (which we had to leave behind) is shown in the upper right and my banana leaf float for the Loi Krathong festival is in the top middle. The longtail boat we took off the island is shown on the bottom center. 

After six days on Bulon, we were thoroughly relaxed and ready for our next adventure. Little did we know, our next adventure would happen before we even left the island. In the morning of the 17^th, we packed up and went to the speed boat pickup location. We had paid for a last-minute booking on a liveaboard SCUBA trip that departed the next day from a town about 8 hours north and were anxious to be on our way. Accordingly, we arrived 20 minutes early to catch to speed boat off the island – GO US! Much to our surprise, we were soon informed that the boat had already left without anybody on it. In order to keep me from getting all worked up about this situation yet again, I’ll keep this rant short. The speed boat company told us the wrong time, left over 20 minutes before scheduled departure, and did not honor our reservation. The solution to this problem was, according to the horrendously bitchy company owner, to stay on the island for another 24 hours in order to get the boat the next day. (For full effect, read the following sentence with a lot of sarcasm) It was, after all, our fault for not being there on time. Due to the expensive, non-refundable SCUBA trip that left with or without us the next day, staying an extra day was NOT an option. Needless to say, we argued with the boat owner over the phone (her using very broken yelling at us English) for over 30 minutes before shedding a couple tears out of frustration, giving up, and dishing out an extra $40 (even though we had already paid the speed boat for return transfer) to get a private longtail boat to take us off the island. Without the help of a very kind local, we would have never made it to the mainland in time to catch our minibus. It took two minibuses (one of which we paid over double for thanks to the trickery of the minibus company) and 10 hours to get to Khao Lak, but we made it. The last minibus was extra exciting because the driver chose to pay more attention to his unbuckled infant son and cell phone that the road, all while driving like an absolute maniac (he had some serious skills). It was, in fact, terrifying and the poor people in the back of the bus were sick and more than a little angry. Angrier still were the guys that were not dropped off at their stop and ended up over 100 km past their hotel. It was an interesting day to say the least.