Day 127! Wow… what a crazy day. We went on a hike to a beach that led us through the jungle… and got LOST. I do not recommend. But enough of that, let’s dive in!

I had an insanely fun birthday. But this led to a very late night of shenanigans. So Ben, Mina, Sam, and I slept in and got breakfast at 11am so basically brunch.

We went to a restaurant right across the street and I couldn’t really stomach Thai food at the time, so I got one of my classic Vietnamese breakfasts, eggs and butter on toast.

This one was much prettier than any of the ones I had in Vietnam. It also was the rejuvenation I needed to wake up this morning.

I also got a banana shake, but it came well after our meal so I almost forgot about it.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon relaxing in our bungalow. We all had gotten pretty badly sunburned the day before, so it was nice to relax in the air conditioning.

Out of no where, there was a crack of lightning and thunder, which quickly turned into a down pour. It was quick to pass, but I can tell Thailand’s rainy season is ramping up.

We ended our couple hours of relaxing by playing a few rounds of Shithead before finally deciding to go on our outing of the day.

We found a taxi to take us 30ish minutes to the north west. We were picking up my friends Miri and Joya from their hostel, which they’re staying at one I loved last time I was here, Shiralea Backpackers Resort.

After we picked them up, the taxi took us a bit further down the road to another favorite spot of mine in Koh Phangan… the Bottle Beach hike!

We started our hike just after 4:30pm with a pep in our step. The rain from earlier had dropped the temperature down to the upper 80’s which made the start of the hike very pleasant.

But quickly we were starting to get drenched in sweat.

I remembered most of this hike from the last time I did it. The heat definitely added the same challenge as last time, but I was thoroughly enjoying climbing my way through the jungle.

My friends and cousins didn’t fully realize how much of a hike this really was and weren’t fully expecting un-pathed terrain. But the views we were met with definitely made up for the difficulty. We also took plenty of breaks and tried to stay as hydrated as possible.

We got an hour into our hike and this is when it took a turn for the worse…

We somehow made a wrong turn and lost the trial. But I didn’t notice until it was far too late.

The hike had started to descend rapidly and it was going to be very difficult to climb back up. The path had turned into climbing up and down boulders, very uneven terrain, and overgrown vegetation (a number of which had spikes).

I finally realized we had taken the wrong turn when we started having to walk through small prickly bushes… but by then we had to just keep going forward. We were walking down a dried creek so I assumed it had to lead to the ocean or at least nearby.

The hike became very difficult and everyone quickly caught on that we were lost. So when we started hearing the ocean, I climbed up the side of the hill to see if we could get to it by our path or if we needed to try and find the right path.

I could tell we were headed in the right direction, but the path was no where in site. So we kept trekking on. On top of that, the sun was quickly setting and we had about 25 minutes till it set.

It turned into a race against the clock and we ended up arriving into the backyard of the bungalows on the beach. We were supposed to pop out on the west side of the beach… we were very far off.

We were ecstatic when we got to the beach. Even though the hike took an hour and fifty minutes, vs. the hour ish it was supposed to, we got really nervous we’d be stuck in the jungle for longer. It also felt like we had been stuck in there for a long time too since we lost the path.

A local asked us if we needed a boat and then said that they had all finished for the day. We were slightly concerned but he followed up and said he’d call them for us but they’d be here in 30 minutes.

Since we were hiked out, my favorite viewpoint was off the table. So I just ran straight into the water and enjoyed floating around in the waves while watching the sun set!

The local that called the boat for us owned a restaurant. So we all got smoothies while we waited for our boat.

The boat arrived at 7:20pm and by this time, it was very dark out. This was a unique experience though because the boats were supposed to be fully done for the day.

I wish my phone fully captured this, but this is a ride I’ll never forget. It was a clear enough night that we could see so many stars in the night sky. They were surrounding the island and the ocean and it made for a jaw dropping ride.

Everyone really enjoyed and it made up for an unnerving and challenging hike.

We arrived at Mae Haad Beach, where we started piling out of the boat before one of us told them we needed a taxi. To which they responded that they have a taxi that could drive us home. So we piled back into the boat and down a canal to their home.

I know we were paying them, but this sums up Thai hospitality. That we put them out by making them pick us up in their boat later in the night and THEN told us they’d drive us across the island. It was very nice of them.

We dropped off Miri and Joya at their hostel and then continued on back to our bungalow. The ride back felt so much longer than the ride there. On top of that, we were gross, tired, and decompressing after a stressful end to the hike.

When we arrived at our bungalow, the electricity wasn’t working. So Mina and Sam ran to the front desk and Ben and I took turns showering in the dark. After showering, I started packing my stuff up to make our leave tomorrow morning easier.

Apparently they worked on our unit while we were out and they turned off the power to our room. But got quickly sorted and Mina and Sam took their turns showering as well.

It was almost 10 pm at this point and we hadn’t really ate anything since breakfast. We were all getting pretty hangry, so we walked down the road to the cheap restaurant that we’ve gone to a couple times.

I got a very flavorful panaeng curry. This curry was a perfect blend of spicy and tasty. The food made us all feel like humans again, so we walked to 7-Eleven to get some water and snacks for later in the night.

These truffle balls have quickly become one of my favorite late night 7-eleven snack.

After this it was almost time for bed! We had some buckets to give back to Chira and the bunny ears for the granddaughter. It was very nice to chat with her again and how it was very nice how hospitable she was.

We ended up walking back, having some wonderful chats; and calling it a night because tomorrow morning we’re waking up early for a ferry to my last destination in Thailand with my cousins!

Koh Samui!

I’m very excited for Koh Samui, I’ve never been! But before we get too far into that… how crazy of a hike?! It easily was the hardest one I’ve done, especially with the heat. But even with the mishaps, it was a great hike!

– Elie