It was a choppy, rather wet and crowded hour speedboat ride from Koh Lipe to Koh Bulone Leh (600 THB pp). Luckily we had seats at the back of the boat so we could look out the back at the horizon and watch Lipe disappear from view.
As we pulled up to the steep, rocky and jungle covered side of the island to transfer onto a long tail (another 50 THB pp) we weren't sure what we had let ourselves into! We had read there were no ATMs, only a handful of resorts and bungalows and electricity was only available between the hours of 6pm-2am, so we knew this was going to be a very different experience to the comforts of Koh Lipe.
Koh Bulone a tiny, quiet island situated north of Koh Lipe, on route towards the Trang Islands, with speedboats only stopping in high season, the whole island closes down for the off season. It is so small there are no roads and the best way to explore it is simply on foot, taking only about 5 minutes to walk from one side to the other!
There is a handful of accommodation on the island, a mix of more expensive resorts (2,000+ THB/night) on the main beach, and a range of wooden or bamboo bungalows, just over the hill from the main beach. The cheaper beds are in varying states and go for around 300-1,000 THB/night. With many tourists staying for long periods of time (1 week to a few months or even more) we were glad to have called ahead and reserved a bungalow at Bulone View Point for 500 THB. This became even more so when the second boat arrived in the afternoon at 2pm and it was clear from the wandering people with rucksacks, that there were little options left except for a few tents (100 THB) at the Jungle Huts.
As we spent our few days exploring the island and chilling out in its bays and beaches we fell in love with this remote and secluded island, filled with character and beauty. It is the island of the hammock - the best way to enjoy this island, is to sit back, relax, read, swim, eat and repeat.
Koh Bulone Leh has the right balance of quiet seclusion and rustic feel, but with enough comforts and facilities to make it a nice comfortable place to stay. It has not been developed to the same extent as other Thai islands and so keeps it innocent charm with the local sea gypsy's running the 'resorts' and restaurants and the wide variety of wildlife. There is electricity over night, relatively good wifi in a couple of resorts, stable mobile signal and a small selection of cute locally run traditional Thai restaurants, a pizza place, and two funky bars for a drink in the evening.
The island is predominately luscious green forest with banana and coconut trees aplenty, which, if you get bored with the beach or hammock, makes for an interesting nature trail following the excellent info boards and small tracks - just take some deet!
As such a small island with only a few pathways and routes linking it together, it had an everyone knows everyone feel about it and you quickly started to recognise and bump into the same people on a regular basis! We bumped into English couple Beckie and Nick, and realised we had actually already met them briefly on Koh Lipe. Having found out we were both travelling in very similar circumstances; turned 30, quit jobs and touring the world, Beckie and Nick quickly became our regular dinner and drinking companions.
It was hard to make the decision to leave, but we decided to keep moving so after only two nights on this wonderful island, it was time to go to Koh Kradan - another island with more beautiful beaches. However, the weather closed in and the sea became too rough for the speed boats, so as we bobbed around in a long tail ready for a (rather precarious) transfer, we heard that the speed boats were not operating. Luckily, we had some flex in our plans so it wasn't too difficult, and anyway, there are worse places to get stranded... back to the beach and hammock then!
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| Koh Bulone Leh... where is everyone? |
As we pulled up to the steep, rocky and jungle covered side of the island to transfer onto a long tail (another 50 THB pp) we weren't sure what we had let ourselves into! We had read there were no ATMs, only a handful of resorts and bungalows and electricity was only available between the hours of 6pm-2am, so we knew this was going to be a very different experience to the comforts of Koh Lipe.
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| Which way to the beach? |
There is a handful of accommodation on the island, a mix of more expensive resorts (2,000+ THB/night) on the main beach, and a range of wooden or bamboo bungalows, just over the hill from the main beach. The cheaper beds are in varying states and go for around 300-1,000 THB/night. With many tourists staying for long periods of time (1 week to a few months or even more) we were glad to have called ahead and reserved a bungalow at Bulone View Point for 500 THB. This became even more so when the second boat arrived in the afternoon at 2pm and it was clear from the wandering people with rucksacks, that there were little options left except for a few tents (100 THB) at the Jungle Huts.
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| Bungalow number 1 - Bulone View Point |
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| Bungalow number 2 - Chao Le Guesthouse |
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| Where to put the towel... |
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| Swimming time! |
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| Writing home, with a beer (in a rather small hammock) |
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| No more ice cream (thats what happens when you share with Jules) |
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| One of many butterflies |
There is a wide range of flora and fauna, with numerous birds from hornbills to kingfishers, giant monitor lizards, tropical plants, large trees with beautiful flowers and some spectacular butterflies, which circle around your head as you stroll along the path.
We got to know the restaurant and bar owners quite well whilst we were here, especially at the infamous Su's Corner, who every day was up at 5am baking the most delicious fresh bread and cakes which made for a great cinnamon buns or banana cake breakfast, and a tasty sandwich for lunch.
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| On the nature trail |
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| Su's corner |
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| Su and her buns |
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| Buns and a tea |
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| Our travel buddies for a week |
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| The waiting room for the boat |
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| The shuttle long tail |
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