Koh Lanta. Ahhh, Koh Lanta. Possibly one of the most chilaxed islands ever - or at least the most chilled out in Thailand. With such a spread out population, it also feels like there's no one around so it's easy to see why so many people love it. The only downside is getting around requires a motorbike - or a large travel budget.
We arrived in Koh Lanta on the ferry from Railay. After being made to pay an island 'cleanup' fee of 20 baht each and pushing our way through the hordes of tuk-tuk drivers trying to sell us accommodation, we wandered into town to grab some lunch. Afterwards, managing to find a tuk-tuk driver who wasn't charging the earth, we jumped on his motorbike sidecar and took off for our guesthouse, a 15 minute ride along the concrete highway. We checked in, then after a wee break from the heat set off to explore on foot. A few hundred metres up the road we came across a small dirt road leading through farmland and disappearing into the palm trees. A simple wooden sign was nailed to a fence post with 'bar' painted on it. With nothing better to do we walked down the track, through the palms and onto the beach.
It wasn't much of a swimming spot thanks to all the sharp rocks in the water but it seemed popular with the local fishermen, as we sat and watched all the boats coming back in from a long day out at sea. With the sun starting to disappear quickly we turned back up the beach and found the tiny beach hut bar. Run by a very relaxed Rastafarian local guy we stayed and drank cold Chang and chatted with a French-Canadian programmer and a New York student, all the while watching the sun set behind the horizon. 'This is the life' we kept saying.
A few drinks later and the sun now long gone, we realised we hadn't eaten since lunch time. Not knowing where we'd find dinner we asked. "Walk up the beach, lots of restaurants" rastaman said. So we set off up the dark beach. It was a still night with only the sound of waves crashing lightly onto the beach, a rustle of palm trees and an occasional crunch under our feet. We drunkenly walked up the beach for a good ten minutes, with only the faint moonlight to guide us - then I remembered I had a torch app on my iPhone. I pulled it out and lit up the beach in front of us. The worst thing I could have done, the beach was moving!
Crabs! Everywhere!
Seconds ago we were blissfully unaware that there were crabs literally covering the beach only just moving out of the way before we put our foot down. Now with the light turned on we could see that we were actually surrounded by them. I don't like crabs at the best of times but I like them even less in the dark, when the beach is one crawling mass of them. Our slow walk become a painfully slow and very careful walk for the rest of the way, as we tried not to step on them or have them run over our feet. You can imagine our relief when we eventually came across a beachfront restaurant for dinner, we didn't care what it was as long as we could get off that beach!
Seeing as the island is so spread out there's really no use in walking and with no public transport the only options are get a tuk-tuk or hire a scooter. Tuk-tuk's are fine, but relatively expensive. Scooters are cheap, but we'd seen a lot of people hobbling around covered in bandages and scraps thanks to a unfortunate scooter ride. With a lot of the roads being pretty terrible over here, a decent bump or hole is enough to throw a careless rider off their bike. Unlucky riders crash when their brakes stop working. So after some serious convincing by Jade I finally agreed to hire one for the day. Luckily (or sensibly) we had no accidents thankfully, except we did end up getting exceptionally lost and very confused when we took off for the south end of the island, and ended up at the northernmost end! I think we were meant to turn down a small side road instead of continuing on the main road which loops back up the island. Oops! Oh well, it's hard to tell when there's no sign posts!
Now with all the yummy food over here we thought we'd take a Thai cooking class. We rang and booked and an hour later a ute turned up and we jumped on the back. At the kitchen we were presented with ten options to choose from, with the class having to decide on our four favourites to cook. So after some deliberation the winners were: a chicken and coconut milk soup, ginger stir fry with chicken, massaman curry and deep fried bananas. All of them were delicious, the secret I think being the very fresh ingredients picked that morning. Favourites for me were the chicken and coconut milk soup (Tom Kha Gai) and the massaman curry - both so good. The only cooking mistake of the day meant I left with a nice burn over half my elbow, as Jade wasn't being too careful about where he was flinging his very hot wok - thanks Jade.
Soon enough it was time to move on again, but after a slight hiccup with accommodation confirmations we found ourselves having to stay on the island another night. Luck was on our side this time though as we found a simple rustic bungalow surrounded by palm trees, a hammock on the porch and a minutes walk to the best beach on the island.
The next morning we left Koh Lanta this time with accommodation confirmed, a newfound knowledge of Thai cooking and a fear of dark beaches. With the relaxing over for now, let the party being - Koh Phi Phi here we come!
We arrived in Koh Lanta on the ferry from Railay. After being made to pay an island 'cleanup' fee of 20 baht each and pushing our way through the hordes of tuk-tuk drivers trying to sell us accommodation, we wandered into town to grab some lunch. Afterwards, managing to find a tuk-tuk driver who wasn't charging the earth, we jumped on his motorbike sidecar and took off for our guesthouse, a 15 minute ride along the concrete highway. We checked in, then after a wee break from the heat set off to explore on foot. A few hundred metres up the road we came across a small dirt road leading through farmland and disappearing into the palm trees. A simple wooden sign was nailed to a fence post with 'bar' painted on it. With nothing better to do we walked down the track, through the palms and onto the beach.
It wasn't much of a swimming spot thanks to all the sharp rocks in the water but it seemed popular with the local fishermen, as we sat and watched all the boats coming back in from a long day out at sea. With the sun starting to disappear quickly we turned back up the beach and found the tiny beach hut bar. Run by a very relaxed Rastafarian local guy we stayed and drank cold Chang and chatted with a French-Canadian programmer and a New York student, all the while watching the sun set behind the horizon. 'This is the life' we kept saying.
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| Jade climbing on the rocks, watching the boats. |
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| The pretty sunset we couldn't take our eyes off. |
A few drinks later and the sun now long gone, we realised we hadn't eaten since lunch time. Not knowing where we'd find dinner we asked. "Walk up the beach, lots of restaurants" rastaman said. So we set off up the dark beach. It was a still night with only the sound of waves crashing lightly onto the beach, a rustle of palm trees and an occasional crunch under our feet. We drunkenly walked up the beach for a good ten minutes, with only the faint moonlight to guide us - then I remembered I had a torch app on my iPhone. I pulled it out and lit up the beach in front of us. The worst thing I could have done, the beach was moving!
Crabs! Everywhere!
Seconds ago we were blissfully unaware that there were crabs literally covering the beach only just moving out of the way before we put our foot down. Now with the light turned on we could see that we were actually surrounded by them. I don't like crabs at the best of times but I like them even less in the dark, when the beach is one crawling mass of them. Our slow walk become a painfully slow and very careful walk for the rest of the way, as we tried not to step on them or have them run over our feet. You can imagine our relief when we eventually came across a beachfront restaurant for dinner, we didn't care what it was as long as we could get off that beach!
Seeing as the island is so spread out there's really no use in walking and with no public transport the only options are get a tuk-tuk or hire a scooter. Tuk-tuk's are fine, but relatively expensive. Scooters are cheap, but we'd seen a lot of people hobbling around covered in bandages and scraps thanks to a unfortunate scooter ride. With a lot of the roads being pretty terrible over here, a decent bump or hole is enough to throw a careless rider off their bike. Unlucky riders crash when their brakes stop working. So after some serious convincing by Jade I finally agreed to hire one for the day. Luckily (or sensibly) we had no accidents thankfully, except we did end up getting exceptionally lost and very confused when we took off for the south end of the island, and ended up at the northernmost end! I think we were meant to turn down a small side road instead of continuing on the main road which loops back up the island. Oops! Oh well, it's hard to tell when there's no sign posts!
 |
| Finally having lunch after getting exceptionally lost! |
Now with all the yummy food over here we thought we'd take a Thai cooking class. We rang and booked and an hour later a ute turned up and we jumped on the back. At the kitchen we were presented with ten options to choose from, with the class having to decide on our four favourites to cook. So after some deliberation the winners were: a chicken and coconut milk soup, ginger stir fry with chicken, massaman curry and deep fried bananas. All of them were delicious, the secret I think being the very fresh ingredients picked that morning. Favourites for me were the chicken and coconut milk soup (Tom Kha Gai) and the massaman curry - both so good. The only cooking mistake of the day meant I left with a nice burn over half my elbow, as Jade wasn't being too careful about where he was flinging his very hot wok - thanks Jade.
 |
| Chicken and coconut milk soup (Tom Kha Gai), yummy! |
Soon enough it was time to move on again, but after a slight hiccup with accommodation confirmations we found ourselves having to stay on the island another night. Luck was on our side this time though as we found a simple rustic bungalow surrounded by palm trees, a hammock on the porch and a minutes walk to the best beach on the island.
The next morning we left Koh Lanta this time with accommodation confirmed, a newfound knowledge of Thai cooking and a fear of dark beaches. With the relaxing over for now, let the party being - Koh Phi Phi here we come!
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