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Published: April 22nd 2009
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Train from Bangkok to Trang
Barry with our waitress onboard the 2nd class A/C carriage Our short stop over in Bangkok came to an end and we caught an overnight train to Trang on Thailand’s Andaman Coast. The trains in Thailand are great especially the sleeper variety, you get an attendant who comes and makes up your bed and a waitress fetches a steady flow of food and drink to save you the hassle of walking to the buffet car. The train departed 3 hrs later than scheduled so our KFC meal was well and truly eaten before we even left the platform. It was pouring with rain when we left Bangkok and the thunder was closing in on us as we exited the city…..hopefully we’ll be leaving bad weather behind us!! The journey to Trang took 15 hrs and we both slept very well in our bunks despite the stopping and starting at numerous stations in the middle of the night. Upon our arrival in Trang we swiftly booked ourselves onto a transfer to Ko Lanta with “K K Tours” right opposite the station, for 300 baht we got an A/C minibus plus two ferries and finally were dropped off at our chosen residence for the next 4 nights, a lovely place right on Long
Bev in her PJ's
Waiting for the steward to make the bed Beach called “Sanctuary”. We paid 400 baht for a hut with attached bathroom which was open air, a big double bed with mossie net and a hammock on our private veranda…..absolutely perfect for us.
For the next few days we chilled out and did very little except swim in the gorgeous warm sea and relax on the beach which at times was a challenge to get to, but more about that later!!! The Bangkok weather did seem to follow us and we spent one day in particular rained off the beach, it was miserable all day so we decided to check the Thai weather forecast…..it wasn’t looking good, we thought perhaps that we could avoid the rain by going elsewhere in Thailand but the ten day forecast predicted rain and thunder showers all over Thailand, we even thought about changing countries but the forecast was the same….rain and thunder predicted for the next ten days all across S E Asia…..bummer!!! We looked at flying over to Bali to catch some sun but the next day we woke up to beautiful sunshine and a cloudless sky, it did rain a little bit for an hour in the afternoon but we
Bedtime
Everyone except us two have gone to bed could cope with that so decided to stay put.
Nightlife on Lanta at this time of year is virtually none existent, we loved the chilled vibe around the Sanctuary bar at sunset time and the food in their restaurant was nice so we spent a few nights there just eating, drinking and catching up with the blogs and emails. Along the main road there are quite a few restaurants and bars including one called “Shooters”, we didn’t go in though because it seemed to have more staff than customers……that’s late season for you!! We were lucky to get one decent night out whilst we were there, it was a full moon during our stay and obviously being in Thailand full moon means full moon parties. The party that we went to was held on the beach about 2kms away from Sanctuary, we decided to walk along the main road as the beach is quite rocky in parts, we didn’t really know where we were going but the music helped us find our way and we arrived to find most of Sanctuary’s residents taking over the small dance floor. We opted for a mat on the sand at the waters
Goodnight Campers
Bev in the lower bunk on the sleeper train edge and watched the fire dancers strutting their stuff along with a few attempts from various p**s head backpackers, one guy almost fell onto the bonfire when attempting to dry his shorts after a swim…..the cheap local whisky out here is lethal!!!! (See the attached video of Fire Dancer, this is our first attempt at uploading videos on here so hope you can all manage to view it)
Long Beach on Lanta is apparently the nicest on the island, it’s a 3km stretch, almost sunbed free with white sand and clear water. There are a few rocks around where we stayed but at high tide they’re covered so you just have to remember that they’re there otherwise you get a nasty shock if you step on one. The river runs in from the hills and joins the sea close to Sanctuary, this was weird at high tide because you had to swim across the river to get to the beach, lucky for us we’d taken a couple of dry bags with us for the books and ipods.
The situation in Bangkok with the Red Shirts got steadily worse whilst we were on Lanta but we didn’t have TV
Final Destination
We reached Trang after 15hrs and a 3 hr delay in our hut so only caught bits of it on muted TV screens in the restaurant….thankfully we do not have to return to Bangkok so it doesn’t present any problems for our travel plans. Next we’re off to Krabi Province and will be staying in Krabi Town; it’s about 6 years since our last visit so it’ll be interesting to see how much the place has changed.
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Chris and Les
non-member comment
Shooters Bar
Hi You Two, Glad you're having a great time, we saw the Shooters Bar too, but we didn't go in as we knew it couldn't compare with the real thing. Your pics are making us wish we were back on Ko lanta. Oh well, we'll just have to console ourselves in The Jim. Bye for now, lots of Love from The Jim bar staff. xx