Ko Lanta...........THE END!!

---

It took nearly two hours by boat from Ao Nang to the island of Ko Lanta for our Christmas break! The island isn't as touristy as the other places we've visited so far in Thailand and is a bit less developed as electricity and phonelines only arrived on the island within the last ten years! So we chose to visit here hoping for a quiet, relaxed time around Christmas!

To enable this dream we stayed at Relax Bay Resort (!) which is just south of Long Beach (Phra-Ae Beach). It's situated on a gorgeous quiet beach shared by only 1 or 2 other small resorts and a few restaurants/bars, so it feels quite secluded which is lovely! We'd booked a bungalow with a sea view but when we arrived that's not what we got. They had double booked but thankfully we got to move on the 2nd day to a bungalow with a stunning view, 5 metres from the beach! We had a nice balcony with one hammoack which GG hogged all the time! As well as the mix up with the room the staff kept us entertained as often 4 or 5 people were needed to deal with one query and you sometimes didn't get what you asked for e.g. JP asked for a curry with 'less spice' but it blew her head off and was given a lecture from a stroppy waiter for not saying the word 'mild' instead when she complained! They also lost our laundry so G had to rake through other people's pants to find our own gear!

It was lovely to swim in the sea by our bungalow and we often swam before breakfast and at sunset when we were usually the only ones in the water. There were massages available on the beach which we took full advantage of and they were brilliant! The beach was also amazing in the evening as there were a few bonfires, people doing fire twirling and fire lanterns being set off into the night sky.

We visited the nearby town of Saladan by tuk tuk (a small scooter and sidecar) where Jen got her final shopping fix of the trip! After browsing the local market she bought a beach dress, which was clearly essential with 3 days of the trip left to go! It's a nice wee town with many of the buildings on the waterfront built on stilts. Even more important than the dress purchase, there was a 7/11 shop where Jen got her coke slurpee fix!

We had a walk on Long Beach from one end to the other, which funnily enough was quite long! It's also a stunning stretch of sand but a bit busier than the one at Relax Bay Resort as there is more accommodation nearby.

We had a fab Christmas Day in the sun! We had a swim in the sea before breakfast, went for an aromatherapy massage, G swung on his hammock for hours and we went to a BBQ on the beach for Christmas dinner!

We had a great time in Ko Lanta and would thoroughly recommend visiting! There's more to do on the island (like exploring other beaches and villages, boat trips or elephant treks) but we continued to be very lazy after our exhausting world tour so never got round to doing any of them!

Fom Ko Lanta we got 2 ferries and a bus to Krabi. We then flew to Bangkok, where we are just now and we're just here for one night. Our trip of a lifetime is sadly nearing the end as we fly to Edinburgh via London very early on Monday morning. Lets hope BA strike after all and the weather is so bad that we're stranded in SE Asia!

THE END!

---

Comments

[Gordon and Jenny]

Photos added 29/12/09
Virus cured! Photos there now!