Blogs from Ko Lanta, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

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Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta February 21st 2024

I headed back to the beaches from Khao Sok, but this time to Southern Thailand and to the Krabi province. My first stop was Ao Nang. A key town in the province, this is a very popular town for beachgoers and island hoppers and I found it too crowded for my liking. But the sunsets and the night market were definitely noteworthy. I did use the time to gorge on some Indian food, talk to some tourists from China and learnt a lot about the country. Next stop for me was Koh Lanta, an island district with about 30,000 population. The setting was perfect for my last few days in Thailand, swimming in the calm waters (though lot of jellyfish around) and just lazing on the beach. And it's here that I finally got to see ... read more
Ao Nang Beach
Koh Lanta
Koh Lanta

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta January 17th 2024

When you land in Thailand you're automatically issued with a 30 day visa. Our time was running out so we needed to do a visa run to Malaysia. We left the comfort of Besthouse at 7.30am. we had booked a seat on the big bus to Trang but only a mini bus turned up. Apparently there was not enough people to warrant the big bus today. At Trang we would need to change busses but we only had one ticket. I asked the agent and she said we would be given a ticket for the second bus at Saladan, a small transport hub on Lanta. When we arrived there an agent took our ticket, I asked about the next one and was told it was ok, not needed but we could take a photo of the ... read more
View from our hotel window over the city
Spacious train to Penang Besar
Can't fall off the back! Or maybe we could!!

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta March 23rd 2023

Ko Phi Phi is a neighbouring island to Ko Lanta where we have based ourselves. Back in 2006 and again in 2008 we visited Ko Phi Phi and loved it. Since then we've heard many stories about how much it's been over developed and so, until now, avoided returning. Being so close here, curiosity got the better of us and we decided to take a day trip and see for ourselves. Our 'taxi' arrived almost on time and got us to the pier at Saladan at 7.55am with five minutes to spare before the ferry was due to sail. The ferry was also only five minutes late setting off so quite a record in these parts! The journey was supposed to take an hour, however, as we sailed merrily along at break neck speed there was ... read more
Sailing past Ko Jum
Phi Phi Ley coming into view
Phi Phi Ley

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta March 16th 2023

" What's the best bar in the whole world?" Kevin asked. " Aleena" we all shouted back. " And it's not even a bar! It's a mini mart! Kevin exclaimed. I'm sure I've mentioned Aleena before in my blogs. It's just one of those places you can't help meeting lots of interesting people. Tuesday night was Kevin's birthday so- any excuse for a party! A whole new set of card drinking games came out that we'd never played before. The whole pack was spread out on the table face down and each played took turns to pick one. Depending on the number you picked an action was required. Two was to put your head under the table. Not an easy task when you're all sat squashed together on a long sest. The one who picked the ... read more
Kevin claims to Love me! 🤣
Beer ping pong game
The teams who played Beer pong in the ' Final'

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta March 15th 2023

I've just come across this blog now we're home and have good wi fi. I realised I never published it. So a bit out of order I'll publish it now. Also I had problems loading photos onto the blog " sailing to Phi Phiisland" I've now resolved the problem and have added more if you want to jump forward two blogs you'll find them. It's still my favourite island scenic-wise so well worth a look. ------------- +++++ ------- ++++++ --------- ++++++---------- Ko Lanta is one of Thailand's biggest islands but unlike Phuket, which has been over developed, Lanta has remained like ' Old Thailand' . Because of the size, to see it all you need transport. We hired a small car for one day. There's only really one road that goes down to the national park ... read more
Our car for the day.
First beach we called at.
Workers on their daily routine tending to the gardens.

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta February 21st 2023

One of the things we love about this part of the world are the warm evenings. On Ko Lanta, if you want it, there's always something going on. We'd heard there was a Food and Music Festival being held on Beautiful Beach so decided to take a trip there one evening. As we walked past the mini mart and up the dust street to the main road a tuk tuk driver called out- "where you go? Tuk tuk? " We told him the music festival and he looked clueless, all the same he gestured us to get in. When we got onto the main road he asked us to point which way then got out his phone and brought up Google maps. We pointed to Beautiful beach and he seemed to know it, but I got ... read more
The track leading down to the beach from the main road was lined with food stalls
A whole variety of food
Great choice of fruits and cakes

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta February 10th 2023

Three and a half days after leaving home we're now on Ko Lanta. Three flights, three taxis and one minivan. We've been dreaming of returning for the last three years so happy to be back finally. As we're planning to stay for a few weeks were taking things quite slowly. It's just so nice to be experiencing warm, or should I say hot, weather. No putting on layers of clothing before leaving home. Here we just slide our feet into flip flops and go. Everyone walks around with a smile on their face as if they've not a care in the world. It's very infectious. So now it's time to chill out. Firstly we wake up to the sound of some nearby chickens clucking away around 6.30am, as they quieten down there's a bird with a ... read more
Quiet end of the beach
On the main road is Irie Bar where you can dance the night away to live bands.
The main road. As you can see it's never busy!

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta January 7th 2023

After a very long wait and with flights having unsurprisingly gone up, I booked for Singapore, then straight onto Thailand, Laos and Malaysia. It hardly seemed real and I hoped I still had it in me! Luckily I still had a pro subscription to Tripit, such an easy way to collate all transport and accommodation. I really recommend it! The most convenient flight was via Doha, which wouldn’t have been my first choice by a long way, but direct flights were few and very expensive, and other offers which looked good on the surface didn’t include bags. So I faced a bleary-eyed transfer halfway through and hoped that 1 1/2 hours would be enough time for my bag to make it onto the next plane. In the end it was 1hr20mins and my bag arrived. Had ... read more
Peranakan architecture, now a very expensive cafe.
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Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta April 7th 2020

.With a feeling of great relief we landed back in the ' Land of Smiles' i.e. Thailand. Phuket to be exact. We had originally intended to spend our last two weeks exploring new places in Thailand but what with the threat of flights being cancelled due to Corona virus and my eye problem that was steadily getting worse, we made the decision to just return to Ko Lanta. Being a relatively small island is was slightly shielded from the rest of the world, and hopefully Corona. As each day had passed we were getting more and more news of it's spread and it seemed we had just got out of India in time. It was only 6.30 am when we landed and getting through passport control was particularly fast. Phuket is a major tourist place for ... read more
Cooking class
Quiet beaches as the crowds gradually go home
Waiting at a bar with no beer

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lanta February 17th 2020

Oh! We do have interesting journeys and we certainly travel in style! The small dirty pick-up truck that arrived at 9.15 a.m. on Saturday morning to take us to the pier on Koh Jum, already had four people on board, one of whom was very large. We had to climb up over the tailboard and sit with our rucksacks between our knees in a tiny space and hang on tight as we bumped along. The two young boatmen in charge of our Long-tail, were very chilled out, smoking weed as they navigated through the mangroves and then out to sea; the aroma wafted all around us as we chugged along across the Andaman waves. Eventually, “Land Ahoy!” there was the island of Koh Lanta, with its nice solid-looking wooden pier, before us. However, unlike the ferry ... read more
Koh Jum jetty
Farewell Koh Jum
Last beach on Koh Lanta west coast




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