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Published: February 28th 2010
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Ko Lanta
The minibus caused us a minor heart attack by being late in picking us up, but we got to the ferry port in time and found seats below deck, where we chilled out for the 2 and a half hour journey. Ko Lanta is a fairly large island and is actually one of 52 islands of which only 12 are inhabited, all being surrounded by either mangroves or coral ringed beached. The main town is at the northern end, but smaller village-like areas exist all the way down the west coast as this is the area developed for tourism. Arriving at the island, we chose a promising looking tout who was offering bungalows on one of the bigger beaches for a reasonable price and jumped aboard the free transport to the 'resort'.
Arriving at the place was a little disappointing as it seemed very far from the nearest shops and although it was set beautifully right on the beach, the bungalows were very basic: bed and mosquito net, bathroom as an add-on with a toilet with no flush (memories of India...). It was also not on the beach we had been led to believe which itself was
the next cove over which we could see no way of accessing from our current position. However, at 300 baht a night on a generally expensive island (in our terms) was too good to pass up, so we stayed.
After an initial walk about though the place began to grow on us. The beach we were on was quite quiet with only a handful of other resorts nearby, and there were two other almost deserted white beaches in the opposite direction separated only by small pieces of bushland and a few rocks. (We were quite shocked by the latter of the two as is seemed to have been adopted by westerners who prefered the 'all over tan' look!) The walk to the shops also proved not to be too onerous at only 10mins with a cut through across the school field - it was just the truck we were travelling in had to take the rough track past abandoned playgrounds and deserted scrub-like fields - not a promising entranceway. When we reached civilisation Warren began enquiring into dive sites and we then headed to 7/11 to stock up on provisions.
After a good night's sleep we felt much
better about being where we were as it dawned on us that some people will come here and spend a small fortune for isolation and a near private beach. Our bungalow had a small veranda with hammock and sea view. We hired a motorbike to explore the island which was great fun on the quiet roads. Having done this many times before, we managed to judge almost exactly how much petrol to put in for the distances we were going, which is a skill we've acquired after returning bikes in the past still half full. Heading to the main town, we had a look around and then headed over to a very picturesque beach with a nice big sand bar that you can swim out to.
As most of the tourist resorts are on the west side of the island, we hoped to get off the beaten track a bit by taking the road down the east side of the island to old Lanta. It is supposed to be an old Chinese fishing village but arriving there it was clear that it also had cashed in on the tourist trade with restaurants, souvenir shops etc. No matter though as
we found a nice place to sit out over the water and eat noodle soup while looking out over the clear blue water at the surrounding islands. We then headed back to the west side over the mountains hilly interior to explore the southern portion of the west coast. Of course it was just more resorts and dive shops but it was still a pleasant ride past all the rocky coves and sandy beaches. We rounded off the day by buying a few bottles of Chang beer (at 6.5%, you don't need much!) and watched the sunset.
Warren had booked a dive on the following day so an early morning start was inevitable but was well worth it getting on to the speed boat and heading out on the speed boat to the dive site at Ko Ha, a series of rocky pinnacles in the middle of the sea. Taking only half an hour to get there (compared to the 2hours needed on the big dive boats) meant that we had time to do three dives. It was a great day for it as the boat was near empty so there was plenty of space and the sea was
totally flat and very clear with in excess of 25m visibility. Although not as impressive as some of the other dives in terms of fish, the topography of the sites was impressive with lots of underwater swim throughs, chimneys to swim up and underwater caves to explore. Although the trainee dive master managed to get us lost, we forgave him as its pretty tough to navigate underwater. With average depths of around 12m, we were able to stay down for nearly an hour on each dive, which is a personal longest so far. It can be tough to conserve your air by not over exerting yourself when there is so much to see that you want to swim around fat and see it all. The dives were broken up with delicious yellow curry, kept warm in cool boxes and the amusing antics of the dive-masters and the crew as then attempted to push each other in the water. The funniest thing was that one of the snorkellers was vegetarian and there was no vegetarian lunch on board for her so the dive master made his trainee swim over to another dive boat and beg/borrow/steal a vegetarian lunch. He succeeded and
had to swim back holding one arm out of the water to keep it dry. All in all it was a great trip out.
For our final day on Ko Lanta, and last full day in Thailand before heading to Malaysia, we made the most of the beach and the clear warm sea. It was pretty much a day of lazing around but with a nice meal on the beach instead of the usual fried noodles or rice. A restaurant nearby sets up tables on the sand and holds a nightly seafood BBQ so we treated ourselves to barbecued barracuda, and didn't feel too bad about it despite having swam with them the previous day on the basis that they are truly ugly fish. Unfortunately our last night had to be a relatively early one as a minibus was coming to collect us at 7:15 the next morning. It was sad to leave the place as Ko Lanta had really grown on us, even with our rustic beach bungalow we'd miss the relaxed atmosphere and peaceful beaches. Thailand is a fantastic place and has been a very enjoyable destination for us so I've no doubt we'll be back again
some time in the future.
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valda
non-member comment
hi
I think you will have to have your bridesmaid dress taken in several sizes if the photo of you on this page is anything to go on. Also you both look very fit and well and can u please send us some nice weather. Raining again had to rush back to get washing in as fine this am. Love to you both Mum