Island hopping: Ko Lanta and Ko Mook

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We arrived in our guesthouse in Koh Lanta and went to the beach. We walked to a beach we had seen on a guidebook that was said to be a beautiful long white sand beach... Imagine our disappointment when it turned out to be a rocky brown sand beach where swimming was unsafe! Unimpressed with the north of Koh Lanta island, and considering going to the south was 300 bath per person for 20 Kms (which is very overpriced!), we booked a ride to another nearby island. On the next day, we planned to go to Ko Mook for a few days, and then come back straight to the south of Koh Lanta (so we don't have to pay for the overpriced journey!).
After our ride from our guesthouse to the pier, we get told our boat is very late and we have to wait an hour in the sun with no shadow. One of the tourists with us has a tent and installs it and I sit with him and his girlfriend (Kaue from Brazil and Mireia from Spain) under the shade. We end up being friends and spending time together in Ko Mook.
Ko Mook was very nice! We stayed in a lovely but very expensive hostel so on the next day, we swapped our beds in a dormitory for a bamboo hut (we paid the same price for one bed in the hostel and the whole bamboo hut!). It was a bit rough sleeping on a thin mattress on the floor, and staying in a place without flushing toilets but with a lot of bugs, but it went fine.
On the first morning, we went kayaking with Kaue, Mireia and three persons from our hostel. We went to a place called the Emerald Cave. We had to kayak through a dark cave to find a lovely little beach. On the way back, Shaun and I were leading and we took the wrong way, which meant that we were stuck in complete darkness, hearing only the noise of waves against the rocks. The other people followed us and were all stuck behind us in a very narrow cul-de-sac. After a little bit, a local saw us and told us it was the wrong way so we struggled to turn around and finally made it to the exit into the sea. This was a pretty intense and scary experience!
For the rest of the day, we relaxed on the loveliest beach, called Haad Farang (The foreigners' beach in Thai) where we met a Dutch/French couple with a baby. We chatted for a while, and we saw them on the same beach on the next day where we drank a beer together (except for Jules, the baby, who wasn't drinking beer!).
After two amazing days relaxing on Ko Mook, we left to go back to Koh Lanta. There, we stayed in a Bamboo Hut again but there was a flushing toilet (this now feels like a luxury!!). There is no hot water anywhere on the islands so we never spend too long showering (the water from the shower is colder than the sea!!). We rented a scooter and visited the south of the island, including a walk in the jungle! It was very fun!

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Photos

Gem hidden behind the Emerald Cave
This hidden beach was used by pirates to hide their treasures!