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Published: January 2nd 2008
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Safety First
Parasailing seemed relatively safe. At least that's what I told myself. Ok, most of you know we are actually back in Australia now, but we aren't done with Thailand stories, so let's pretend...
When we last chatted we were in Phuket, looking forward to getting the hell out. It was nice to be at the beach and all, but everyone else was there, too, from tourists to hawkers, and we didn't have much peaceful-beach-time. We did, however, have some nice parasailing-time and viewing-of-transvestites-time, so it wasn't a complete waste.
Parasailing was fun. It was a running start from the beach, and you trailed around the boat in the bay for a few minutes before coming gently to rest in the water and climbing back onto the boat. Some people wanted to do it without getting wet (they had come in from the cruise ship and didn't have swim suits) and it was apparently no problem. When they took off they had a small Thai guy on their back like a monkey, and he climbed up on their shoulders during the ride. They kept the rope really long, and when they came in the little Thai man stood up and hung on the freaking parachute to make it swing out over
On the Run
The running start was pretty fun, and the water landing was as gentle as can be. the beach for a dry landing. It was insane.
We went around to a few of the approximately 4,376 tour and travel booths on Patong beach to get some opinions about where we should spend the remainder of of time in Thailand, and eventually we settled on Ko Lanta. Apparently the northern part of the island is as bad as Phuket, but as you go farther south things start to get very deserted. I found a map of the island with the hotels listed on it and started with the most southern beach. We found a hotel that was a good price and they picked you up from the boat, so we booked it and were on our way.
It took about 4 hours to get there by boat, which was pretty much packed so we hung our legs over the side and read and took in the scenery. When we got in the truck once we hit Ko Lanta we drove out of town and down a really rough dirt road, 4-wheel drive only kind of thing. That helps keep the tourists away from "our beach," as we became fond of calling it. We had two options
Going Up
Chris on his way up for a fun ride on Patong Beach in Phuket. for lodging when we arrived, air conditioning or non-air conditioning rooms. The non-a/c rooms had lovely fans, so we chose one and they brought up our bags. Probably wouldn't have been able to get them up there on our own, as there were 108 VERY STEEP steps to climb from the main building up to our room. Believe me, I counted more than once. It became our practice to make sure we had everything we needed when we left in the morning so we didn't have to go back to the room until night.
After getting situated we went down to the restaurant and had some lunch, then hit the beach, because that's why we were there. It was beautiful. Not being an overly populated beach you don't get the chairs and umbrellas, but there are no hawkers and hardly any other tourists, so it was more than worth it. In fact, the most people we ever counted on that beach was 16, including us, and it was busy when there was 10. Just what we wanted.
The food was really good, and since we decided to enjoy the rest of our trip and not scrape by for
On the Boat
There weren't exactly seats on the boat ferries to the islands. There were some inside where it smelled of the engine room... we copped a squat on the side walkway for the duration. an extra month, we ate plenty of it. Our days consisted of a lovely breakfast, laying on the beach with a book and a large bottle of water (which must be finished before we ate lunch), a lovely lunch, laying on the beach with a book and a large bottle of water (which must be finished before dinner), sundowners in the bar, games of Phase 10 (and our new additional phases which make it Phase 15!), a lovely dinner, a few beers, and then a hike back to our "treehouse". It was a hard life.
We only deviated a few times. One day it rained all day so we spent that one laying on the couch with a book and a large bottle of water. Some nights they had fresh fish on a wood fire bar be que or a fire show, and one day we decided we needed to get out and explore. There was a waterfall nearby, and you could take an elephant out there. I didn't want to ride the elephants at first - a bit of a moral conflict. It is a complicated question and answer, and if you want more information see
this article. So
Bamboo Bay
This was our "resort" on Ko Lanta, as viewed from the beach. yeah, we rode the elephant, and it was DELIGHTFUL.
Shw was a sweet girl, and we sat on the seat provided while the mahout (elephant trainer, if you didn't read your article!) sat right on her head. He guided her with a little pinch on one ear or another, but like trail horses she pretty much knew where she had to go anyway. It was not a smooth ride - they move slowly, but you have to maintain your balance or you will fall off - but we decided we much prefered the elephant to the camel. After a few minutes the mahout pointed to me, then to the elephant, then jumped off her head and pointed to me and the elephant again. I got to slide off the seat and sit behind her ears! When we got the the drop off point we bought her a whole bunch of bananas and waited for our guide for the hike the rest of the way to the waterfall and cave.
If was a nice walk, and it was good to go on a hike in the woods again, but I have previously seen both waterfalls and caves so I
Sunset
The beach was PACKED for sunset our first night here. was most looking forward to riding back to the town! When we got back to the cafe area (I use the term very loosley by the way) they gave us some water and a banana (tee hee) and when our elephant was ready we got back on for the ride. Again after a few minutes the mahout did the pointing and jumping off thing, and I got to sit back in my favorite spot. I was less nervous this time, so I swatted away horseflies while her ears kept the mosquitoes off my legs, and we had a nice ride back. We got her a pineapple once we got there, and we were all happy.
Back at our "treehouse" we had a nice cold shower (did I mention? No hot water, which is pretty standard in Thailand, even in cities. You pay extra for the luxury of hot water, but we didn't need it much anyway!). It rained that afternoon as well, but we had another few days of our typical routine (see paragraph seven) before grudgingly packing up our stuff and heading back to the real world.
As we were now living like tourists and not travelers
How's the Serenity
It was a lovely beach, and had good snorkeling. (if you have been both, you know the difference), we decided to fly back to bangkok instead of take the 15 hour bus ride, and we spent the last night before our flight back on the mainland in the city of Krabi so we were close to the airport. We stayed in a five-star hotel (for $70 per night!) and had hot water, a lovely pool and lagoon, and a breakfast to die for. Then we jumped in the van to go to the airport and we said goodbye to our peaceful week and headed back to Bangkok.
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Gina
non-member comment
Is that like At Lanta?
Your pictures are as gorgeous as always! I wish I could stay in a tree house. The 108 steps would do me some good. Oh well. Tears in a bucket, mother Phuket.