Advertisement
Published: February 24th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Ko Lanta - Local brew = Happy Shakes.
We thought we'd give Ko Lanta a whole blog of its own because all 9 of us absolutely loved the place and wished we'd spent at least a week there instead of just 3 days.
We got a boat here from Phi Phi then all piled into a pick up truck at the ferry port in Ko Lanta and headed the 15km up the coast to Long Beach. We had been recommended a couple of places to stay and ended up in 'Paradise Bungalows' which was right on the beach.
It was a bit of a squeeze as they only had 2 rooms for 9 of us so it was 4 in one room and 5 in the other! (One for the young un's and one for the older, more sensible contingent!). To be fair, this turned out a good arrangement as next morning, the young un's room smelt like they'd all been having a pissing contest til' the early hours and shall we say, was a little unsavoury!
Anyway, Long Beach is the place to be. It is one long stretch of road with guest houses and bars spread
out along the rather long beach.
There are no rules here. The place has been manufactured for travellers to put their feet up and chill out. To give you an idea, some bars along the beach are called 'Rasta baby', 'Marleys' and 'Chill Out Bar'. The bar owners have 'allegedly' paid off the local establishment and so can serve local delicacies over the counter similar to those on offer in Amsterdam. Infact, that is the best way to describe Ko Lanta.... Amsterdam in Paradise!
Needless to say, we chilled out bigtime. Just what we all needed after the hedonism and craziness of the last 3 weeks. (although one night here did unexpectedly get pretty crazy).
We met a new friend, a local Thai guy called 'A' who ran the Tommahawk bar on the beach. Me, Kelly and Shane had a few drinks with him and his brother who told us about the morning the Tsunami came. They were stood at the bar, looking out at the sea when all the water disappeared, getting sucked out to the horizon before raging back into shore in the giant tidal wave. They both escaped unhurt, fleeing to the hills behind the bar
after realising the danger. The bars all got smashed on Long Beach but only around 3 people died on Ko Lanta in total and luckily it wasn't one of the worst hit places.
That night we all lazed around a big table on giant cushions and just chilled, eating and drinking as the sun went down. The sunset was amazing (photos attached). Billy was so chilled out that he fell asleep in the middle of us all. Big mistake. Someone managed to find a thick blue marker pen and poor 'Little Tiny Bill' got a private tattoo from each and every one of us (When will we ever grow up?). It took him aboutv 20 minutes to realise after he'd woken up, in which time he was posing for photo's with us, totally unaware. "What are you all laughing at me for? Why are you all laughing?" Funny.
Later that night, our new mate 'A' whipped up a couple of funny shakes which a few people tried. Next thing you know, there's another dance-off in full swing. Later still and 'A' marches us all down the pitch black beach to a rave that's in full swing. We had a good
Lazy Daze
Billy before he fell asleep. Lazing around before Sunset couple of hours here until one of the lads got a knife flashed at him from one of the locals. That was that for the night, we headed back to the hotel and chilled there for a couple of hours where we were befriended by a couple of local stray dogs (who we named 'Singha' and 'Chang' after the local beers) who stayed with us for 2 days!
The rest of our time in Ko Lanta was just spent chillin. We tried out some good food, lazed around the pool, played beach volleyball, chilled in the cool bars and hammocks, slept..... perfect.
On the last night, we were having a few beers on the beach. Shane came running out of the bar with these shots in his hands. He passed one to me which I eventually drank. It had little bits of gristle in it. Then he told me it was a brandy with crushed up monkeys brains in it! Then he told me that the barman had said there is a problem with some of the local monkeys having HIV !!!!! What the...??? Never again.
When it was time to finally leave Lanta we were all gutted.
Just a few more days would have been spot on.
Final boat trip for the lads, we arrived back in Phuket to catch our flight up to Bangkok the next day. We headed to the Thai Boxing arena that night in Phuket. It was a good night with some fights better than others and a couple of fights looking like the boxers weren't really trying. The last fight of the night though, ended up with a kid getting has face smashed into what can only be described as a 'right bloody mess!' Oh well, that's the aim of the game.
We flew to Bangkok the next morning where we spent the day shopping for watches, jeans, t-shirts, perfume etc etc with the lads at the huge MBK centre. Jonny got himself a pretty cool tattoo with 'Thailand 08' written underneath it in Thai.
A few beers that night saw an early night for everyone. The lads were up at 4.30am next morning to catch the flight back to England. That was the last we saw of them. Didn't really get a chance to say bye as we slept right through.
What a mad 3 weeks!
So, just me and the
Billy wakes up!!!
Check out his leg. He hasn't got a clue! wife again. We booked ourself a bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Another day, another mission. We are back on the road again.....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0538s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
stacey Robbo
non-member comment
only me!!
Just wanted to be the only one to write on this entry- i dont think people are taking this seriously!!!! Loved the postcard pic - email it to me so i can put it on my wall- im bored of the wedding pics now......Ain't S.I.L a pretty little thing!!! xxx