Advertisement
Published: June 16th 2008
On the way to Koh Lanta we had the misfortune of passing through the asshole of Phuket - Chalong. 3 words. DON'T GO THERE. The main road was lined with cheap red light bars, with giggling thai girls and old western men and horrible hotels which could be hired by the hour. We did find a reasonable hotel (with free wi-fi thanks to someone), a decent fish and chip shop (SERIOUSLY!) and a really nice curry place. So maybe it wasn't all bad. But nearly all bad.
We got the boat from Phuket to Lanta, with a quick change of boats at Ko Phi Phi. When we got on the first boat we had a sticker attached to us according to our final destination, which made us feel a bit like parcels rather than people! When we got near Ko Phi Phi , the boat did a slow pass of a neighbouring island which is a bird sanctuary with no buildings or tourists allowed to stay. It was very rugged and wild looking. Everyone was jockeying for position on the boat to try and take pictures of the island without the tops of peoples heads in, which kind of spoils
When Joe met Alex...
Note the brochures and spliff in Joe's hands!the shot of a deserted island. We then arrived at Phi Phi, which is known as a bit of a party island where the young'uns go to drink, smoke weed, throw up and shag each other (not necessarily in that order). Being past all that (sadly) we swapped ferries and continued our journey to Ko Lanta. We boarded the boat which only had a handful of other people on it and as we walked through the main seating area Joe was suddenly like a bisto kid following a green trail which lead back to an interesting looking cigarette a local was smoking. “Mmmm... That smells nice” Joe remarked as he passed and was soon puffing away contentedly and chatting to his new friend Alex. It turned out Alex was actually a representative (read tout) from a small resort called Miami Lanta trying to recruit guests. He told us “don't worry, I have plenty back at my chalet”. He gave us his sales pitch and brochure and showed us pictures and news articles about how deserted the beach was. We noticed the articles had been published in the late 90s and he admitted there were a *few* more buildings now. Joe
sat there with a contented grin and informed Mon he wanted to stay there. Another tout then came over and gave Mon his pitch and his brochure. The rooms looked better, it had a swimming pool (to which Alex question why you needed a pool when you had the sea??) and was exactly the same price. Mon was almost swayed, but Alex had Joe at hello.
There was Thai music playing and a telly in the corner of the cabin had the lyrics displayed (in Thai, obviously) and the usual random background video which accompanies karaoke. Alex noticed us looking at the telly asked if we fancied a bit of a sing song and before you can say Bjorn's your uncle, a microphone was produced handed back by the captain and the opening bars of Abba's Dancing Queen (the techno version) were pumping out the soundsystem which had been cranked up for the occasion. Mon was soon doing a duet with Alex and it sounded as bad as it sounds :-) Soon the donut lady appeared and we were munching on donuts and drinking water to wash them down to our pumping hi-energy sound track.
When we got
Joe chilling at Mongs bar
Notice the sign for Big Chang 60 baht - a big bottle of beer for a pound. Not too bad. Also, there is a sign for the magic mushroom shake to the dock at Lanta we piled into the back of Alex's pick up along with 4 other punters Alex had captured on the boat who were 2 Thai girls and 2 middle aged English blokes. (Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more). There was a 30 minute drive and then we were pulling into the resort which was on a nice sandy beach. The reception and bar/restaurant were made from wood and bamboo, creating a nice chilled out beach vibe. There was a little bar in the corner that we would be getting to know extremely well over the next few days. We sat down for our first proper meal of the day and a cold drink and Alex brought a little present over for Joe and informed us that it was OK to smoke on the beach and in the resort but to exercise caution elsewhere.
The next few days we spent chilling around the resort and swimming in the sea and getting drunk and stoned with the bar staff each evening. Eventually we thought we better start doing something a bit more constructive (against Joe's will, or lack of) and hired a moped to head into
The main beach
This was one of the dive sites at Ko Ha. town and check out the local dive shops and check out some other beaches. The first dive shop we went to was a small operation and as it was the very end of the season was no longer running trips to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang which are the 2 star attractions of the area. They are 2 submerged rocks about 3.5 hours boat ride from Lanta and are meant to be pretty impressive and are another hot spot for Manta sitings which we both really wanted to see. The guy also mentioned the weather was not great for those sites, but if he had enough people he might run a trip that week... We then found Lanta Divers, the biggest shop on the island and were pleased to find that they were planning to do a trip there the day after next. WOOHOO! We signed up for 2 dives at a more local dive site (Ko Ha) the following day and Hin Daeng and Hin Muang the day after that. That evening, we noticed that the place next door did milkshakes with magic mushrooms in and made a mental note to try them after we had finished our 2
Joe and Mon!
In between dives... days of diving.
The diving at Ko Ha was excellent. We had a local guy called Gung as our guide. He was not a man of many words (although we were later informed by one of his colleagues that he was a man of many dives) but he was fantastic in the water and showed us loads of cool things including a pair of Harlequin Shrimps which we had been wanting to see for ages (Jen - ha ha!). It was just us two in the group which was perfect.
The next day we were picked up at 6am to allow for the looooooong boat ride to the dive sites. We picked up a few others on the way including a pair of American twits who unfortunately turned out to be in our dive group. On the bright side we found that Gung was our guide again. As we motored out towards the dive site the clouds up ahead started to look ominous with dark clouds and soon we were rolling down the sides of the boat as the heaven rain begun and the sea started to get rougher. Unknown to us at this time, the captain was
trying all the frequencies he could to raise another dive boat or fishing boat which was out in the area we were heading to to check that the seas were not to rough and that the weather was OK. There were no boats at all in the area and that is not a good sign. The gods of diving were not smiling on us that day and we were informed we would be diverting to... Ko Ha. Again. The diving at Ko Ha was good again but with wanks, I mean yanks in toe it was not quite the same. Gung had to baby sit them so we did not have his undivided attention but we did go through a nice cave with a swimthrough connecting it to another cave and at the end of our last dive we saw a MASSIVE octopus swimming around freely and showing off by changing colours and doing impressions of different bits of coral. We followed him for ages and managed to lose the Americans in the process which was a bonus. Eventually our air gauges told us it was time to part company with the beast of the deep and return to the
Mon and Mee
"I feel like a flower..... laying next to a goat"...
boat. As we slowly ascended to the surface we could see where each raindrop broke the surface of the ocean creating a textured ceiling above our heads which was breathtaking.
We got back to the resort showered and changed and then hit the bar where we got a bit wasted with the staff, P'Dang, Tiger, Mee and a Japanese lady called Ha. Joe went and got his mp3 player and put on some tunes which had everyone grooving. We drank beers and cocktails - long island ice teas for Joe (of course!) and mojitos and bloody Marys for Mon. When were sufficiently drunk the flaming sambucas came out and we learnt a new way of doing them involving 3 different glasses and a straw. We were chatting to Mee and he was telling us about his conquests among the travellers on the island and moaning about the quality of woman he was able to pull. To quote the great man himself
“I feel like a flower, lying next to a goat”. Gold.
The next day we chilled and hung out with hang overs. We smoked what was left of our stash as we were leaving for Malaysia shortly
Dog pushes her luck
Get off the drink!!! and didn't fancy getting killed for drug trafficking or even worse getting life at the Bangkok Hilton. That evening Joe realised it was his last chance to try the mushroom shake. Mon decided she didn't fancy it so Joe ended up having 2 mushroom shakes with some random English girls and a mad South African and her passed out boyfriend. The mushrooms were not bad and he spent a few hours laying in the sand and getting lost in the stars above on a beautifully clear moonless night. He eventually decided to call it a night and wandered back to the room covered in sand from head to toe and proceeded to wake up Mon while trying to have a quiet shower before collapsing into bed. The next day he spent doing 1000 yard stares and forgetting what he was talking about. Our time at Ko Lanta had come to an end and it was time to get the bus, ferry, bus, ferry, bus, bus, bus, taxi to Kota Bharu in the north of Malaysia to meet up with Anand our fellow turtle bay diver from the Perhentians where we trained and worked as dive masters the previous year. We
Joe not posing
Just admiring the sunset... had some tasty chicken satay and a few beers with Anand and then spent the night in the luxury of his sisters room back at his family home with a niiiice soft bed, on-suite, air conditioning and just that homely feel that only comes in.... A home. We were soon sleeping ready for an early start in the morning as the following day was Mayday, a public holiday in Malaysia and we wanted to beat the holidaying locals to the island and grab the remaining accommodation.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0489s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Jen
non-member comment
Shrimp shmimp......mantas are better! Much love Jen xx