Stick a fork in me

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I'm done. Ko Lanta is officially my Shangri-La. I said goodbye a couple of days ago to the girls I had been traveling with, possibly the sweetest people in the world and another set of people (like the women on the plane trip that I haven't mentioned yet but maybe some day will) who seemed to think that I a) had some clue what I'm doing and b) felt that being with me was apparently safer than being alone (maybe it's all my muy thai training haha). I woke up early to watch the sun come up in Phi Phi, the mornings there were the best time of day, no humidity, soft breezes in the trees, the weather hovers in the 70s, the works in other words. I packed up and headed into town to kill time before the boat left at 11:30 by checking the Internet (I can't stop myself!), grabbing a fruit shake and idly bargaining with people at the street stalls. I had an interesting experience where I really managed to piss off one guy after I looked at a set of wooden hanging picture frames and he told me 750 and I said 200 and he dropped it to 600 and I pointed out that the woman up the street had just told me 400 and that I would be willing to take it for 200. I didn't really want to carry the picture frames around for the next three weeks (I have yet to buy a single thing to take home, which I am inordinantly proud of, because I keep telling myself that everything I have seen that I want to buy, I have also seen in Bangkok and so I can just buy it there on my way out of the country; but I'm warning that my resolve is cracking). Anyways he was as mad as a wet cat and just stalked back to the back of his stall and I wandered off. But it was the first time I had ever seen anyone take bargaining like that seriously, you know, all two seconds of it.

The boat to Ko Lanta was filled with touts selling places to stay (you get a free ride to the resort, and can "decide" if you want to stay there when you see the place). I figured I had nothing to lose and I chose the one with the two touts I liked the most and who spoke really good english and agreed to meet them after the boat docked. I passed out asleep the entire ride and had to actually be woken when the boat landed in Ko Lanta around 1:00/1:30. We took a large tuk-tuk/sangtheaow (sp?) to the resort with me in the back with a group from Sweden and two German boys (I think) and I liked what I saw so I agreed to stay there for two nights for 500B total.

In other words in Phi Phi I spent 500B for two nights for a twin sized bunk bed in a dorm room with no privacy and a bathroom that housed fist-sized spiders just WAITING for a chance to eat an American traveler alive! And in Lanta I was paying the exact same amount for my OWN PRIVATE BUNGALOW across the street from the beach, brand new everything (the furniture still had some plastic on it), my own bathroom, double bed, mosquito netting, hammock, etc. Obviously I liked this place already. I showered (to wash my hair since it had been so long) and then headed to the beach for the rest of the afternoon unti the sun set. Then showered, changed and spent the night at the beach eating dinner, and listening to the waves crash on the beach.

I actually spent a lot of time that night thinking about how "romantic" the place was that i was staying at (candlelit dinners on the beach etc) and thinking that maybe we are just conditioned to think that a place like that is by definition, romantic. I found it peaceful but didn't think I was missing anything by not being accompanied by a significant other.

The next day I was determined to spend the entire day relaxing and I did a pretty damn good job. I woke up early and got breakfast by the beach and then spread out my towel and stayed there on the beach until around 4pm. I swam for hours in the clear blue waters (instead of just the clear waters of Phi Phi). The sand here is golden instead of white, but also SOFT instead of rocky, and there are these little transluscent sand-crabs that scuttle everywhere. You can also see (I think its Phi Phi) an island that hovers on the horizon as the most delicate mirage - it was clearer the first day but definitely there the second day as well). The tides in Lanta were psycho, I think it may have been the effect of the full moon but I have never seen anything so drastic. The first day I was there the water was fairly low and you could see it had uncovered some large underwater boulders that dot the beach. The next morning I came out and the water was about 20 ft higher than it was the day before and stayed higher the entire day (significantly deeper as well) and then the second morning it was lower than I had ever seen it before. Anyways after my strenuous day of lying (mom?) on the beach and sleeping I relaxed by getting a thai massage with coconut oil as the sun set over the water. I want you all to know exactly how smug I feel when I write those words 😊. Dinner was down the beach at a different restaurant, I got chicken paat thai with chili flakes and peanuts sprinkled on it (since I figured I should have it once before I leave thailand, and veggie tempuram, because vegetables are healthy (even when deepfried?).

I woke up early this morning and took a mini-bus at 7:30 to Trang (nothing to see there besides a giant farmer's market, got fruit for breakfast) and then after an hour layover another minibus to Hat Yai (2 hours, getting in at 1:30) and I'm not really surprised that when I got to Hat Yai and tried to get a train ticket they were all sold out until tomorrow morning. So I went back to the minibus agency I had come with and bought a ticket to Penang with them and I should be there around 7:30 (4 hours) if all goes well. I think I was pretty lucky with this agency, the lonely planet has a lot of warnings about unscrupulous travel agencies, especially the mini-bus ones, and so far this one has been fair and on-time. Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!

Tonight I get another stamp on my passport!

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Comments

[Traci Haback]

I hate you
because I'm jealous. I have been updating excel spreadsheets all day. I hope you enjoyed your coconut oil massage on the beach. That is all.

[Shoshanaz]

Excel Spreadsheets? who are you, Caroline?

[Caroline]

in fact i haven't been doing very much with excel spreadsheets lately, but i have had my fair share in the past as we all know. but i, too, hate you. the closest i get to a tropical paradise are these two fake beaches they've recently constructed at opposite ends of the city, that try to make you feel like you're at the beach by having recliner chairs, sand, and volleyball nets, and a view of the water, which is actually a small, dirty lake that you aren't allowed to go in due to health hazards. ohhh argentina.