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Sawadee Kaaaaa - the duration of hello here seems to get longer, depending on the pace of life. Now that we're on Ko Lanta, the pace is decidedly slow and the greetings can go on for minutes at a time.
So as I was writing this, I realised that I have no idea what the day or date is - now we're cooking with fish sauce! One week in and we really feel like we're on holidays. The rest of our time in Phi Phi was spent doing the usual, trying to eat as much food as possible, drink much beer, block out the sounds of constant Thai pop and try and get ourselves to the pier in time for our boat. After saying our goodbyes to Chris from Garden Home, it was time to turtle up (put our packs on) and wander down to town for breakfast and the boat.
We arrived in Ko Lanta yesterday - again on a boat for 400 Baht across from Phi Phi. It was a really cruisy trip and we met an awesome Brazilian couple onboard who later turned out to be staying at the same accommodation. Again, we didn't book due
to no one answering the phone at the place we wanted to stay. Lanta is bigger than Phi Phi too, so we knew we couldn't just walk wherever we wanted to. But on the boats, they have these guys who come up to you with brochures and try and sell you a place to stay. In the end we chose Blue Andaman Resort - it's pretty close to everything and at the moment it's CHEAP! We have a nice little room with air con and a fan, fridge and ensuite, all for 400 Baht.
The guy who sold us the room called himself Alex and was all decked out in his western style clothes on the ferry, then they packed us all into Tuk Tuks and off we went to the resort. We spent the evening bumming around the resort, snorkelling and swimming. It's absolute beachfront, so not far to go to get wet. We had a couple of beers and waited for the sunset, which we were promised would be spectacular. We had no idea what we were in for.
The beaches of Lanta face west, so as the sun started to set, we had front row
Bucketty goodness
Hippies Bar
Phi Phi seats to one of the most spectacular sights we've seen so far. As the sky went from shades of pink and purple to reds and oranges, the local Thais wandered out onto the low tide exposed reefs and fished. It was mesmerising and I'm stoked that Nemo had the presence of mind to take all the photos he did. I just sat there, drank my beer and took it in.
Once again Nemo found a couple of kids on the beach who were delighted to pose for innumerable photos for him as long as he showed them each shot afterwards!
We later saw Alex about the bar/restaurant again, this time in his full Muslim garb. Lanta has a more obvious Islamic presence than Phi Phi or Phuket, and the Mosques are all over the countryside.
As we've probably mentioned before, this is definitely the low season here. This means that prices are lower, the weather is hotter and wetter, and it also means that in some areas many things are closed. We've seen more of this in Lanta than elsewhere, with entire resorts shutting for the slow season. Many restaurants and dive shops are closed as well.
Vodka Buckets
Hippies Bar
Phi Phi It also means that the 'bar' at our resort only sells beer and nothing else. I like my beer, but am missing the option to drink anything else. As a consequence, Nemo and I have been more sober in these past few days than for the past several years. Who woulda thunk?
After a bit of a late start today, we decided to finally get out and about Lanta a little more and as the traffic here is not as terrifying (my impression, not Nemo's), we hired a scooter for 200 Baht for the day. And so off we went on an adventure!
We missed the first turn we were supposed to take, but fortuitously this took us away from the beaches and inland towards the jungle. There is a lookout here (they're called Viewpoints) and a couple of restaurants where we had a coffee and a banana mocha shake (so good!!!). Spectacular views all around, but I'm coming back when it is less overcast to see what it looks like in sunshine. From there we kept at it, braving the steep decline to the other side of the island. The earth there is red and orange, like
Low tide
Ko Phi Phi what we have in Oz and totally not what I expected here. We followed the road to Old Lanta town, which is an orginally Chinese settlement next to a pier that was central to the Siam spice trade in years past. The whole town is built of wood and looks like an old mining town or even something out of the wild west.
On our way back up the hill, we were amused to see whole families on scooters pass us, as our poor machine struggled to get our fat gringo arses up the incline. ;o)
After a couple of detours where we tried to find caves that weren't there, we pushed back to the turn that we were supposed to make and cruised down the coast towards the south of Lanta. We were rewarded with some incredible scenery of the beaches and cliffs, as well as several villages on the way. It was somewhere around here that I finally relaxed enough to dig my claws out of Nemo's sides. As some of you may know - I am officially the worst passenger on a motorbike that ever lived. Mostly this is because I religiously move the wrong
way. So now I may be cured...
We tried to make for the nature reserve and waterfall at the south of the island but alas, the road got a little too hairy for us to continue so we had to abort the mission. Might see if team Brazil wants to share the cost of hiring a jeep for a few hours tomorrow and come on down with us.
So back north again, stopping on the way for papaya salad (30 Baht) and Noodles (60 Baht). Nemo is continuing his magical mystery noodle tour by trying to ingest as many noodles as humanly possible while in Thailand. For less than $4 we were fed and that was when the rain hit. Glad to have been inside at this moment, we sat back to laugh at all the people riding past, some holding umbrellas while they drove their scooters. So we had a pancake, and then were on our way.
After a little more of a cruise around and driving up one road where we had to move over a bit due to oncoming traffic - an elephant - we're arrived back at the accommodation. Time to sink some
Singha and rest our travel work bums.
Kup koon khaaa for reading folks! Till next time!
-- Aleks (& The Less Snotty Fish)
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