Ko Lanta

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I can't say it was overally disapointing to be waiting at the pier for our boat to arrive and whisk us away from Phi Phi. After settling down on the boat and choosing our accomodation from the Thai man who would end up living in a hut next to us for the week, we were on our way.

Ko Lanta is quite a big island, maybe 30Km long with a road running parallel to the beach all the way along the coast with resorts dotted along it. The other side of the island which we never got to explore has jungle, national parks and even some sea gypsies. I really hope I get to come back and sea more of the island.

The bungalow we had chosen was virtually on the beach, had satallite TV showing the cricket (come on England!!!), American football and all sorts of other stuff, we even had two swimming pools which was a first.

The people on Ko Lanta were incredibly friendly and welcoming, I don't know if its because of the majority muslim population on the island or because its a family orientated place but there was not much evidence of a lot of the stuff you see elsewhere which blights even the smaller resorts in Thailand. We became friendly with the staff of the bar and restaurant and almost became like part of the family, one night going out for some proper Thai food food with them once the bar had shut. It was the hottest thing I have ever had in my mouth but compared to pickled onion space raiders that doesn't mean much but Jimmy gave it a 6/7 out of 10 on the hottness front so it must have been OK. The guys working behind the bar had a real understanding about the world and were keen to hear about what they may never get the chance see. It makes you appreciate how lucky we are to have certain opportunities other people don't have like the trip we are on at the minute. One of the most sureal things i've ever experienced was chilling on the beach quite late/early depending on your perspective with James and a Thai guy called Ming as we were listening to what i believe is the Muslim call to prayer as we were sharing jokes about Silvio Burlesconi and Monika Lewinski, I can't see me ever being in that situation again.

The locals A & C had a real love of music, playing some good stuff and asking what we were into as well. The DJ setup was top notch and they loved the filters as much as the next man. When I asked C about where he got his music from it was the first time I really got an insight into the tradgedy of the Tsunami that had happened, as he told me his friend used to send him music but he had died on Phi Phi island so now he had to rely on what he could find from the Lanta markets which I don't think would be that up to date. I recommended some stuff for him to try and track down.

The names of the locals appeared to be working up through the alphabet, A was running things, B was cool but didn't speak any English, C was on the bar. The only normal names we came across was a local called Dean who would perform a fire show for us on what was meant to be our last night, which was cool of him. Oh and King and Bond who i have no idea where they came up with their names from? Oh i almost forgot about coconut as well, if ever a name was fitting that was it. As The Avalanches stated before me 'Crazier than a coconut'.

We spent a lot of our time here watching football with the locals who love to bet even more then we do i think, apparently all you need to do is back Lille every week to win.

The beach near us wasn't that great so we went to a couple of others during the daytime, I don't think you can ever get bored of chilling out surrounded by palm trees.

One night we went to a real Thai boxing show for. We got ringside seats so were up close and personal for some hard knock outs, one of the fights was brutal with blood everywhere until they finally hit the deck. We also managed to take in a black moon party which was cool, fireworks and fireshows to go with the cool music and cool people was always going to be a good combination. Most of the people we met on Lanta were sound and a good laugh. On another night A and King had a band doing accoustic covers so me and a lad from Bristol got up to croon a few Oasis tracks as you do, shame I couldn't remember the words, sorry Teen my Don't Look Back In Anger just isn't up to scracth these days.

It's a shame we never got round to hiring the scooters to explore properly, but i guess that just means there is an excuse for having to come back again. The combination of the way of life, appreciation of the tourist industry and desire to work hard to keep the infrastructure developing make Lanta a really attractive place and of all the places i've visited so far this is the first place I have come across that when the time comes to either get a job or go home I would choose here in an instant.

Our last day here was really good, the bar had a party for us in the evening and we got our own sound Sound Shack T-shirts, we even got challanged to a game of football in the afternoon by Bond and his friend. Naturally the combination of my left peg and Jimmys sports personality of the year awards proved too much and we beat them into submission before cooling off with a much needed dip in the sea.

I have took to ending these blogs with a little cliffhanger catchphrase. This time i shall sign off with a fact for a change, after all they say a change is as good as a holiday.

KOH LANTA. AMAZING. FACT!

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