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Published: September 2nd 2010
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8.8.10 Ko Lanta - Staying with Graeme and Ae.
Leaving Ko San in the early evening just as the heavens opened, we caught the first of 4 buses. (We were promised a direct bus) The first was an overnight bus to Suratanni arriving at 4:30am where we were abandoned onto the pavement to await our connection. Sun up and the 2nd bus arrived to transport us across Thailand’s southern strip to Krabi. Krabi is a small town we remember all too well (nothing good) where we were dropped at a ticket sales agent. We insisted we did not need accommodation, ferry or anything else. The next mini bus took us to an undisclosed location where again we confirmed to the pushy salesmen we did not need accommodation or anything else.
Once believed, we were driven by the fourth bus to the ferry crossing to Ko Lanta. Ko Lanta consists of 2 islands connected to the main land by 2 ferries. Once across we made a Bee-line for Klong-Nin. A small, quiet beach where we found our friends Graeme and Ae. They are in the process of building a new restaurant right on the beach front. Catching up with
old friends while watching the sun set and drinking a few cold Changs made up for the long journey and it was soon forgotten.
It didn’t take long before we all got stuck into the construction of the as yet unnamed restaurant. The days following were spent digging in the sea defences, hauling sand and discussing the overall look and feel of the establishment. A highlight was Calum and Connor (Graeme and Ae’s twin 2 yr olds) running around site like mad hatters. Regular dips in the ocean, beers at various lookout points and moped rides to deserted beaches were connected by hard graft in the sand. Graeme and Ae, thanks for putting us up, feeding us and showing us around the Island. It was the perfect place to shake off the desert sands of the Tibetan plateau, and tan our white asses.
We bunked down on the lounge floor, grateful that we still had our thermarests, sharing with Ae’s uncle who was staying to help work on the restaurant and build all the 100 odd chairs needed. We also shared the house with the restaurant’s future chef and waitress, the nanny, pet dog & cat, two boys
and our hosts! We sampled three meals a day of some of the most authentic and delicious Thai food we’ve tried. My offers of help in the kitchen ended in a compromise.... I was welcome to come a watch the food being made,(getting involved would probably have spelled culinary disaster) and in return I washed up. Just being in the kitchen listening to the crew chit chatting to each other while they chopped and fried was truly an taste of ‘real’ Thai life that few Farang have the chance to experience. One of my favourite Liffy moments was smugly offering to call uncle from the garden to have dinner, having recently learnt the phrase, only to be greeted with laughter, as my poor pronunciation meant that rather than calling uncle to ‘eat rice’, I’d suggested he ate his knee!!!
Several days work under our belts and we felt we needed a little break, (we are on holiday afterall) We decided to go with Graeme and take a weekend long trip back to the beach where all we first met.......
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