Ko Lanta via Bangkok


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October 8th 2010
Published: November 9th 2010
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Ko Lanta - Via Bangkok



Missing the beaches terribly, we decided to leave lovely Pai and head south, back to Lanta to swim, and more importantly to help Ae with last minute restaurant missions. It was a very very long journey! With Steve along for the ride too(the girls booked their own van), we first took a minibus from Pai to Chang Mai....having it all to ourselves was both a suprise and a pleasure... normally these little vans are chock a block full with farang and rucksacks.
The three hour journey back through the winding hills was great!. Next a quick change in Chiang Mai, just enough time for a bite to eat before getting the overnight bus to Bangkok. We arrived at about 5.30am the next morning, and stumbled into Ko San road looking for coffee...and miraculously found Julia and Simone (small world) Sadly Simone was leaving us to go back to Germany so we said sad goodbyes over coffee. Guy and I stowed our bags and spent the day running little errands and trying to snooze unnoticed in a hotel lobby.

Steve and Julia were going to hang around in Bangkok, but Guy and I decided to push on and catch another night bus to Lanta. We were asked to meet at a small travel agency at about 5pm and carrying our heavy packs, we just managed to arrive in time to dodge a massive downpour. Thinking we were home and dry we relaxed and waited for the bus. Ha ha ha! this is Thailand, and nothing is as it seems. At about 6pm a small girl with and umbrella turned up and walked us to ...no not the bus...her parents cafe where we waited for another hour and a half with increasing numbers of fellow travelers, all encouraged to munch before the long journey (very cunning). Finally we boarded the bus and did our best to sleep as we sped off into the night. Arriving at about 5am in Surat Thani (apparently this WAS the direct bus!!) we had another short wait, then a mini bus took us into the town centre where we caught ANOTHER bus for the 3hour ride to Krabi.
Asking to be dropped off in the town centre, we were rather tired and more than a little perplexed to find ourselves dumped at the "Out of Town' bus stop. Luckily for us we met a south African who could speak an impressive amount of Thai, and helped us get a tuk tuk to the 'real' bus stop. When we finally arrived we decided we'd had one too many buses, and called Ae...to our delight she was on her way to krabi to stock up on supplies for the restaurant. So we spent the next few hours in a cash and carry and various other shops, before loading the car and completing the final leg of this ridiculously long journey.

Ae was once again the perfect host, and now in a bigger house we had our own room, complete with en suite....luxury! We certainly earned our keep...THE MENU......for the next few days Guy, Ae and Chef spent hours describing dishes, ingredients, methods of cooking and even making us sample dishes, in order that we could write a farang-friendly menu. After this we accompanied Ae to various printers and designers to achieve the final glossy finished product! With the menu finished, there were just a few last minute snags to be dealt with and the restaurant was able to open and the fun started. UV lights, material covered bird cages all is now ready for the season.
Careful to keep the peace with her Muslim landlord and neighbors, Ae kept with tradition and and had a goat sacrificed as part of a blessing for her new business. The goat was then turned into a super spicy goat curry by her landlord's family.We ate some for breakfast , with the remainder being donated to local Muslim families via the mosque. Lucky them.

Ae is also a strong Buddhist and set up several statues and mini shrines around the restaurant, and each morning lit incense and gave offerings of food and drink.
With all the gods placated we had a 'soft opening' This mostly involved a lot of eating, drinking, and testing of the bar...yes, it can be danced on!!! The party was mostly staff, friends and family who had been involved in its construction....luckily we qualified under two of these and partied hard! For some though, it was a little too hard (see pics), but well deserved.
The weather on Lanta was not great at this point with frequent strong winds and torrential rains, that often left us without power and stranded in one spot, as roads turned to rivers and became impassable. One in particular blew all the tiles off the resturant next door, forcing all and sundry to take cover.
We did manage to make time to play with the boys on the beach, and chat to the restaurants' customers.
Soon enough though we had itchy feet and decided to head back to Tonsai to chill...we put the message out to Steve and Julia to see if they would brave the journey......




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