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Published: February 16th 2011
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Running For The Ocean
Who signed me up for this activity!!?? That's me on the back! Hello fellow bloggers!
After a 45 minute flight from Ko Samui to Krabi on Bangkok Airways, we travelled by van to the peer crossing and then over to Lanta on two short ferry rides. A few minutes drive and we arrive at Lanta Garden Hill Resort, our destination for the next three weeks.
Right away we notice the climate - very hot, dry and clear. Perfect for beach living! No sign of rain here and averaging 34 - 40 degrees everyday. The pools, ocean and umbrellas on the beach keep us cool and relaxed.
Within a few days, I was swimming and bathing with a gigantic elephant! Yikes, this was quite the experience never to forget. Some Thai friends that we met last time invited us to go along with them to the south of the island to "Last Beach". (literally the road ends here). It was the true natural Thailand! (beautiful sand and crystal clear water) There are 4 elephants that live here. Before I knew it I had signed up for a swim in the ocean riding a gigantic elephant bareback yet! A girl from London and a kid from Sweden were also passengers. The elephant
has a huge boney backbone which is very hard to sit on! You have to squeeze your legs very tight in order to stay on! However, the worst was yet to come. After our elephant got in deep he went down, disappeared under the water, and the Swede and I fell off into the water! So here we are swimming around the ocean within inches of the elephant struggling to get back on. The elephant man was able to help us back on with some difficulties! To add to the excitment, just as we were splashing around I noticed a big green elephant dung floating next to me. Luckily the elephant man scooped it up with a big fork! Later we got quite proficient in going with the flow whenever our elephant went under the water, going forward with the flow whenever he under, squeezing tight and holding onto the person in front!
Another highlight was a live concert (2 blocks from our bungalow) featuring JOB 2 DO!. This is the #1 band in Thailand currently. They play Thai Reggae and enjoy them a lot. We had bought their CD when we were here two years ago. It was
The Worst Is Yet To Come!!
I'm still hanging on, but not for long!!!!! a fantastic concert under a garden of palm trees. They played for 3 hours and were fantastic ( $10 a ticket)
As in Samui, we were amazed how we re-aquainted with the local people me met two years ago. It seems if you are here more than a few weeks you are kind of in a different crowd. We were glad to see and were welcomed back by Belle, Nok, Beo, Vicki, Bob, Danny, Nila and many more. Of course they love to see us as well because we are their "bread and butter"!
Amazingly enought we have our same room #105 at Lanta Garden Hill Resort that we stayed in two years ago. "Boy" one of the employees even remembered what we like for breakfast. The bungalows are situated across the street from the beach in a gated community scattered throughout beautifully landscaped garden, hills and pools. Very reasonably priced and close to all the conveniences. We have a scooter that we use during the day to run into the main town on the peer, torrun errands, shop, have lunch and visit other beaches. (rental $6 a day)
Our days on Koh Lanta are pretty much
same, same, but different (as they say in Thailand)! Up and BBC NEWS at 9:30, breakfast at 10, swim in one of the pools, errands, shopping on the scooter and then to the beach around 1:30. Home at 4:30, laps in the big pool, Happy Hour, and out for supper around 8 p.m. Some nights listening to live music and to bed around 11 or 12. We have done a lot of reading. There is as book trade place at the yoga place on the beach where we can get get popular English paperbacks.
That's it for now. Take care everyone. Tomorrow we are off to a new island for a day of snorkelling.
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Judy
non-member comment
j.hoiland@hotmail.com
What amazing pics...especially of you and the others on the elephant....loved the pic of you running away, haha...glad you mastered a safe dismount!!