Happy New Year from Koh Lanta! (Day 105 - 107 by Chris)

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Wednesday 30th December 2015

We were up at 9am, packed, checked out and headed for breakfast. We had toast and eggs and then boarded the big ferry at 11am which would take us 1hr 15 mins across the sea to Koh Lanta. I'm not sure about Gemma, but I was a little nervous having had 2 previous sea journeys scare the crap out of me. This was fine though as the big ferry had no problem smashing its way though the waves. Looking out the window of the ferry I could see that the sea was just as rough leading me to believe that either it's always like this and therefore our terror on the longtail boat was just normal, or that there had been quite a big storm to create such big waves.

We arrived at the pier of Koh Lanta, which is very close to the mainland and so far the furthest south we have been on our travels. We left the boat with our bags on our back and were surprised to find ourselves being charged a 10 THB island tax before we'd even left the pier. Its not a huge amount (about 50p in total) but still felt a bit steep just to get on the island. We took up a tuk tuk man's offer of a lift and made our way 3 mins down the road to our hotel, N.D Place Lanta. The hotel cost us £22 per night in total and upon checking in we saw it was a nice room & hotel. The bathroom had a shower curtain and a shower head ( a step up from the hotel on Phi Phi where the shower was just a hose).

In the afternoon we posted some blogs and dropped off some of our dirty washing with reception who offered a laundry service at £1 per kg. Our clothes would arrive the next day clean and smelling fresh. We decided to take a walk back to the pier which was in the main town and in an area called Saladan. The walk took us 5 minutes and we passed lots of shops similar to all the other we have seen in Thailand so far and all selling the same stuff, clothes, paintings, ornaments etc etc. We popped into a travel agents to book a bus/ferry combination ticket for our onward trip to Koh Samui in a few days time. We then turned down a street and left all of those tourist shops behind. We found some really nice restaurants on the water with wooden verandas built over the water. We bought a coffee and sat down using the WiFi to book some onward travel. Then we went to get dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant where we had to order Thai food. We were told by the waiter that Al Fredo (the Italian chef) was on holiday so they couldn't provide Italian food. A little annoying, but we like Thai food and the food was reasonably priced so no big problem. After dinner we walked back to the hotel to sleep.

Thursday 31st December 2015

We decided that today we would explore the island, and as it's quite a big island and well connected with roads we would do this by hiring a motorbike. Motorbike seems to be the chosen travel method by most of the tourists on Koh Lanta. There are other options such as taxis and tuk-tuks, but with a bike costing 200 THB (£4) for 24 hours, plus the offer of more freedom to explore, this is the option we chose. We crossed the road from our hotel to grab some breakfast at about 10am from a cafe where we had a lovely strong coffee and a chocolate filled croissant. We then walked down the street and into the travel agents where we booked our bus/ferry ticket the previous day. They have motorbikes available for hire and we selected a white automatic scooter and was told to return it at 11am the following morning. With Gemma on the back and our helmets safely fastened we set off heading south down the island.

The island of Koh Lanta is easy to get around. Its about 5 miles from north to south and only about 1 mile wide east to west. We were staying pretty much at the most northerly point (beyond the wall) so all we had to do was drive south hugging the coast to find the beach we wanted. There are about 10 different beaches stretching down the west side (which is where we were) some which are full of resorts, so therefore on nice stretches of beaches and some that are more public beaches and quite rocky. We had planned to drive all the way to the south where the national park is located as the snorkeling round there was meant to be amazing. On the way there though we wanted to stop off at 'Lanta Animal Welfare' centre which is an amazing charity which was set up by a lady who fell in love with the Islands stray dogs whilst on a holiday here over 5 years ago. She then sold everything she owned back home in her native Norway to return to Koh Lanta and start a re-homing centre for abandoned dogs and cats. The centre is now quite big and has approx 60 + cats and dogs who are either receiving treatment, waiting for re-homing or are actual resident pets. We popped in just as one of the volunteers was providing a guided tour. We were shown around the cats shelter first and then the dog kennels. We got to meet a lovely cat called Thunder who only the week before had lots his eye sight and was now blind. He spent most of his time walking around quite slowly so not to bump into things and was very popular with the visitors. There is also an option to take a dog for a walk but only in the morning and late afternoon when the sun isn't its strongest. We planned to return tomorrow and take a dog for a walk.

We left the animal shelter and decided to continue south to the beach. We then took a left turn and started heading east across the island passing through some stunning jungle views. It was when we saw a sign for 'Lanta old town' the we realised we'd taken a wrong turning. Instead of circling back we decided to take a look anyway and spent an hour in the old town which had a really relaxed vibe to it and wasn't the manic mess of Saladan where we were staying. We popped into a restaurant where we ordered a steamed snapper fish which was covered in garlic and chili. It was lovely and with our garlic smelling breath we got back on the bike and took a drive back across the island and then headed south to the beach we had intended to visit. We eventually arrived at a beach although we're still not entirely sure which beach it was (Ba Kantieng Bay or Mai Phai Bay?!), where we put down our towels and sat on the sand. We popped in and out of the water with our snorkels observing a few colourful fish before quickly packing up our stuff as we could see a huge purple cloud making its way over the jungle hills and in our direction. It was like all the beach goers had telepathically told each other as everyone packed up and jumped onto their motorbikes at the same time. A good 20 minute drive away from the hotel we knew we stood no chance of avoiding the downpour. We did manage to stay ahead of the rain for about the first 10 minutes but we weren't fast enough and arrived at the hotel looking like we'd driven through the sea to get there.

After a shower, we decided to head out for dinner and some drinks considering it was New Years Eve. We popped into a restaurant at about 8:30 pm and were one of about 4 tables which we thought was a little odd as we were in the main town and it was New Years Eve. We had a lovely meal of green curry and massaman curry and a few beers. At just before 10 pm, without asking, our bill was brought over to us and as we turned around we realised we were the only people in the restaurant and on the street around us all the lights were going off in the shops. We paid and left and couldn't understand why all the bars and restaurants were closing on NYE. This meant that for us, we either had to take a tuk tuk to the south of the island to find some beach bars which would still be open with no clue how to get home, or stick to the northern part of the island which we opted for! A relaxing evening of beers, good food, a random film, reflecting on a great 2015 and excited to see what 2016 will have in store for us.

Friday 1st January 2016

Happy New Year!!!! We woke up sober which is a nice feeling January 1st. We decided that we would head back to the tourist office and ask to have the scooter for another day as we wanted to visit another beach and the animal shelter again. After paying another 200 THB for the bike, we headed to the cafe opposite our hotel and enjoyed the same breakfast of coffee and chocolate croissant. We then decided to head to Long Beach which is about half way down the island. After about 20 mins of driving we consulted the map and realised we'd driven about 10 minutes past Long Beach. We turned around, located the beach and sunbathed in the very hot sun. Occasionally we would take a dip in the sea, which today was as flat as a swimming pool. Strangely, every time we entered the water we felt a tingling feeling on our legs. We ruled out jelly fish and came to the conclusion it might be plankton as when we were in Cambodia and playing around the in plankton we got the same sort of stinging sensation. As a result we didn't spend much time in the water which meant that we got very hot. Due to the heat, we decided to leave the beach at about 3pm having just had lunch at a beach side restaurant. We settled on spring rolls and some chicken satay skewers.

We hopped onto the scooter and made our way to the animal shelter. As it was 3pm, they were allowing volunteers to take the dogs out for a walk. They only allow this after 3pm because its no longer the hottest part of the day, but still at least 30 degrees. We asked if we could take a dog out and they were happy to oblige. After only a few minutes they brought out a little black dog (no idea on the breed) called Tammy. We were given a bag with a bottle of water and a bowl to give Tammy some water during her walk. We were given a map too which outlined a few routes to take. We opted to turn right out of the shelter but Tammy wasn't interested. We thought at first that she was nervous, but it turned out that she had already been that way on her morning walk so wanted to turn left. After we gave in, she was happily walking on her lead. We took her down a path and then into some woods. She was fine until we reached the main road which you had to cross to get to the beach. She was afraid of the traffic and also of other dogs. We had to shield her when we saw another stray dog in a car park. We eventually got her to the beach and her tail instantly stated to wag. I thought she was just really happy to be at the beach, but it turned out that she recognised one of the shelter volunteers who was sitting at a bar on the beach. The lady volunteer (didn't catch her name) told us the back story to Tammy. Unfortunately its a sad one. She was originally a stray and lived on the beach. This is quite normal for Koh Lanta and not a big deal as there are many happy stray dogs. What we were told though is that the locals don't see the dogs as pets, but rather vermin. So much so, that one local, who owned a cat, didn't like that fact that when Tammy was a stray would chase his cat. Because of this, he decided to use a speer gun to shoot Tammy through both of her front legs. We could see the scars on her leg joints, but assumed it was possible due to a car hitting her. She was taken to the shelter where she was nursed back to health and is now waiting to be re-homed. We spent a while on the beach with her and then walked her back to the shelter. I suppose with her being a stray, she is used to routing out food where she can. At one point she nose dived into some long grass and came out with something black in her mouth which is proceeded to chew with a crunch. Gemma and I instantly thought it was a scorpion. It very well might have been a scorpion, but Tammy ate it so quickly that we couldn't see. If it was, it was certainly already dead as it never moved and Tammy wasn't stung thankfully. We handed her back to the shelter and then spent some time playing with the cats before heading back to the hotel.

We took a shower and spent some time in the room before heading out for dinner. We returned the motor bike which coincidentally was part of the same building as the restaurant we went to the previous night. Tonight though, the restaurant was heaving. As the food was really nice there, we decided to eat here again. We found the only table available, ordered the same meal as last night and after a half an hour wait ate our curries. We then grabbed some cereal bars from the shop ready for our breakfast the following day. We were getting picked up at 7:30 for our journey across the country to another set of islands. We then headed back to the hotel to pack as the next day we would be leaving Koh Lanta for Koh Samui and some more beach time.

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