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With only two more days on Lanta, Seth and I are trying to fit in all the remaining sights and activities of the island in before we leave. We've snorkeled, spent days at the beach jumping into waves and failing, crashing, and washing up to shore onto white sand (our scraped up knees are a testament to the strength of these waves). We've hiked the trails and seen the sights at daybreak and sunset. We've kayaked through the mangrove forests and have been assaulted time after time by hungry apes. We've made friends, tourist and Thai, failed at learning the language, and enjoyed cheap meals at countless restaurants and booths. We've gone through 6 bottles of sunscreen.
We've explored the deep residential roads of packed red clay (which I'm sure you are all very familiar with). Today we drove up to Koh Lanta Noi, connected to our island (Koh Lanta Yai) by a bridge completed days before our arrival on the island. To the locals this bridge heralds change. Koh Lanta Yai will be more easily accessible to the mainland in the future, and tourism will boom. Already the beaches are packed with bars, bungalows, hotels, and hostels.
Restaurants are putting in second floors and expand their menu to include Western and European foods (protip, don't eat these). Food stalls fear the encroachment of franchises and fast food. But for now, in the low season, we are able to catch a glimpse of the endangered Thai culture. Weddings with shadow puppet shows play out beside the road. A festival with rows of food and stalls selling hijabs, taqiyah, and angrybirds t-shirts. Fully clothed muslim girls and nude Swedish children swim and play in the crystal teal surf. This happy confusion of culture is at the heart of Koh Lanta Yai.
The weather is growing cooler and tropical rain storms come at night. And, oh, what beautiful storms they are. Every night this week we've been able to watch lightning roll up from the distance as we ate dinner. The night's entertainment is a caipirinha, red curry vegetables, and a lightshow in a sky so clear that you can see the bolts dance from fifty miles off. Then, feeling the clouds piling up behind us, we slowly race home before the storm arrives and the clouds burst open. Making sure while we drive to
The Floating House
In the middle of the mangrove forest, there is an eco-hostel / bar / apocalypse building called the Floating House. Covered in a hundred signs that point to different cities across the world with the distance marked in km, it looks like something out of Hook or Waterworld. We considered stopping but our old enemies in Bartertown have eyes everywhere and we still have half a gallon of guzzoline to trade before we need to sell Kendall for fuel. So we moved on. avoid the toads and snakes that crowd the wet road. Move too slowly and our ride becomes a crawl on slick, uneven roads as rain pours in sheets, waves of water on the roads are pushed around by high winds and lightning crashes all around us. It is magnificent.
But I think we are leaving the island at the right time. More and more shops are closing for the season, including our favorite restaurant Kwan's Cookery. Soon the monsoon storms would interrupt our daily plans. The boats to the mainland will grow more infrequent. It is time to move on north where the weather will stay dry for a little longer. But not to worry, by the time we leave Thailand rainy season will be in full effect everywhere. These will not be the last of the great storms we see in Thailand.
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Katharine
non-member comment
Beautiful post
All this description is so evocative. But what about "assaulted time after time by hungry apes"? What do you mean???? Read a piece in this month's Atlantic about baby dolls some people in Thailand, particularly middle-upper-middle class women, carry around with them for good luck. They're a bit controversial. Have you seen this yet? What will you do when the monsoons prevail? Much love to both of you -- and Kendall, thanks so much for calling on Mother's Day. Katharine