The Islands Yet Again

---

We were going to say in this entry went to Koh Lanta and laid on the beach for a week, then went to Koh Pha Ngan and laid on the beach for a week which about sums it up really but as that would be just too lazy we’ll expand on the opening.

We left Malaysia and flew to Krabi, a new airport to us and yet again were subjected to the Thai (sorry Asian) tourist merchants. We brought a ticket for the airport bus after we were assured that the bus dropped us in Krabi town just by our hotel. Well what a surprise as we sailed past the hotel, off up the road and out of town before stopping at a travel agents office who met us with the usual ‘Where u stay’ and the offer of an expensive tuk-tuk back to town. Chris lost it finally and laid into the boss, calling all of the stunned collections of lackeys, “Cheats, liars and thieves”. Oh well better hope we don’t see them on a dark night. Unsurprisingly we weren’t offered a complimentary lift back to town so in true traveller style we donned packs and walked.

After a brief overnight stopover at the lovely & helpful Chanchalay in Krabi town we hopped on the ferry to Koh Lanta, an Island we had visited almost a year ago to the day as we were starting out in Asia and well nothing much has changed, the prices have gone up a bit but the beach is still lovely, the water warm and the atmosphere relaxed. Our bamboo shack on the beach has been taken over by new owners, Chinese, and so while the lovely atmosphere of last year was missing the restaurant was a huge improvement and they had WiFi. We spent the week chilling on the beach, relaxing in the sun and revisited a number of haunts in the evening. Not much more can be said really. One funny thing, almost, happened. We met a great Canadian couple here last year, Carmen & Steen, so we facebooked them to say ‘guess where we are’ and they replied saying that up until yesterday, the day we arrived, their son had also been staying here. Yet again, what an incredibly small world.

At the end of the visit we decided to try a minibus again and sceptically waited for a bus back to Krabi, rather than the ferry, and what a pleasant surprise. It picked us up on time, only packed the correct number of people in, didn’t try to impersonate Nigel Mansell and dropped us exactly where we hoped. Now that’s a first. We then caught a scheduled bus to Koh Samui via Surathani. We were told it left at 11am but had noticed there was an earlier one so hopped on the 10am bus. And we realised, after it struggled to get up even the smallest incline in first gear, stopped 826 times to pick up and drop off, drove through every small village in Southern Thailand and arrived only 2 minutes before the 11am bus, we had probably cocked up there. So minibus-bus-ferry-bus had got us from the Andaman Islands back to Koh Samui and the following morning we headed off back to see more of Koh Pha Ngan.

A few months previously we had got a facebook message from Joy, an old friend of Chris’s, asking for advice about Vietnam. She also mentioned that she’d somewhere on the islands about now. So we got in touch and trusted a few nights accommodation to Joy and her new fella and she didn’t let us down. We had a cabin on the side of a steep hill, with absolutely magnificent views out across the Gulf of Thailand and stunning sunsets; the price, 400 Baht (about £8). We then proceeded to catch up with their adventures and were soon joined by Jo, another Weymouth face, out here on the Island to practice her Yoga. It’s great when you meet people you know well but totally out of context, as there’s masses to chat about. We spent a couple of great evenings in their company and Joy joined Chris to watch Arsenal’s humiliation in the Worthless Cup Final before we all said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways, them to Vietnam, us to 2 beaches further north.

When Chris & Rich had explored the Island, Chris felt that in Mae Haad beach they had finally found Lisa’s ‘perfect’ Thai beach so we decided to spend a few days there and see if it was. Yep, certainly was. We settled down in a small hut right on the golden sand and one way was the sweeping curve of the palm lined beach and the other looked out on to the small but beautiful Ko Ma island, which could be walked to via a sand causeway but only at low tide. But the best thing about Mae Haad is that just a few meters off of the beach and island is one of the most beautiful coral reefs we have ever seen. Chris waxed lyrical about it before but this time, knees healed over, Lisa was able to enjoy the myriad of huge colourful, fish and the rainbow colours of this unspoilt reef. A natural wonder that, because the island is fairly unfashionable apart from the ubiquitous full moon parties, doesn’t see too many visitors. We know it’s greedy but we hope it stays like that for a long time.

Once we’d settled in to our new ‘home’, sampled the food in the restaurant, surprisingly good, relaxed on the beach, swam out to the reef we decided that we were going to stay here, if not forever, then a while. We had planned 3 days and stayed 10, that says how lovely we thought it was. There’s not much more to say about our time on Koh Pha Ngan. We explored the island a bit, we had a lovely English lunch in the Masons Arms in Thongsala, a curiosity that we mentioned in an earlier blog, and given the availability of quietish roads we even managed to settle in to a regular exercise routine. We could almost be home, maybe we are!!

But all too soon we had to move on, we had booked another overnight bus that goes directly from the island to Bangkok (obviously involving a ferry) and set off North again.

---

Photos

Look who
we had to share a bathroom with

Who needs Photoshop
when nature provides these colours

Friends
like a night out at the Market House

Ko Ma
a bit trickier to get there now

The new pad
compact and bijou

Mae Haad Sunset
heavenly

Mae Haad
Sun kissed, palm fringed and clear blue water.

Ko Ma
at low tide

Cliff Top Home
not a bad view