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Published: June 29th 2012
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Thailand - Krabbi and the island of Koh Lanta
Upon landing we found our way through buses and boats to the lovely island of Koh Lanta. Trace had been here before, pre tsunami, and had lovely memories of the place. When we got to the island we discovered that it had been raining for the last few days but we were lucky - nothing but gorgeous sunshine. It was also Green season, their low season so we knew it wouldn't be too busy.
With that though came the realization that a lot of hotels were closed!!! We got dropped off and picked up a tuk tuk to take us to a nice place.. Now imagine, two girls, two big back packs and two smaller day packs crammed into a space no bigger than a toilet.. Let alone the weight! A our first hotel down a dusty road, our driver declared that it was closed and trace discovered that the seat she was in was wet and in her dark red shorts, looked like she had peed herself so we climbed back into the tuk tuk and she moved to back of it with me... The driver starts to go
and literally the only way he went was up - the whole thing did a wheelie with the weight of everything at the back of it and we were left stationary with the front wheel up and spinning and us clinging on for dear life. Little kids in the area just pointed and laughed at us whilst the driver frantically tried to jump on the front to pull it down... Bloody funny if you were watching!
We eventually found a lovely 4 star hotel with a gorgeous pool for £15 per night. Bargain except that we were two of just 5 people staying in this huge hotel! Trace bargained again and got us a lovely room too... We sunbathed, watched the sunset and generally chilled out which was delicious given that we clearly deserved it!!! ;-) we did get a bit burnt though so serves us right I guess!
Next day we decided to see some elephants! We got picked up and trace noted just how different the place looked since she was last there. Sad, but it does seem to have bounced back quite well given the horror they went through. We arrived at the elephant trekking
place and met our elephant, Pim. He was massive (no shit) and clearly well looked after. We got up onto the wooden scaffold to climb aboard.. He didn't seem to mind us on there (thank goodness) and his trainer was brilliant with him just sat behind his ears. We trekked through the jungle a bit and saw some frigging HUGE spiders in the trees - as big as Barnseys hands from rugby I tell you! Tash often squealed in fear when lovely Pim went downhill... She says it was squeals of delight.. It was really good fun though and Pim was amazing.. We ended the trek then fed him pineapples which he grabbed with his slobbery trunk - he eats 20kg a day don't you know!
After the trek, they fed us pineapples too, but we only had 2 and not 20kg before we headed off into the jungle to go see a beautiful waterfall. Prior to entering the jungle the guide warned us of snakes, lizards, spiders etc which was reassuring given that the most deadly snake has no anti venom and you will die in 30 minutes... That's nice, we thought! Along the way we stopped in
a cave that had this special tree within it whose roots came through the granite rock which was pretty impressive. We saw some teeny bats too which made me think of dear Coxy on her whitey trip in Amsterdam "I am hanging, like a bat" Next stop was the gorgeous waterfall... We ran in and had a delicious shower underneath it - just natural beauty at its best, and the waterfall was lovely too!!! :-)
We checked out next day hoping to go to Koh phi phi but upon arrival at the pier there no more boats as only one went during green season! Shit! We found another hotel to stay in and made most of the day by hiring scooters to go round the island. It was like shit off a shovel and both of us were a bit rusty but there were no accidents you will be pleased to know. It was a fab day - we stopped off at a fishing lake and had a little go at catching some monsters... A guy there was catching loads so we thought - easy! We waited, waited and waited... Tracy had never fished before and before you know
it she had plucked a fish out and then another. Tash - nothing... It was a long hour before Tash plucked a tiddler out and then managed to haul in a huge one - maybe 3/4 kg... After that we left on a high and scooted further into the island. We ended up at the very end and had a drink at what can only be described as a place were Tom hanks set up home in castaway. It was lovely. The owner described to us the impact of the tsunami which was awful for this island but thankfully they have good warnings in place now. We then headed to Koh Lanta old town for gorgeous seafood grub by the sea. Couldn't be better!!! The drive back was in the dark and clearly you can't ride with glasses on so we were pelted with insects and eyes half shut to protect them. We looked like fly tape when we got back.
Next stoP, Koh phi phi!
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