Ko Lanta continued

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Ok, here we go again. Sorry for a delay - I got a bit lazy over here.
So I did some more diving - went to Hin Deng/ Hin Mouang. It was fantastic as every other dive. The only hick up - the site is a bit far and I had to take a speed boat. I hate speed boats. They are small, cramped and not comfortable. I almost got sick, but didn't. Nothing is worst than getting sea sick and then diving.
Anyways, after that I decided I've had enough diving for now. The weather is changing up here. It's a beginning of a slow season, or more correctly - wet season. Basically in the tropic you have 2 seasons, hot season - which is hot and dry and wet season, which is cooler but it rains. Now when they say it rains, it means it doesn't rain everyday day and when it does rain, it's usually between 4 and 6 pm or at night, so it doesn't bother me at all. What I like the most about it is that it gets cooler, like the temperature goes from 100 degrees to 80 in an hour after rain, making it very pleasant. Another cool thing is that it's also a slow tourist season, as most tourists are scared of the rain and think it will rain like in Europe or US for days on end. So there is less tourists and prices for hotels drop from a third to a half.
I couldn't believe how many days I was on the beach by myself. I mean a beach that's a mile long and I am the only one there. I left like Robinson Crusoe. It was fantastic.
Anyway, one day I went to a elephant ride. Now, normally, I hate these things. I hated it in India. The animals were clearly abused and I felt terrible that they had to carry around my fat ass. Up here I read it's different. Apparently, in '89 Thailand banned teak logging, so a side affect of that was that thousands of working elephants were unemployed with their handlers and proceeded to the capital to beg for food. So someone had a bright idea of shipping the animals to the south to tourist centers so that they can give rides to fat asses like me. Now, normally a working elephant can carry up to a ton of wood, so my 230 pounds wouldn't not be a problem. So the ride went well, the pachyderms seem to be in great shape and didn't look like they were abused or anything. What I didn't realize is that these animals still breed, so right after the ride, comes out a 3 year old baby elephant and does all these amazing tricks. Now I really enjoyed it at the time, but after I started thinking. These animals live to be over 100 years old, so a 3 year old elephant is like a 2 or a 2 and a half year old kid doing tricks for tourist. I felt horrible. These are highly intelligent animals and shouldn't be used like that. So anyhow, enjoy the pics but I advise people to skip these attractions that involve abuse of animals.
I also rented a motor bike and rode around the island for a bit. It's like $8 to rent a motor bike for a day, but I went around the whole island in 2 hours - it's that small. I loved it though. In the south of the island there is a national park with a couple of smaller island right off the beach. You can even walk to one of them in low tide. It's really nice. It took me a bit to figure out how to drive the bike, plus I didn't have a map, so I got lost a bit, but it's such a small island you really can't get far - I mean there is only one road and it circles the island. Anyway, really like it up here. Super chill and relaxing little island.

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Photos

Thailand - Ko Lanta 012
Typical street on Ko Lanta

Thailand - Ko Lanta 013
Ko Bida Islands. Amazing view.

Comments

[richie]

your right
Hey Alex, your right I feel Terrible thinking that thats all this Extremely intelligent baby elephant has to look forward to for the rest of her life. I guess its better than starving to death in the wild due to loss of Habitat . Take care.