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Published: June 21st 2017
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We arrived in Koh Lanta after a rather upsetting boat trip. Once on the boat tour agents were trying to get you to buy their transfer from the port to your hotel. This was fine except 'No' was not an acceptable answer, despite various diversion tactics. It got so bad, we actually witnessed a pair of French girls being racially abused and heard others on the boat experiencing the same. To say it upset us is an understatement. This was such a shame as the Thai people in general have been lovely and friendly! Still once on Koh Lanta we escaped and got our own tuk tuk to our hotel. This was such a welcome change from the other hole we stayed in the night before on Phi Phi. We were the only guests at this hotel. In hind site this should have served as good warning! Koh Lanta was experiencing its low season and hardly anything was open, paired with hardly anyone around- it was like a ghost town. We did attempt to get to a beach one day, but failed miserably. In the end we enjoyed a few days chill time at the hotel pool.
We hitched a ride
to Krabi- this time by car and got dropped off at the door of our hotel! You would never have guessed it was there by the looks of it, but it was perfect. Basic, clean and in a fab location! We explored Krabi and enjoyed food at the night markets on both evenings- eating like kings for less than £5 for both of us!!
We also explored a place called tiger temple, which we were told is a must do. Having read about the 1000+ steps to it we put our trainers on and headed on up. Well in short it nearly killed us both!!! It was on par to Machu Picchu. The 1000+ steps were pretty much vertical... it was really tough. However once at the top- dripping with sweat- back from the brink of near death- on top of a mountain- there it was! A giant golden Buddha in the clouds! And the views were outstanding! We caught it just as the sun was setting and as one monk shift was swapping for the next! Photos taken and vaguely recovered we headed back down. It was a lot easier on the way down, except for the monkeys who
had ganged together to form a monkey mob near the bottom of the steps. One even tried to hitch a ride down the rest of the way on Jo's sarong!
The next day we decided for take it easy and headed off on another boat across the bay to a beach called Phra Nang for some sea and sun! It was a little bay nestled aside a huge cave. The cave is now a fertility shrine complete with hundreds of penis statues and oddly a popular rock climbing site. We stuck with sunbathing on the beach and perhaps caught a little to much sun this day!
The next day we were at the airport early doors to get to Chiangmai in the north for a few days exploring. Once in Chiangmai we soon discovered that it had just a few temples!!!! Within 24 hours me and Jo had been in, visited and payed respects to several hundred Buddha's in over 27 different temples! I think it's safe to say we are covered for good luck and blessings for at least another 10 years!!
Luckily we were in Chiangmai on a Sunday night, so we were able to experience the night
markets! They were fab!!! We managed to have dinner for less than 50baht each and had various meat on sticks, spring rolls, fresh juices and pancakes!!! Whilst we were there we also tried the local dish called Khao soi- its like a yellow curry coconut based with fried noodles on top- all in all delicious!
We're off to Cambodia in the morning for the next stop on our adventure!
Templed out Jo and Lauren xx
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Mummy
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Preach to the converts!
Does that mean the pair of you will grace us with your presence at church on you return ????