Koh Lanta - Same Same but Different.

So after the we had had enough of the craziness of Koh Phi Phi we decided to take a 1 hour ferry to Koh Lanta which promised to be both quieter and cheaper. I was surprised at how big the island is. There are quite a few beaches along the coast of the Island and the only way to get around is by Tuk Tuk (a scooter taxi), by car or by renting your own scooter. It's about a 30minute drive from one end to the other. We were approached by a very friendly lady on the ferry who showed us pics of the bungalow resort that her family owns. She showed us pics and said she could give us a lift there. It was really cheap (we could get a room with air con and a tv for the same price as our small fan room on Kho Phi Phi). So without making a commitment (you never do in s/e Asia before seeing the room if you can avoid it) we decided to check it out and it turned out to be very nice and close to the beach (although her "family" wasn't nearly as friendly as she was and we never saw her again after that day...hmmm). Here's a pic of the room...the nicest we've stayed in yet. And remember, we're each paying about $11 Canadian dollars per night for this room.

That's bamboo on the walls.

The beach is long (we stayed on the second beach in called Long Beach) and has numerous bars and restaurants along it. There are a lot of families and couples in Koh Lanta so if you want to party, you have to keep your eye out for flyer's or ask around. Usually there is one place/night that is busy and if you don't know where it is then you'll have to settle for watching couples make out or people walk along the beach with strollers at sunset.

A lot of my days here were spent sitting on the beach and swimming in the ocean. It's too hot to really do much else until about 5pm.


The beach also has a whole bunch of huts where they give massages. I got an hour long oil massage today for about $9 including a generous tip. It was amazing. Did I mention that my life rules?

Watched a girl build this cute palace sand thingy when I was on the beach today. Good effort. I give it a 10/10!
One of the evenings Amelia and I had some food and a cocktail at this beach bar. The guy who owned it was so friendly and had such great energy.

He lives in the back of the bar right on the beach. and I thought my life was sweet!

Here's Amelia in a Tuk Tuk on our way into town where the ferry leaves from.

The driver was really friendly and chatted us up. Always hard to tell if they are really that way or just hoping for a tip but this guy seemed really genuine.

On St. Paddy's day we went to a pub called The Irish Embassy and met up with some people that we had met at a previous party a few nights prior. Here's Scott from New Zealand. It was strange hearing a Kiwi accent in Thailand since it was the first time I had heard one since leaving NZ. Of course I took the opportunity to take the piss. What's that you say? You're going to bid? Oh bed! Learn how to pronounce your e's!!!

That's Scott #2 from the US in the middle and Veronica from Sweden on the left. They started making out about 5 minutes after this shot was taken. Awkward!

This is Mick from Scotland. He is nuts. Like, actually. Then again, I suppose most Scottish people are.

So after about 5 days in Koh Lanta Amelia decided to go North to Chang Mai to spend a few days in a place where they take in sick elephants and although that sounded really cool to me, it was a tad expensive and I wasn't ready to leave the beach quite yet so I decided to stay and hang out for a few more days and meet up with Amelia in Bangkok later on. I had met this German guy called Sven a few days earlier and he wanted to go and see some more of the island so I decided to join him. Here's a pic of the 2 of us.

So remember how I said that the only way to get around the island was with a scooter? Well, even though I had never driven one before I decided it would be fun to give it a go. And at 200Baht ($6) for 24hrs, the price was right. Here's the scooter I rented.

I figure if these guys can do it...so can I (this is a very common site in Koh Lanta btw).

I'm so cool.
It took me about half an hour to get used to it and then I was good to go. It was actually a lot of fun, except for one part when the road was not paved and then it wasn't fun at all. Luckily that only lasted a few minutes.

There are signs about the Tsunami all over the beaches around Krabi. It's quite surreal being at the site where it all happened after only watching it on tv.

We drove to Old Lanta Town where a lot of people now reside on the island and on to the end of the road where we snapped a few pretty pics by the water.



Then we drove to a cave where we were going to get a guided tour. Before we started the 2 hour excursion I decided to use the bathroom and was delighted to find this (also a common occurrence in Thailand). It's a wise idea to bring your own toilet paper wherever you go as it's not common place to have it. Or toilets for that matter!

The cave was really cool with tons of small crevices and high ceilings. Some of it was quite hard to negotiate and this family was with us on the tour including 2 small children, 1 of which the Mother carried on her back the whole time (it was hard for me to do it alone in some places). Mother of the year! Although I'm not quite sure why Mom got stuck with this job since Dad was there as well!?
Here's Sven about to enter the cave through a small opening...

Ready!
There were quite a few makeshift ladders throughout the cave.

It was hot.
I was a disgusting sweaty smelly pig when we were done.


Near the end there was a small space (about 30cms) that we had to crawl through and we were greeted by this dude on the other side. Luckily he was stationary. It's amazing how used to big bugs I am now. Didn't bother me in the least. Just yesterday I had to kill a HUGE cockroach in my room and it only took me about 10 seconds to get up the courage and I had forgotten about it within 10 minutes. I mean, I wouldn't want to share a bed with either of them or anything, but they are ok as long as they're not on me.

There were also a whole bunch of bats! They were stinky.

Saw this huge tree on the way back down after the cave tour.


and this huge elephant which they use for "trecking". I was going to do it until I found out that you just sit on that bench on top of the elephant and it walks around for half an hour. I felt too bad for the elephants and it wasn't worth $50.

Our guide showed us a rubber tree. The white stuff is collected and used to make tires and chewing gum. Neat!

After the cave tour we stopped somewhere for food. Some of the translations are just awesome. Check out this page entitled "Strange food", which includes a "standard omelet." Doesn't sound so strange to me!

We drove on to try and see a few more beaches and after trying, slightly unsuccesfully, to drive on the dirt road, happened upon the most beautiful beach.

It was small and secluded and there were only a few other people there. Definitely a gem. Reminded me of Magnetic Island actually.

Sven liked it too.
Nap time!
We wanted to stay there to watch the sunset but I was nervous about trying to drive back on the dirt road in the dark seeing as how I had enough trouble in the daylight so we moved on...

To another beach bar with these coloured lights lining the beach where we met a lovely Swedish couple and chatted with them for a few hours. It was an awesme day. Certainly my favourite of all the days I've spent on Koh Lanta.

One of the greatest things about this island is getting to see the most spectacular sunsets every evening. In fact most of my pics from this part of the trip are of sunsets. Rather than bore you with a million of them (which I could do, since this is my blog afterall), I decided to pick a few favourites...





So tomorrow I head to Bangkok on a 12 hour overnight bus (fun!) and will meet back up with Amelia for a few days of sightseeing, shopping and partying on Koh San Road before heading home, that's right HOME, on the 29th. To say I am feeling mixed about my return is an understatement. I am insanely excited about seeing my friends and family, having my own room and stuff, and Summer in Toronto (which I love). I am insanely worried about feeling bored and compacent after the initial excitement wears off. Plus the fact that I don't have a job secured and can't really think of anywhere I would love to work. It feels like a dream right now, that's for sure. Or perhaps this past year and a half feels like a dream and I am about to wake up.

Koh Phi Phi - Thailand!

Koh Phi Phi was much busier and therefore more expensive then Railay Beach. We were lucky to get the last room at this place called R.S. Guesthouse which was 700Baht/night but much smaller then the room we had in Railay.

In Thailand the shower is not in an enclosure. It's just attached to the wall so if the bathroom is tiny, like this one was, everything, including the toilet, gets soaked...

On one of our walks around we saw some people getting a fish foot spa. The fish are supposed to help with your circulation and leave your skin soft and make your feet look 10 years younger but Nicole has done it before and she said the only difference was that her feet smelled like fish afterwards so we opted out.

There's a ton of stay cat's and dog's all over and they are very cute and friendly. Just look at this little guy who came to keep us company on the beach one night. He even followed us most of the way home!

This cat sat on my lap the whole time I ate breakfast. He wasn't even interested in my food, just wanted to cuddle. So cute!

Koh Phi Phi is also very beautiful but because it's so busy the main beach is very littered with rubbish and beer cans so we scouted around and found a few other nicer and less inhabited beaches.

This is a view from the pier side where all the boats come in. Obviously.

This boat looked like it had been beached for years but an hour after I took the pic some fishermen got on it and floated away.

Thomas and Nicole had already been on Koh Phi Phi for a day before we got there so they scouted out a cool tour where we got to see Maya Beach (from the movie The Beach), go snorkeling in a quiet lagoon, and see the sunset on the way back. Here I am on The Beach beach. Unfortunately Leonardo DiCaprio was nowhere to be found.

When we went swimming in the lagoon it was so quiet and the limestone was so big, making me feel so small. The water was so clear and turquoise. Definitely one of those "wow" moments in travelling.

The sunset was pretty awesome too. I guess.

The bars on the beach in Koh Phi Phi are fun for a few days but that's about it. They all play the same techno/dance music and are packed with drunk people by 10pm. One night Thomas suggested we get some Sheesha. I had never done it before. We tried apple. It was yummy. If you don't know what it is, you can read more about it here.

Remember what I said about buckets? We didn't really follow that advice about exercising caution that night.

So...not only do they have fire shows from people who have been practicing for years, but at about 11pm, when most people are at least tipsy, they bring out various things which they set on fire for the audience to play with.

Fire jump rope anyone?

No? How about fire limbo then?

Still not your thing? Well then how about jumping through a ring of fire? I must say that I did not try any of these activities, despite having a definite urge to jump through the hoop at one point, because one thing I've noticed since we're been her is that one in about every ten people has some sort of injury. Bandages, bruises, crutches, you name it. Thailand might be fun and cheap and beautiful. But safe it is not (more about that in the next post about Koh Lanta as well). And for some perhaps not so smart decision on my part, for the first time on my travels decided to opt out of travel insurance before I came here. I guess it's cause I only used it once in Australia for a short visit to the doctor and never needed it in NZ plus the fact that my funds are running low at this point but geez, of all the places to opt out! Anyway, so far so good. Knock on wood!

Just thought I would throw in another pick of some amazing food. I don't think I have once not finished a meal here. I've also lost a few pounds in the last 3 weeks since the food here is more healthy, I don't eat as much because of the heat, and the portion sizes are much smaller.

Not so sure how I feel about putting "kitchen sauce" on my dinner though!

Even though Thailand is a dangerous place, you really only have yourself to blame if you get hurt. I mean, the Thais have warned you against being a human buo...

driving your boat too fast...

and drinking too much alcohol...

After Amelia and I had had enough of the beach bars we strolled along the pier side of the water to another bar where they were playing some hip hop yay! About 15mins after we arrived this huge group of Asians (I think they were from China) came into the bar and basically took it over. They were quite intoxicated and hilarious. They immediately started dancing like maniacs and got the whole bar to join in, including Amelia and I.

They were pretty seriously adorable and totally made our night.

I can never resist a man who wears his fish swim shorts to the bar!

Next stop: Koh Lanta!