After the hectic, alcohol and pretty crazy week in Patong, I was in need for a huge wind-down and detox. Ok, so the detox only lasted abut 2 days; but the intention was definitely there. The day before leaving Patong I'd booked a mini-van to take me to a small island on the other side of the gulf near Krabi called Ko Lanta. Ko Lanta is - along with Koh Phangan - one of the original hippy islands in Thailand where backpackers used to come to relax and chill out on the long deserted beaches. Luckily Ko Lanta hasn't gone the same way of Koh Phangan and is still relatively quiet with the beaches sparsely lined with small bars and shacks selling cheap Thai food and ice cold beers.
The journey there wasn't the greatest. It was a bit of a shock to the system to wake up early and be ready to picked up for 8am and was even more of a shock to wake up and not have the pounding pain of a monster hangover. The journey was in a cramped mini-van; there are seats for 14 people, however the van's aren't exactly equipped to also carry 14 large rucksacks... and without a roof rack they are just crammed into any available space, making the leg room and comfortability less than that of Ryanair. It also took bloody ages!! For a journey that in a car would take about 5 hours, this took nearly 10 as the driver felt the need to stop every half an hour to have something to eat and a cigarette...
Before leaving Patong, I'd already booked a hotel for the first 3 nights in a decent resort with a nice swimming pool, good sun deck and 30 seconds from my room onto the beach. It cost a little bit more than I wanted to pay; however as soon as I got into the nice air-conditioned room I knew that it was worth it! The room was nice and cold, the bed was comfortable and for the first time in ages there was a fridge in the room; which I stocked straight away with a few bottles of Chang to get nicely chilled for the next couple of days.
The sleep that night was amazing and well deserved. For the first time since being in Asia I had a room to myself rather than having to share a dorm. The rates for the rooms in Thailand compared to Malaysia and Singapore are so cheap that most places don't have dorms, and rooms only cost around 600baht (£12) max. I made sure that the alarm was set not too early; but early enough that I'd get a good spot at the pool. So at 11am the alarm went off and I gave myself an hour to get showered and ready for a day of doing absolutely nothing but soaking in the sun and perfecting the awesome tan. The pool was still quiet, so I found a good spot on the far side and made sure that as the day passed there wouldn't be any shade getting in the way, then grabbed a beer, some fruit, put the iPod on and settled in for the afternoon!! As the day went on, it got a lot better. The pool area started to get busy and it seemed that everyone staying at the hotel were female... Jackpot!! After an easy lunch of fried rice and a banana shake the afternoon followed suit and I spent the whole time lounging around the pool, diving in when the heat was un-bearable, then back to the sunbed; waiting for sunset. The hotel was on the West coast of the island and has a great sunset directly opposite; so around 6pm I headed down to the beach to chill out for an hour or so, watch the sun dip below the horizon and feel the air finally cool down a bit. After a nice long shower and wind-down I'd arranged to meet a couple of guys from earlier at the pool to go for dinner. We'd decided that after having such a stressful day of doing absolutely nothing, we'd just have a quiet night; and found a restaurant called the Meeting Place close by the hotel. The food was really cheap and good and the Chang's were cold, so a winning combination. After dinner we headed back the hotel and relaxed for a couple of hours at the bar at the hotel, which is pretty much just a wooden jetty over the beach looking out at the sea, with loads of big comfortable cushions everywhere; the perfect place to relax and full sleep with the sound of the waves slowly breaking.
I won't go into too much detail about the next day as it followed the exact same pattern as the previous. Nice late start, the temperature was up to 37°C and the pool was busy again.
There wasn't really too much of a plan for the next couple of weeks. I needed to be in Koh Phangan by 4th April for the Full Moon; so it left me with a bit of time to just relax after having a few big weeks prior in Patong, Malaysia etc... I had arranged to meet a friend - Abi - from earlier on in the trip in Koh Lanta in the next few days, so that night I headed to the next beach along to look at a cheaper room for us to crash in that was a bit closer to the bars and a more livelier beach. The beach that I was staying on previously was shingled - so not too comfortable - whereas the next along (Long Beach) was very fine sand. Long Beach also stretches for a few kilometres and has several bars along it. I found a couple of guesthouses - which all had vacancies - and decided to look properly tomorrow when it was a bit lighter and the state of the room can be seen better.
I grabbed dinner in a place called Raan who made an awesome Green curry, washed it down with a glass of white and then found a sports bar called Bajen to watch Spurs vs. Chelsea. Pretty poor game finishing 0-0; however I met a cool Irish guy called Stephen who was on his honeymoon and left his wife in the Spa at their hotel so he could come out, drink several beers and watch the football.
The next day I got up early, grabbed some breakfast and carried my rucksack in the blazing heat for about 20 minutes up to long beach in search of a new place. I managed to find a nice, cheap shack; 10 seconds to the beach and complete with a small beach bar. The beach was perfect. Bamboo sunbeds lined up outside the bar and hardly anyone else on the beach. The 'shack' was also made out of bamboo, and looked pretty unsteady. The saving grace was that evening when the heavens opened - and and a weeks rain dropped in about 2 hours - the place stood firmly! It was pretty good too in the way that the breeze coming off of the sea would creep through all of the small holes between the wood and cool the room down a lot. The downside to this was that if the wind could get through the small holes, then the insects and bugs could too... and the bed came complete with a large mosquito night draped over it; looking like a princess bed... The bathroom had a lot to be desired. It was separated from the room by a wooden wall to the ceiling and a shower curtain instead for a door. The floor to the shower was a couple of large slate blocks surrounded by large pebbles and a bit too much sand; and came complete with a small frog camouflaged into the bamboo, which I managed to see half way through a shower. All I was thinking to myself was I was glad that it wasn't a spider looking at me! After the shower I told the little guy at the bar who just laughed and went in to get the frog out. About 4 hours later the frog was back, and when I asked the bar guy where he had put it the first time, he informed me just outside the front door. The second time I made sure that it wouldn't be able to find its way back.
During the downpour I decided to spend the time productively, so started writing a bit more of the blog before getting bored and watching The Hangover Part II. After a couple of hours the rain ceased and started to dry up surprisingly quickly; so I walked into town and decided to hire a Moped for a few days to explore the island properly. Lanta is probably one of the safest places to get a ped as the roads are really well maintained and as the whole island has the laid back, hippy feel, no ones seems to move around to quickly... that was until I got on the bike.
I met Abi at a hotel that a girl she had met on the boat was staying further just along from where the shack was and we walked down to the beach and found a small beach bar to grab a drink to watch the sun die out for the evening. The guy in the bar told us that the bar was hosting a beach party later on that night, so after a drink we wandered back up to the main strip to get some dinner and headed into Bajen for a couple of games of pool and a few beers before moving back to the beach. In the bar we met a great couple - Tim and Cally - from Guildford; who I met up with again later on on the tour! After a couple of beers we all went to 7/11 to get some cheaper drinks and took them down to the beach. The beach bar with the party was a bit busy, so we found some large cushions and dumped ourselves down for a few hours and just chatted the night away. Tim and Cally were headed across to Ko Samui in a couple of days, so I arranged to meet them there on the 1st April before we all went across to Koh Phangan.
The following day we had a lazy morning and planned to be ready for 12ish, jump on the bike and explore for the afternoon. The weather wasn't fantastic - slightly overcast - so the first stop would be to the old town on the east side of the island to see the sights. It took about 25 minutes to get there, but there wasn't really too much to see. We had lunch in a small Thai restaurant - however we both had the orange Duck which wasn't too good - and then took a walk for about half an hour around the town. There were a few small shops, a war memorial and a large monument to the King; but that was about it. We rode further south and pretty much came to the end of the rode where the coast line was covered in mangroves and there was large old longtail boats lined up on the beach and stretching back into the jungle.
After chilling out for half an hour we were planning to visit the emerald caves in the middle of the island, however by the time we reached there the clouds were just starting to burst and the tour to the caves would take a couple of hours. We waited for the rain to stop - I had a banana pancake in the meantime - and we then travelled back to the West side of the island and south find a beach to crash on for an hour or so until heading back up to long beach.
The evening was planned to be a more relaxing one. We went back up to the main strip again for dinner and then heard that there was going to be another party at a different bar on the beach; which was conveniently next to the place we were staying. Same as before we went to 7/11, this time for a small bottle of Smirnoff, large Coke and a few paper cups, and headed down to the beach bar. We chilled out at the bar for a couple of hours, although it wasn't as busy as the one on the previous night so we just wandered a bit further along the beach, sat down on the sand pretty much talked through until the sun started to come up! Late to bed and late to rise the next day.
So, late start the next day and the weather was awesome! Quick showers and back on the bike to head south to the national park to find a good beach to relax on for the day and to let the hangover drift over the horizon. The beaches in the south were Ok, but not as nice as long beach. The water however was warm and the sun was shining so couldn't complain too much. After a couple of hours of laying in the sun, bit of swimming and about an hour of pathetically throwing a frisbee across the beach we headed a long the beach and found a couple of lounge bars. We went to a Swedish one called Roundhouse and chilled out for an hour watching the sunset with a couple of ice cold banana shakes. That evening after getting back to the room and getting ready we rode north to Sala Dan which is the main town on Ko Lanta where the pier is and also a fairly large market. Within the market we found a few traditional Thai stalls with tables and chairs around; with everybody eating there being Thai. Two things that are good with this: 1. If the locals eat there then it must be good and 2. The markets seem to be a lot cheaper than the restaurant, which are mainly catering for tourists. I had the Penang curry which was fairly spicy, but manageable and washed down with a couple of bottles of Sprite (decided to have a detox after the last couple of nights). After dinner we wandered around the market for a bit; found a bookshop and bought a couple to read over the next week or so whilst chilling in the sun, then hit a couple of clothes shops before driving back down to to Long Beach and watching Barcelona in the sports bar. Early. The night was supposed to be an early one after that, however on the way back to hotel we stopped by at a bar called Funky Monkey to play a few games of pool and listen to the live band about to stop. It sort of came as a blessing, as about 2 minutes after we arrived there a small tropical storm blew over for the next hour; so we were stuck. The band that played were actually amazing... They were called Lantana Band and started off by playing the standard songs that most cover bands cover - Hotel California, Bob Marley, The Beatles etc... - however with a laid back, hippy and reggae edge to them. The last few songs that they played were ones written by their lead singer and were really cool; following the same easy going faster paced reggae vibe.
The next day was scheduled to be the last in the 'shack'... so that morning we rode around and managed to find a bungalow just off of the main strip, with Air-Con for a slightly cheaper price than before and complete with an awesome pool!! Therefore, the plan for the day was sorted; bags dumped in the room and off to the pool for the next 6 hours of doing nothing except a bit of reading, listening to some music and diving into the pool everytime it reached that point of being just too hot. The evening was slightly eventful. After getting ready we found an amazing BBQ place on the main street that was only 99baht (£2) for BBQ Chicken, potato and salad. With a bottle of Chang thrown in on the side it was turning into the perfect dinner! We headed next door to a bar that claimed to have the best Mojitos on Ko Lanta and had a few games of winner stays on pool with some of the other guys in the bar. The bar was owned by a German guy and his Thai wife. After staying on the table for about 45 minutes I got a bit bored so surrendered my position and we went next door to relax with a couple more beers. The next 10 minutes was pretty relaxed; however the silence was suddenly broken by a loud crash, a scream and the German guy shouted at the top of his voice at the Thai woman; telling her to go away, never come back etc... He was throwing glasses and bottles around, the Mojito sign and generally thrashing anything that he could find! Apparently this happens a lot. We left the bar and went up to one called Galaxy who were supposed to be having a large party; however when we arrived we were the only ones there, had a quick drink and left.
The last day in Ko Lanta was again another chilled out one; lounging around the pool, easy lunch in one of the local Thai places and dinner at the Raan restaurant. We needed to plan the next phase of our trips too, so went into the travel agency to negotiate a ticket away from the island. Abi was heading to Malaysia on a Visa Run and I booked a mini-van to Ko Samui to meet up with Tim and Cally in Cheweng. I'd also planned to meet up with Matt who I'd met previously in Buenos Aries and we all head over to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon.
So, after a pretty hectic week in Patong, Ko Lanta was a nice welcome break and slight detox. The island is amazing and the whole hippy vibe is perfect for just chilling out on the beach, eating authentic local Thai food and just winding down the days. The original plan was to stay on Lanta for 4 nights, but I loved it so much it was extended to 10. Could have easily spent a lot longer there!!
x
The next day I got up early, grabbed some breakfast and carried my rucksack in the blazing heat for about 20 minutes up to long beach in search of a new place. I managed to find a nice, cheap shack; 10 seconds to the beach and complete with a small beach bar. The beach was perfect. Bamboo sunbeds lined up outside the bar and hardly anyone else on the beach. The 'shack' was also made out of bamboo, and looked pretty unsteady. The saving grace was that evening when the heavens opened - and and a weeks rain dropped in about 2 hours - the place stood firmly! It was pretty good too in the way that the breeze coming off of the sea would creep through all of the small holes between the wood and cool the room down a lot. The downside to this was that if the wind could get through the small holes, then the insects and bugs could too... and the bed came complete with a large mosquito night draped over it; looking like a princess bed... The bathroom had a lot to be desired. It was separated from the room by a wooden wall to the ceiling and a shower curtain instead for a door. The floor to the shower was a couple of large slate blocks surrounded by large pebbles and a bit too much sand; and came complete with a small frog camouflaged into the bamboo, which I managed to see half way through a shower. All I was thinking to myself was I was glad that it wasn't a spider looking at me! After the shower I told the little guy at the bar who just laughed and went in to get the frog out. About 4 hours later the frog was back, and when I asked the bar guy where he had put it the first time, he informed me just outside the front door. The second time I made sure that it wouldn't be able to find its way back.
During the downpour I decided to spend the time productively, so started writing a bit more of the blog before getting bored and watching The Hangover Part II. After a couple of hours the rain ceased and started to dry up surprisingly quickly; so I walked into town and decided to hire a Moped for a few days to explore the island properly. Lanta is probably one of the safest places to get a ped as the roads are really well maintained and as the whole island has the laid back, hippy feel, no ones seems to move around to quickly... that was until I got on the bike.
I met Abi at a hotel that a girl she had met on the boat was staying further just along from where the shack was and we walked down to the beach and found a small beach bar to grab a drink to watch the sun die out for the evening. The guy in the bar told us that the bar was hosting a beach party later on that night, so after a drink we wandered back up to the main strip to get some dinner and headed into Bajen for a couple of games of pool and a few beers before moving back to the beach. In the bar we met a great couple - Tim and Cally - from Guildford; who I met up with again later on on the tour! After a couple of beers we all went to 7/11 to get some cheaper drinks and took them down to the beach. The beach bar with the party was a bit busy, so we found some large cushions and dumped ourselves down for a few hours and just chatted the night away. Tim and Cally were headed across to Ko Samui in a couple of days, so I arranged to meet them there on the 1st April before we all went across to Koh Phangan.
The following day we had a lazy morning and planned to be ready for 12ish, jump on the bike and explore for the afternoon. The weather wasn't fantastic - slightly overcast - so the first stop would be to the old town on the east side of the island to see the sights. It took about 25 minutes to get there, but there wasn't really too much to see. We had lunch in a small Thai restaurant - however we both had the orange Duck which wasn't too good - and then took a walk for about half an hour around the town. There were a few small shops, a war memorial and a large monument to the King; but that was about it. We rode further south and pretty much came to the end of the rode where the coast line was covered in mangroves and there was large old longtail boats lined up on the beach and stretching back into the jungle.
After chilling out for half an hour we were planning to visit the emerald caves in the middle of the island, however by the time we reached there the clouds were just starting to burst and the tour to the caves would take a couple of hours. We waited for the rain to stop - I had a banana pancake in the meantime - and we then travelled back to the West side of the island and south find a beach to crash on for an hour or so until heading back up to long beach.
The evening was planned to be a more relaxing one. We went back up to the main strip again for dinner and then heard that there was going to be another party at a different bar on the beach; which was conveniently next to the place we were staying. Same as before we went to 7/11, this time for a small bottle of Smirnoff, large Coke and a few paper cups, and headed down to the beach bar. We chilled out at the bar for a couple of hours, although it wasn't as busy as the one on the previous night so we just wandered a bit further along the beach, sat down on the sand pretty much talked through until the sun started to come up! Late to bed and late to rise the next day.
So, late start the next day and the weather was awesome! Quick showers and back on the bike to head south to the national park to find a good beach to relax on for the day and to let the hangover drift over the horizon. The beaches in the south were Ok, but not as nice as long beach. The water however was warm and the sun was shining so couldn't complain too much. After a couple of hours of laying in the sun, bit of swimming and about an hour of pathetically throwing a frisbee across the beach we headed a long the beach and found a couple of lounge bars. We went to a Swedish one called Roundhouse and chilled out for an hour watching the sunset with a couple of ice cold banana shakes. That evening after getting back to the room and getting ready we rode north to Sala Dan which is the main town on Ko Lanta where the pier is and also a fairly large market. Within the market we found a few traditional Thai stalls with tables and chairs around; with everybody eating there being Thai. Two things that are good with this: 1. If the locals eat there then it must be good and 2. The markets seem to be a lot cheaper than the restaurant, which are mainly catering for tourists. I had the Penang curry which was fairly spicy, but manageable and washed down with a couple of bottles of Sprite (decided to have a detox after the last couple of nights). After dinner we wandered around the market for a bit; found a bookshop and bought a couple to read over the next week or so whilst chilling in the sun, then hit a couple of clothes shops before driving back down to to Long Beach and watching Barcelona in the sports bar. Early. The night was supposed to be an early one after that, however on the way back to hotel we stopped by at a bar called Funky Monkey to play a few games of pool and listen to the live band about to stop. It sort of came as a blessing, as about 2 minutes after we arrived there a small tropical storm blew over for the next hour; so we were stuck. The band that played were actually amazing... They were called Lantana Band and started off by playing the standard songs that most cover bands cover - Hotel California, Bob Marley, The Beatles etc... - however with a laid back, hippy and reggae edge to them. The last few songs that they played were ones written by their lead singer and were really cool; following the same easy going faster paced reggae vibe.
The next day was scheduled to be the last in the 'shack'... so that morning we rode around and managed to find a bungalow just off of the main strip, with Air-Con for a slightly cheaper price than before and complete with an awesome pool!! Therefore, the plan for the day was sorted; bags dumped in the room and off to the pool for the next 6 hours of doing nothing except a bit of reading, listening to some music and diving into the pool everytime it reached that point of being just too hot. The evening was slightly eventful. After getting ready we found an amazing BBQ place on the main street that was only 99baht (£2) for BBQ Chicken, potato and salad. With a bottle of Chang thrown in on the side it was turning into the perfect dinner! We headed next door to a bar that claimed to have the best Mojitos on Ko Lanta and had a few games of winner stays on pool with some of the other guys in the bar. The bar was owned by a German guy and his Thai wife. After staying on the table for about 45 minutes I got a bit bored so surrendered my position and we went next door to relax with a couple more beers. The next 10 minutes was pretty relaxed; however the silence was suddenly broken by a loud crash, a scream and the German guy shouted at the top of his voice at the Thai woman; telling her to go away, never come back etc... He was throwing glasses and bottles around, the Mojito sign and generally thrashing anything that he could find! Apparently this happens a lot. We left the bar and went up to one called Galaxy who were supposed to be having a large party; however when we arrived we were the only ones there, had a quick drink and left.
The last day in Ko Lanta was again another chilled out one; lounging around the pool, easy lunch in one of the local Thai places and dinner at the Raan restaurant. We needed to plan the next phase of our trips too, so went into the travel agency to negotiate a ticket away from the island. Abi was heading to Malaysia on a Visa Run and I booked a mini-van to Ko Samui to meet up with Tim and Cally in Cheweng. I'd also planned to meet up with Matt who I'd met previously in Buenos Aries and we all head over to Koh Phangan for the Full Moon.
So, after a pretty hectic week in Patong, Ko Lanta was a nice welcome break and slight detox. The island is amazing and the whole hippy vibe is perfect for just chilling out on the beach, eating authentic local Thai food and just winding down the days. The original plan was to stay on Lanta for 4 nights, but I loved it so much it was extended to 10. Could have easily spent a lot longer there!!
x
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