Loving Lanta

After a whirlwind few days in Bangkok we boarded a bus bound for Krabi, the main hub for exploring the southern islands of Thailand set on the Andaman Sea. All the buses heading to these majestic islands leave Bangkok during the early evening so one can hopefully knock out and wake up in Krabi the next morning, not realizing that he/she just spent 16 hours - with one groggy stopover - in a bus full of fellow "farangs." As we've mentioned before, we always try to travel overland when possible so we looked at this excursion as no different. We were told to be at our guesthouse at 5:00 o'clock and were swiftly taken to a makeshift bus stop (really, this was just a corner of a main road) where a couple hundred other weary-eyed "backpackers" stumbled their way from the pubs to this bus stop. The Prancers, completely unlike their fellow bus travelers bit their tongues and hopped on the AC-to-the-MAX bus (Tom --- "THANK YOU, FINALLY SOME RELIEF!!!" ... Jill --- "OH, NO!!! I NEED A SWEATSHIRT!!!") bound for Krabi.

The ride started out decently enough and we actually got some sleep before being woken up at 1am for a 20 minute stop. Our eyes burning from the spot lights they popped on to wake us all up, we stumbled off the bus to take a pit stop. This ended up throwing us off a bit...but eventually we found sleep again before making it to our first stop at Surat Thani. From there, you were shuttled off the bus and given a sticker to put on your shirt signaling your final destination. Feeling like we had giant bells dangling from our necks, we shoved and pushed our way to the bathroom, splashed some water on our faces and tried to gain some feeling of being alive before we hopped on another bus headed for Krabi. This leg took 3 hours and were once again pushed off the bus as SOON as it landed at the bus station and into a restaurant that was laced with typical Thai "travel agents" eagerly wanting to help book a guesthouse for us. After conveniently striking out at every place we wanted ("oh...sorry, all full. I have a great guesthouse right on the water though, good price, have a look, no pressure...blah, blah, blah") we settled on a place we knew nothing about and stepped foot on our last leg of travel to Koh Lanta.

There are two options for getting into Koh Lanta from Krabi. One is to take a 2.5 hour ferry (our preferred choice and what we THOUGHT we had booked in Bangkok). The second is to go overland via minibus which boards a shorter ferry ride farther south on the mainland to enter Koh Lanta. The first option we thought was going to be our haven of freshness (fresh air, a place to stand and stretch our legs and not to mention the beautiful scenery we would soak up along the way). After 10, 15, 30 minutes went by in the minibus that we thought was taking us to the long ferry ride, we realized what had happened (we ended up on the 2nd option to Koh Lanta) and we were once again at the mercy of Admiral WACKO swerving and passing every car and motorbike he could pass as if he was getting a cash bonus for every vehicle he could pass along the way. At this point, we were at our wits end with being carted around like cattle that we were fed up with the entire ordeal.

We finally arrived at the New Coconut Guesthouse and found a very laid-back (something we were hoping for by picking Koh Lanta over the other popular choices of Koh Samui, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, etc...) atmosphere that we so badly needed after our 21 hour transfer from Bangkok! Whew! The beach we had ended up on is known on the island for being the most laid back, it's only drawback being that during low tide the water is unsuited for swimming because of rocks along the shore. But other than that element, the beach was totally our style. A bit of luck for the Prancers for having landed in this area.

The next day we decided to brave the roads again, despite our motorbike mishap in Koh Chang, and rented a motorbike to explore the island before deciding upon our upcoming activities that week. We knew we wanted to kayak the eastern shore of the island which is known for its mangrove coast. All the travel agents were telling us the only way to kayak was to go with one of the tours which headed towards a few smaller islands off the coastline. Not believing what they told us, we decided to head to the northeastern part of the islands and see if there was a place we could rent kayaks by the hour. Traveling through many small Muslim communities (Koh Lanta Thais are mostly Muslim decent due to its proximity to Malaysia) along dirt roads, which reminded us of Cambodia, we ran across a small village along the coast that protects the mangrove forests of that area. Their main focus is to promote Eco-Tourism in their village and educate people by taking them on kayak tours of the mangrove. We met a great man, Nas, and he ended up showing us the area. We told him we would come back the next day and he would allow us to kayak the around the region. We met him the next morning - after meeting his entire family at their home (the picture of Tom talking with the kids) - and set out into the mangrove. The kayaking was great and we saw lots of birds and even a few monkeys hopping around the mangrove.

Afterwards we headed toward a cave in the middle of the island. We thought it was just going to be a small cave you could walk to by yourself with no guide. Boy were we wrong, evident by Jill wearing a skirt! We followed the signs to the cave and arrived at someone's home. In front, were a few guides that were organizing trips into the cave. An Australian couple was waiting to leave on one and we joined in at the last minute. Along our walk to the cave, we passed many umbrella plants (like the one above) and tons of rubber trees. Once we entered the cave (Tom's first caving experience in comparison to Jill's numerous trips) and found a rather dry, but fairly large cave. There were some rather technical parts of the cave that made it tricky for Jill and her skirt (but great for Tom trailing behind to laugh at) and the oxygen level got pretty low in some parts. We saw some bats and got back to home base just before sunset. Sweaty and dirty (what's new), we headed to dinner to relax after our active day.

The following day was our next adventure...a two day/one night snorkeling trip to Koh Rok, two small islands south of Koh Lanta. We were picked up in a speed boat at 8am and arrived at our first snorkel site about an hour and a half later. We jumped into beautiful clear water that claimed 30 meter of visibility. Having found that hard to believe, we jumped in and started viewing the spectacular marine life of Southern Thailand. We snorkeled in two areas before arriving to the island itself for lunch. Those that stayed overnight were done snorkeling for the day while the others headed back to Koh Lanta.

Koh Rok is part of the Thai National Park network and is only available for camping. We rented a tent and blankets and set up shop right off the water. There were roughly 20 other tents on the beach and once the speed boats left, the island became the epitome of quiet and romantic. We headed up to the viewpoint and explored the shoreline, taking in some swimming and a new game we'll blog about later (smile). We enjoyed a wonderful evening on the island and woke up to glorious weather the next morning. We swam across to the other island (an invigorating 20 minute swim in the open water) and snorkeled along the rocky shore to find a whole new set of fish and marine life! Again, the sights were breathtaking and before we knew it, lunch was being served by the next day's set of speedboats. We hooked back up with our company and boarded the boat for the third snorkel site of the day. This site was highlighted by Tom being stung by a jellyfish upon boarding the boat. The location was the upper lip and there was slight swelling that evening, but the pain subsided the following day. We landed back on our cozy beach and checked into the Bee Bee Bungalows, the gem of that beach and luckily snagged the Suger Bee Suite that was great for lounging around...which we promptly did for the next two days. (see picture with Tom sleeping in the hammock).

Our stay in Koh Lanta was JUST what we wanted: a beautiful mixture of activity and relaxation...an island that has a little bit for everyone. We checked out of Bee Bee and took a ferry to Phuket, the setting for our last Asian adventure: the "Hong By Starlight."