We arrived to Koh Lanta seeing wet pavement and a sleepy little town. This was a foreshadowing of things to come. We instantly felt like we were in a different world than Phi Phi. The Thais here were smiling more and laughing and generally just more friendly. We had arranged to see a hotel/resort by a man on the ferry who showed us brochures and pamphlets. Since Lanta is not a ‘walking distance’ island we would need transportation to the hotel and arranging a hotel ahead of time assured we wouldn’t have to walk miles with our bags searching for a place to live.
Arriving at our hotel we were blown away by the value and specifically the value difference from our home in Phi Phi. We had a beachfront resort with a beach, 3 pools, 2 restaurants, 2 bars, a huge room, a/c, hot water shower, a flush toilet, and tv (tv nonfunctional). All this for about 18 dollars a night compared to the 24 bucks a night we were paying in Phi Phi. We were instantly happy with our decision without even searching around to other resorts around the area. The first evening was spent relaxing by the beachfront bar and swimming at the pool and enjoying the cool breeze that Koh Lanta had to offer.
Instantly we were pleased with how happy the staff was there and we got a really good laugh when a waiter ran up to me speaking Thai with a huge grin on his face and then put his arm next to mine. He compared our skin color and started laughing even harder at us (well probably just me).
The next morning after finding sustenance at the minimart at the main road we made arrangements for our transportation on Koh Lanta. The most efficient and most economical transportation in all of Thailand of course is the motorbike. A quick back story is needed here. When living on Phi Phi I saw on a daily basis people walking around with bandages. I quickly learned that these bandages were the result of either of 2 kinds of accidents: Motorbike crashes and Thai fire-dancing burns. If a person was walking onto the island with bandages it was from the former; if he/she were walking off the island it was an injury from the latter accident. Regardless we had been promised that the roads on Lanta were much safer than that of mainland Thailand. Supposedly the faster drivers yielded to helpless motorbikes until passing them on straight sections of road where risk of head-on collisions was reduced.
So off we went in our 6 dollar a day motorbike rental. Our amazing little Honda turned out to be the little bike that could. We cautiously entered the main road with me driving and Carolyn on back complaining the whole way! “Slow down!” “Watch out!” “Look out for that dog!” I by no means was reckless with our lives and had to keep reminding Carolyn that we were only going 50kph/30mph and the cars passing us were usually trying to go twice as fast. Eventually we found a speed that both of us were comfortable with and aside from the occasional squeal from behind my ear our motorbike adventure was off to a great start. Our first stop was to get gasoline (they only start you off with about a liter).
When you have only a 1 gallon tank it doesn’t make much sense to pull into a huge gas station and pump from a normal pump. These gas stations are far and few between so the Thais of course have another ingenious invention. Enter the Thai motorbike gas station. A minimart in Thailand often sells everything you could possibly need. On Lanta they also operate what would seem to look much like a lemonade stand out on the road. Each lemonade stand has a table full of old Thai whiskey bottles repurposed as petrol containers. A sign says only “40 baht/liter” and a funnel sits idly on a hook or counter or empty bottle somewhere. You pull up and park your bike and eventually a little old Thai lady comes running from inside or around the side of the building or even from nowhere. She asks how many bottles and she opens up your gas tank for you and shoves the funnel in it and starts pouring away. Ironically the bottles are 750ml bottles but they pretend you don’t know that and charge you 40 baht per bottle anyways. A small price to pay for open road freedom.
We started exploring the island. We headed off to the main town about 20 minutes away to see what we could find in terms of diving operations. We weren’t sure if we really wanted to dive around Koh Lanta but it would be nice to price it out and see how the diving worked. We quickly found the diving to be very expensive and looked unlikely in the time we had allotted for Lanta. We decided to start exploring the island by driving the perimeter road counter clockwise and headed for the lookout point. My directional sense failed however and after a couple of wrong turns and about an hour and a half of driving and stopping and taking pictures we landed back into the main town on the north end of the island from a different road. Along the way we saw countless villages, sleepy little towns, cows, goats, and the occasional elephant riding tour station.
Once again we couldn’t resist pulling over to take pictures of the elephants sitting in their pens. One place in particular had a baby elephant tied to its mother. When we stopped another group of tourists paid for bananas to feed them and we snapped off pictures of them inhaling whole bananas. Someone paid to take the mother for a ride and as they walked out of the pens we stood to the side to let the mother walk out with baby in tow. I’m not sure what I did wrong or possibly even right but before I knew it the baby elephant was running straight for me! I tried to side step the little guy but he was too fast and he head butted me in the chest. The event left a dusty imprint of a baby elephant forehead on my shirt and we laughed as we headed to the next town.
By the time we made it back to the main town a drizzle of rain had started. By 4 pm it was a complete downpour with no signs of letting up. After pulling over our motorbike a couple of times we decided it was a losing battle and we put everything of value into the drybag and slowly made our way home being pelted the entire way. Some Thais use the umbrella while driving technique. Others just block the rain from their eyes while trying to keep their eyes on the road. Upon arriving home the reception desk girls laughed and smiled at us drenched in rainwater and so we handed them the camera to capture the moment.
My friend Gee that now works on Lanta as a dive instructor has a theory about Thai people and their attitudes. Thailand has always been advertised as the land of a million smiles. On Phi Phi this didn’t feel entirely true. A lot of the people working in the service industry there seem very grumpy. Gee believes that Thai people are like mirrors. They reflect the attitude and emotions of the people they interact with every day. Since many of the people on Phi Phi are hung-over or drunk tourists, they start getting burnt out by the resultant attitude. Since Lanta is more laid back, the locals are much friendlier and happier in general.
The next day we went in search for the waterfalls on the south end of the island. The rain from the previous evening was supposedly a daily event and only for 3 or 4 hours and so we decided to venture out to the jungle anyways. The road eventually turned into dirt, mud, and rocks but the Honda persevered. We arrived at the trailhead and were told it was an easy 30 minute walk in the jungle to a pool and a waterfall. After 40 minutes of offroad terrain, bushwacking, and steep, slippery rocks we decided we must have made a wrong turn. We headed down the mountain using vines to keep us from falling and eventually we made is back to the only place we could possibly have screwed up and headed up another slightly more worn trail. A fork in the road appeared and we chose the low route. After 20 minutes of slippery mud and rocks we decided we must have chosen incorrectly again and we turned back to the fork. 3rd time the charm and we finally arrived at the small pool two and a half hours after we started our 30 minute walk! The waterfall was refreshing and I let myself get drenched in the cold water.
After returning to the motorbike we decided to leave the park before the 4pm rains began and just as we made it back to paved road, the rain began. We stopped for food to wait out the rain and it never yielded much. We continued and eventually we were forced to stop by the rain at a quiet beach bar with a handful of Western tourists. Sitting undercover we listened to music and then I started learning how to fire dance with the ball and chains and fire staff from a friendly Thai man. Carolyn was quite amused that I was trying my hand at this mostly because she wanted to see me whack myself. Note that there was no fire involved so there were no injuries like the ones from the above back story. Eventually we realized the rain would not let up in our lifetime and we made preparations for another cold wet ride on the motorbike.
For my birthday we decided to go on an interisland snorkeling tour. The morning started off rainy but soon it cleared up and we were able to enjoy the view. Overall the snorkeling trip was a massive disappointment however. I generally don’t like to be too negative about my experiences but sometimes you have to just laugh at your mistakes. The boat was a medium sized transport vessel used sometimes as a ferry. The main cabin filled with diesel exhaust whenever the windows were closed so we spent the transits glued to a cracked window. We assumed we would get access to snacks and water as promised but nothing was ever laid out for us. The reason was that the boat was being used as a multi-purpose vessel that day. Only about 1/5 of the passengers were actually there to snorkel. Other people unwittingly paid for a ferry ticket to other islands and had to sit patiently (some not very successfully) while we snorkeled and explored.
The first stop was a ferry drop-off point so a complete waste of time for us. The second stop was probably the only redeeming event of the trip. We pulled up to a small limestone island alongside other boats. The crew said, “cave” and handed us life vests which we promptly put on the deck and walked away from. The island had some natural caves that wound into the center of the island just at sea level. We were to swim through the pitch black caves to arrive in a lagoon surrounded by sheer cliffs. The only way into this lagoon besides possibly repelling from a helicopter, is navigating the caves. Most of the customers were Thai or of our Asian descent and therefore didn’t feel comfortable swimming. They were attached a long rope and the staff pulled the floating flailing bodies through the caves with a small flashlight while they screamed, sung, and chanted. Needless to say, Carolyn and I avoided the crazy train and swam alongside it using the lights from the different guides to make our way through. The cave was amazing and the lagoon was stunning as well. It was truly worth the experience.
Meanwhile the ferry passengers paced angrily on board the boat, not permitted to join in on the fun because they hadn’t paid for the experience. We dropped more passengers off and then headed to another island for lunch. There was not enough food or drink and when the ferry passengers asked for food too they were told it was 150 baht each for the buffet meal (expensive and crappy). We eventually dropped the passengers off and headed for the first snorkel site. We parked far off the reef down current and they threw a box on the deck full of masks and snorkels. I asked for fins but they said they had none. Snorkel was supposed to be included and under my definition snorkel gear includes mask, snorkel, and fins. Since we were down current and off the reef Carolyn and I were the only two customers skilled enough to actually swim over to the reef to see the beat up, half-dead reef. The visibility was horrible and there were quite a few jellyfish in the water. The Asian customers donned their life vests and jumped in the water for about 30 seconds before climbing back on board. We went to a new site and had similar conditions and repeated the cycle. Eventually the trip was over after a long diesel filled ride home.
We continued laughing about the trip the rest of the evening learning that the other operations ran their trips exactly the same way. On the boat we had one good experience, mostly bad experiences, and lots of lessons learned. Overall we loved Koh Lanta and wished we could spend more time there. The next day we headed for Bangkok…
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