Ahhhhh Ko Lanta just the place we were looking for, cheap, laid back and not too commercial but still enough going on.
We arrived with no real expectations as we hadn't heard much about the Island. After a mini van trip with what must have also been the local courier, he stopped every 5 mins to drop something off, and a couple of ferries we arrived with no where to stay the driver asked where we wanted to be dropped off and we said long beach so he dropped us at long beach resort after trying to explain we don't have anywhere booked and one more stop at another resort we finally got off on the main st in long beach. We found a place with bungalows for 200 baht a night which is real cheap, so decided to stay there and booked in for 4 nights. The next day we discovered not only was it cheap but we get housekeeping and free water every day, an amazing deal so that is one of the reasons we are still here 2 weeks later.
So our first day here we witnessed one of ..well probably.. the best sunsets I have ever seen it was incredible. We sat at the bar associated with our accommodation right on the beach on these Thai style lounges and the afternoon just slipped away.
The next day we hired scooters and went on a bit of a tour around the island to the old town which was really nice old houses on stilts above the water. We saw some great views and found an amazing beach bar and witnessed another incredible sunset. The sunset every day is amazing every one different depending on the cloud positions. You just can’t take enough photo's, but we try. The Rasta bartender at this bar was super friendly and brought us some free shots, but not just any shots it was sea snakes and scorpions preserved in alcohol we were a little dubious at first but all ended up having one anyway he had a good selection of different snakes like pythons and others but we all had the same one didn't taste like poison and we are still alive. He also had monkey brains but I will tell you about that one later.
We have been pretty much chilling and playing frisbee, drinking beer chang, and reading which has been nice. We found a good cheap roadside stall which we have been to every day which does amazing fruit shakes, just fresh fruit and a bit of sugar syrup blended with ice, so good, cools you down from the inside, pineapple and coconut seems to be the flavours of choice.
We hired scooters again today and went on search for a waterfall. After some extreme scootering up steep dirt hills with ditches and pot holes you could lose a small child in, we made it to the track to walk to the waterfall. It said it was a 1 km walk but you can’t trust Thai distances. As we set off a group of possibly Germans said (insert accent here) " you cant get there, there is a big tree blocking the track" we said thanks but we will try anyway, they said "see you in 10 minutes ja" so we set off headed upstream as there was not much of a track after about 5 minutes we came across what we assumed was what the Germans were talking about, stepped over the 2 tiny fallen down trees and kept going. We lost the track for a bit but just stuck with the river which was only ankle deep and kept going till Simon said I think the track heads up there. Now I know we all have played the game "Simon says" but in real life if Simon says go up here don't do it. We scrambled up a 45 degree slope full of ants and spiky trees and mud. It took us a bit too long to realise what the hell are we going up here for and after sweating off a few kilos thought we better slide back down to the river because usually waterfalls are associated with rivers. We passed a couple of other people who told us it wasn't too much further so we trundled on and came across a sign that said Bat Cave. After all the necessary Batman jokes we headed into it. It was an amazing cave with big tree roots growing through it and a few different caverns but no Batmobile to be seen.
We arrived with no real expectations as we hadn't heard much about the Island. After a mini van trip with what must have also been the local courier, he stopped every 5 mins to drop something off, and a couple of ferries we arrived with no where to stay the driver asked where we wanted to be dropped off and we said long beach so he dropped us at long beach resort after trying to explain we don't have anywhere booked and one more stop at another resort we finally got off on the main st in long beach. We found a place with bungalows for 200 baht a night which is real cheap, so decided to stay there and booked in for 4 nights. The next day we discovered not only was it cheap but we get housekeeping and free water every day, an amazing deal so that is one of the reasons we are still here 2 weeks later.
So our first day here we witnessed one of ..well probably.. the best sunsets I have ever seen it was incredible. We sat at the bar associated with our accommodation right on the beach on these Thai style lounges and the afternoon just slipped away.
The next day we hired scooters and went on a bit of a tour around the island to the old town which was really nice old houses on stilts above the water. We saw some great views and found an amazing beach bar and witnessed another incredible sunset. The sunset every day is amazing every one different depending on the cloud positions. You just can’t take enough photo's, but we try. The Rasta bartender at this bar was super friendly and brought us some free shots, but not just any shots it was sea snakes and scorpions preserved in alcohol we were a little dubious at first but all ended up having one anyway he had a good selection of different snakes like pythons and others but we all had the same one didn't taste like poison and we are still alive. He also had monkey brains but I will tell you about that one later.
We have been pretty much chilling and playing frisbee, drinking beer chang, and reading which has been nice. We found a good cheap roadside stall which we have been to every day which does amazing fruit shakes, just fresh fruit and a bit of sugar syrup blended with ice, so good, cools you down from the inside, pineapple and coconut seems to be the flavours of choice.
We hired scooters again today and went on search for a waterfall. After some extreme scootering up steep dirt hills with ditches and pot holes you could lose a small child in, we made it to the track to walk to the waterfall. It said it was a 1 km walk but you can’t trust Thai distances. As we set off a group of possibly Germans said (insert accent here) " you cant get there, there is a big tree blocking the track" we said thanks but we will try anyway, they said "see you in 10 minutes ja" so we set off headed upstream as there was not much of a track after about 5 minutes we came across what we assumed was what the Germans were talking about, stepped over the 2 tiny fallen down trees and kept going. We lost the track for a bit but just stuck with the river which was only ankle deep and kept going till Simon said I think the track heads up there. Now I know we all have played the game "Simon says" but in real life if Simon says go up here don't do it. We scrambled up a 45 degree slope full of ants and spiky trees and mud. It took us a bit too long to realise what the hell are we going up here for and after sweating off a few kilos thought we better slide back down to the river because usually waterfalls are associated with rivers. We passed a couple of other people who told us it wasn't too much further so we trundled on and came across a sign that said Bat Cave. After all the necessary Batman jokes we headed into it. It was an amazing cave with big tree roots growing through it and a few different caverns but no Batmobile to be seen.
Finally we got to the water fall which was more of a trickle but the water was nice and cool so we stood under it for a bit and headed back. The walk through the jungle was full of strange noises but thankfully we didn’t see any strange animals.
That night we headed back to the bar with the snake shots and had many sunset beers and shakes with our new found Pommy buddies. The guy brought round the snake shots and the monkey brain shots this time couldn’t refuse so I did the monkey brain shot, it was not too bad cept for the bits of bone or possibly brain I got caught in my teeth. They then put a fire show on for us and let us have a go. I had never used a fire staff before. It was a lot different then poy, lots more fire, and if you stop spinning the flame starts to crawl up towards your had I got a bit close to the end of the staff and got a small burn on my hand, so I gave up. Simon spat fire which was a highlight and ended up being a really fun night, interesting scooter ride home too…..
We still had scooters for the next day (yesterday) so we headed south to a beautiful calm bay called Katiang Bay and chilled on the nice beach and chucked a bit of Frisbee and not much else. We still have a couple of nights here before we head over for the crazy full moon party, so we are just gonna chill and soak up some sun and do not much at all.
Sounds terrible I know.
That night we headed back to the bar with the snake shots and had many sunset beers and shakes with our new found Pommy buddies. The guy brought round the snake shots and the monkey brain shots this time couldn’t refuse so I did the monkey brain shot, it was not too bad cept for the bits of bone or possibly brain I got caught in my teeth. They then put a fire show on for us and let us have a go. I had never used a fire staff before. It was a lot different then poy, lots more fire, and if you stop spinning the flame starts to crawl up towards your had I got a bit close to the end of the staff and got a small burn on my hand, so I gave up. Simon spat fire which was a highlight and ended up being a really fun night, interesting scooter ride home too…..
We still had scooters for the next day (yesterday) so we headed south to a beautiful calm bay called Katiang Bay and chilled on the nice beach and chucked a bit of Frisbee and not much else. We still have a couple of nights here before we head over for the crazy full moon party, so we are just gonna chill and soak up some sun and do not much at all.
Sounds terrible I know.
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