Koh Lanta

The boat ride to Krabi. Quite an experience...
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Well I thought it was about time i wrote a blog... its only been 17 days afterall!

The reason for the delay is that fact that i've been having so much fun!

Posted by Natalie

Well we're currently in Koh Lanta, an island located off the South West of Thailand near Phuket. We arrived after an 18 hour journey from Koh Tao, and this was the first real back packer journey we've taken. We started off taking a night ferry from Koh Tao. We were expecting to have a bunk bed each, but we're pretty suprised when we stepped aboard as there were 2 decks with just enough headroom for me to stand up on, with one giant mattress running the full length of the deck. We were allocated 4 spaces to sleep on, but one of our slots had been sold twice so we crammed 4 of us into a space for 3 people, which given the fact that each slot was barely big enough to sleep a child, meant we were pretty cosy! However the actual journey wasnt too bad, and we all managed to get some sleep and arrived in Suritani at 5 am where we got a 2 hour minibus to Krabi. However when we got to Krabi they informed us that Phi Phi was actually full to capacity (thats where we were initially travelling to), and that people were sleeping on the beach, so instead we caught a 2 hour ferry to Koh Lanta. We had trouble finding accomodation here too as it was nearly full as it was receiving the overflow from Phi Phi, but we were lucky enough to land ourselves the nicest air conditioned beach huts with hammock and open air en suite, and all for 9 pounds a night.

Enjoying the hammocks with some cocktails
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On our second day here George, Adam and myself booked a day trip to Phi Phi (Paul opted for a day of mooching in the air conditioned room).

We were up pretty early and got the boat to Phi Phi. We were then taken to Maya bay by boat (the place where they filmed the beach) where we snorkelled for an hour and swam in to the beach. It was beautiful and there were plenty of fish to see. The boat then took us to Monkey Beach, where suprisingly enough there was a beach with lots of fat monkeys on and some photo opportunities. We spent about 40 minutes there before swimming back to the boat to have a lovely Thai lunch. We then headed over to Phi Phi main island where we spent a couple of sweaty hours shopping around the local markets before catching the boat back to Koh Lanta. it was a really good day, and we saw as much of Phi Phi that would have seen if we were staying there, and all for 13 pounds each.

Our bungalow
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This island is completely different to Koh Tao. Its all very beach orientated, and has got much more of a hippy vibe. The sunsets are the best here. Every evening at around 5.30 we go to the coffee asylum on the beach as it is happy hour, and we sit in hammocks sipping SangSong and coke whilst watching the sunset.... not a bad life. The night life isnt as lively here as on Koh Tao, but never the less we've enjoyed the sunbathing, hanging out in Irie ( the rasta bar), chilling in the hammocks watching the fire throwers, or having our own beach parties with our crew that have joined us from Koh Tao with a few cheap bottles of Thai whisky!