After a couple days on Koh Phi Phi, we decided to make a change and take a ferry over to Koh Lanta, which is only about an hour away. Koh Lanta is actually a small collection of islands, but we will be visiting Yai, the largest of the group.
We board the “express” ferry which cost about 200 baht (a little less than $6) per person. We walk down the pier and cross over a make shift walkway that is balanced over the boat and supported by what looks like old bike tires.
Inside we grab our seats and immediately start melting as it is oppressively hot. I look round and see people from all over the world sitting quietly, covered in sweat, awaiting the relief of any air, any air at all. A Muslim mother covered in her hijab is lovingly fanning her child. Even as the ferry begins to move and a small breeze flows in, people try sleeping to deal with the heat and help pass the time.
What we find out a bit later is that there really aren’t any rules, and we can walk out onto the deck of the ferry and sit anywhere we’d like. The wind immediately cools and the air has never felt so wonderful.
As we arrive to Koh Lanta, its already getting late, so we check in our hotel, Lanta Klong Nin Hotel, and head to the beach. We find a volleyball net and catch the sunset! It’s a wonderfully relaxing night of listening to the waves roll in and grabbing drinks and dinner at restaurant / cooking school a short walk up the road.
The next morning we hire scooters to do a little exploring. It cost about 200 baht ($6) to rent them for 24 hours. Again, there are not really any rules applied to this other than you do have to leave your passport with them so ensure returning. Mark is pretty excited about his shiny, red scooter and my helmet is, well, kind of awesome.
First stop, Koh Lanta National Park. It’s about a 15-20 minute ride south from the hotel and the streets are lined with monkeys!
The park itself seemed a little pricey to get into, at 200 baht per person plus 20 baht per scooter (these were the off season prices as well), when compared to the other things on the island. However, it was quite beautiful and worth it when we got in.
They have a stunning beach area to one side and the other side has a natural beauty to it as it’s lined with rocks instead of sand. We preferred swimming on the sandy beach side. 🙂
There is also a 2 hour nature trail at the park which we intended to give a try. However, after attempting to climb the inconsistently sized, and seemingly never-ending, steps for a short while, we threw in the towel. The sun and humidity made the air hot and thick and it was too much to hike for hours in without a swim break.
Best advice for visiting this park is: watch out for the monkeys! We watched them rob a few children of their snacks and drinks and then attempt to do the same to a man who had to defend his backpack by flicking his shirt towards them. Cute but relentless little fur-balls.
The heat eventually got to us and we headed back to the hotel to pick up the rest of our group, but not before a quick stop for a refreshing fruit smoothie along the way.
This roadside, restaurant-hut may not look like much, but it had an amazing view of the Andaman Sea.
After our rest stop, we got back to the hotel and went to our favorite hang out spot on the beach, Horizon Bar. The Thai bartender, Rock Jod, was all smiles and full of the peace, love and happiness that comes with beach living. We grabbed some cold Chang beers, played giant jenga, and took advantage of some hammock time.
We also picked up some creative chips for a snack on the beach. Thailand has a surprisingly large selection of chip flavors…not all are winners.
But soon, everyone was hungry so we set off on the scooters again to find a place dinner.
The search for dinner ended up being a bit more arduous since the “low season” appeared to have a greater impact on this island than the more touristy areas like Koh Phi Phi and Railay. Not to mention a bit more comical when you have a group of 5 scooters all following each other to an unknown destination. There were a lot of u-turns.
We ended up stopping at Mushroom Bar, which turns out is more of a Full Moon Party location than a restaurant. You can easily get a mushroom shake here, but it would not be very filling 🙂
In the island style, we just grabbed a drink here, sat on the beach and watched the sunset. Then we walked down the beach a bit and found a place nearby for dinner before the ride back.
Zack, Matt, Katie, Eve, Chase, and Mark
Not a lot to do on Koh Lanta at night during the low season, many of the bars are closed, but most of us are ready for a chill night. Mark grabbed his guitar and we headed back to see our friend Rock Jod at Horizon Bar. Zack and Mark played music and made some new friends and new fans.
Koh Lanta doesn’t offer the breathtaking cliff scenery like Koh Phi Phi or Railay, but it does offer it’s own beauty and possibly a more authentic Thai island experience. Tomorrow some of us will head back to Koh Phi Phi and others to Bangkok, but I’ve enjoyed our impromptu trip here.