Ko Lanta

We made our way by train to Surat Thani and proceeded to take a series of buses and minibuses until we reached Ko Lanta. We tried to get government bus tickets but kept being sent to the tourist bus. We finally agreed to take it just so we knew we would get there, and as soon as we paid, they just bought us a ticket on the government bus anyway. Once we reached Krabi we assumed we would be taking a boat to the island of Ko Lanta, and comically enough we were wrong again. Instead the packed minibus boarded two car ferries and we arrived at our hotel on Kantiang Bay.

After spending the previous two days travelling (and one sketchy night in a hotel in Surat Thani) we were so relieved to be at our destination. We sat at the hotel restaurant and ate and drank the evening away while listening to waves roll on to the beach.

The first full day on Ko Lanta we went for a full day snorkelling excursion to Ko Ma, Ko Ngai, Ko Something and Ko Mook.  We took a longboat out which is a nifty little boat. They essentially take car engines and rig up a long drive shaft to a propeller which is thrown on the back of the boat. This gives them power but also deafens the occupants since the engine is right behind the seats at head height. Our first is land destination was Ko Ma, and it had some beautiful fish. Chris was able to get some amazing photographs even though the rainy season water is not as clear as it could be. We will try to upload some but we are experiencing technical difficulties on our end. There were some clownfish, a bright blue tang, some yellow and black stripped angel fish, And my favourite fish of many colours which I have never bothered to figure out what they are called.

fish swarm

this guy is too cool for the others

From there we went to Ko Mook where there was a sea tunnel we treaded through and it lead you to the most beautiful paradise. The cave opens  up into a deep well in the island with maybe fifty meters of rock going up all sides. The waves come in the sand beach and the vegetation  is fantastic. The Thai's used to use it to get bird nests before the pirates took over as a hiding place. It was magical there. Our tour group swam in separately but the other groups all formed a conga line to the pulled through. I am glad we did it our way, swimming in complete darkness was amazing. The waves made a roaring sound in the cave, I sounded like tigers were swimming with us.

shows conga line going into cave (picture not the greatest)

After we made it through the cave, it was so cool!!!

We then ventured onto Ko Something for some more snorkelling and then on to Ko Ngai for green curry lunch and some beach time. Talk about a beautiful location!

hmmm, how did he get on our beach?

Our lunch spot on Ko Ngai

That evening we went for a lovely dinner at a restaurant up the road from our hotel. No cheap street food here, kind of a bummer. We had a lovely dinner then fell asleep at 8pm after the full day in the sun.

Our second full day in Ko Lanta we went elephant trekking and visited a beautiful waterfall and bat cave. We rode a beautiful 30 year old elephant who may have been called Toe,but with a deep tone and maybe a silent 'ng' in there. They kept telling us his name and we clearly kept mispronouncing it until they just gave up. He took us for or a lovely walk along some very tight trails and to give him thanks on Thanksgiving we fed him a bowl of bananas, which he ate whole.

After visiting Toe we walked to the bat cave and waterfall through the pouring rain with our guide. We stopped by the bat cave and saw the little fellas flying around and a few roosting. We also played some tapping music on two cave stalactites, okay maybe that was just me, but my song was pretty darn good! Our guide told us about some of the trees and once we reached the water fall let us look around for a bit. The falls were beautiful and the rain had stopped so we took our time. On the way back we saw a lizard and some more elephants.

After our busy morning we went for a lovely swim in the bay at our hotel. The water in the ocean was warm but our swim was cut short by the arrival of monkeys to the beach. We got out if the water to get to our shoes before any monkeys did. Later in the afternoon we even had a monkey on the roof of our bungalow!

The rest of our Thanksgiving we spent wandering around the village of Kantiang Bay and eating almost everything we came across. We discovered 'pancakes' which are green and made of egg which the lovely lady then covers with chocolate sauce. This was the only street food at Thai prices available here. For dinner I enjoyed a Thanksgiving Mee Grub while Chris enjoyed a large Thanksgiving squid on the BBQ, Thai style.

On Thanksgiving Monday we stayed around the hotel enjoying the beach and the waves. I convinced Chris to go back for pancakes and we ate, okay I ate, three more for lunch. After two busy days lounging around for the day was a nice break.

Chel
Xoxo

(I just wanted to let everyone know that we are struggling getting pictures on the blog. The iPad can only upload them from the camera roll so all the loaded camera photos can not go on for some reason . We will try to upload some eventually but we do not know when that will be.)