Chilling by the Beach

  Ko Lanta, Thailand
Sunday, December 21, 2008

04 Some People have all the luck!

Our transit from Malaysia to Thailand was pretty painless, but long. We got to Hat Yai (Thailand) for lunch, before catching another 4 hour bus ride to Krabi. We had thought of going straight to the islands but decided the journey would be too long-winded and we wanted to do more research. With 200 hundred islands in Thailand we were spoilt for choice (and rather taxed our indecision streak)!
 
Krabi itself had a nice feel. Though very 'Margate'ish, it still felt nice and importantly had an extensive evening food market. We both fell back on Thai food and realised just how much we had been missing the spice! As we had a few loose ends to tie, we caught a 12 o'clock minibus to the island of Koh Lanta about which we had heard glowing reports. Though estimated to take 1.5 hours (which it did in actual driving time), it was far more like 5 door to door, what with collecting and depositing passengers and running errands are taken into account.
 

03 Chilling Out

We had booked accommodation in bungalows at the end of the island as it was meant to be free from the crowds. As we drove we both got quieter as it became more and more remote. After what felt like a long drive on very bumpy roads, we finally arrived to an island beach paradise with incredible food, and Complete Isolation!
 
Our first morning relaxing was spent idly on the beach and in a hammock, before deciding to go for a walk to view neighbouring beaches as we were getting Itchy feet, lacking any choice in our paradise! In order for us to truly relax, we felt we it needed to be a choice, rather than the only option (we didn't even manage to find decent books to read)!
 
So we decided to move nearer to the "action" and discovered gorgeous beach bungalows at a

05 Its tough for others

place true to its name - Sanctuary. After hours of looking for accommodation, we decided to continue our sightseeing of the Island and spent the rest of the afternoon walking (probably a good 15km!). For the next three days we lounged around, reading various books, catching rays and even getting energetic enough to run along the beach - twice Nogal! After those glorious sun and sea soaked days we both reluctantly left for our Christmas present - a live-aboard in the Similan Islands...