Sand, sea and surf.
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2005
1
16
20
Trip End
Apr 13, 2005
Koh Lanta,
Thailand
Thursday, March 31, 2005
jess and i are on the island of koh lanta now (population of about 20,000 - with 95% being muslim), located on the beautiful andaman coast in southern thailand - yes, the same coast that was hit by the tsunami a few months ago. the effects are very obvious as tourism has gone down drastically, and the bamboo bungalow we are staying in has been reduced to a ridiculous 50 baht per night ($1.67/night) for both of us. it's normally 150 or 450 baht per night (jess couldn't hear what the owner said). this is very good for tourists (cheap prices and seclusion) but bad for business, something i'm normally all for.. but in this case, it means a lot of jobs lost, locally owned business (like small restaurants run by families) not making enough, etc. this is why we think it's important to resume tourism in the tsunami-affected regions ASAP - people's livelihoods depend on it. we even had a guy at the info centre at khao sok national park (more on the park later) say thank you to us for coming. he said remorsefully that a lot of people are afraid of visiting the area. however, i don't want to believe that tourism is the be-all and end-all of everything - it certainly does affect the communities it occurs in (for better or for worse). koh lanta is currently under a helluva lot of construction, paving the way for resorts, resorts and more resorts. the face of the island is changing drastically, something i'm sure some of the locals aren't happy with (though some are as well due to job creation and more money coming in). a lot of the resort owners (and to a lesser degree, even owners of budget accomodations like bungalows) are from outside places like bangkok, or even western countries. the owner of the place we are staying at now is from krabi (on the mainland) and some of his employees are also not from koh lanta either.
anyway, all we do is chillax, lie on the beach, read, walk around, do nothing, and go swimming in the ocean. prior to arriving here, we spent a few days on koh yao noi, a relatively small island off the coast of phuket, and prior to that, we spent some time hiking through the rainforest of khao sok national park. we did not see any animals aside from lizards, snakes (small cobras!), insects, and birds. where all the mammals at?? actually, most of the mammals inhabiting the area (like tigers, panthers, etc.) are nocturnal so you will see them only at night, if at all.
after koh lanta, we may be heading to krabi's beaches on the mainland (i want to do some rock-climbing if it's not too pricey!), and then over to the gulf islands (either koh samui or koh pha-ngan). then it's back to bangkok for a few days and then back to toronto for me.. yep, i have less than 2 weeks left!
by the way, we are okay (thanks, wenzie, for the concern!) - there was an earthquake that created fear of another tsunami (while we were on koh yao noi) but nothing substantial happened. we had no idea what was going on until we got to koh lanta and were told people here were all evacuated to the surrounding mountains/hills in the middle of the night. on koh yao noi, during our last night, both jess and i were awoken by the guy who helps run the bungalows we were staying at.. we heard him say "hey girls!" at our window, but since he made no further attempt to get our attention, we both independently thought we had dfreamt it and went back to sleep. in the morning, we were mystified by why he came to our bungalow at night, but after hearing about the tsunami scare, everything made sense (except why he never tried to wake us up if we didn't respond to his first call). i didn't feel a thing though, having been asleep (if there was anything to be felt).
anyway, don't worry! all is okay here, though i am sorry for those who suffered in indonesia.
