After discovering that there are indeed lots of crabs in Krabi, we continued our journey down the Andaman coast of Thailand to Koh Lanta, another of Thailand’s many majestic tropical islands. As Fran mentioned in the last post, our journey there was relatively smooth, though filled with unnecessary admin and delays (a running theme!). We arrived at our rugged bamboo bungalow retreat mid-afternoon on a fairly toasty day. Upon arrival at the catchily and confusingly-named Where Else! (try telling a taxi driver you want to go to Where Else!), you walk down a dirt track between two houses, under a carved bamboo archway and emerge into a haphazard courtyard of lush tropical plants, coconut palms, rickety bamboo huts and a couple of friendly dogs for good measure! The owner was very chilled out (to the point that he was asleep when we arrived) – he showed us to our hut for the next couple of days which was pretty basic but lovingly created from bamboo, shells and assorted flotsam and jetsam. Thankfully it did have electricity (usually anyway), a fan and a mossie net so we were sorted for the bare necessities!
Our throne for the next few days
The en-suite!
As before, because it’s currently the off-season there are much fewer tourists about and many establishments on the island close their doors until peak season. Whilst our slice of Robinson Crusoe chic was thankfully open for business, much of the essential maintenance (including cleaning) is saved for when the resort is busier. This resulted in a few added bonuses in our hut – a shedload of ants and mossies, a dead gecko floating in the toilet flusher bowl and three live cockroaches doing laps of the toilet pan! None of this put us off however as this only added to the rustic charm (at least this is what I kept telling Fran)!
Where Else! from the beach
Once we’d got our bearings, we slapped on the factor 25 and went exploring the long strip of sandy stuff on our doorstep – Hat Khlong Khong beach. Much less resorty than the other beaches up the West coast of the island, Hat Khlong Khong is mostly fringed by palm trees, scrubland and beach shacks – perfect! Though there was a fair amount of sea detritus washed up on the beach, most of it was natural so added to the scene. As the beach faced West we witnessed some spectacular sunsets – the first day’s sunset was certainly one of those!
A boat the right way up…
… and one the wrong way!
A very beachy beach
Friendly resident beach dog enjoying the view
Hermit crab comes out to watch the sunset
Pretty fiery!
Awesome!
When we returned from our exploring, we found that some stuff from one of our shelves had mysteriously leapt onto the floor and two packets of sweets had gone astray! Upon performing a security check of the hut, it turned out that even with the front door padlocked you could simply lift up the bamboo door like a catflap to get in – not great security to say the least!!! After considering the various options for the intruder, we concluded that it was either a monkey or a particularly dextrous squirrel! To rub salt into the wounds, we were kept awake all night by various large creatures of the forest climbing over our hut (and a few falling coconuts) – perhaps the offenders were having a midnight feast on the roof!
The following day, after a much-needed caffeine boost at breakfast (during which we were savaged by a crack team of mosquitoes) we set about hiring another moped to phut-phut-phut around the island. It was a baking hot day so riding at top speed (40 kph!) with the hairdryer breeze whistling through your hair was a great way to cool off (especially whilst singing tunes from the Top Gun soundtrack for added effect)! We first headed North to Hat Khlong Dao where most of the tour agents are to sort out our onward travel to Malaysia. This part of the island is heavily tourist-focussed and lacks any kind of character – non-stop billboards and gaudy shop-fronts on bog-standard concrete buildings. This is a shame as it doesn’t sit with the relaxed atmosphere of the rest of the island. Having booked our tickets we sped southwards down the West coast of the island, eager to do some hardcore moped-based exploring!
Rich looking suitably ridiculous on our super-masculine moped
The inner reaches of the island are pretty untouched and even more forest-filled than the coastline; there are some substantial palm-covered hills in the centre, especially so toward the national park in the South of the island. Our little moped struggled a little on a few of the steeper sections of road but after some words of encouragement from its riders it made it! There are also a fair few cashew plantations on the island – good to see where my favourite nuts come from (no puns please)! We stopped off for a late lunch (think it was Pad Thai again – yum!) at a roadside stall. It had taken us about an hour to find anything that looked open; this island definitely goes into hibernation for the off-season in a big way. After lunch we headed down to Hat Khlong Hin for a stroll, diving into a beach bar to escape a massive downpour! The Thai owner had a slightly scrawny looking bird of prey on his shoulder, a pony tail and a whispy beard so looked a little like an extra from Pirates Of The Caribbean – arrrr! We sipped our coffees on the bar’s terrace, watching the clouds roll by and the waves crash onto the shore – pretty sweet! We eventually headed back before sunset for another meal at the delicious Neng restaurant at the end of our road, chatting to Neng the friendly Thai owner for a while whilst finishing our cocktails (the idea was a bit of booze would help us sleep!).
Piratey bar owner plus bird
A welcome break from the bike
Sheltering from the drizzle on Hat Khlong Hin beach
The following morning we set off bright and early for Satun on the mainland, en route to Pulau Langkawi in Malaysia. We’ll pick up this leg in the next update but until then…
… Cheers!
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