Thailand - Koh Lanta

This winter I decided it is time for some traveling to warm places again. Captain needed some persuasion, but in the beginning of December I booked flight tickets and hotels in Thailand. It didn't all go smoothly, just couple of days before New Year the airline decided to cancel one of our flights and offered a replacement with which we wouldn't be able to catch the connecting flights. It took two weeks before we sorted it out, we  booked all the flights one day earlier and booked one more night in hotel, luckily the same that we booked for the first week there. Then three days before departure I got a terrible cold with very sore throat and clogged sinuses. This trip didn't seem to be born under the lucky star.

Our departure was on Tuesday, 16th of January, first we flew to Istanbul, then to Bangkok and then to Krabi. After a 2 hour ride in taxi we reached our destination Coco Cape Lanta Resort on early afternoon on Wednesday. 

First thing we saw was this great view from restaurant over the pool to the West. I was really happy, as I'm always in doubt how truthful the photos and information on Internet are.

Bungalows were placed in nice wood on top of the hill. They were spacious and equipped with everything we needed.

We had a huge balcony looking East, even bananas were growing next to it.

We could see the sea through the trees, it was not the typical "sea view", but it was nicely shaded and there were so many birds in trees chirping, singing and making all kinds of noises that it was a pleasure to just sit there and listen to them.

Hotel had two restaurants, but with the same kitchen. This one was nearer to the shore, with lots of shade and its own small pool.

There was no classical beach here, it was rocky and at low tide all the rocks came out of the water. When booking this hotel I thought that we might find a way to get into the water and would be able to snorkel here, because it was rocky.

The restaurants in the hotel were quite good and not pricey and we ate and drank there very often. These are two of the drinks we had most often, the young coconut and fresh mango juice. Besides Singha beer, of course. The curries were also delicious, including my favourite one - the seafood curry served in a young coconut.

The pools more than made up for the lack of beach. It wasn't rare that we had it all to ourselves.

One day we saw a small green snake with black pattern slowly gliding out of one of the poles that was supporting the umbrella over the pool. We were too slow with the camera and by the time we got it, it climbed back, I think that only its nose is still visible. By the colour and the pattern we figured out it was the Golden tree snake or Chrysopelea ornata, non agresive small snake very mildly venomous. We were sad to have seen one bigger one dead on the path. I can see how it is maybe scary for most of the people to see a snake so close to their bungalow, but it still makes me sad to kill such beautiful creatures. Hopefully this smaller one from umbrella is good at hiding from people.

One more delicious thing that we enjoyed by the pool - coconut ice cream, also served in young coconut.

Our hotel was a couple of kilometers away from the village of Saladan, but it wasn't too far to walk there in the evening. We ate there several times, did some shopping, and if we were too lazy or it was too hot for walking, we took a tuktuk.

On two days we rented a scooter and did road trips through island. Our island, Koh Lanta Yai, is about 25 km long and it is easy to explore by scooter. Ours was a nice red one, and I guess we were among few people using helmets when driving.

First day we drove along the West coast towards South and then across the island through the hills in the middle to the Eats coast. On the way we stopped for breakfast. 

This was our view from the terrace to the islands in the East.

Thai breakfast (rice with chicken and some spices) was lovely...

...as well as my shrimp cakes, all accompanied by fresh mango juice.

Next we made a stop in Old Town. It was already very hot, that's why there is so few people on the street.

We saw some beautiful flowers...

...and a cat sleeping in planter.

Most of the houses are built above the water. The sea is very shallow here and not of the prettiest colour.

In the port on the pier we saw this giant lobster, probably a monument in honour of fishermen.

The colours of bushes and plants were amazing.

This is an entrance to one of the restaurants built above the sea.

It was really hot so we didn't wander around for too long. We drove back along the east coast and saw many small plantations of rubber trees. We stopped in nice shade near one and found this guard dog napping in the heath. He didn't even open his eyes when I came closer.

This is how the raw rubber is gained from trees.

Next trip with scooter started the same as the first one, just this time we wanted to drive all the way South along the West coast. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the island and walked through real jungle...

...to one of the pretty beaches. It was pretty empty and there was even some shade. We went for a swim and then continued towards South.

Next stop was for breakfast (or early lunch) at this place - I'm not sure which I liked better, the sleeping cat on the table...

...or the creative name of the place. They have a nice shady terrace overlooking a small bay, nice food, fresh juices and it's the kind of place where you could spend hours and hours not doing much, just ordering a fresh juice every once in a while.

We drove almost to the South end of the island. There is a natural reserve there with entrance fee and one have to have sensible shoes as the trails there are rather rough. We didn't have the shoes and it was again really hot, so we turned back North. But even what we saw along the road was pretty wild and overgrown.

And then we had to stop on another beach, we chose this one because there were so many boats anchored there. 

While rushing over the sandy beach to the next shade we saw this lovely sculpture, quite artistic, that was actually a giant bin for plastic waste. A great idea, plastic waste, especially plastic bottles are one of the big problems in Thailand, as well as in whole Asia. Even the areas where there is some waste management and infrastructure, the plastic is often carried there by wind or it is transported by sea from elsewhere.

We found ourselves a nice spot in the shade in restaurant and had some bananas in coconut milk and banana fritters. And afterwards we were even too lazy to go swimming.

On our way back, a bit further, we saw a group of monkeys climbing on power lines.

Hiring a scooter in Thailand is very cheap, but the roads are not very good and after a couple of hours of bumpy ride in 35 deg C one has enough. We ended both our scooter trips on late afternoon in the pool at our hotel.