Four Island Tour on Longtail Boat – Koh Lanta

Since we have spent most of out time at Koh Lanta in the bliss of massage, good food and sun-baking, we decided to venture a little further from our paradise resort.

 Before we left, we had read about Lanta Longtail tours and we decided that this would be a far more authentic way to see the islands than on a noisy speed boat.

Susanna picked us up at 8am and took us to Lanta Old Town – which is pratically untouched by modernity. It’s here that you get a taste for how the islanders live and make a living from fishing or the rubber plantations.

Susanna, a woman originally from the US, told us the story how she originally came to Lanta to teach art six years ago. Now only did she fall in love with the island, but also fell in love with a local fisherman called San (even though who knew how they communicated since neither spoke eachother’s language).

They got married two years ago and now run a very successful Long tail boat tour.

Susanna dropped us off at the pier (she had to go into Krabi) and we clambered on board the large  wooden Longtail boat. We met San – who’s slightly broken english was enough to get us understood and the driver.

We munched on fresh watermelon and water as we headed out into the East side of the island towards Ko Muk.

It took about 1 and a half hours to get here and once we docked, the driver got into the water with us and lead us into the Emerald Cave. It was pitch black inside save for the single beam of light from the driver’s headlamp.

Soon we saw sunlight and we were lead onto a pristine beach surrounded by high cliff. We savoured the serenity until the mass of tourists arrived. We decided to head back to our personal boat (btw your own personal boat is the way to go – much better than sharing it with hoards of others).

We then did some snorkelling at Koh Ngai. After we stopped on the beach for a chicken curry and rice lunch and just sunbaked on the sand and lazed in the tourquoise waters.

After eating, we boated to Koh Ma where we did some more snorkelling – the highlight was that I found Nemo (actually there were two of them).

San then took us around the pinnacle of the island back to the West coast. It was a bit of a long treck – it took us about 2 and a half hours. But the scenery was magnificent plus we got to feed cheeky monkeys watermelon in the mangrove forests/

San dropped us off on the beach directly near our hotel. Now this is the way to travel!

Koh Lanta Paradise

We’ve finally mustered up some energy to write an email – it’s been tough, you know – massages once a day (today we had two!), the most delicious watermelon ice-juices I’ve ever had, lounging by the infinity pool, reading and watching the beautiful sunsets.

It’s a different world here and Nath and I are just loving this way of life (we’ve been trying to think of ways that we can stay or at least bring our massage lady back with us to Sydney).

Our resort – Twin Lotus – is just magnificent. We have a garden view suite with a bed that is like a mega- king and a bathroom with a lovely rain shower as well as an outdoor tub. It’s a car-less resort so we get taken everywhere by golf carts (even though our suite is about 100 steps from the pool – very indulgent 🙂

Food has been so delicious – we’ve had room service twice (the chicken cashew nut is amazing) and watched some dvd’s (which you can hire here). Today we’re going to wander down the beach to see what there is beyond the walls of Twin Lotus.

Despite the temptation to veg the week away, we’ve actually been quite active – yesterday we did a full day diving (we found NEMO!!!! and saw a turtle). Today we took out a kayak and even took a bicycle ride into town (for those ppl who know me, this was no small feat). We went shopping in the town – amazingly the food selection in this small island is just as good as Sydney and Nath bought this Heinz chilly sauce which apparently yuou can’t get back home.

Tomorrow we’re off on an island tour on a Longtail boat and then ending off our time in Koh Lanta with a Thai cooking course on the beach.

BTW – for those who asked about Bed in Bangkok – it was an incredible experience – the restaurant is lined with these large white beds and you actually lounge on them while you are eating. It is uber trendy and the three course meal was possibly the best we have tasten for ages – my Wagyu steak was so tender and tasty. Prices were pretty much Sydney prices so it was pretty much meant for tourists.

Well, it’s time for us to get some dinner. Byeeee

Sawadee from Bangkok (hello)

Just a quick one from Bangkok – we have had an action packed two days!

Our hotel (Majestic Grande) is magnificent  and very central and we are loving the luxury (and the aircon). It’s hectically humid here – growing up in Durban has helped Lisa to adjust to the weather but Nath is taking a slight strain 🙂

Yesterday, we hit the markets and the shopping malls – the weekend markets were packed and filled with everything from bags to live doggies. The malls were more upmarket than we’ve ever seen – needless to say, with shops like Cartier and Gucci, we could only window shop.

We had lunch in this amazing food hall – we munched on sushi and noodles – so very tasty – must be the fresh ingredients and the “real” wasabi. We then walked around a gourmet food hall and sampled our way through the delish dried fruit.

The highlight for the day for Lisa was finding a supply of Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream (half-baked)…yum yum – we have now eaten two half-pint tubs in bed (how decadent can you get!!).

Last night we didn’t feel like eating in the markets so we landed up at Haagen Dasz as a scientific experiment to compare the ice-cream to B&J’s (well, that’s the story we told ourselves 🙂 We munched on a waffle and a brownie with different flavours of ice-cream. And the winner……Ben and Jerry’s (of course).

Oh and another thing – we found a Sizzler in one of the shopping centres. (We resisted going in)

Today we had an awesome day – we had our own private tour guide and driver who took us to the floating markets (so colourful and interesting) and we got to see a railway market (the stalls all set up on the track and have to quickly pack up when a train comes through). The guide also took us through a local food market where we got to sample some local delicacies such as coconut milk balls and mango with sticky rice.

We had lunch at authentic road side Thai cafe – Nath had garlic chicken and rice, I had Pad See Yeiw (noodles and chicken) and our guide had some soupy thing with fish. The three dishes plus three cooldrinks came to the princely sum of 180 Baht – which is about $7. Amazing value for money.

We then toured the opulent temples ( we loved the one of the gynormous gold reclining buddha – also called Wat Po), took a canal ride on a longtail boat and then ended it off with an authentic thai foot massage…so relaxing.

Tonight we’re off to the Bed Restaurant and then we’re leaving for Koh Lanta tomorrow morning. Bye.. and Kub Kum Kam (thankyou).