Rating:
 (4.8 stars)
Koh Lanta, Thailand
Apr 10, 2004 11:30
Pros: beautiful
corals and beaches, snorkelling & diving, friendly people, inexpensive
accommodation
Cons: none
A... Right now we're in Koh Lanta (except this was written a few
days ago), a large Island just off the coast of South West Thailand
in the Andaman sea, but in a couple of hours we'll be off on a ferry
to Kho Phi Phi to play at being Leonardo Di Caprio and that French
bird from The Beach. Hopefully there'll be no fighting off sharks
to be done though.
We whizzed up through Malaysia pretty quickly to get on to these
gorgeous Thai beaches, but still found time for 3 nights in Kuala
Lumpur and a couple of nights in Penang. KL is a surprisingly modern
city, with plush air-conditioned shopping centres, modern office
blocks and even a new monorail to get round the city on. Between
all the modernity however the old Asian city still peeks through,
with bustling street stalls, open drains, and spectacularly un-integrated
public transport (if you want to change from one train line to another
you have to leave the station and buy another ticket first). We
visited the Petronas Towers while we were there - one of several
buildings that seem to curiously all be the tallest in the world,
but could only go up as far as the bridge that links the two towers
about halfway up. It's a pretty strange feeling crossing a walkway
40 stories above ground though!
From KL we got a very uncomfortable overnight train up to Penang
(the sleeping berths were all full). Penang is an island just of
the mainland on the West coast, dominated by the old Colonial city
of Georgetown. The main local attraction is the funicular ride which
takes you up a hillside with great views and gardens surrounded
by jungle. It was closed, so instead we went to a nearby temple
which very seems rightly very proud of it's unsettlingly huge new
bronze Buhdda statue.
C... We decided to leave the high rise hotel metropolis that is
Penang, and find somewhere a little more deserted. We took the ferry
to Langkawi, then legged it across the terminal to just make the
ferry to Satun in Southern Thailand. A pick up truck, a small car
to Trang (shared with another couple backpacking and all our luggage),
a mini bus, a longtail boat, a larger boat, and another longtail
boat later we made it to Kho Kradan. Quite an easy journey, considering
waiting around for hours for boats and being stranded on a larger
boat, with no driver and a group of Thais on a fishing trip, who
decided to watch the sunset over the spectacular limestone outcrops
and crack open a bottle of Whiskey.
Koh Kradan is mainly a resort for Thais, so being a Thai holiday
it was pretty full, the restaurant had reached bursting point, so
we (quite happily) were shoved out on the beach to enjoy a candlelit
dinner. As they did with the other Farang (foreigners), all six
of us.
Although the resort has seen better days, and being the only one
on the island, and the slight bother of getting there, it is rarely
visited by travellers, except on snorkeling tours. This means once
all the tours have left, you have an entire National Park protected
beach and amazing off-shore coral reef for yourself. We found lots
of Nemos, multi-coloured corals and fans, as well as large assortments
of multi-coloured fish.
Our next stop was Koh Ngai, still another favorite for day-trippers,
more beautiful coral and beaches, although a few more resorts this
time. Our first night was at Koh Ngai Villas, a cheaper option,
but for an extra 100 baht, we had a gorgeous fan cooled room and
a better reef to explore at the Koh Ngai Resort. We also had friendlier
staff here with more personality than a Thai customs officer, which
was the biggest bonus for moving.
A quick stop on Koh Lanta, then straight to Phi Phi to sample some
world class snorkeling and Diving. After our very chilled first
few days, Phi Phi was a bit of a shock to the system, the island
has been developed beyond recognition (as well as bungalow prices),
but we decided not to miss the opportunity of a choice of places
to eat and drink. The abundance of fresh faces and travellers to
meet lured us out on BP (Burn Patrol), to see who could spot the
person who forgot to slap on the sunscreen, and who had the worse
white marks. After a full day of snorkeling around National Park
reefs and deserted islands (with a non-waterproof sunscreen), we
decided that we scored top marks in all categories. Although Adrian
is very pleased to have spotted two sharks (or it could have just
been one, checking him out), and today is on a dive trip, to hopefully
see more of sharkey's bigger friends.
Later today we will be heading off to Railay, although being Songkran
(Thai New Year) for the rest of the week, it looks like trying to
get somewhere to stay could be a bit of a challenge. |
