As we left the scenic beauty of Khao Sok with memories of the drunken Canadian travel group, gibbons and adventures, we were quickly thrown into a bus and shipped off to Krabi, Thailand. We had no idea what were we were going to do down there, but we knew that Krabi was the center of three great possibilities: Railey (rock climbing), Ko Yao Noi (desolate island), and Ko Lanta (snorkeling, hiking and beaches). With the promise that we'd eventually comeback for the other two, and knowing that we could only choose one, we headed out to Ko Lanta the next day.

On the way to Krabi, we were jammed in like sardines into a 14-person van, and somehow I drew the short straw and ended up in back. At least I had the support of the kid sitting next to me. He seemed extremely interested in my work as I wrote the blog posts for Ko Tao and Ko Samui.

In Krabi, we stayed in the Hogwarts Hostel (Awesome, I know), and ate some delicious street food. The next morning was a mad rush to make the last ferry, but we made it. With 60 seconds to spare, we headed to Ko Lanta.

Note to self, landing in a random location with no room or plan seems to workout for the best…At least in Thailand. As we docked in Ko Lanta, we were swarmed by resorts offering us rooms, and because there were so many, we were able to haggle a private room for a ridiculously low price.

After settling in, we went to a local spot for lunch and over heard the afternoon call to prayer. Ko Lanta is a Muslim island with prayer intercom, pork free menus, and halal food. It was awesome seeing an area, despite the tourism, hold onto its culture. Despite many American and nationalist opinions recently, we were treated like family at every restaurant and venue, just as we had been everywhere else.

We also discovered the simple luxury of Lassi that lunch. A delicious blend of fresh fruit, ice, simple syrup, and a scoop of plain yogurt. So good and filling.

After exploring the beaches around our room, we quickly began to uncover a new reputation that Ko Lanta held. We heard Ko Lanta was a low key beach town before we left. After stumbling upon bars called “hippie bar” and “mushroom bar”, and seeing signs for “happy milk”, spliffs and “mushroom shakes” we began to see why the island carried such a laid back reputation.

After a day of getting comfy, we spent the next 4 days adventuring.

First, with the help of a motorbike, we headed to the national park. On the south side of the island the national park features stunning views, fine sand beaches, nature trails, and a host of spoiled monkeys. After watching a family of monkeys play in the water, playing their own version of hide and seek, dunking, and jump contests, you almost felt they were a little human. They clearly held a family dynamic, and despite fights here and there, all was usually resolved with some good ol' grooming. As you became comfortable around then however, you started to notice how spoiled they were. They'd approach you for food, and the bigger they were, the more willing they were to bare teeth and stand their ground as they approached your bag. We saw one tourist carry rocks just incase, so I did the same. (I'm not losing a fight to a 20lb monkey.)

Another day we took a tour of many of the small surrounding islands. The snorkeling was great here, with massive schools of fish that would disperse and collapse as you swam through, but never swim away. This just made me want to SCUBA more however.

On this trip we visited this mysterious beach that was isolated by a 80m cave entrance (Emerald Cave). Apperently, after being a great place to catch swallows, this was a prime pirate stash, so this is probably the closest I'll get to treasure hunting. We also met Bryce and his girlfriend (sorry I forgot your name) who were awesome people and we hope to see them again.

On the last day we visited a spectacular cave in the jungle. With a guide, we found the entrance (a 1ft wide crevass) and squeezed our way in. The cave was insanely tight at times, forcing us to drop bags and get on our bellies, and at other times it opened into huge rooms, with bats, side caverns, multiple levels, and the occasional giant cave spider.

Why did the water monitor lizard cross the road?

To get to the other side apparently, or that seemed to be the reason for the 5' behemoth that cut me off on the highway while I was motor biking.

The night life in Ko Lanta was just our speed. Present, but low key. Bars played classic rock occasionally and a ton of reggae. They offered good drinks and had an atmosphere for card playing and talking at a normal volume. The Chang's (beer of choice always) were cheap and plenty, and the times were good. A marketing scheme they have going is a party every quarter moon cycle. We bit, stuck to the cheap drinks, and received a free display of fireworks, poy, and fire fountains. Worth it in my opinion.

Ko Lanta was an overall great island. Very low key, but plenty of adventure once you start looking. The locals are just like the island as well. The resort owner was usually outside playing a strange hacky sac game, and we caught the staff casually climbing huge coconut trees barefoot and with no safety. We were sad to leave the island, but stoked to get front row on a double decker bus as we headed back to Bangkok and eventually flew to Vietnam for the next act in our Quarter Life Excursion.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I scared Danielle so bad that she hit me and shattered my glasses. 🙂 Too good.