Looking back at our travels I can't help but think that we never made things easy for ourselves. To get from Langkawi to our chosen destination we could have gotten a plane to Phuket then grabbed a ferry to Koh Lanta - but no, that would be marginally more expensive and far too convenient. Instead the following happened, a completely true and not at all hyperbolic account.
We were picked up from our hostel at seven thirty in the morning, our transport was half an hour late but at least they had finally arrived. We travelled the thirty minutes to the port in Kuah where our driver wandered off with our passports to buy us the tickets we'd need. We were slightly confused at this point, we'd assumed when we booked our transfer with our hostel the tickets and arrangements would have already been made but I guess this way worked just as well. Our driver returned with our passports and boat tickets alongside a random envelope containing some money, plus a receipt to give to a "Mr. Man" (who would find us at the dock in Satun).
With nothing to do for the next hour we sat on our bags and waited for the boat. After another thankfully short vomit free boat journey (do people only write reviews after travelling in bad conditions?) we were in Thailand. While we were standing in a customs queue in the blazing sunlight waiting to be officially let into Thailand, we finally met Mr Man and our most convoluted journey to date began.
Mr Man took the journey receipt plus the remaining money in the envelope and ushered us into the back of a pickup truck. From there we headed for the bus station to get the 12pm mini bus to Trang. Although we were all heading in the same direction our bus driver seemed to make many random stops to pick up packages for what I assumed was his side hustle courier service! Despite this we made it in time for our minibus change. Thankfully this was the last vehicle change of the trip, if you don't count the car ferry that we took us into Koh Lanta.
By 7pm we had made it to our destination... well sort of. We were on the island and even though we had paid for an accommodation to accommodation transfer, our cheeky git of a bus driver tried to make us get a taxi the rest of the way. Exhausted, hot, sore and did I mention exhausted I was having none of it. We had paid to get to our accommodation and I wasn't moving from the bus until we had arrived - realising it was probably a lot easier to keep on driving rather than trying to physically remove me from the bus he relented and 15 minutes later we had arrived to Be Faany hotel... and no one was there. Thankfully the restaurant next door rang up the owners for us and within 10 minutes we had checked in to our traditional hut which would be our home for the foreseeable.
Our accommodation was simple, a raised bamboo hut that had a mattress set directly upon the slats in the middle of the room, barely enough space remained to place our backpacks beside it and when the fan was going full speed the whole structure seemed to vibrated along with it. The bathroom was simple, a small concrete room at the bottom of a short ladder, sky lights lit it during the day and at night a torch was easier than fumbling in the dark. A shelter in the garden outside had drinking water, a kettle and the wifi router. It was very basic and sometimes uncomfortably cramped but we loved it.
The best part wasn't its proximity to the beach or its rustic vibes, it was the restaurant next door. Baan check-in had some of the most amazing Thai food and it was all at street food prices. Although we tried other restaurants in the area, we just kept on coming back to here. Nothing about their food was fancy in presentation, but the flavours were phenomenal and I haven't tasted a Thai green curry since that was as good. So, if you ever happen to be in this particular area of Koh Lanta I would definitely recommend popping by for a curry and a mango smoothie, you won't be disappointed.
I wouldn't blame you if you'd have thought after our previous disaster of a boat trip that we wouldn't be going on another so soon, we also thought the same. Somehow, about 10 days into our stay here, we found ourselves talked into going on the four islands boat trip and once we paid there was really no getting out of it. Maybe this time would be different.
It didn't exactly start off well, we'd clearly been forgotten and nobody came to pick us up. Our host made a few frantic calls and soon enough our driver came barrelling along, stopped long enough for us to jump in before speeding away again. Once on the boat our first stop was the island of Koh Chuck for some boat side snorkelling, a bucket of clearly uncleaned snorkelling gear was passed around, scratched up glasses with salt crusted mouth pieces. Ben and I decided that maybe it would be best if we just went for the goggles rather than share germs with some unknown strangers. I guess this portion of the trip was fine, we did see some fish but with how crowded it was we were more likely to just see other peoples legs when ever we dove below the surface. After about 30 minutes of floating about and trying to avoid bumping into the other swimmers, it was time to go.
Our next stop was the emerald cave (Ko Mook) and it was a truly bizarre experience. First, despite them happily having us jump off the boat at the last stop without seeing if we could swim, this time they strapped us into mandatory lifejackets. I do understand the reasoning, we had quite a long pitch black cave complex to swim through and perhaps someone might have gotten lost and tired before we made it to the beach in the centre cave... but on the other hand wearing lifejackets suck. I have never more felt like I was going to drown than when I was wearing that life jacket. Swimming in the dark, following the line of people who were following the wildly waving torch light of our guide; when every time I tired to propel myself forward the buoyancy of the ill fitting jacket tipped, dunking my face straight into the water, was exhausting. That combined with the snails pace we were all moving at, with voices and shouts echoing from all directions, made it feel like I'd entered some weird nightmare that I was never going to escape.
But of course I did escape, we finally emerged into the small beach hidden in the middle of the island. The emerald cave gets it name from the colour the water turns when the sun that streamed from the open sky above hits it just right. There are rumours that the cave was once used by pirates to store their ill-gotten gains, but I haven't actually found anything online to confirm this so it could be just an urban legend. Although a pain to get to, this small beach was absolutely beautiful, lush jungle climbs along the rock wall surrounding the beach, it was just unfortunately super crowded which lost it some of its paradise appeal. After about 30 minutes of loitering if was time to strap back into the life jackets and awkwardly float our way back to the boat.
Next stop was Ko Maa for some more snorkelling, the off to Ko Ngai for lunch on the beach and some more swimming. These two stops were okay, the fact that I can't clearly picture it and I'm blindly going off my notes tells me that it must have just be pleasant. What wasn't pleasant on the other hand was our seat mates on the boat ride home. We were all fairly packed in tightly the whole trip, but on the way back someone decided to switch seats, almost ending up on my lap in the process before settling into the classic manly pose of legs akimbo. Not to be crude, I know that I haven't got anything between my legs that needs a little more space but that still doesn't mean someone else can put their legs into MY space, causing me to have to awkwardly lean away unless I want my leg pressed up to their sweaty ones. Of course, I didn't actually say anything to the guy, just kept up a constant muttering of sarcastic complaints hoping he would get the hint - unsurprisingly this didn't help.
We spent the rest of our time here on the beach a few minutes walk from where we were staying. Swaying palm trees, bright white sand and best of all no people. There were more touristy stretches of beach nearby, with bars and restaurants but for us the solitude was perfect. During high tide, there was gentle waves to swim through but when the tide went out, hundreds of rock pools were uncovered, completely changing the seascape. We'd often grab some beers and snacks from the local 7/11 and make our way to watch the amazing sunsets.
One day wanting to try something completely new, we decided to treat ourselves to Thai massages. We walked to the nearby "beautiful beach", only about 10 minutes away from our hut this area was far more touristy and we found a place that would massage us for the low price of 300 baht each. Its strange, one minute we were serenely relaxing laying on the mat waiting for it to begin, and in the next I had an old Thai lady straddling my back trying to manipulate my body into positions I'm pretty sure it doesn't go into!! Although we both enjoyed the experience we never did get round to having another massage at another location, so I can't tell you if what happened was a traditional Thai massage at all or just some old women messing with us. Before we left Ko Lanta we decided to explore the town of Saladan, we packed up our things and hopped in a bus back up the island. It was a lot more touristy here, with cheap clothing stalls selling the same items we'd seen all across Asia so far. It was nice enough, the beach was huge but it wasn't really our vibe.
Ready to move on we booked another hostel to hostel transfer and we were off to our next stop, Krabi.
Trip date : Feb 2020
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