Koh Lanta Yai

In the style that best befits Thailand, the first thing we attempted to do in Koh Lanta was to hire a bike which was more than double the price (THB 250/day) to do here than up North, and no insurance offered. Still, it was an essential in our opinion. Obviously we hadn't learnt from Pai that bikes get hired out at the crack of dawn "by a bunch of psychic motorcycle hirers". A bike was not to be. We spent most of this day wondering around Saladan (the biggest area - let's say - of Koh Lanta complete with shops, restaurants and tourists) lamenting the lack of street food. This took a lot of getting used to, everywhere else we'd eaten ad-hoc off the street; it didn't seem possible to do this here.

We headed back to Pra-Ae (Long Beach - a 5km stretch of beach) to see what we had on our doorstep. As it goes, it was a little disappointing. The 5 minute walk to the beach took us to mostly rocks, and a lot of rubbish. After a 15 minute walk down the beach we came to the sandier part, but equally not heart-stopping stuff. More exploring was going to be necessary.

That night we chose to eat at the Mook Lanta resort restaurant, as there seemed mostly to be resorts in the area we were staying, where we were the only patrons in the place and were attended to by at least 5 very friendly Thai waitresses. It was a slightly bizarre feeling after eating out of plastic bowls with matching furniture for 4 weeks.

The next day we headed back into Saladan (complete with bike arranged for us by Tom) to book a fishing trip (not cheap - THB5000 - but it was a birthday present). Then off for a recky around the island. As long as you are careful (particularly on corners where the concept of sticking to one side of the road often fails) a bike is the best way of getting around. We went South to Old Lanta town and wondered around; this sleepy fishing village was incredibly relaxed and you can drive out onto the pier and take in the view. Then as far South as we could manage and up hill to a view point out to sea and a quick pineapple juice. Then over to the West of the island to check out the beaches further South of Long Beach. Here we found the good ones, in particular Klong Nin I really liked. Powdery sands and secluded enough with some cool bars lining the seafront, as well as an array of massage options and...loads of street food! Unfortunately, this was quite a drive from our resort, but we intended on returning.

(One thing to mention is that there aren't really petrol stations on Koh Lanta, rather small shops sell you bright red fuel out of cola bottles and fill up the bike using a funnel! You can usually figure out where to buy by the tell-tale hand-painted "GASOLINE" signs lining the roadside. You can fill up a bike for around THB90).

All in all, a great day spent touring Koh Lanta and some great seafood in the evening in Saladan (you chose your fish from the fresh counter out the front, and then they BBQ it for you). Really good and cheap too (approx THB 700 for two fish, crabs, veg, rice and drinks).