Hitting the road to Lanta. Mike rests on the local ferry.
by Azure
On Saturday morning, we decided to hit the road and retrace our steps from 2006 and return to Koh Lanta. Having had so many fond memories of the place, it was a risk to return. Last time, we had found a cute bungalow at the north end of Long Beach and stayed for over a week, having daily banana pancakes and creamy Indian curries on the beach. We remember laying in bed every morning, listening to The Eagles greatest hits playing from the bungalow restaurant and were sure that the older woman who ran the place had had an exciting affair with one of the band members as a young, beautiful Thai girl because she would listen to it on repeat day in and day out. (read more)
We packed up our stuff in Krabi and loaded it all on to the scooter that we had rented for the week. The decision to scoot was made based on our past experience of getting dropped off at the pier in the hot sun to be bombarded with screaming tours. Not wanting to relive that experience and having been inspired by the Balinese, scooting with all of our stuff, some loaded in front at Mike’s feet, one pack on his front and a large one on my back, is our choice method of travel.
When you ride, you see this all the time.
The ride to the ferry was easy. It only took about an hour and a half and when we pulled in, no one really spoke English, so we bought a ticket and got in line. We were under the impression that the ferry didn’t leave for two hours, so we settled in a shady spot with our scooter and waited. We hadn’t been sitting for more than a minute when we saw a ferry pull in. Mike got up and with a series of gestures, discovered that the ferry was actually leaving in 5 minutes. I think it actually leaves about every 10 minutes, but we didn’t know that at the time.
The little ferry from the captain’s tower – Mike asked to go up and take some pictures.
We were on a real high when we made it to the main island. The woman in Krabi who had tried to sell us a shuttle service told us it would be a 3 hour ride and cost about 300 baht to cross on the ferry. It only took 2 hours (though by the time we put our stuff down in the bungalow we would stay in, it was exactly 3) and the ferry cost 43 baht for the two of us and the bike.
All of our worldly possessions loaded on the poor scooter. I seriously hope it makes it.
We immediately went to Sea Pearl (the place we stayed before) and found the overall appearance to be the same. The prices had gone up by about $10, but we were happy to see that the woman was still working there, though 3 years later, she was no longer playing The Eagles on repeat. It was full, or we might have considered splurging on the room, so we headed south to the cute hippie beach that we remembered from our last trip.
This is when we realized how much it had changed. Whereas last time, the small, pot holed road that led south along the coast was lined with sparse wooden bars and some good budget bungalows, it was now packed wall to wall with bars, restaurants and family resorts. The place we ended up finding was across the road from the beach and cost the same as we paid 3 years ago to be right on the beach. Fortunately there was beach and pool access via a larger resort on the other side of the road. We put our things down and went across to check it out.
It was very much like a large children’s play area that you would find at McDonalds. All of the features of the place were painted in bright pastels and everything seemed over-sized. We tried to order food, but ended up back across the street at a noodle stall instead.
We were a little down, so we decided to take a nap. We can’t claim total ignorance on Lanta’s changes. All of the guide books say that it has now been “discovered,” which it has. You really can’t go anywhere on the island without seeing other tourists. It isn’t big enough to sustain a real authentic area and host as many tourists as it does each year. Even still, we wanted to give Lanta a fair shot.
We woke up from our nap covered in sand that had been mysteriously falling on us from the ceiling and went for a sunset drive across the island. From our last experience, the other side of the island still held what we thought to be a real authentic fishing village. We hadn’t seen any restaurants or places to stay 3 years ago, so we still held out hope that things hadn’t changed. They had. When we got there, we were greeted with taxis and restaurants. It was still far less crowded and much more peaceful than the other side of the island. We drove out onto the long pier and watched the sun go down over the island as the squid fishermen prepared their boats for the all night trip. Mike went over and watched them loading up and I took a few pictures of the town. It really didn’t look different than before, the houses all looked the same, build on stilts over the rocky beach, backs opening to the water and fronts to the street.
Old Lanta Town (the fishing village) as the sun sets over the hills.
Mike wants to be a squid fisherman so bad, he is practically drooling.
We drove along the shore to the south into one of the long narrow neighborhoods built in this style and saw a few “rooms for rent” signs and were interested. Near the end of the road, we saw a sign that said “Sam B&B.” There was a woman sitting outside, so we stopped and asked about the place. This is where we met Sam, Kim, Don and Ali.
Published on January 12, 2010
at 9:27 am.
3 comments
So, I’m eager to hear about Sam, Kim, Don and Ali. And Mike, maybe you could go document the squid fishing process. That would be cool and they’d be stars!
I don’t think any place is exactly the same as the first time you see it, just a different adventure each time
I wish we’d gotten the chance to go squid fishing, but it’s not going to pan out. Just never had the right timing (for one, they leave at 4:30pm and return at 7am). Maybe next time.