When I speak to people about our adventures in Thailand, so many people say that they are going to visit Thailand and when I ask where they are going, the response always includes Phuket. Personally my opinions of Phuket are not that great, the beaches are dirty, EVERYTHING is expensive - even though in comparison to prices back home things are cheap, and there is only so long anyone can tolerate hawkers trying to sell you jewellery or take you to sex shows. The place is just not my idea of paradise.
At the beginning of our most recent Thailand trip, we thought it fitting that we should have a few days on the beach before returning home to Chiang Mai. There are a few key components that we look for when choosing a new location: great diving opportunities, comfortable accommodation that is clean and cheap, as close to the beach as possible and usually a place we have never been to before. After some friends telling me about their visit to Krabi on their Thailand trip last year, I figured that it was time that we saw it too. The problem is with Krabi though, is that it is not just one place. There is Krabi Town, Railay, Ao Nang, Koh Lanta and a few more islands to boot. So when you are planning a beach holiday to 'Krabi' from cold and rainy Melbourne it is not that easy to choose where to go.
After a great deal of research, we decided that we weren't up for the party scene in Railay, coming off 9 months of working back in Melbourne - we needed to chill. So that left us with choices of Ao Nang and Koh Lanta and the beaches in Koh Lanta looked absolutely irresistible...
From Krabi Airport, the trip to Koh Lanta is about 2-3 hours and as with all out of the way places in Thailand - as confusing as hell! At first I contacted our hotel, but they informed me that a one way transfer booked through them would be 2,500 Baht (about $75AUD) which seemed insane - that was almost more than we had paid for 5 nights accommodation! After reading countless travel forums, I thought I had it all figured out... From the airport, we would take a shuttle bus to Krabi town and then switch to a public minibus to Koh Lanta. The whole journey would take about 3 hours and would cost only 800 Baht for the 2 of us. But after Thai Airways decided to change our flight times so we arrived in Krabi at 6:00pm, everything changed because in true Thailand style, the minibuses stop running at 5:00pm. We were stuck - and the expensive transfer was our only choice!
What all the travel forums neglect to tell you, is what happens on a transfer to Koh Lanta. I am no good with minibuses and Dave is no good with water, so when our journey took us both by road and 2 separate ferries, we were mighty surprised. Thankfully, both of us were OK. As always, the language barrier in Thailand is a limitation as to how much information you can get about your journey so when we arrived to the first ferry terminal we were a little confused about the driver telling us that we should get out of the van and walk onto the ferry. Apparently all people have to do this as you have to pay 20baht per person to board the ferry. It was a good chance to get out of the car for a while and it kind of broke up the trip. A word to the wise from Dave - NEVER use the toilets on the ferry!! When I say ferry, I mean old grubby barge that smells like garbage and diesel fumes. Not exactly a 5 star journey!
On our journey to Koh Lanta Yai (yes, there are 2 Koh Lanta's), I was surprised to see that at 9:00pm there were still children no older than 5 or 6 still awake and running around. At the time it was a national holiday in Thailand for the New Year, but still - no set bed times in Thailand. This really is the place of "do whatever the hell you want"! Our eventual arrival to Baan Pakgasri Hideaway on Klong Nin Beach made the whole journey worth it though. It is always nice to arrive at your chosen hotel to find that their website doesn't do the place justice. The check in was seamless and as Chai - the hotel owner - walked us to our room we could hear the beach and the crashing waves and knew we were in paradise. After debriefing on what was said at check in - Dave is still not so great with understanding English in a Thai accent, our journey was over and relaxation time had arrived...
5 whole days of waking up without an alarm, lunch on the beach and swimming in some of the most pristine waters I have seen in Thailand to date... I couldn't help thinking back to our beach holiday to Phuket last year and wondering why anyone would go there when absolute paradise is only a couple of hours away. Koh Lanta is not full of tourists, it is still a very 'alternative' destination. Everyone seems to have tattoos and all the bars sell weed openly, but the local people are still nice - not yet destroyed by the constant influx of tourists. I suppose it helps that the island basically shuts down in the off season. Pretty much there is no point in visiting after May and before September. But even visiting at the end of tourist season when the operators are tired and sick of speaking English, the welcome you feel on an island like this is authentic and warm.
Again, after much research, my choice of diving operator was Ocean Divers. The management was responsive and helpful and the company was small by comparison to my Koh Tao diving experience last year. I had an ulterior motive to check the company out because I am looking for a place to complete my Dive Master license next year and instead of 40 students at a time, Ocean Divers only takes 1. I try not to spend too much time diving on these trips, because Dave doesn't dive and we are on a budget. So I only did one day and I dived what they call "The Bida's". The diving isn't spectacular, diving in Fiji really has ruined me for many other destinations, but the dive sites are still regenerating after the Tsunami in 2004. I got up close and personal with a 2m Leopard Shark though - an experience I have never had before. But on the operator side, Ocean Divers is one of the best dive companies I have seen in Thailand to date. The briefs were informative and the guides actually cared enough to sit with you after each dive and explain what you had just seen in creatures and corals. I think I will be happy working with them next season!
All in all, 5 days on Koh Lanta was not enough, it seems like the island is big enough not to feel like you are trapped on a rock and they even have an Irish Bar that serves real stout and cider! The best and cheapest times to travel to Koh Lanta are in the shoulder seasons, May and September - the weather is still great but the accommodation is almost half price! I would highly recommend this island for an out of the way beach holiday. It is almost like what Koh Samui would have been 10 years ago, still undiscovered and completely uncommercialised. Koh Lanta is a paradise that no one even knows is there... Be sure to visit before too many people find out about it, the place gets right to the heart of everything that is beautiful about Thai culture and the beaches are beyond belief!
At the beginning of our most recent Thailand trip, we thought it fitting that we should have a few days on the beach before returning home to Chiang Mai. There are a few key components that we look for when choosing a new location: great diving opportunities, comfortable accommodation that is clean and cheap, as close to the beach as possible and usually a place we have never been to before. After some friends telling me about their visit to Krabi on their Thailand trip last year, I figured that it was time that we saw it too. The problem is with Krabi though, is that it is not just one place. There is Krabi Town, Railay, Ao Nang, Koh Lanta and a few more islands to boot. So when you are planning a beach holiday to 'Krabi' from cold and rainy Melbourne it is not that easy to choose where to go. After a great deal of research, we decided that we weren't up for the party scene in Railay, coming off 9 months of working back in Melbourne - we needed to chill. So that left us with choices of Ao Nang and Koh Lanta and the beaches in Koh Lanta looked absolutely irresistible...
From Krabi Airport, the trip to Koh Lanta is about 2-3 hours and as with all out of the way places in Thailand - as confusing as hell! At first I contacted our hotel, but they informed me that a one way transfer booked through them would be 2,500 Baht (about $75AUD) which seemed insane - that was almost more than we had paid for 5 nights accommodation! After reading countless travel forums, I thought I had it all figured out... From the airport, we would take a shuttle bus to Krabi town and then switch to a public minibus to Koh Lanta. The whole journey would take about 3 hours and would cost only 800 Baht for the 2 of us. But after Thai Airways decided to change our flight times so we arrived in Krabi at 6:00pm, everything changed because in true Thailand style, the minibuses stop running at 5:00pm. We were stuck - and the expensive transfer was our only choice!
What all the travel forums neglect to tell you, is what happens on a transfer to Koh Lanta. I am no good with minibuses and Dave is no good with water, so when our journey took us both by road and 2 separate ferries, we were mighty surprised. Thankfully, both of us were OK. As always, the language barrier in Thailand is a limitation as to how much information you can get about your journey so when we arrived to the first ferry terminal we were a little confused about the driver telling us that we should get out of the van and walk onto the ferry. Apparently all people have to do this as you have to pay 20baht per person to board the ferry. It was a good chance to get out of the car for a while and it kind of broke up the trip. A word to the wise from Dave - NEVER use the toilets on the ferry!! When I say ferry, I mean old grubby barge that smells like garbage and diesel fumes. Not exactly a 5 star journey!On our journey to Koh Lanta Yai (yes, there are 2 Koh Lanta's), I was surprised to see that at 9:00pm there were still children no older than 5 or 6 still awake and running around. At the time it was a national holiday in Thailand for the New Year, but still - no set bed times in Thailand. This really is the place of "do whatever the hell you want"! Our eventual arrival to Baan Pakgasri Hideaway on Klong Nin Beach made the whole journey worth it though. It is always nice to arrive at your chosen hotel to find that their website doesn't do the place justice. The check in was seamless and as Chai - the hotel owner - walked us to our room we could hear the beach and the crashing waves and knew we were in paradise. After debriefing on what was said at check in - Dave is still not so great with understanding English in a Thai accent, our journey was over and relaxation time had arrived...
5 whole days of waking up without an alarm, lunch on the beach and swimming in some of the most pristine waters I have seen in Thailand to date... I couldn't help thinking back to our beach holiday to Phuket last year and wondering why anyone would go there when absolute paradise is only a couple of hours away. Koh Lanta is not full of tourists, it is still a very 'alternative' destination. Everyone seems to have tattoos and all the bars sell weed openly, but the local people are still nice - not yet destroyed by the constant influx of tourists. I suppose it helps that the island basically shuts down in the off season. Pretty much there is no point in visiting after May and before September. But even visiting at the end of tourist season when the operators are tired and sick of speaking English, the welcome you feel on an island like this is authentic and warm. Again, after much research, my choice of diving operator was Ocean Divers. The management was responsive and helpful and the company was small by comparison to my Koh Tao diving experience last year. I had an ulterior motive to check the company out because I am looking for a place to complete my Dive Master license next year and instead of 40 students at a time, Ocean Divers only takes 1. I try not to spend too much time diving on these trips, because Dave doesn't dive and we are on a budget. So I only did one day and I dived what they call "The Bida's". The diving isn't spectacular, diving in Fiji really has ruined me for many other destinations, but the dive sites are still regenerating after the Tsunami in 2004. I got up close and personal with a 2m Leopard Shark though - an experience I have never had before. But on the operator side, Ocean Divers is one of the best dive companies I have seen in Thailand to date. The briefs were informative and the guides actually cared enough to sit with you after each dive and explain what you had just seen in creatures and corals. I think I will be happy working with them next season!
All in all, 5 days on Koh Lanta was not enough, it seems like the island is big enough not to feel like you are trapped on a rock and they even have an Irish Bar that serves real stout and cider! The best and cheapest times to travel to Koh Lanta are in the shoulder seasons, May and September - the weather is still great but the accommodation is almost half price! I would highly recommend this island for an out of the way beach holiday. It is almost like what Koh Samui would have been 10 years ago, still undiscovered and completely uncommercialised. Koh Lanta is a paradise that no one even knows is there... Be sure to visit before too many people find out about it, the place gets right to the heart of everything that is beautiful about Thai culture and the beaches are beyond belief!
No comments:
Post a Comment