Krabi & Koh Lanta

After the (mis?)adventures of Phuket we headed away from the island on our new most used form of transport – the Thai mini bus. We learnt quite quickly that getting from A to B in Thailand is actually very straightforward. You go to the bus station and state the name of the place you want to go. Someone will point you in the direction of the correct ticketing window and you buy your tickets. Nine times out of ten it’s that easy – though for some more popular routes and for trains you may need to book in advance to secure your place.

Krabi was a refreshing change from the sleaze of Phuket and had a much more ‘normal’ atmosphere. Of course there is plenty to keep visitors happy, including a Walking Street hosted on certain nights of the week where you can pick up all manner of street food and ‘enjoy’ some interesting karaoke that is performed on a small stage. However our biggest highlight in Krabi was our visit to the Tiger Cave Temple. We took a local bus for 30 baht each and ended up at the temple complex. There are a number of buildings and shrines which you need to pay to enter but we skipped these and headed for the steps leading almost straight up a sheer cliff side. In total there are 1237 steps of varying widths and heights in a path that is in some places almost vertical. We’re not going to sugar coat it – it was VERY hard, especially in the heat. We were drenched in sweat by the time we reached the top but were rewarded with some incredible 360 degree views of Krabi and the surrounding landscape. Sitting on top of all of this is a large seated golden Buddha and chedi (the Thai name for a stupa), as well as many candles and incense sticks which are placed by orange robed monks and nuns. It was one of the most exhausting but ultimately beautiful things we have seen on the whole trip so far and definitely worth the effort. We had the foresight to start our ascent in the morning before the heat of the day really kicked in, but on our way down (when the sun had really started to shine) we saw a number of people who had had to throw in the towel. At this later time there were also a number of monkeys which we had read can be quite aggressive with visitors so we were happy we had managed to avoid those too.

This brings us on to the second K of this blog post, Koh Lanta. As a final farewell to our time in Southern Thailand, we chose one of the many beautiful islands in the region, settling for Koh Lanta because of it’s reputation for quiet and beautiful beaches and easily reached incredible diving spots. Whilst we couldn’t justify spending almost double what we paid in the Philippines for a scuba trip, we decided to take a day snorkelling tour on a speed boat. The water was absolutely incredible – crystal clear, as warm as a bath and literally teeming with marine life. We spent ages in the water filming fish on the action cam and floating in the spots that were hands down the quietest places we’ve been – sometimes there was only one other boat and we had the water completely to ourselves. The package included a green curry lunch and unlimited soft drinks so we were able to spend the day enjoying the water and the peace. Given Koh Lanta’s reputation it’s not difficult to understand why we spent most our time there relaxing on the beach, sipping coffees at the beach bars and watching the sunset with some ice cold beers. It truly was a little slice of paradise with enough bars and restaurants to keep the party-goers happy and enough soft white sand for those looking to sun bathe and relax.