Find it satisfying to jog in the morning before the sun rises, and this jog was a lot easier than the last one on Phi Phi island.
We booked a cooking course at Lanta Thai cookery school the night before, and after a little misunderstanding where to pick us up, we got to the class. We were the only two persons receiving lessons this morning, and that suited us perfect. We could choose 4 dishes, between 10 different choices, and we got to make some of our favorite Thai dishes, like tom yam soup, pad thai, stirfried chicken with cashewnuts and green curry. We started out with information about the thai vegetables and we then prepared eveything for the dishes.
We didn't eat breakfast so we were starving after something to eat, and we both got pretty full after the first dish, the tom yam soup. We learned about thai cooking culture and made some delicious dishes during this class. Definitely some food that we will be making at home, when we get back to reality again. The class was good value for the money, we got some big portions of all four dishes and had leftovers for the rest of the day. After class we got transferred back to our nice bungalow and had a nap. It had been a tiring morning with jogging and to much food.
Later on we rented a motorbike and drove to Ban Saladan to confirm the diving liveaboard trip, the following morning.
Koh Lanta have a animal wellfare organisation, and their objective is to relieve animals from suffer and pain, with sterilisation and care. Most people there is western volunteering for a month or more. It has become a tourist attraction to see and walk the dogs and/or cuddle with the cats. Many people adopt an animal from here, or make a donation to help rescue more animals. We're low budget travellers, so we just took two of their dogs for a walk.
Somehow our motorbike locked itself, when we parked it, and we couldn't start it again, we borrowed a phone from the wellfare center and got a hold on our hotel. They immediately send a guy to fix the motorbike, but without any luck though. Eventually he gave us his motorbike and we returned to the hotel. Then he was left with the broken keylock and waited for assistance, but our problem was solved + we didn't pay for the motorbike. The night went by with blog and our food leftovers.
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| Tom yam soup |
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| Phad thai with chili and crushed peanuts |
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| Green curry |
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| Stir fried chicken with cashewnuts |
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| Walking the dogs |
Thursday 13th March
Every other diver on the boat was 20-30 years older than us (a couple from Flensburg, a couple from Austria and a weird french guy). Apparently there would be a lot of german speaking, since one of the divemasters were german aswell. Luckily our divemaster was our age, Asian and spoke great english. So at least I would have someone to communicate with.
During the day we went for 3 dives. Thailand have the best divesites that we've seen (can only compare to the Philippines though), and it's just fantastic to see all the colourful marinelife. So one thing is certain: all the god damn tourists in Thailand haven't ruined the divesites!!!
Diving gives us a feeling that is hard to describe - it just amazing and we feel so lucky to be able to do this. Our last dive was a sunset dive, and they're some of our favorite dives, cause that's when the fishes are really active and is starting their hunt for dinner. We usually see a lot of schools at this time, like big schools of barracudas, tunas, trevallys or snappers.
In the night we had a excellent buffet dinner and hang out with all the old ones, haha. It was really funny cause this one guy from Austria just assumed that eveyone understood his language (he almost didn't speak english), so he would tell a joke to me, and burst out in laugh, and I would look like one big questionsign. Funny guy with the typical Austrian attitude and look.
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| Cabin with seaview, at the live aboard boat |
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| Our divemaster giving information about the divesite |
Dive video day 1
On this divesite we would be able to see manta rays, and Erik's disappointment started to show when the dive was finished and we hadn't seen any.
We had a big delicious breakfast, before it was time to dive again. Already on our descending to the next dive, Erik discovered a manta ray, and after swimming along a rock there was more mantas to discover. We got a bit concerned the first time they got close to us. A few times they just swimmed right towards us and in the last second they changed their direction, and we had to be carefull not to get hit by their wing. It was so amazing and fantastic, they're really curious so they kept swimming around us, dancing with us, as our divemaster called it. To experience this was a huge satisfying feeling and our mission was completed.
The second dive was just as awesome, we dances with these huge water birds again, for over an hour. Back on the boat everyone was so happy and overwhelmed after two great dives with manta rays.
It was actually cooler than diving with the sharks, this was more intimate, cause they stayed around us for such a long time. We had 3½ hour boatride back to Koh Lanta again, we went for a nap, totally satisfied and with new energy to explore more of the world.
It was late afternoon, when we hit Lanta pier, so we didn't bother spending too much time finding a neat room. We were gonna leave the next morning anyway. We found a cheap but digusting place to stay near the pier, the swedish guesthouse. The sheets were dirty, and filled with gecko poop, so we had to ask for clean ones, but the room was filled with geckos, so the poop kept coming. To survive we had to make sure not to sleep on our back with our month open, but other than that we were fine.
Saturday 15th March
In the morning we booked a boat to Koh Lipe, 6½ hour and 2800 bath poorer. The weather changed to be more cloudy and rainy. Arrived on Koh Lipe in the afternoon, and it took us a while to find South Sea bungalows, the island is more crowded than we assumed, and it's really dirty aswell, they have a hard time getting rid of their trash, cause they're so far away from the mainland.
Eventually we found South Sea and they had a bungalow available, all though a bit expensive compared to what we got, we payed 500, but it was only worth 200 bath. Concidering that we were on Koh Lipe it was a good deal, since everything is quite expensive there. We had an outdoor bathroom filled with frogs, that we had to get rid off before we could shower, and after spraying water at them, they didn't seem to come back in again.
Went for a jog and a walk into town, here we met Tom & Verity (an english couple that we met shortly in Krabi and mailed with a few times). We went for dinner with them, and it turned out that they were gonna travel the same way as us, for the next couple of weeks. So it was easy to keep the conversation rolling.
Sunday 16th March
We both didn't sleep well, the matress in the bungalow was hard as a rock, and had woken us up a lot of times during the night. Went to sunrise beach and enjoyed the wind, sun and the wavy sea for some hours. Early afternoon we went to OMG sportbar to watch the first Grand Prix of Formula 1. Erik had been excited for weeks, so he was uncontrollable at this time. He watched the grand prix and drank beers, while I was napping in one of their hammocks. It was a celebration day for Erik, since Kevin Magnussen got a podium position.
We had an even worse night this night, the hard matress was just killing us slowly. It was so painfull at last, that I reckon it would have been more comfortable to sleep on the bamboo floor.
Monday 17th March
We had a big delicious breakfast, before it was time to dive again. Already on our descending to the next dive, Erik discovered a manta ray, and after swimming along a rock there was more mantas to discover. We got a bit concerned the first time they got close to us. A few times they just swimmed right towards us and in the last second they changed their direction, and we had to be carefull not to get hit by their wing. It was so amazing and fantastic, they're really curious so they kept swimming around us, dancing with us, as our divemaster called it. To experience this was a huge satisfying feeling and our mission was completed.
The second dive was just as awesome, we dances with these huge water birds again, for over an hour. Back on the boat everyone was so happy and overwhelmed after two great dives with manta rays.
It was actually cooler than diving with the sharks, this was more intimate, cause they stayed around us for such a long time. We had 3½ hour boatride back to Koh Lanta again, we went for a nap, totally satisfied and with new energy to explore more of the world.
It was late afternoon, when we hit Lanta pier, so we didn't bother spending too much time finding a neat room. We were gonna leave the next morning anyway. We found a cheap but digusting place to stay near the pier, the swedish guesthouse. The sheets were dirty, and filled with gecko poop, so we had to ask for clean ones, but the room was filled with geckos, so the poop kept coming. To survive we had to make sure not to sleep on our back with our month open, but other than that we were fine.
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| The common area on the boat |
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| The swedish coloured house is where we stayed for the night |
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| The most unsafe bridge that I have ever walked on |
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| The fantastic bathroom at the swedish place |
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| The disgusting and messy room |
Dive video day 2
In the morning we booked a boat to Koh Lipe, 6½ hour and 2800 bath poorer. The weather changed to be more cloudy and rainy. Arrived on Koh Lipe in the afternoon, and it took us a while to find South Sea bungalows, the island is more crowded than we assumed, and it's really dirty aswell, they have a hard time getting rid of their trash, cause they're so far away from the mainland.
Eventually we found South Sea and they had a bungalow available, all though a bit expensive compared to what we got, we payed 500, but it was only worth 200 bath. Concidering that we were on Koh Lipe it was a good deal, since everything is quite expensive there. We had an outdoor bathroom filled with frogs, that we had to get rid off before we could shower, and after spraying water at them, they didn't seem to come back in again.
Went for a jog and a walk into town, here we met Tom & Verity (an english couple that we met shortly in Krabi and mailed with a few times). We went for dinner with them, and it turned out that they were gonna travel the same way as us, for the next couple of weeks. So it was easy to keep the conversation rolling.
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| Our cute little bamboo hut |
Sunday 16th March
We both didn't sleep well, the matress in the bungalow was hard as a rock, and had woken us up a lot of times during the night. Went to sunrise beach and enjoyed the wind, sun and the wavy sea for some hours. Early afternoon we went to OMG sportbar to watch the first Grand Prix of Formula 1. Erik had been excited for weeks, so he was uncontrollable at this time. He watched the grand prix and drank beers, while I was napping in one of their hammocks. It was a celebration day for Erik, since Kevin Magnussen got a podium position.
We had an even worse night this night, the hard matress was just killing us slowly. It was so painfull at last, that I reckon it would have been more comfortable to sleep on the bamboo floor.
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| Watching Formula 1 |
The boat company who said they would take care of everything with the immigration still had our passports, so when we enterered the harbour, they brought all 120-140 passport to the immigration office. And from there it got chaotic, apparently the boat company only took care of the stamp out of Thailand. So now we all had to wait to get our passport back from two of the malaysian immigration guys. Some had to catch a flight and were in a rush to get a taxi to the airport, and it took ages before people got their passports. The immigration office only had two open counters, so when people had got their passports they could place themselves in the long and slow line in front of one of the counters. So typical asia, never well organized and always making a confusing situation out of nothing.
Western people are use to living in a civilized and organized part of the world, but even for us, these things keeps on surprising us, even though we've experienced it all the time during the last 6 month.
We have adapted to some asian habbits though, never getting our food at the same time, aswell as waiters rarely clean our tables for plates, cutlery etc. after we're finished eating and only provide tissues if we ask for them. It has become normal for us never eating together, these places you eat when you get your food, cause you never know if, it's gonna take 10 or 60 more minutes with the rest of the food.
Well, after getting our passports we arranged a minivan that drove us to the part of Cenang where we read there would be a good opportunity to find a cheap guesthouse. Cenang town didn't catch our attention at all, it was a boring and expensive little beach town. Went for a jog and we were lucky to find a great and cheap place to have dinner, and we spend most of the night in our room which had a excellent wifi connection.
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| Sweet little kid playing on her dads motorbike |
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| A true paradise beach.. Bye Bye Koh Lipe.. |
Lovely review and fantastic photos. I go to Koh Lipe in about 8 days and can hardly wait. It looks just beautiful and I think I can deal with the hard mattress.
SvarSlet