We headed up the beach to have breakfast where we had seen a wifi sign the night before but of course the sign had mysteriously moved and there was no breakfast to be found either. We did pretend to be monkeys and tried climbing a coconut tree like the locals but our agility was sadly lacking! Fed up with the oppressive heat we came back for a swim and brekky at the hotel. After this we hired a bike to explore the island. We first headed east via a great lookout in the centre nestled on top of the hills to check out the Old Town which was really lovely – lots of old Thai architecture and a few little touristy shops selling clothes and knick knacks. We wandered around the port which was fairly squalid (checked out a deserted campground- whoever decided this would be a money spinner in this awful location must have been on drugs). Then we headed south down the coast past the gypsy village where the unemployed gypsies have had better housing built for them (courtesy of an internal aid project) than the poor hard-working fishermen who live in primitive shacks! We went as far south as the road went to check out the tree-house resort where the owner has imaginatively placed accommodation in boats, tree houses and precariously out over the water. These would have been fun to stay at but unfortunately they are now very overpriced - probably due to the new road that the guy had to build to get there – it cost him 5 times the cost of building the resort! They are a bit far removed from civilization too and food and beer were very pricey considering it was only a man-mad beach!
After reaching the southernmost point we thought let’s just go north and see what’s up there. Travelled quickly back up the east coast and arrived at Saladan village just before dark. We found a local market where we picked up some fresh rice with prawns for a song. From here we headed into town and found some bargains at the local shops – a dress for Tracey and bandana caps for Grahame plus a new sarong. When we got back to our bike it looked as if someone had tried to tamper with it. On the way out of town our bike broke down – luckily for us a local guy was nearby and suggested that the choke was out – as we hadn’t touched it we are thinking that someone must of thought this would be a great joke to play on the tourists! We only just made it home as we discovered our tyre was nearly flat too!
Lanta Riviera Resort, 90/4 Moo 2 Saladan, Koh Lanta, Krabi Province Thailand 81150
Ph: 075-667043 / 44 (1000 Baht w Air and Hot Water)
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