Koh Lanta - beaches, caves and well oiled Swedes

Epsi, our friendly bike taxi driver

As our next northbound stepping stone we arrived on Koh Lanta, a slightly larger island a few hours south of Phuket. Hardly undiscovered, Koh Lanta seems an island dedicated to mindless eating, drinking, sun tanning and sleeping in (which, incidentally, is fine by us).

Droves of well oiled Swedes and Italians mooch about aimlessly as the locals desperately build more accommodation to keep up with the growing popularity.

The reason for all this tourism is clear to see. Miles and miles of white beaches surround the island and the traveller friendly villages are filled with signs for massage places and spa resorts.

We arrived the day before yesterday, on a 160 seater ferry from the south, carrying only one other passenger (hrm, not the most efficient use of energy) and slowly moved up a ghostly quiet, mangrove lined river, as if we were on a mission to hunt down Colonel Kurtz.

Ten minutes later, from the ferry terminal around the corner, our Muslim bike taxi driver sped us (and 'Steve with bad breath', the only other ferry passenger) down the main drag of Lanta town.

When 'Steve with bad breath' jumped out at the first AC'd hotel, we kept going out of town till we arrived at a cute Japanese run (why is everything Japanese cute?) wooden stilt village. Bee Bee's, a beach front maze of drift wood sofa corners and thatch roofed chilling spots is a perfect base for exploring the island.


Roadside football talent

Yesterday, to motivate us not to just slouch on the beach all day, we rented a bike, suspension worn thin by many fat tourist bottoms. Despite this literal pain in the ass, we had a lovely drive on the newly cemented roads and saw lots of the island.


Near-vertical trekking to the cave entrance

In the afternoon we went cave exploring in the Kao Maew Khaew Cave, a National Park attraction run by the government.

Unfortunately, Ali, the softly spoken cave guide we were allocated, spoke terrible English and had a severe speech impediment. The fact that he'd been a Thai boxer in his youth and had had most of his teeth knocked out really didn't make him any more understandable.

In addition, to our amusement, he also seemed to make up willy nilly facts about the cave. For instance, upon being asked when the ancient stone cave was formed, Ali, informed us that it stemmed from some time in the 1970's. Wow, fancy that.


Ali, in his green Adidas pants, inside Kao Maew Khaew Cave

After a short trek up the hillside, to get to the cave entrance, we entered via a slippery bamboo ladder. Once inside the stale, slimy cave we only had our head torches for light.

As Ali mumbled some more barely audible made up facts about the stalactites, we walked, crouched and crawled our way to three magnificent rooms. One had a huge wall of fossilised sediment layers (presumably formed some time in the early 1980's or so), one had a small underground lake and the third one had hundreds of bats hanging right over our heads. As if that wasn't spooky enough, throughout the cave system there were deep crevices, large crickets and spiders the size of Frisbees.


Slippery

2 hours later, as we once again breathed fresh air, Ali told us of his plans to become a taxi driver. We looked at each other and couldn't agree more. Driving a taxi is a profession much more suited to Ali. Good Luck dude. And thanks for your expert guidance.

Tomorrow we will push on, heading straight for Bangkok. That'll be the end of our Thai island hopping. At least for now.


Mere and a dog, watching the distant fishing fleet