Do we ever have to leave?

March 20, 2010

So, as the title of this post might suggest, we love Koh Lanta. I (Emma) am unfortunately, having a minor/major problem with my shoulder. In fact, it seems as though every single muscle in the left side of my back/shoulder has made an agreement to knot up and cause me a great deal of pain. So I left Sam sleeping this morning to go get a massage and hopefully ease the tension. The massage helped some, but still not doing so great there, which is a bummer.

Nonetheless, we grabbed our rented motorbike and headed out to explore the island. There is definitely no better way to get around. Koh Lanta is a big island, with a lot of great, isolated, and uncrowded beaches. Today we went to Phra-Ae beach (also called Long Beach), one of the more popular spots on the island. We relaxed for a while and swam a lot. It's so hot that we can only sit in the sun for short periods of time, and take to lazing around in the shade or just perching in the water, which is also amazingly warm.

We headed to dinner at a great family-run restaurant a little ways down the island. The family built the entire restaurant themselves and its decorated with amazing shell chandeliers and exotic plants. We had some tasty Thai food, and then walked along Klong Nin beach for a while before heading back.

Lanta is so different from the last few places we've been. It has a real island feel, but without the constant tourist traps and crowded streets. Of course, the tourist activities are around and available, but it's also possible to have our own experience on the island without being pushed around by tour agents. It's pretty amazing to ride the deserted roads on our bike with the moon out, and you can see almost as many stars as you can at Bar 717.

We've decided to stay an extra day, so there will be more island exploration to tell tomorrow.