Day 26 - Thursday, March 10 - Ko Lanta

Thanks to my friend Iain, I stole this excercise from his blog. Click on the link below and see how well you do. After traveling and meeting people from all over the world, I think I need to learn the geography of my own country a little better!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_Intermed_State15s_500.html

Woke up early, showered, and went to enjoy some breakfast on the beach. If you haven't already processed the mental picture, everything you can possibly do here is situated on the beach. Why set up an indoor restaurant / bar / or lounge, when you can have the oceans backdrop? Had breakfast and at 8:30, and at 9, as promised a large speedboat anchored just a few feet from the beach to pick me up to go to Ko Rok. Once again, I stopped, looked around, and made sure to take mental pictures so I can remember this paradise as I step on the concrete at LAX in a few weeks from now (well, that is, of course, if something unforseen is the catalyst in making me miss my flight home).

The boat ride to Ko Rok was about an hour on the open Andaman Sea. As Ko Lanta was just an hazy outline in the distance, Ko Rok National Park started to appear. We anchored a little distance from this blue beach with white powfery sand for the first snorkeling site. I must admit, I really haven't done much snorkeling in my life so I wasn't really sure how exciting it was going to be.

I jumped in, put my face in the water and could not believe my eyes. This was the most outrageous site I've ever seen. It was a giant underground city. I've seen pictures of great coral reefs but to witness it with my own eyes was astounding. With the aqua water as a background, the colors of the fish and coral blew me away. I saw fish of all shapes, sizes, colors and species. At some points, the water was 20-30 feet deep (that's a guess) and the coral jetted up to about 5 feet from my face. A few times, I dove down to touch it to make sure it was real.

After 45 minutes, we docked on the beach to swim, snorkel some more and have lunch. We were there about 2.5 hours and it was great. Ko Rok is an uninhabited National Park and it is absolutely gorgeous. There's no hint of anything other than nature and some people enjoying it. The national park rents tents so you can stay there for a few nights in the wooded area with nothing surrounding you aside from the pure natural beauty. When you are in the "woods", you can see through the clearing past the white white beaches to the blue blue sea and it's most spectacular.

There were about 14 of us on this little trip but noone really that special to strike up a conversation with but it was a really peaceful relaxing time.

After we left the beach, we anchored again by another reef nearby and we saw some more of the craziest reefs and fish. At one point, I was just floating with my face in the water in awe at what I was seeing and even more at awe that me, being the dumbass that I am, left my underwater camera in my room.

After another 45 minutes, we got back on the boat and headed back to Koh Lanta. The ride was about an hour. I got back to Miami at about 4PM and on the way to my bungaow, ran into Dave and Katie. They were on the porch of their bungalow enjoying their afternoon ritual. 4p-6p on the porch, watching the sun go down as it's really too hot to sit on the beach at this time. It's just short of scorching. They were about to make their Beer Chang run to the litle store across the way and invited me to join them. So, back on Dave and Katies porch it was, just like yesterday, shooting the shit, and drinking some 6.4& Beer Chang. The other recent Miami residents, Dave, and Carolina, from Sweeden soon arrived and the 5 of us hung out for another hour. As the sun fell down over the horizon and an hour of throwing the frisbee on the beach, We showered and walked up the beach a little bit to an "Indian" restaurant. It was actually pretty good and I must say, I was impressed. Although some of it may have looked different from what I am used to, the flavor was there and there was no misunderstanding - I was eating Indian food on the beach in Thailand.

After dinner, we headed to "Cocktail Bar Miami". This is the bar owned by Mong which is adjacent to the restaurant on the beach at Miami. Something I really haven't touched on yet is the religious difference between up north and here. The north of Thailand is predominantly Buddist while the south is mostly Muslim. It's a completely different world down here. Personally, I think the buddist are more friendly but that can turn into a whole essay which I don't have time for and you don't want to read. Anyhoo, Mong is great. He plays all classic US rock, loves people and makes his bar, your bar. He has tables set up on the beach, bamboo mats in front of a bon fire, a great wooden bar made entirely from wood from the sea, and everyone who comes to spend an evening with Mong goes away with a smile on their face. The bar was destroyed in the Tsunami, but he got it rebuilt and it very proud of it. He loves to tell people about his Tsunami experience and how he had to find new sea wood to make it even better than it was before.

Being that most of the accomodations in the South are Muslim, the restaurants can't serve alcohol as the Muslim people don't drink so buddist people come down here and rent beach space from the bungalow establishments and open up their own bar. Therefore, as a guest at these bungalows, you can still drink and have a bar on the grounds but the bars are owned by the buddist and not the muslims who own the bungalows. At dinner, there are 2 "waiters" - one for food and one that Mong sends over for drinks.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way. The 5 of us spent the rest of the night drinking at Mongs (the nickname of the bar), talking, laughing and coming to a decision that affects the rest of my trip. Dave and Katie have adopted me and don't want me to go to Ko Tao and Ko Phan Ngan. They don't understand why I need to go to another island if I have found my "paradise" here. They have a good point, but I haven't decided what to do yet. They are going to stay here another few weeks and then make their way to start their journey.

For those coming to Thailand, do not START your vistit on the beaches. I can't imagine going to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, etc, AFTER spending time on the islands.

We split up and stumbled to our rooms at about 1AM. Tomorrow, I'm going to rent a motorbike and see the north end of Lanta just so I can see it, walk the beaches, and be a travel expert on Lanta. I guess what I'm saying is I need to find the perfect spot to open Lanta Hammer, the newest bungalow operaton on the island which I hope to have up and running by years end. You are all invited to join me in the opening celebration (for 400 baht a night of course).

Another fantastic day was had by Marc in Thailand. How can tomorrow top this one, just you wait and see!