Day 27 - Friday, March 11 - Ko Lanta

Woke up and went for my morning walk on the beach. At 9AM, I rented a motorbike so I could explore the rest of the island. The roads on this island are absolutely atrocious. Most of them aren't paved and the ones that are, are sometimes filled with 3-4 inches of road dust. The worst is when a car heading in the opposite direction or one that passes you drives through this stuff and kicks it up in your face.

Lanta Miami is almost in the middle of the island on the west coast. The island is oblong and the only beaches are on this side. I rode my bike north towards the pier which is at the very north point of the island. Halfway to the pier, about 7 kilometers, found a nice little breakfast spot and then continued to the pier. Apparently, this is the only real "town" on Koh Lanta and when the boat landed here a few days ago, I was wsisked off so quickly to my bunglows down south that I never got a chance to see it.

It's sort of a sleepy fishing village with some souvenir shops and restaurants - nothing special but charming nonetheless. It's great to have the bike as it opens up the entire island for me which is great on Lanta being that I don't think there are any taxis - or at least I haven't seen one yet.

I headed back down south but decided to turn left on some red clay road that took me to the east side of the island. I then proceeded to drive all the way south to the very tip of the island occasionally passing really neat little villages. . The ride was beautiful, periodically arriving at great look-out points that were breathtaking. I made my way back to Miami after about 5 or 6 hours of exploring and made it back here without falling, skidding, or killing myself.

I found Dave and Carolina on the beach and hung out a bit. We swam, sat out and discussed future plans. They are going to try to motivate to leave here on Monday for Koh Pha Ngan. I told them I had no idea what my plan was but I was in the preliminary stages of extending my trip a little bit longer. I thought about it a lot last night and not so sure I'll be coming home as planned on the 28th but I have no new date to offer you blog readers. If there was an STA office here and I could just walk in and change my ticket, I would but the closest one is in Bangkok and I can't even imagine what it's going to be like to change it over the phone in this country. I'll have someone from Miami who speaks Thai help me with that phone call in the next few days.

Dave and Katie soon showed up and informed us we were late for Happy Hour. I hopped on the bike to get some beer and came back with the works. I had found a little store and bought ice and a bucket. We now have the most advanced happy hour bar at all of Miami. We don't go to Mong's for happy hour as his large Chang Beer is almost double what we can buy it for in town. As the sun started to drop, the 4 of them headed out to the sand to throw the frisbee and I headed out on the bike for a sunset drive south. I came across a little uninhabited beach and climbed on the rocks a bit, swam a bit, and got back on the bike and made my way south passing some amazing view points as the sun was setting. It was cooling down a bit, the wind felt great, and I felt amazing. A little while later, as it was now dark, I made my way back to Miami with a few beers for the "cooler" and found Dave and Caroline heading to dinner and Dave and Katie and I just sat on their porch and talked for a while. We showered and headed across the street to Cook Kai, a local restaurant, that has become their favorite and had a great dinner. I had some Paenang Chicken but as god as it was, I think mine from cooking class in Chiang Mai was better. After dinner, we headed home and I passed out..........for about 2 hours. The Miami people hate when we don't eat our meals here and they sometimes even comment about it. They are under some illusion that when you sign up to stay here, that you are supposed to eat all your meals and drinks here too. Some people, I must add, do that but I like to eat around and see what else the island has to offer. Sometimes, they even have been known to raise the price of the room if you aren't eating your meals here.

I woke up at 3AM hot and sweaty and I was really wishing I had moved toa room with Air Con this morning before I headed out on the bike. When I had returned, there were none available. The fan was just moving the hot still air in circles and then after staring at it for about 20 minutes, it stopped. The island had lost all power. I went out to the beach and it was pitch black. The sky was jet black with the brightest stars I've ever seen. I sat in the darkness on the beach until about 4AM and tried to to back to bed. I was tossing and turning and finally fell asleep again at about 5AM.