Day 40 - Thursday, March 24 - Ko Lanta

As usual, even after going to bed at 2:30A, I was up at 8:30A. I took a bike ride, popped into an internet place, and caught up on some blogging and e-mails. Back at Miami, I met up with the Esau's and we went on a massive bike ride around the part of the island that I didn't have a chance to show them yesterday. We saw elephants, monkeys, and even a few families of 4 riding motor bikes. Those seem to be the best sightings these days.

Drove to Saladin, shopped around a bit, and had lunch.

Back to Miami at 4PM and went for an afternoon swim. We were all covered head to toe in road dust and this time it was the dusty brown kind with a layer of red over it from the red clay roads on the northeast side of the island. If they were casting Willy Wonka for some Oompa Loompa's we all would have gotten cast.

After the swim, I did the unthinkable and actually took a proper shower with soap and all. Wow, did that feel good!

A beer or two later, some Thai snacks that I bought in Trang, and some great conversation made us hungry for some of Cook Kai's great food. Dinner was great, everyone made good choices and I got a big thank you for showing them a great time around Lanta. Back on the Esau porch, we shared one more beer and said our goodbyes. I had a great time traveling with them and hope to run into them again in the future. If not in the next few weeks in Krabi, Ko Pha Ngan, or Bangkok, maybe some day in Canada or the US. They are off to Phi Phi tomorrow and then to Phuket just to see if it's as bad as I told them it was. They are going to hate it.

As I was about to go walk into my bungalow and call it a night, Katie and Dave came to get me to go to the Full Moon Party a little bit north of Miami at Otto's Bar and Restaurant. I thought if you weren't on Ko Pha Ngan then the Full Moon wasn't that significant. Well, I caved and we drove down there to see what was going on. It was a pretty cool beach party with fire dancers, drinking, hanging out, mats all over the place with little bon fires on the sand, and a lot of dreadfully awful techo music blaring from some big ass speakers all over the beach. There were a few people selling some local crafts and a few food vendors selling some corn on the cob, fried chicken, and other delights. When I say it was a "pretty cool beach party", what I meant to say was, "It COULD have been pretty cool if the music was ANYTHING BUT TECHNO".

I lasted about an hour and a half and called it a night. That was way too much for me and I think I'm real glad I never rushed to Ko Pha Ngan to see the huge Full Moon Party that most people down south rush to each month. I crashed hard and was excited that tomorrow was another day on Lanta!