Ko Lanta, Thailand

Visiting southern Thailand and not going to one of its iconic islands would be regretful, I told myself. I knew I "needed" to go to at least one of the country's famous islands. Phuket is too touristy. Ko Phi Phi is too expensive. Ko Lanta it is. While still touristy and expensive (all of the good Thai islands are), it is to a lesser degree in both categories. The island is pretty long and the are less popular beaches and Shaun and I were there in low season so it would be less crowded and less expensive.

Given that it is an island and the idea is to unwind, Shaun and I did not do too much. Most of the time was spent relaxing. We did, however, rent a motorbike one day in search of some cave we read was good. In short, we failed miserably. Getting there on motorbike only took about 20 minutes until the path gave out and we had to hike the rest of the way. We spent the next 2ish hour hiking toward, or what we thought was toward, Tiger Cave. After the first 20 minutes I think we both knew we were not going too find it but at that point it was more about the hike than Tiger Cave. We ended up stopping because the path was filled with bees. We vaulted over rocks, created new paths around sketchy looking water, and engaged in some acrobatic maneuvering but what ended up stopping us in our tracks was bees. Once we made it back to the motorbike we asked a local about getting to Tiger Cave. He informed us that you have to hire a guide because the path is unclear and it is too easy to get lost.

After returning to our accommodation, Shaun sat down and did some reading beside the beach and I, wanting to make more use of the motorbike, set out to ride up and down the west coast of the island stopping at each beach on the way back south. The ride was nice and it gave me an opportunity to see and swim several difference beaches. Given that it was low season most of beaches lacked any touristy and I often had the beach to myself. At one beach I saw a young boy climb a coconut tree and, upon reaching the top, try to kick some coconuts loose. I snapped several pictures of him climbing, waving at me from the top, and, my favorite, of the scene with a coconut falling to the earth.

I think Ko Lanta was the right island to go and while I did not have the time of my life, I did enjoy my time there.