Playing a bit of a catch up due to slow expensive internet connections, here’s a summary of Life On Lanta for the last week or so….
Alan, A geordie mate who stays in Merlbourne, flew over and met me the night after I met another mate from Aus, Rachel. We had been out for her birthday,and ended up at a thai club, so when Alan arrived, the same thing happened, even more alcohol fuelled by Alan’s ability to order drinks not stop, at a pace that seemed like a round a minute for a while! Needless to say I’ve probably spent more in Thailand in the last month than the previous three put together..!
We all headed over to Koh Lanta, where I had been the week before. Although staying at a different beach, the lifestyle ended up the same – sleep, sunbathe, eat, drink, and a big chill out. Of course I had another ‘last night’ to attend as Alan only made a brief visit before heading to Indonesia to start a job.
The last night was pretty eventful. Having had our share of time on the beach, we flagged down two ladyboys on a moto and hitched a lift to a bar down the road which was having an opening night. The kind sods took two trips to take the three of us, and wouldn’t take any cash for it. We overshot the pub, and after stopping they made a quick u-turn, which promptly threw Rachel off the bike…much to our amusement (we could laugh as we were only doing one mile and hour, and alcohol would’ve more than made up for any scratches received).
When we left we caught a minibus back, where we made some sarcastic ‘complaints’ about the cost of it back to our resort. Turns out some of the brit residents there have forgotten sarcasm, so when this was topped off with a drunken ‘you’re a wanker’ motion (not by me!) tempers soared, and toys came out the pram, as someone started attempting to throw punches in my mate’s direction. Luckily there was a friendly british driver, but when the Thai woman got involved, we were forced to walk after a pretend apology was made to calm down the situation. All in a night out we reckoned!!
After this, and Alan’s departure, we made a trip back to Lanta Family Resort, and the Chocolate Bar for a party they had organised. I felt obliged to go as some of the crowd from the previous week were still there, and after all, I made the finishing touches to the flier momnets before catching the ferry last week. It was a cracker, but we left ‘early’ after the samsong buckets came out….if they kept flowing I’d have ended up staying there.
Back at Long Beach, we made friends with Sue, from The Joyful Bar – the local beach ladyboy, but super friendly, and really liked after he started to give us free drinks – Mai Tai’s and whiskey’s – as ‘you drink a lot here’ – each one getting stronger as the week went on. The drinking was pretty much sitting in their beach hut, feet in sand, and totally chilled.
Rachel and I managed to get several dives in last week while on Lanta, visiting two sites at Koh Ha, and two at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. Unfortunately we only saw a few reef sharks, and none of the biggies that are often there, but many many fish, shrimps, octopus and plenty of the fish I don’t think I had seen before.
Eventually we left Koh Lanta, me for the second time in two weeks, and headed back to Koh Phi Phi on the way to Phuket so we can join the liveaboard to the Similan Islands from the 18th to 22nd, which I’m really looking forward to. I wanted to do a few more dives around the area like King Cruiser Wreck, Shark Point and others, but I may get to do them when I hook up with another mate John who arrives in the area around 21st Jan.
After this I hope to book flights to go and see my sister in Manila for a week, before returning to Singapore for a mad night out with Matt, before very very sadly leaving Asia to head to Australia.
