Sunday 11 May 2008

Slumming it on the island of Koh Lanta




Here we are on the almost deserted island of Koh Lanta. We are staying at a 5 start luxury resort and enjoying all of its amenities. This is probably the nicest place Stephen and I have stayed during our entire trip. We were able to get an amazing deal because it is the low season and hardly anyone is here. Unfortunately, we have also experienced a bit of the low season weather...at least there are plenty of things to do at the resort. As you can see from the photos we have still managed to get in plenty of pool time, Thai massage sessions and outdoor dining and sunset experiences. We opted to go for luxury after the mini-van journey from hell...

We booked it at the local tourist agency because the passenger ferries had stopped running from Krabi. When the mini-van turned up at 'The Dawn of Happiness' resort we were dismayed to see that it was already full of backpackers. The driver then attempted to manipulate our backpacks into a tiny space at the back of the van whilst simultaneously hitting the unfortunate couple sitting in the back seat. When he realized it would be impossible to squeeze all of the bags in, he then attempted to attach them to the roof. We were not convinced that they were properly secured and we were really hoping that it wouldn't start to rain again...

I squeezed in with the couple in the backseat while Guy had to sit up front with the driver and a random women in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. Stephen and Jenny completed the 2nd and 3rd rows in the middle of the van. There were 10 of us crammed in with virtually no space for bags or legs. First, we stopped at a tour agency in Krabi where all the tour operators looked at the minivan tires with concern. As you can imagine, this made us feel so much better about the journey. Fortunately, the random woman got off and gave Guy a bit more space in the front seat. After the tire stop, our driver proceeded to speed down the road dodging mopeds right and left while at the same time talking on his cell phone. Then, when we reached the next town he pulled over to buy himself some cigarettes while the rest of us waited in the sweltering heat of the van.

Soon we were on the road again, only to pull off once more to fill up the gas tank. By now, we were all getting really frustrated with our driver. We finally made it to the ferry waiting area. By now we were all desperate for the loo and desperate to get out of the minivan! We all bought snacks and waited to board the ferry. While we were away from the van one of the German passengers actually had some money stolen from his bag. The driver apologized and locked the van, but several of the passengers suspected him of the theft....

The crossing was uneventful and soon we were underway again. Somehow we had picked up another woman and a child, both of whom were somehow squeezed in between Guy and the driver. Koh Lanta is actually made up of two islands. The first one does not have any tourist accommodation so we had to take a second ferry to the main island. After we crossed, our crazy driver pulled in to a tourist office in the middle of nowhere. We were told we should all get in taxis and pay to go to our hotels. All ten tourist in the minivan had been told that the driver would take us to our reserved hotels. Plus, the taxi drivers were trying to charge more to go down the road than we had paid for the entire journey! We were all furious. The German and British guy climbed back into the van and refused to budge. We all gathered around it with our stuff refusing to leave unless the driver took us to our hotels (even though most of us didn't actually have a hotel reserved yet....but we certainly didn't want to be left in the middle of nowhere). The driver finally relented and then ended up getting lost and driving us beyond most of the main resorts and hotels. At that point we all demanded to get out to try our own luck south of the island. Luckily, there was an air-conditioned coffee shop across the street so we all went in to try and compose ourselves before beginning the hotel bargaining process. In the end, we ended up getting an amazing deal at the Langham Palace resort next to the coffee shop. Jenny had seen it on the internet and ruled it out because of the expense, but we managed to get it for less than half of the internet price. It was beautiful...complete with four pools, tennis courts, movie theater, library, gaming room, spa, massage area, restaurant and lovely oriental gardens. It felt like heaven after the crazy journey. They even included the amazing breakfast buffet in the deal!

It was the perfect place to wait out the rainstorms and strong winds that hit the island during our stay. We even had our own DVD players in the rooms and we booked a few Thai massage sessions to keep us occupied....