Hello,
Well we took the ferry from Railey which took about 2 and a half hours. As soon as we arrived in Koh Lanta we were being hassled by taxi drivers and hotel workers trying to get us to go with them, not a great start.
After a while we agreed with a taxi driver to take us to our hostel for a few pounds. We had paid £3 a night for this hostel so we were not expecting much. Good job because it wasn't very impressive. They said when booking that we had a fridge to store snacks....no fridge. There were 2 showers, one didn't work and the other drizzled so really couldn't be classed as a shower and there were mosquitos everywhere. The hostel location was also not that great, we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
The following day we rented a moped, £5 for 24hours haha. We decided to explore the island and find the best beach area to stay in and then find a nice hotel for cheap. Some of the places we stumbled upon had amazing views looking over to the other islands. We stopped and had some lunch at a resteraunt in the middle of nowhere but it had such a good view overlooking the sea. After lunch we decided that the "Saladan" area seemed to be the nicest, quiet but plenty to do if we wanted to venture out at night. So we went on the hotel hunt. The first place we asked asked for 4,500 baht (£90) a night.......slightly out of our budget haha. The next place was called Golden Bay Cottages, it looked so nice and we knew it was out of our budget but we decided to ask anyway. The manager was really nice and told us his cheapest room was 1,500 baht (£30) a night, we asked to see it and it was amazing!! It looked clean, nice bathroom (the shower wasn't over the toilet....for a change), fridge, TV.....just complete luxury haha. We HAD to stay here. After some bargaining with the manager and saying we didn't want breakfast he agreed a price of 800 baht (£16) a night for us, we were very happy so booked in for 3 nights.
Now we had to head back to our grotty hostel for one more night. On the way back we came across a driving range and Jonny was desperate to have a swing. Shay took a seat and was watching Jonny line up his first shot......as he hit the ball he let go of the driver and it went flying into the driving range.....I think Shay wet herself laughing and so did everyone else in the driving range....the poor Thai lady went out running after it to return it to him, while he went to wash the suntan lotion off his hands which were making them rather slippy. Haha....funniest thing ever!!
We made our way back to the hostel after that as it was reaching 4pm which seems to be the time it rains here everyday.
At night we took the moped up to a close by beach area that had some nice resteraunts, Jonny had Pad Thai......not Shay this time, he said it was the best one he has tasted. Shay's sweet and sour was not up to much. The topic of conversation was how much we both couldn't wait for a nice hot shower and a good night sleep in a clean bed......haha, the simple things in life now please us :)
The following day we checked into our nice hotel, Jonny had a nap and Shay hit the pool. Just a chilled out day. At night we went down to find a nice resteraunt where we both had some more Thai dishes, which were good. There were heaps of markets near by so we decided that some shopping was in order as a lot of our clothes desperately need the bin. Jonny became an expert in bargaining, he managed to get a pair of "Ray Bans", some "Quicksilver" swim shorts and some "Diesel" flip flops all for a grand total of £9 haha, so of course they have to be real. Shay only managed to find a bikini she liked so hoping she finds some more things on the next island.
The following day wasn't too great, it was overcast. As usual at 4pm it started raining, it usually goes off around 6pm but that night it turned into a massive thunderstorm. So we had to have supper in our hotel, which wasn't that great. We then took a walk to a nearby Seven Eleven shop and stocked up on some drink and snacks and settled in for a night of TV. There were a few English channels so we got a movie, some really old emmerdale and corrie (Jonny was delighted) and we also got to see Stacey win the celebrity jungle again haha. Was nice to just chill out in our clean room though.
We were hoping the storm would have cleared the air for the following day but we woke up for it to still be raining......so we decided to book our onwards travels. We decided to go to Koh Phi Phi, so we booked our ferry across. At night we went out for tea and hit the stalls to see if we could grab anymore bargains. Shay got a nice tank top with a pair of pink "Ray Bans" for £4 lol and Jonny got a nice red pair of "Ray Bans" the sunglass collection has started.
Koh Lanta has been good to relax, but wouldn't say its worth the visit, its very quiet and the scenery isn't as nice as some of the other islands and there isn't very much to do here at all. But we are glad we have seen it.
Time now to hit the sack as we have an early morning ahead of us and off to Koh Phi Phi....cant wait.
J+B