It'd be unfair for me to judge Ko Lanta based on my experience of the island. But I'll do it anyway and let you decide if I'm being harsh. It actually starts pretty well...

I took a minibus to Ko Chang that I had booked through P Guesthouse where I was staying. I also booked a night in a bungalow on Long Beach that they had recommended. Bad choice, as the bungalow looked out onto a brown swamp, the mosquito net had holes the size of my fist and the already broken outside shower had a broken fitting. Nobody seemed that inclined to help me, but they were more than happy to direct me to their on-site travel agent to book boats and buses. Since I'd already paid for my room, I didn't have much room for manoeuvre.

Still, Long Beach was fairly nice. Nothing spectacular but it was, well, long so easy to find your own space among the beach bars and westerners on tour. I spent the afternoon lying in the sun that was tempered through varying levels of cloud. Took some pictures and headed back for a disappointing shower. Did I mention that this place is the most expensive I've stayed at in Thailand at 500 Baht? Anyway I stupidly though I'd go for a walk to the pier to check up on prices for getting to Ko Lipe. It took about an hour and the search was totally unfruitful other than to pick up some breakfast items at the various 7-11's I passed.

The next most stupid thing I did was order a fish curry at the resort's restaurant. This apparently did not agree with me, though it would take me a few more hours to properly find this out. I slept from about midnight until 1:30am, and that's when the fireworks began. I spent the next two hours between my bed and the outside toilet, where the mosquitoes showed me no mercy either. I think I got to sleep again around 4-5am, once my stomach had nothing left in it. Not the worst night I've had so far, as I could breathe and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to die of respiratory illness, but still it was a pretty s*** night.

So, bring on tomorrow, when I woke around 8am and dragged myself to reception. I was sure I didn't want to stay another night there but I'd unpacked a bit and couldn't really face lugging my bags to another place. Luckily for me, there were no rooms left that night so I was forced to go, and having scouted out the area the day before I knew exactly where to: Kamalanta Resort. The guy who runs it turns out to be a proper legend. I got an aircon room with hot-ish shower and enclosed bathroom for the same 500 Baht. The guy even told me not to bother with travel agencies to get to Ko Lipe. What a breath of fresh air. I slept most of the day (in a much nicer bed) and had some free coffee and Internet in the evening. It was raining anyway.