An erratic 2 and a bit hour drive from Trang got us to Koh Lanta, the minivan was full and with everyone's luggage (which is never accounted for with regard to space) it felt a little cramped. But, we had seats and so no real cause for complaint. We were starting our wind down to Christmas, no adventuring, no diving just relaxation intone sun. Bags dropped, we took a wander to the beach, Khlong khong beach is another good 'un. It's clean, long and tranquil. It's lined with rickety bars and restaurants where you can watch this quiet part of world go by. We sat revelling in nature's aural splendour, the gentle lap of the waves on the shore, the soft breeze as it rustles the coconut palm leaves. As the wind dies down the air is filled with birdsong. The huge repertoire of the miner birds is truly joyous.
Just before sunset, we too partook of a refreshing beverage in one of the bars. Reclining on cushions on a bamboo veranda, the sun did its daily light show, oranges pinks and reds smeared across the sky. Para-para-paradise.
We had two or three days where it rained through the morning and on these options were limited . We wandered to Saladan, the nearest town. There's nothing of any touristic interest per se, a couple of local markets and a smattering of shops.
When the sun comes out, Koh Lanta comes into its own. We only had to venture 5 minutes along the shore to find our own secluded patch of sand. Our home for the day, had a small coconut grove behind us, offering some early morning shade, a strip of immaculate white powdered sand that lead to the crystal clear waters of the Malacca strait.
Initially, the sea looks barren, the seabed is strewn with bleached and broken coral. But with a little patience, the sea reveals some treasures. Tiny, electric blue fish that had an oversized fan tail the sports a bright yellow spot, black and yellow coral fish, camouflaged gobies, damsel fish and orange butterfly fish. Life was all around us, we just had to look.
We found that the restaurants at the roadside offer both better value and better tasting food, the shacks look like they were built in a hurry from whatever wood and plastic was available in that instant. These charming places were run by even more charming people, whose big smiles were just as nourishing for our souls as the delicious noodle soups were for our bellies. These were also the places where we were able to practise our Thai, there was no other choice. We established that our Thai was very bad.
At night we'd head back to the beach, some of the restaurants had candle-lit seating on the beach, we chose a bar that had created little 'nests', lined with rattan mats and cushions. As we lay comfortably, our drinks were brought over and a couple of guys did a fire dance. To the beats of the chilled out tunes playing from the bar, the guys spun the fiery balls like nunchucks. We were completely absorbed and absolutely mesmerised.
We are missing the drunken shenanigans that occur around this time of year, in fact we're missing the whole build up to Christmas, decorating home, buying enough food to feed the 5,000 and hot chocolate with Baileys and marshmallows in front of our open fire.
With Skype, email and messages left, it's hard to miss anyone, but the thought of Christmas without our family and friends is not a nice one and if there was one occasion where we are missing 'normality', it would probably be now.
But onward we must go, for our Christmas in Krabi.