A Thai Christmas & New Year

Who’d be so cliche’d & immature!

Today we were awoken by an enormous gecko in our room squawking. We got up & hired a scooter from our lovely lady. She found us the best available bike & gave us a couple of ill-fitting helmets.

The plan was go for a recce further a field & spend the day on the beach at the southern end of the island where the Same Same But Different Restaurant was situated. We recall that the beach was nice, but more importantly the restaurant did the best chicken & cashew nuts we had ever had.

We set off on the coast road heading south, when after about 10 miles we found a French bakery that took our fancy. We got off the scooter & went to open up the seat under which was my bag & all our money. Hunting high & low, we couldn’t work it out, but a little old lady came over & showed us that it was the button next to the ignition. She tried it several times but still it didn’t work.

In the end we had to get back on the bike & return to Lanta Happy Hills where our lady opened in a second, it was the switch next to the ignition, but the ignition key had to be at a certain position. So easy when you know how!

We drove back again on the quite frankly terrible roads & stopped at our intended stop. We had half a homemade fresh baguette & coffee. Lovely, but naughty.

On we continued to where I thought Same Same was. Every hundred yards or so, Jackie would pipe up ‘You sure we’ve not just gone past it’. Another 10 miles down the road, we arrived at Mu Ko Lanta National Park, where I thought Same Same was. Now there was an entry fee, 420 Baht (over £10). We paid it & very soon realised I was wrong. We had been here before when it was free & in-fact went for a jungle trek that turned into a nightmare for Jackie. She wasn’t wearing the correct footwear and fell over. Luckily Jackie didn’t say I told you so about a thousand times or say that it was a waste of money.

Mu Ko Lanta National Park is a jungle swarming with monkeys & has a decent beach. We sat on the nice sandy beach for about an hour to try & justify the entrance fee, then we left. This was only after monkeys had raided another couple’s belongings whilst they were swimming and then returned a second time & actually opened their bag & stole a 100 Baht note & their wet wipes.

We returned to the scooter & as we did on our previous visit, Jackie had to walk up the hill as it was too steep for both of us on the scooter. When Jackie finally reached me at the top of the hill, she got back on & we headed back the way we came. We stopped at another beach, thinking it was the one, it wasn’t, but we had a beer.

Same Same turned out to be another 1.4 miles up the road. We stopped & both ordered the chicken & cashew nuts. It was nice, but not as fantastic as we remembered.

After spending the rest of the day on the beach we returned home, not before stopping to buy a Santa hat & some reindeer ears for a selfie. That night we went out for a curry, then sat on our balcony & managed to stay up, just, to see Christmas morning in.

Note the beaches & restaurants were full of tourists wearing Christmas headwear & taking selfies. I wouldn’t be lying if it was more than 50%.

Song of the Day - We’re Not The Same by Wolf Alice.Read more