Ko Lanta Bikers!

So we rented a motorbike today for 200 Baht (less than $10 CAD) and drove around pretty much the whole island! Our original intention was to go to the national park and lighthouse at the south western most tip of the island, but we took a wrong turn and ended up at the south eastern most tip of the island! No big deal, we ended up at a very cool little place called Pirate’s Paradise at the end of the road on the south east coast, and had a look around there before taking the heavily construction filled road back to where we made our mistake! They are currently building a new cement road along this side of the island and it was interesting to see the building techniques!! On the way back, we also saw a Mama and her baby monkeys on the side of the road - didn’t get too close, but were able to get some photos!

And fortunately, had we not made the wrong turn we would have missed Lanta Old Town, which was really nice to see. Bit of a tourist trap, with lots of stores and restaurants on the water’s edge, but fun to see. We stopped for a drink and a snack, and went on the swing at the restaurant for some photo opps!

We got back on the route we had intended to take and drove along past beaches and swanky resorts before reaching the national park. It actually cost us over double to enter the park than the cost of renting the motorbike for the whole day - go figure?! We walked into the lighthouse area and climbed the hill up to be treated to some beautiful views of the park and surrounding beaches. It was very windy though and a bit scary hiking up to the lighthouse!

We headed back north and stopped at a few more beaches along the way - one had a resident monkey who was scouring the garbage cans checking for bottles with a bit of something left in them! Then when we got back to the road, there was a big cow just hanging out and blocking traffic! We got back to our starting point around 3:30 pm after 6 hours on the road, and were pretty exhausted and wind blown! Went for a swim in the pool, watched the sunset, then got ready for dinner. We had an awesome meal at our hotel - I had the hot plate, which is set on fire before serving, and it was delicious! Dave got talking to a couple of the waiters, and they were watching a soccer game in the back of the restaurant (Man U vs Watford) so he went back there to watch with them while I came back to write my blog! Another awesome day on this amazing trip! 😊Read more