Arriving in Koh Lanta

Goodbye dear family! We sadly said goodbye to the Haas’ and took a ferry to the mainland. Some hours later we took a second ferry, after driving across Thailand’s mainland peninsula.

Koh Lanta was one of the few travel destinations we had planned in advance. During the summer, Susanna connected with an Alberta family who was, at the time, also driving a camper van in southeast Europe. Both families were planning to join a “worldschooling hub” in Koh Lanta. The moms decided to rent accommodations in the same place, during the same period. Little did we know it was going to be a boys-match-made-in-heaven. The families met in Hoi An, Vietnam, and the boys got on like wildfire.

Our first full day, we went to a mangrove festival. This was one of the few activities we did during our entire time on the island that felt like it wasn’t in a tourist bubble. There were panel discussions and presentations in Thai, for the locals who are working with the mangrove forests. Information booths introduced us to the mangrove ecosystem. A boardwalk stretched through the mangrove forest, allowing us a peek at the mudflat crabs, troublesome monkeys, and tides.Read more