Day 3 - Koh Lanta - 4 Islands

Today's activity was a boat trip to 4 islands off the coast of Koh Lanta. We were picked up first from our hotel just after 8am and once we had picked up everyone else we were dropped off at a beach to wait for the boat to pick us up. It was a very long wait as the boat was 45 minutes late! When it eventually arrived the crew introduced themselves and we settled in for the 40 minute journey to the first island, Koh Mook, home to the Emerald Cave. Our arrival was timed perfectly with the arrival of 2 ENORMOUS boats full of around 100 extremely loud children. To get to the Emerald Cave you have to swim through a pitch black tunnel which opens up onto a little beach in the middle of the island, completely surrounded by cliffs. It would have been pretty magical were it not for the swarm of screaming children. Fortunately we did manage to swim through before the kids and enjoyed a very brief moment of the beach to ourselves before the masses arrived.

Leaving the kids behind we swam back through the cave and boarded the boat to head to our next stop Koh Chuck for some 'snorking' as our Thai guide referred to it. There were quite a few colourful fish but having been truly spoilt in Fiji and Australia, it really didn't compare.

Our third stop was Koh Kradan where we stopped for lunch and a bit of free time on the beach before setting off to our forth and final island Koh Ngai for some more snorking. I decided against the snorking this time but Simon got in for a swim before the 2 huge boats full of kids showed up!

All in all I probably wouldn't recommend the trip. The cave was cool but other than that it was just a bit too touristy for our liking!

Back on dry land we headed back to our hotel for a shower before dinner. I had read that the fire shows on the beach were not to be missed so after dinner back at the Greek restaurant, which again was delicious, we headed to Indian Bar which is a cool little bar down on the beach run by a Thai / Indian man.

As we settled down with a cocktail (the mojitos were amazing), wearing nothing but an indian headress and a brown Indian style skirt, the owner headed on to the beach and lit 2 fireworks which he waved around to start the show! The guy is absolutely bonkers but it was a really impressive show! At one point he had an extra large fire poi which he swang round and round and he literally looked like a human catherine wheel! After he had finished he invited the kids on to play with the fire poi who were also pretty good. We then sat back and drank cocktails for the next couple of hours watching various people with fire poi and batons on the beach. It was a pretty memorable way to spend our last night on Koh Lanta.Read more