Vietnamese Whirl (and a Cup of Thai) Part 13 - The Last Resort

Feeling glad that we chose the slightly longer, but much less stressful (and vomit inducing) transfer to the island of Koh Lanta as we sat in our air conditioned car which took us door to door.  We would definitely recommend this over having our bags and ourselves slung into the back of a speedboat as it crashes through the waves and then haggling with the tuk tuk drivers at the port.

After a short and very smooth ferry journey we found ourselves back in one of our favourite places in Thailand – “our beach” – Klong Nin. 

Greeted by the affable “Mae” at the Wanida Resort, we settled into our huge room which was to be our home for the final leg of our journey.  We’d “prepared ourselves for the worse”, but apart from the many more scooters on the roads (not quite Vietnam standards, but getting there!), and several new resorts and shops, it was pretty much how we remembered it.

Our favourite reggae bar was sadly no longer there, but the popular “Rasta Baby” on the corner was offering live music most nights (although the band’s cover of “Wish You Were Here” was as excruciating as ever!).

Some new additions to the beachfront strip included a temporary ice cream van selling delicious flavoured cones (coconut, mango, passionfruit), and a beachfront Italian restaurant serving fabulous wood fired pizza (albeit at Italian prices), plus a great little Indian restaurant.  I say “restaurant” but it felt like you were eating in someone’s home as the friendly owner was the sole employee, who served and cooked the amazing food himself.  It was situated directly across from the local mosque so he left us to eat our meal while he nipped over the road for prayers (maybe praying we wouldn’t do a runner!)

A new hostel/drum workshop had also opened up, where we enjoyed several pleasant and sociable evenings listening to groups of wannabe musicians flex their muscles.  They were mostly pretty good, and we met some lovely people there from all around the world. Another highlight of our stay was discovering a brilliant jazz/blues duo playing at one of the beach bars, while we sat with our feet in the sand admiring a stunning sunset.

The temperatures were increasing by the day, and even the few heavy rain storms we had did nothing to dissipate the humidity.  Even sitting outside with our morning cuppa felt like being in a sauna. Thankfully we were able to use the pool at the resort next door, so afternoons were spent there, or by the sea – but our dips became less refreshing as the days went by, much like sitting in a warm bath…

Again, we had explored the island on previous visits, but one of our favourite experiences was the cookery school, Time for Lime.  Founded by Canadian Juni over 20 years ago, all profits go directly towards the Lanta Animal Welfare centre she had set up to rescue and re-home stray dogs and cats on the island.  There were now many other cookery schools on the island, but for us, this was by far the best.  We were delighted to find that master chef Noi would again be leading the class, and we weren’t disappointed.  After a cocktail making demonstration from young Brit Georgina (who gleefully downed all the left overs!), Noi took us through the basics of Thai cookery.  Much hilarity ensued as the evening progressed and amazingly, we managed to create quite edible results!

Although we felt quite lethargic, we booked ourselves on a boat trip to the islands of Koh Haa and Koh Roc, which we had visited before, but were renowned for their abundance of tropical fish and corals.  Being high season, we were packed like sardines on the boat, but the snorkelling was impressive  (that was until I managed to lose my snorkel!).

Our remaining time was spent relaxing on our comfortable porch and chatting to our neighbours, who ranged from French to Russian, Canadian, Danish … and even a lovely Hungarian couple – all of course spoke English!  One of the things I enjoy about our trips is the variety of different people we meet, and how preconceptions of nationalities and cultures are broken down when you actually meet people and have conversations.  The Vietnamese and Thais are without doubt some of the friendliest people on the planet, even if their driving is slightly reckless!

On our last day, I treated myself to a foot scrub, but what I wasn’t expecting was a full body massage thrown in!  Maybe my charming masseuse thought I needed one…  My serenity was not to last long unfortunately, as tensions had been rising in the middle east, and my worst fears of war breaking out were about to be realized…

Next stop:  Stranded!