Ko Lanta: to stay and live
This island of andaman sea cannot rival in beauty with its neighbors Koh Phi Phi or the awesome Railay . It does not have those dramatic rocks emerging from the water that appear in the James Bond movies nor is it a destination of revels and full moon parties ; here the roads are dusty and in the interior there are villages that define well what is so often found in Asia: a long road surrounded by buildings that are house, store and gas station everything at once. And at the same time this island has it all. It attracts people who seek the balance of all its tourist attractions and especially the relax of a way of life that is as Thai as it is unique, with a half-Buddhist, half-Muslim society in which it is possible to interact with the locals in a more natural way than one usually lives in crowded Phuket. Koh Lanta it is bigger, less postcard and much more real than its neighbors.
Koh Lanta beach
First tip: you have to rent a motorcycle and tour the island from north to south. Moving through it, one has the sensation of finding a culture that does not depend so much -at least not only- on sightseeing (because that's what we tourists do, spend half our lives fleeing from very touristy places and discarding places that are "only for tourists"), that Gorgon and that Arcadia at once. Hidden beaches, waterfalls, gypsy villages and fishing villages appear as you move around an island that is just the right size so as not to bore you because it is small and not to overwhelm you because it is large.
To stay there breathtaking hotels of those that are supposed to be in a tropical paradise, although it is worth knowing that the quietest and least urbanized beaches are found in the southwest of the island, such as kantiang bay Y waterfall bay . Next door is the - epitome of Asian luxury - Pimalai resort, and right on the beach we find a couple of relaxed restaurants that set their tables directly on the sand and invite die of joy dining under the stars.
In the Koh Lanta ancient city the houses located on wooden stilt houses are a sample of the island's past as a stopover for the ships that traveled the Andaman Sea to Singapore . It is the perfect place to have fish and seafood in one of the restaurants located directly on the sea. in the most populous Ban Saladan This type of restaurant also abounds and the proximity to the bridge that connects the island with the mainland makes it an almost obligatory stopover.
For those who need in their leisure something more than the sweet lying , you have to do caving in the Mai kaeo cave or her little sister, the tiger cave . The first is reached after an ascent through the jungle in which good footwear is essential, to find some narrow caves possibly available only to one and the guide. The sweat, the fatigue and the satisfaction of seeing stalactites, huge spiders and bats are guaranteed, as is returning with a good crust of mud on your clothes.
Koh Lanta It is also one of the best places -if not directly the best- in Thailand to practice scuba diving . And we know that this means one of the best places in the world. The numerous diving schools that operate here take divers by boat to Hin Muang Y Hin Daeng , less than an hour away. Searching for images on google and starting to salivate is automatic. One last recommendation to follow or not because by now the atmosphere of the island will have infected the visitor: the Mixing bar is the beach bar of all beach bars on a deserted beach where the only thing that can interrupt the view are some cows. hippism Y easy-going in abundance in a little wooden house like something out of Super Mario Sunshine run by a French woman and a Thai where you can have a beer or a young coconut and lie down to graze contemplating the sunset. No clapping when it disappears over the horizon, please.
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relaxation as a way of life