amberyl travels: (day 6) ko lanta

Our time in Chiang Mai was short but sweet. It was a really nice change of pace from Bangkok. I did kind of feel like...I wasn't sure what to do there. There are tons of temples, stuff like zoos, museums, etc., but I don't know, my interest was never piqued. You can even see from the pics of the days we were there, we didn't actually DO a lot of things, though we had a lot of fun anyway. Would I go back? Mmm sure, it would be nice, but I think I'd rather spend the time in a new place, OR, conversely, spend a lot of time there just chilling in cafes being a digital nomad. :)

So anyway it was forward, onward, to the next place! Happy to have been to CM but glad for a new scene.

Our ride to the airport overslept and then drove us to the airport at mach speed. Had a super early morning 2 hour flight to Krabi, so that we could be in time to catch the ferry to Ko Lanta.

When I did my Thailand research a while ago, I found a shocking lack of documentation on transportation. There are so many destinations in Thailand, and tourists spend a lot of time hopping between locations -- but how do they get there?? I found information about ferries from Krabi to Ko Lanta, but no definitive source that said it was at X time at Y place, and to follow Z procedure to get there. :| Kind of nerve-wracking for a control freak planner.

Also bewildering that the millions of tourists that have needed to solve this problem have not shared their experiences online either! It was a real Bermuda Triangle of information.

Turns out I need not have worried, and there is a dearth of information because it is really pretty straightforward. Anything you want to do, you basically just need to get yourself to a nearby "hub" location by whatever means of transportation you prefer: plane, train, bus, boat. When you arrive there will likely be a multitude of travel agencies and hawkers that will scribble out a nondescript ticket, charge you some amount of money, and push you towards a connecting mode of transportation in broken English. While you WILL feel like a herd of cattle (mooooo), and you will NOT feel like you are in control of the situation at all -- you will be able to get to exactly where you want to go.

For example. We flew to Krabi. Exited Krabi airport to the lobby and walked to a random one of many travel agencies that said "Ko Lanta". Got written a ticket, put on a bus with many other people all going to different islands. Got driven to some halfway restaurant and told to get out and chill for a while, order food. Angry passengers demanded to know why we were dropped off there, it's because the ferry doesn't leave til 11 and no reason to wait at the pier so we wait here until the ferry's ready.

Spent an hour or two at the restaurant. Periodically pickup trucks come by and people clamor to get on, but they are all ignored -- the driver goes around checking tickets and through seemingly random selection picks who gets on. It kind of felt like getting sent to death camps :| never know where you're going or why you were picked.

Eventually we got on, got dumped at pier. Again don't really know what's going on. Eventually we "check in" and board the ferry.

Finally we get to start moving.

Our ferry.

Ferry made a couple of stops, last stop is Ko Lanta (after about 2 hrs). Once we get out I thought we'd need to hail a cab/tuk tuk to the hotel, but nope! On the boat they'd asked us for our final destination. Based on everyone's answers, they load you into a songthaew and deliver you straight to the front door!

All in all, I'd have to say it is a very CONVENIENT way to travel. No walking to the nearest bus stop, no having to communicate your destination to a cab driver.... but it is still just.... a little uncomfortable to me. You never really know what's going on, and the drivers and organizers go through SO many ppl day in and day out that they're kind of jaded and not inclined to explain things to tourists. I understand that, I just wish that they would have, I don't know, signs? with explanations for what's going on. Or maybe time tables. It's all just too ad hoc and disorganized for me, and it makes me kind of nervous to have to just sit back and assume you're going to the right place.

But we made it! We booked a three star boutique hotel. It wasn't expensive or fancy by any means, but it was the "splurge" of the trip at about $100. For that, we got amazing rooms right on the beach, really attentive and kind staff, and just a great experience overall. :)

Pretty towel flowers.

There is a front door, but we primarily used the backdoor, which opens out to the rest of the resort and to the beach. This is the view going out the backdoor onto the patio.

We'd left CM 7am or so, and finally arrived at the resort at around 2pm. Travel time is real!

Rested up a bit, then went around to explore. Ko Lanta is one of the larger islands, but it still only has one main road running up and down the length of it. It's too big to reasonably walk from one end to the other, but you can take tuk tuk cabs or rent a scooter. Or just stick close to where you're staying.

If you rent a scooter, many of the little shops sell gas in these glass bottles for about $1/bottle, so it's easy to fill up.

We caught a tuk tuk to a restaurant I'd read about, Red Snapper. It's run by an expat, and they change up their menu a lot and like to experiment with food.