Party Like it's 1999

Up about 8:00, went for a swim in the ocean. Refreshing.

Had breakfast at the bungalows and rented a motorbike for the day. Went to town to look around, it's soo busy. So many tourists in town, shopping, eating, having a shake or latte.

Stopped at a tour company and asked how much transport to Khao Lak was. 650 baht. Tried another tour agent. 700 baht. Went back to the first one to buy, but he wasn't around, so went to another one. 600 baht. Bought it from her. Pick up at my bungalow will be tomorrow at 7:30am. Mulled around downtown for quite a while and had an iced coffee at a cafe.

After a bit, headed south on the island and went to the Viewpoint Restaurant that has great views to the east of the island and the islands beyond. Court and I were here 5 years ago, and the only different now is the restaurant is crawling with tourists. Tons of them, unbelievable.

Headed further south to the waterfall. The paved road turned into a dirt road as you head south, very dusty, rutted and potholed. Took my time, I didn't want to crash!

Got to the waterfall parking lot and it was about a 45 minute jungle hike along and in the stream to the waterfall. Dry season right now, so not much of a waterfall, more of just a trickle coming down, but you can stand under it for a minute or two and get refreshed. The jungle trek is super nice, lush green jungle. Hiked up past the waterfall to see what I could see, nothing of interest, so hiked back to the motorbike. It's strange, we hiked to the waterfall 5 years ago, but I remember virtually nothing of it. Nothing seemed familiar to me.

Drove further south to check out the beaches. Koh Lanta has so many beaches. Went for a dip in Khlong Jak Bay, the beach and water was super nice there.

Headed back to the bungalow and got back about 4:30 and showered.

It seems there's way more tourists off the beaches than on the beaches here in Koh Lanta. How strange.

Motorbiked back into town to use internet for a while, then back to the bungalow after dark.

Walked to the same restaurant I went to last night and had their 150 baht fish BBQ again.

Walked down the beach and had a drink at a pub donig a fire show. At this bar, they have a distance sign post showing the distances to various cities around the world. While I was there, the bartender asked me where I was from, I told him Canada, he grabbed a distance sign from behind the bar that said Halifax, Canada, 14xxx kilometres (can't remember exact number). Another guy at the bar remarked that he didn't know there was a Halifax in Canada, now he knows of three Halifaxes in the world. A Brit bartender working there said he knows of four, Britain, Canada, the US and New Zealand all have places named Halifax.

Lightning all over the horizon tonight. Nothing over Koh Lanta though, but made for great watching over the ocean, sitting in a beach bar.

Moved up the beach some more and stopped at a pub with lots of women sitting around in pairs, having a drink and chatting. I decided to get a drink and sit by myself and wait for any of the girls in the pub to chat me up. I chose a strategic spot in the bow of a boat. It didn't take long for my devious plan to work! After 5 minutes, a girl from the stern of the boat came over and asked, in a British accent, if I was by myself, I said yes. She then asked me if I'd like to come and sit in with her and her friend. I accepted. They were both travelling alone, but had met on a snorkelling trip or something. Another guy joined for a bit, then he left, then two other chicks that the girls knew came along and sat with us. They had also met the guy and the other girls on the snorkelling trip. Anyway, the night turned into some mayhem, with lots of alcohol, card playing, dancing and more alcohol. We closed the place down at 3:15am. Yikes! I have to get up in a few hours for my van to Khao Lak.

My impressions of Koh Lanta 5 years later. It's still cool in my books. It's very busy, but the island is very large and spread out, so it's not crowded. The beach I was on was a backpacker beach, so had a cool vibe to it. Long Beach, is no longer the laid back, backpacker beach it was, it's definately more upscale now.

I think I got kinda screwed with my accomodation. The girls I partied with were at places right on the beach and paying the same as I was. Bugger! There's something to be said for not booking in advance, but just dealing with it when you get there. If I was staying longer, I would've moved to where the girls were staying probably.