Koh Lanta has been high on my list for a long time. I read a lot about it & Sterry raved about the place - if anyone knows Koh Lanta it's Sterry so I was really excited to go. Imagine my surprise when Gemma told me she's been and didn't like it, so much so that she left after 1 night! But Gemma being the laid back chick that she is was happy to go back & give it another go - I'm pretty sure she's glad she did.
So we got a ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Lanta, easy, quick journey. I fell asleep over 3 chairs so it was easy for me anyway. We weren't sure where to stay & Sterry were on a secluded beach somewhere in Cambodia with no wifi so I used trusty Google which told me to go to Long Beach, so that's where we headed.
Once again we decided to rock up & look for a place to stay. Me & Gem left Russell outside a supermarket with a beer and our backpacks and went on the hunt. A very difficult hunt. Again everywhere was full or only had 1 room, it took us ages. Russell was obviously really bored after 10 minutes, it took us about an hour, maybe a bit more. We did find somewhere straight away but with a shared bathroom so we kept on going. Just as we were about to give up & accept a shared bathroom we found somewhere, nothing great but £9 a night with a private bathroom and a little seating area outside to enjoy Russell's special new cocktail invention - Ninja Turtles (vodka with kiwi & grape juice).
We collected Russell and went to our room and Russell noticed straight away - there is no sink in the bathroom! Me & Gem had not noticed that, it was weird brushing your teeth & spitting into the toilet. A bathroom without a sink? Is this real life?
Anyway, apart from that we were happy, the beach was a 3 minute walk away and there were plenty of bars and restaurants nearby, not to mention a Thai boxing stadium, an experience I was more than happy to re-live but Gemma didn't seem keen & Russell wasn't bothered about spending money on it again.
The rest of the day was spent on the beach where me & Russ fell asleep. We then went to watch the sunset in a bar called Funky Fish that served delicious food & even made nice veggie stuff for awkward arse Russell.
When me & Gemma were looking for a place to stay we came across a really cool bar that was also a hostel so on our 1st night decided to go back there for a few drinks. It was a really cool bar, they had swings for seats at the bar, a cute dog named Blue and the staff were pretty cool too. While we were in the bar we could hear loads of shouting so when the bar closed we walked & followed the noise to the Thai boxing stadium, I just walked us straight in. Nobody asked for any money, it was ace. We saw a couple of rounds of the last fight which was enough to stem my appetite (for now) and definitely enough for Gemma. After that everyone was going to a bar on the beach so we followed and had a great laugh sat round a table on the beach playing silly drinking games and getting bitten to death by mosquitoes.
We spent all 3 days in Koh Lanta on the beach by day, watching the BEST sunsets and then going to the cool bar. We pretty much ate at Funky Fish every day since they made Russell happy.
On our last day me & Gemma went to book our passage out of Koh Lanta at the bar we loved as they also did tours much cheaper than anywhere else. At this point we found out 2 interesting things - 1) They were having a bucket party that night where a bucket of alcohol mixed with whatever you want was only £2.80 and 2) The crazy topless guy who works there is a bamboo tattoo artist. Gemma had wanted a bamboo tattoo ever since her arrival & this guy was well cheaper than the other guy we spoke to, so it was settled, we'll be back after sunset for buckets & a tattoo of a lotus flower.
Russell had stayed in that day due to his painful leg and toe (we were both on a course of penicillin) so me & Gemma went to Funky Fish and had a really nice strawberry daiquiri,watched a school of flying fish going mental, we ordered food & then Russell showed up so he went and did his normal ordering - "vegetarian, no meat, no fish, maybe a bit of tofu" and we all enjoyed another fabulous Koh Lanta sunset. Not as much as these guys enjoyed it though :)
So sunset is over - tattoo time! To our surprise the crazy topless Thai guy had drawn a gorgeous lotus flower and was a great tattooist, once he started he really was 'in the zone'. I've kept the template as I want it on my foot.
Tattoo done, buckets drank until last orders, another beach party attended. Bye bye Koh Lanta - here we come Kuala Lumpur.
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