Can't get more organised than this!!

Thailand - Last Stop Hat Yai

We left Lanta about 8am and headed for Hat Yai a big border city in southern Thailand. Unfortunately Peter had caught the stomach bug that I had had 2 days previous so was feeling very unwell. It took about 6 hours to get there via mini van, by which time Pete was not looking great. Luckily the mini van dropped us just across the street from the hotel we were going to stay at.
Pete and Deb stayed in the hotel for the rest of the day and me and Billy took a wander around the streets. Hat Yai is very different to other Thai cities I have been to. It seems more geared to Malay tourists rather than Western tourists. Even though market stalls selling souvenirs line the streets we didn't get hassled once. Unlike being in Bangkok. It is also very Chinese in Hat Yai with many Chinese restaurants, temples and Chinese Malay people.

The above picture is one of the streets near the hotel.

The Beeston Massive (our pub quiz name :-) )

Tony, Deb, Pete, Me and Billy on our last night at the Sanctuary together. Tony is staying until the end of the season where he will go back home, save some money and go back for the new season.

It was sad to leave Tony. We all had a really good time together.

Last Gathering

Left to right, Karen, Rain, Debbie, Pete, someone, Tony, Maarten, Billy. Sat on a mat near the cocktail bar listening to the band. We are sat on grass though it does look like sand as it is so dry.

Poor Pete. The decks were no good :-(

Goodbye Lanta :-(

Our last night on Koh Lanta and at the Sanctuary was really fantastic. Karen and Hassan hired a band from Chiang Mai which apparently were supposed to be a Salsa band but when they arrived they didn't seem to know what Salsa was lol. It didn't matter though as they were really good, they played stuff like Bob Marley and Jack Johnson and also some other songs which did have a Latino feel to them. Unfortunately I had been ill for a couple of days and even though I didn't feel too bad at this point I thought it wise not to drink plus we had to get up early in the morning as the bus was picking us up at 7:30. Even so we still didn't go to bed till late but it was worth it. They also had some decks so Pete could DJ, however there was a problem with the sound from the decks so all he could do was use an MP3 player to supply the music when the band took breaks and when they finished. The people who had supplied the decks turned up at 1am to see what the problem was and insisted to Pete that they were fine until he proved to them a few times what the problem was. Eventually they fixed the problem though this was after me and Billy had gone to bed, and Pete DJ'd until 2:30 am before going to bed themselves.

The picture above is of the band which were next to the restaurant. Hassan is playing the Bongo's in the bottom right and the guy on the far left with no top on is the chef from Thai Cuisine who I decided to name the Gyrating Chef as he was rivalling Shakira with his hip moves. It was very entertaining he was dancing everywhere, grabbing Thai girls up to dance with him, which I felt very sorry for them lol :-) and he then decided to get up with the band and dance with them. He was very drunk and even though he had some moves I kinda found it a little unnatural and a bit disturbing especially when he was facing us thrusting his gut in our direction. Nice!

The food is good at the Sanctuary honest!!

Pete is looking a bit dumb struck at the meal he just got lol :-)

Tea time at the Sanctuary

Massaman Curry a Sanctuary. One of their specialities. Yummy :-)

So good Billy had to take a picture lol.

Sanctuary Kids

Jessy, Izzie, Mona, Lolita and Mona again. Except for Mona these are Karen's and Hassan's children. Jessy is a sweet boy who often sits down and talks with us at the table and is very courteous. Izzie is quite mischeivious and is always lauging and Lolita is very cute and has a gorgeous little voice and is often found running round the restaurant with Mona. It is amazing how even at her age of 2 1/2 she can converse in Thai and English very easily and often switches between the two if talking with Karen and Mona. This is the same for Izzie and Jessy too. It is very impressive.

Sanctuary People

These are the guys who worked in the restaurant in the Sanctuary, who were all really good fun. From left to right is Yai, Ohn and Tony all standing behind the counter. Not quite sure what Ohn is so excited about though lol :-)

Ban Saladan - Koh Lanta

This is the main town in Koh Lanta, the photo's are taken at each end of the main street. Here you can buy just about anything you need whilst staying in Lanta at tourist prices of course :-). Including spectacles in the 5 opticians on the main street?? We presume it must be very cheap to get your eyes tested and buy glasses here than at home so it is a big business. It is just strange to see 5 big optician shops in such a small town lol :-)

Lanta Life and update

I haven't done any daily posts whilst in Lanta as the days are pretty much the same and the blog would end up being a very boring diary.

Life is very easy in Lanta. I generally wake up about 6:30 - 7:00 get up about 7:30 when it is not so hot and either go for a run up the beach and back or do some general exercise. I get back have a shower, Billy usually wakes up then and then we either head to the Sanctuary for breakfast or go to Faim De Loup which is a French run bakery and does the best breakfast with freshly baked bread. yummy :-)

After breakfast we sit and talk with Deb, Pete, Tony and whoever else is there. I will then get in some hammock time and read a book. (I had to finish Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in record time) whilst Billy usually sits in the restaurant and plays his daily scrabble match with Pete, Dom and Joe.

That's about how the days go. I will use the Internet at about 4pm, then about 6:30 have showers, get mozzie repellented up before going to the Sanctuary to discuss where we would be having our evening meal. The choice usually being the Sanctuary, Papaya, Groove Garden or Thai Cuisine. All of which has great food and more often than not we just stayed at the Sanctuary and if not we would end up back there anyway on someones porch. The hardcore among us (not me) would then sometimes head up to Earth Bar till the early hours. I was usually too tired by 10 to do anything as getting up early and exercising then spending the day in 36 degree heat wiped me out. i didn't mind though, having a hangover in this heat sucks. :-)

That's' generally Lanta life. Everyone goes in and out of the Sanctuary all day, talk, have a beer, relax. It's very easy to see why a lot of people spend the whole season there or most of it.

Even though it was sad to leave Lanta we did feel it was time to go, it is very easy to get sucked in to living a Thai life and get caught up with the drama that goes on like it's a replacement for Eastenders. I will miss the place dearly but there are many more to discover.

I do have some pics to put on from the last night at lanta which i will do as soon as i can. We are currently in Hat Yai a southern city near the Thai/Malay border where we are going to stay for a couple of days before heading to Malaysia and the Perhentian Islands and more diving :-)

Thai Massage

As we were in Thailand it was only courtesy to partake in the activity of Thai Massage, especially as it is so cheap, 4 pounds for a Thai Massage and 6 for an oil massage which last an hour sometimes a little longer. The first one we had was in Bangkok in the 2nd hotel we were staying in. The girls had a little shop on the ground floor which looked reasonably priced for where we were. We booked in at 5pm for an oil massage after we had spent the day by the pool. We went in to the little shop where we were taken through a curtained door way out to the back of the shop where it was very dimly lit with red light! It was starting to look a little seedy but we were in the hotel so thought it was just for effect. There was a room with about half a dozen massage mats on the floor and curtains separating each mat however we had the curtains around two mats as we were together. The girls told us to strip to our pants which we did and lay down on our fronts. I thought this is OK as when i turn over she will just put a towel over me. After about half an hour of a lovely massage I was asked to roll over, and no towel was provided :-(. OK i thought she has seen it all before and we're both female no problem until she started to massage my chest!!! Omg, i wasn't expecting that, she must have seen the look on my face (i kept my eyes clothes) as she stopped quite quickly. Phew! I told Billy about it after and he had had a weird experience too when he was lying on his front. He thought the girl must have been quite strong as she was putting quite a lot of pressure on his back, he looked round to find she was actually walking up and down on him! A very strange experience, though it was a very good massage.

The 2nd massage i had, was with a lady that works at the Sanctuary. I remember her from when we were there 4 years ago and she me though i can not remember her name. As she knew mine i felt to rude to ask hers again lol. She does massage on the beach. She has a little bamboo structure with a massage mat on. I decided to go for a Thai massage as I am in Thailand after all and it would be rude not too. I think now though i will stick to oil massage as boy the massage was good and relaxing but i kinda felt like i had been beaten up at the same time. I was sore for a couple of days and not in a good way.

Last day on Lanta an i thought i ought to go for another massage. This time an oil one and with a different lady (because the other was not working). It was so nice. again on the beach but the girl had really good massage hands and was very gentle. I could have stayed all day. It was fab. I'm definitely converted to oil rather than Thai/pain massage. Billy also had one with the same girl after me and said the same.

I'm not sure if Malaysia do massage like they do in Thailand. In Thailand it is very common and you can practically get a massage anywhere. But I don't recall seeing massage parlors in Malaysia or if i did they were probably really expensive so didn't bother with it. Oh well i have had more massages in the last 3 weeks than i have in 4 years so i reckon i will survive :-)

Me and Deb having a swim

Pete, Martin and Billy in the sea at Koh Rok

Koh Rok

As Martin is only here for 10 days we thought it would be good to have a day out and show him some more of Thailand. None of us had been to Koh Rok before so thought it would be a great trip for all.
At about 8:15 we headed down the beach to get on the speed boat which was waiting for us. (we wanted some breaky first). It took about an hour to pick everyone else up at other resorts and then another hour to get to Koh Rok. First of all we did some snorkeling just off the island which wasn't bad, though a little frustrating for us divers and being on the surface means you cant go and look under rocks and search for Nudibranc but it was nice all the same. Then we went ashore and had a little time to explore the island before lunch. It was a beautiful island. Powdery white sand which was like talc in your toes and the clearest turquoise water. Even when you couldn't touch the bottom of the sea anymore you could still see the sand below. It was really amazing. For lunch they did a buffet Thai style, stir fried vegetables, stir fried chicken and vegetables, rice and deep fried chicken with fruit for afters. It was really good food. After we ate me and Deb sunbathed on the beach whilst the lads went wondering in the forest and then we all played in the crystal clear water until it was time to get back on the boat to go to another snorkeling destination and then head home. It was a very hot day and needless to say most of us got a bit of sun burn. I wasn't too bad, just a couple of patches, Billy burnt his chest and shoulders and Martin burnt practically all over and was red raw, its now been about 3 days and he still has blisters. Ouch!!

Dancing queens

Debbie and Karen boogieing the night away as Martin returns from the bar.

From left to right around the table. Me, Eina, Karen, Debbie, some guy, Martin, Tony, Mr Singha, Dutch Martin, Dom. The guy in the far back ground is the owner of Mango House

The wedding Reception

On the Sunday Pete was djing at Mango House for the festival ( he did Saturday also) so all from the Sanctuary went down for the evening. We had a great night. We were all sat on a table outside (or dancing) and really showed the town how to have a good festival.

The wedding evening

After the wedding we got back in the long tail and went to Lanta Old Town. Pete and Debbie were staying in the honeymoon suite at a place called Mango House in the Old Town. By coincidence it was also the start of the Laanta Lanta festival, we met everyone else from the Sanctuary there and headed to the market area for some “street” food (satay, corn on the cob etc) which I love as you can tell in the picture, I don’t know where to start lol :-). After we went back to Mango house for some celebratory drinks and then went to watch “Job To Do” (local reggae band) play on the main stage before heading home.

The town was beautifully decorated, the buildings are over 100 years old and made out of dark wood. They put lanterns throughout the street, which made it look very Chinesey. There was about 2 streets with market stalls of people selling souvenirs or jewelry. Also local businesses advertising their goods or services. There was a grassy area where the main stage was which had all the big resorts on and they had set up mini bars and restaurants, it was more like being in Spain. It was really nice.