LittleSandyBeach

The bungalow we’re staying in at Lanta Dareen Garden Home on Koh Lanta may be £3.80 each a night and only has a fan but it’s amazing! As it’s above a small pond it stays very cool in the evenings and even comes with a free breakfast of fruit and eggs and toast every morning. It’s so good that we’ve extended our stay by six nights!

There’s also a restaurant on site run by Alex and Poo which has so many different choices for Thai food and is extremely good value (a curry is around £2).

Our first day we went for a long walk along Klong Noen Beach. It’s about 3km long and hardly anybody around which makes it very peaceful.

At the end of the beach there is lots of rocks that you can climb on and see a lot of crabs and small fish.

When we strolled into the small village we’re staying near we had our first of many encounters with the local thieves…. Monkeys! They had come right down near to our room as well but quickly moved on by the grounds keeper so everyone’s belongings don’t get taken!

In the evening we went down to a beach bar as they have a fire show every evening at 7.30pm. The guy was extremely good and what made it was his daughter copying next to him everything he was doing, very cute. At the end she had a chance to join in!

The next day we walked over 10km all the way to the Old Town on the east side of the island. It started off being a sea gypsy settlement and turned into the main trade port of the island. It is now mainly tourism that keeps the locals busy.

On the walk back we saw a local with quite a few passengers onboard, they looked like they were having a great time!

Yesterday we headed south down to Bamboo Beach which is located in Maiphai Bay near the national park. There was a lovely small cafe and bar to grab a drink or ice cream right by the beach and again it was very quiet.

Across much of the inland areas of Koh Lanta there are many rubber tree plantations run by families who live on the land. You can see the latex sap collecting in the black cups.

Yesterday evening there was an extremely heavy thunderstorm storm with very high winds as well. We managed to watch some of it from our balcony and didn’t get much sleep but great fun to see!

This morning we went on a tour around Lanta Animal Welfare Centre. It’s a charity that concentrates on taking in severely ill dogs and cats, making them better and then trying to find a home for them.

They also carry out castrations and neutering of all the dogs and cats that free roam on Koh Lanta to try and keep numbers under control and to stop the spread of diseases. Since 2005 the charity has carried out 70,000 sterilisations.

We got to walk around to see the onsite hospital, kennels and kitchens where they run cooking courses to raise money to keep the shelter running. Currently they have 66 dogs!

It was a great visit and interesting to see how a small place can have such a big impact on the island. It’s been so successful that they’ve been asked to start work all the way up in Bangkok. This is the link to their website to see all the furry friends –

Lanta Animal Welfare

This afternoon we popped into a local thrift store where Tasha picked up a new shirt for the grand price of 50 baht (£1.14). Now that’s a deal.

Koh Lanta has definitely surprised us and has been our favourite island so far. It’s very peaceful, not too touristy but still lots to see and do. Let the exploring continue!