Sea fishing

Yesterday I was invited to go fishing by Pae, one of the workers from Fevrier Resort. His english isn't great, but I understand this is his first boat since the tsunami took his last one. We left at about 7:30pm once it was dark, down to the beach across the road where his boat lives during the day. Him and Peter (who despite the name is 100% Thai) attached the small 2-stroke engine to the back of the boat and pushed it to the waters edge. We were probably a good 1/2 mile out to sea, which felt a lot when sat in a boat barely big enough for the three of us and in the dark. It must have been begineers luck because I caught the first fish, and later on managed to catch a barracuda! I couldn't believe how strong the barracuda was pulling, I thought it was a shark or something, although he was still a fairly decent size. I'm not sure on the english names of the fish but we also caught 'tamat', 'sicaou' and 'khao'. At one point, Pae thought he had caught a fish and started pulling in his line, only to find it was a big blue crab, which he put straight in the boat in front of me. Obviously the crab was going crazy and starting running around the tiny boat with its claws up. I jumped back in shock and nearly toppled the boat, bringing in loads of water on board. Luckily Pae and Peter found it hilarious, and were pleased to have caught a blue crab as they are expensive in Thailand.

Not long left in Ko Lanta now, so tomorrow we are off on a trip around the '4 islands' of Ko Lanta to do a bit of sight seeing and snorkelling. I don't have my waterproof digital camera because I broke it in Vietnam, but hopefully I'll get a few good pics above water with my SLR.

Last Beach, Ko Lanta

It's been a while since we'd spent the day on the beach, partly because Izzy got a bit ill and partly because it's so hot! Yesterday was no exception, with the temperature reaching 38°C at about 2pm. DJ & Anna (a nice German couple we met at our resort) recommended we try out a beach further south, known as 'Last Beach' because they have hammocks on the sand that are tucked under some trees in the shade. I'm nearly on first name terms with the woman at the bike rental place now, as we hired a bike again and made our way along the terrible roads in the south of the island to find the last beach. DJ and Anna were already there lying in the hammocks with some drinks they'd bought from the reggae bar nearby. You can't beat a paradise beach, with clear blue skies and Bob Marley playing in the background coming from the bar. In typical reggae bar fashion the staff all sit around smoking spliffs listening to music. If you ask them for a drink you have to talk very slowly and say each drink one by one as they write it down otherwise they'll just guess and bring you something completely different.

We agreed to meet up with DJ and Anna again later for dinner because it was going to be their last night in Ko Lanta. DJ wanted to go back to Richey's Restaurant as they have amazing BBQs. We tried to go there ourselves once before but it was so busy that they had no spare tables. A Swedish couple from our resort were kind enough to go down there early and reserve us all table. I had 4 massive ribs, a corn on the cob, a jacket potato and a large Chang. Izzy, not having quite as big an appetite as me went for ribs and a corn but decided to leave out the jacket potato. The guy who owns the bar/restaurant, Richey, is actually Thai and so of course the food was amazing, cooked on a BBQ right in front of us on the sand. They also have all sorts of fish like barracuda and red snapper, and by the end of the night every last rib and fish had been eaten. Standard end to the evening... onto Blue Moon Bar to see Geng and his Eagle.

Blue Moon & Crazy Food in Ko Lanta

Nothing new to report really, we're still in Ko Lanta and have no plans to move on yet (until Singapore). We were initially thinking of going to Ko Phangan, but how different can another Thai Island be to the next? We are enjoying Ko Lanta so much, mainly because of Lek and Malay's amazing hospitality and you don't meet people like them every day, and surely Ko Phangan will have a beach just like the one we have here. If we do go there it will cost us time and money and not make it any easier to get to Singapore. So I'm pretty certain in saying Ko Lanta it is until we go to leave in about a weeks time.

There is a bar just down the road from us here that we go to most nights, especially before Jean & Valerie left Thailand because they really liked it too. 'Gangster' (I think his name is Geng), the guy that owns Blue Moon Bar has lived in Ko Lanta his whole life and gives the place a really chilled out atmosphere. A few nights back he showed us a photo album of his from twenty years ago when he and his friends used to row their boats to the surrounding islands and camp out on the completely deserted beaches dressed as aboriginals and make spears out of sticks. Before doing some travelling of his own he had the only bar on Klong Nin beach called Blue Moon, which he reopened when he got back. Now the beach is pretty packed out with bars along the whole stretch. When it gets a bit later in the evening he comes and sits with us and other customers and lights a fat one. If you want a drink you have to go behind the bar and make it yourself, that's how laid back this place is!

Happy Chinese New Year

In most Asian countries, they celebrate Chinese New Year and Ko Lanta has been no exception. CNY runs for three days, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of February. Lek and Malay started off by making a shrine to their parents. Lek's parents passed away some time ago, and out of respect, buddhists make offerings of food and drink and pray to their relatives. In the early afternoon Malay took us and a few other guests to a local fish market to buy some food for our BBQ that evening. It was pretty fun jumping in the back of his Toyota Hi-Lux, which is obviously totally illegal in England, but in Thailand is a common sight. Lek and Malay have been really generous buying plenty of fish to feed all 20 or so guests and spending a few hours preparing and cooking for us. My favourite was definitely the Barracuda!