Saturday
We were able to arrange for a late check out at our apartment, so we had time this morning to pack up and clean the apartment. We caught the 11am shuttle to the Tesco for lunch. It was raining (again), so the streets were flooded and we couldn’t walk. In fact, it was raining so hard and the shuttle van’s windows were so foggy that it was nearly impossible to see. We were relieved when we actually made it to the Tesco.
We picked out the highlights and favorites from the Tesco food court, including spicy fried rice, pad thai, and fried chicken. The kids each picked out a flavored soda and Keller and I shared an order of mango and sticky rice.
Back at the apartment, we waited for our host to come for check out. Rong was very helpful and called for a taxi to pick us up directly at the apartment. We said goodbye and headed to BKK airport.
Arrival, check in, and security went very smoothly and we were at the gate with plenty of time to spare. Meanwhile, the rain was coming down in buckets once again. The rain mostly finished by the time we boarded the plane, but the airport departures were backed up from the storm and we were about an hour delayed actually taking off.
The flight was quick and comfortable, on a large 777 plane operated by Thai Airways. Only a 90 minute flight, we had no complaints. If anything, the kids were disappointed that they were not able to finish their movie before we landed! 😉
We arranged for a private transfer to our apartment in Koh Lanta. It was actually cheaper to do it this way than a shared minivan ride, since anything x4 adds up quickly. The private transfer doesn’t care if you are one or seven people, or anywhere in between. Caden particularly liked the blue lights on the ceiling. The drive went very smoothly and we were able to catch the ferry to Koh Lanta just in time too. We pulled into the complex about 10:15 and checked in with our host.
This villa we rented through Agoda instead of AirBNB. It’s a new platform for the host though, so we had a few bumps to work out on check in. Regardless, we’re excited to be here. The kids have their own rooms, the beach is less than a 5 minute walk away, and we have our own private pool. The kids can’t WAIT to try out the water and were begging to jump in. I told them they could swim for a little bit, with the caveat that they HAD to stay quiet so we didn’t bother any neighbors.
Not that there are many neighbors here to bother. This complex has about 45 private villas, each with it’s own fenced space and pool. I think four or five villas are currently occupied. Hooray for shoulder season!
After swimming the kids dried off and we all headed to bed. We’re looking forward to seeing a totally different part of Thailand now!
Sunday
First thing in the morning, the kids wanted to swim. Why not?! So they put on their still-wet swimsuits from the night before and hopped into the water. I let them swim for about an hour before pulling them out for breakfast. We did some school and screen time before there was a follow up request for more pool time. I told them they could swim later today. 😉
Once Daddy was up, we went off exploring. Koh Lanta has one main road that runs on the west coast and is filled with little restaurants, shops, and accommodations. There’s a 7/11 around the corner, as well as an authentic Thai grocery store. All open air, no AC, with coolers with ice to keep the raw meat cold. It’s definitely different than the massive Tesco in Bangkok!
We grabbed lunch at a little Italian restaurant. We were ready for something new and were successful in the hunt! We shared three pasta dishes and they were all respectable. They were definitely more expensive than we’ve been doing at the food courts, so we’ll have to be more conscious about meal budgeting while we’re in Koh Lanta.
We stopped by a local dive shop to get information about diving options. Flip Flop Divers is very close to our villa and we had a great conversation with the owner Ady, and two of his staff, Andy and Jessie. Caden made friends with their cat, China too.
While the dive boats were all full for Monday, we decided to go diving on Wednesday. Ady said the kids could come as snorkelers too, so we wouldn’t have to find other childcare for them, they could be on the boat with us, and they’d have their own professional staying with them the entire time. That sure sounded like a good plan to us! We weren’t quite sure how we were going to handle the kids while diving — the fact that they are old enough to go snorkeling concurrently is a big benefit. Even if it is more expensive.
Mid-afternoon we walked down to the beach to let the kids play in the waves and the sand. The beach here is very sandy and not busy at all. The water is also very shallow for a long way, so they could comfortably walk out and not worry about big waves or current.
There are a zillion little sandy crabs scuttling all around on the beach, each with their own private hole dug in the sand. We also saw numerous hermit crabs, working their way down the beach.
The kids spent about an hour in the water and an hour in the sand before the sun set. It gets quite dark once the sun goes down though, so we scurried back to the apartment pretty quickly after sunset. Fortunately it’s not far!
Since lunch was a little light, we walked down to another Thai restaurant along the main road for dinner. Again, a little pricier than we are used to, but the food was pretty decent. We were very surprised to see BLUE sticky rice with our mangoes for dessert though. The blue flowers are added to the water that steams the rice, resulting in the blue color. It was a very pretty presentation.
We managed to book a snorkeling tour for Monday, just before heading to bed. Time to get some rest before a big day tomorrow!
Monday
Today we booked an excursion for a four island tour. There are so many islands in and around Koh Lanta, but this tour included a day trip to four different islands.
We were picked up by pickup taxi at 7:45 and then driven up to the Saladan pier. Here we got on our speed boat for today’s tour. We motored through the mangrove swamps and then out into open water, heading for our first stop — Koh Ngai.
This was a snorkeling stop where we jumped right into the water off the boat and into schools of fish. There were a ton of sergeant major fish. The water was pretty shallow and there was good visibility, so it was a great first ocean snorkeling experience for the kids. The guides gave the kids a piece of pineapple to feed the fish with too, so the fish quickly swarmed to the food. Caden thought that was pretty cool!
Next stop was Koh Mook, the site of the Emerald Cave. There is an inner lagoon and beach that can only be reached by entering a cave. The cave was pretty long and curved too, so you couldn’t see light from one end to the other. We all “swam” in a line, hanging onto the life jacket of the person in front of you, into the lagoon. I think it would have been a bit more enjoyable if we didn’t drag so many people through the water, but it was neat to be in the lagoon that had no other outside access.
Our third stop was Koh Kradan, where we had lunch on the beach and some down time. Lunch was quite tasty — chicken wings and a massaman curry with rice and fruit. We were pleasantly surprised.
The sand here was quite soft, though there were numerous little seeds from the trees along the coast that were very prickly on our bare feet. Ouch! Both kids snorkeled a bit more here, just right off the beach.
We took the boat around the side of the island and had another round of snorkeling. There were fewer fish here but a lot more corals, star fish, and sea urchins.
Our last stop was another beach, on Koh Cheuk. The water was very shallow here, so the kids were able to go a long way out from shore and still stand up. Not much in the way of fish either, but the kids liked hunting for shells and dead coral in the shallow water.
We picked up a few more people for the transfer back to Koh Lanta (and ended up with an overloaded boat) and then went back to Saladan pier.
Overall, I am glad the kids had a good experience snorkeling. There were a few issues with gear, but it was close enough. Food was tasty and we were back on time. I don’t think we’d do the same tour again, but it was a good introduction to the area and let the kids swim. They sure love the water!
Apparently they weren’t waterlogged enough though, because as soon as we got back to the apartment they wanted to swim in the pool. LOL! We all ate enough at lunch that we didn’t need to go back out for dinner that night.
Tuesday
Today’s a relaxing day. The kids swam in the pool before breakfast, got out to eat, did school, and then hopped back into the water. Keller slept in to get caught up on sleep a bit before we headed out to lunch.
This time we went to Tua, a little Thai place just down the road. We ordered the Big Two of our dishes — green curry and pad thai, as well as a pineapple fried rice.
The rest of the day was just hanging out at the villa and in the pool. I made chicken satay with ingredients from the local market. It was actually quite good for a seasoning packet. We’ll definitely be repeating this meal again.
Wednesday
Today is diving day! We arranged for the kids to go snorkeling while Keller and I are diving, so we all had a big day planned! This day was a long time coming, as we got our diving certification in February back at home in order to dive here. We hope it’s a great experience!
We were picked up by Ady, Andy, and Jessie at 7:15. Good morning! We picked up two other divers on the way up to Saladan pier where we got on the high speed catamaran dive boat. Ady was given the choice of dive locations, since his shop had 6 of the 12 divers on board, plus 2 snorkelers. They said if we hadn’t booked a trip today the boat wouldn’t have gone out at all. Hooray for us! 😉
Andy is our dive master today, for just the two of us. He explained what signals he would be using and what we should expect on the dive. I was very glad that we had done a refresher dive in Terrell before coming out — it made me a lot more comfortable in the water. Keller started the first dive on a large tank too, to give him more air. I am diving in a 3mm wet suit to keep me warm, but Keller is just diving in his swim trunks and swim shirt. He said it was perfect!
Dive 1 at Phi Phi Nai went really well! Keller had a few challenges with the weight belt and finding his buoyancy. We saw a ton of sea urchins, sea stars, trigger fish, parrot fish, and crowns of thorns. We also saw two moray eels, a few box shrimp, a porcupine fish, and a black and white banded sea snake!
Total dive time was right at 45 minutes about 15 meters deep. The water is a wonderful 33*C, so we were both very comfortable in the water.
The kids saw a lot of sea urchins and even some black tipped reef sharks! Jessie said they did great and were having a good time. The snorkelers go into the water after the divers and were back out before we were, so they probably swam for about 30 minutes.
Dive 2 was at Maya Corner near Phi Phi. This was right next to where “The Beach” was filmed and we were diving along the big rock wall. The water was markedly cooler though, about 22*C instead. I was warm enough though, so I had no complaints!
This time we started out with seeing a hawksbill sea turtle! It was eating coral along the sea floor and wasn’t bothered by our presence at all. I probably got within 10 yards of it. It was really special.
We were also surrounded by a massive school of yellow snapper! There were thousands of fish in the school and we got to watch them move over the reef. We also saw a large grouper and several titan trigger fish. Dive time was pretty identical to the first — 16 meters deep and 45 minutes long.
The kids said they saw the sea turtle come up for air and saw another couple black reef sharks too! They also saw the large school of snapper from above.
After the second dive, we ate lunch on the boat. The sun was pretty intense too, so we were glad to sit in the shade and rehydrate and refuel. They’re having a great time with Jessie and she’s officially become an honorary aunt. 😉 We had to decide if we wanted to dive the third site, at a marginal additional cost. We opted to dive it, since there was a decent chance this would be our only dive day of the trip. We were already out there, already had all the gear, and had the kids wrangled. So we were in!
Dive 3 was AMAZING! Oh wow, it was the best by far and such a special dive. It literally felt like we were swimming in an aquarium. The corals and anemones were abundant, with false clown fish and damsels darting in and out of them. We saw a dozen magnificent lion fish and a giant puffer fish that swam right in front of us and hung there for a minute or two. We were surrounded by a massive school of barracuda that swam in a circle around us! We even saw three leopard sharks, hanging out on the sandy bottom. They were Keller’s favorite!
We literally saw thousands of fish … probably ten thousand! It was amazing and awe-inspiring and addicting. Crap, we’ve set the bar really high now. 😉 If we were on the fence about enjoying diving before, this put us firmly in the LOVE IT category.
Stats were pretty much identical again — 45 minutes long and 16 meters deep. Keller figured out his weights and was 1000 time more comfortable on the third dive. I think we made it over the hump!
The kids enjoyed their snorkeling time too and thought it was neat they were swimming right above us at one point. Kamy said they liked playing in our bubbles!
We wrapped up the dive and sped back to Saladan. A storm was brewing over Koh Lanta just as we got back. The storm broke on the drive too, so we were sitting in the back of the pickup in the driving rain. It wasn’t much fun and felt really cold too. We were glad to get dropped off at our Villa.
Where did we head as soon as we got back? The pool of course! LOL. We were all chilled from the rain, so the pool felt quite warm and comfortable. Plus we washed off some of the salt from diving.
The verdict from today? It was awesome! The diving was a blast and the kids really enjoyed snorkeling and spending time with Jessie. In fact, we liked it to much, we decided to extend our stay here in Koh Lanta!
There is another dive site off Koh Ha that has been closed to diving for the off season. Well, it opens next Tuesday, October 15th. Koh Ha is Ady and Andy’s favorite place to dive, so it has to be great. We managed to extend our stay in the Villa here and get a loose plan in place for where we’re heading next. We’re very excited to dive again and spend more time under the sea. =)
Caden’s ear is starting to bother him, so we’re concerned that he has a brewing ear infection. I was able to get some antibiotic ear drops from the local pharmacy and confirmed with our pediatrician the dosage. Caden is going to have to keep his ear out of the water for the next few days, but hopefully we’ll get this knocked out soon.
Thursday
Today we decided to catch a tuk tuk up to the Saladan area and check out some of the little shops in the area. Keller also needed some new flip flops because his other pair broke. He found a pair that was big enough, Caden picked out a set of elephant and tuk tuk figurines, and Kamy chose a purple dress. We stumbled across a little art studio too, with beautiful elephant paintings, but the scale was really too large for us. We grabbed his business card though, in case we don’t find someone else we like on this trip … perhaps he can create something on commission for us instead.
For lunch we went to the Fat Monkey restaurant. We were ready for a little break from Thai food, so we were looking forward to burgers. We ordered two and they were both really really good. And the potato wedges were incredibly tasty. Toffee date pudding was quite tasty too. Everyone enjoyed lunch!
We’d made contact with two other Worldschooler families currently on Koh Lanta, so we were hoping that we could meet up with them. They’re both staying on this end of the island, so I messaged them and hoped they’d be able to meet us on the beach. One mother was able to come out, Charlotte. She has her hands full — single mother with 3 boys, ages 6 and a set of 3 year old twins. Kamy and Caden jumped right into playing with them and did a great job tempering their energy and physicality to their size.
We walked part of the way down the beach and then grabbed a tuktuk for the rest of the distance. The sunset was quite lovely too — the clouds bring so much color to the sky!
The photo below is my favorite photo of our entire trip … no filter, no color correction. Just two kids sitting in silhouette in the waves with a stunning sunset. Paradise!
Friday
Another quiet morning — breakfast, school, and swimming in the pool. I’m amazed the kids aren’t totally water logged by now.
Lunch was at a local diver’s hangout called Yawee. There is a significant Muslim population here on Koh Lanta, and this restaurant serves halal food and no pork. The food here is delicious! This is our favorite restaurant in Thailand so far! The prices are very reasonable and we were able to order three appetizers, three entrees, three frozen drinks, and two desserts for less than 700 baht!
New favorite dishes were the massaman curry chicken and the papaya salad. The salad was particularly tasty and SPICY! Definitely the spiciest thing I’ve eaten in Thailand and left our lips tingling for quite a while. My eyes were watering too, though if you kept eating it you could stave off the worst of the heat for a bit. Like eating salsa, if you keep eating then you’ll be fine. LOL.
After lunch we were able to visit with the other Worldschooling family that was passing by our beach. We couldn’t talk for long, but the kids quickly ran out into the ocean (fully clothed) and made fast friends.
We couldn’t stay long because I was signed up for a cooking class this evening! Sukho Cooking School offers a range of classes throughout the week with specified menus. For the afternoon class, we had five hours to learn about Thai cuisine, ingredients, and food culture, plus we prepared five different things — golden fried pockets, coconut chicken soup, red curry paste, red curry chicken, and sweet and sour chicken.
I definitely feel like I have a better understanding of Thai cuisine, though the specific recipes I did not like any better than the ones I prepared in Bangkok. Akkapak did a great job answering questions and engaging the three of us throughout the entire class.
Meanwhile, Keller and the kids watched Finding Nemo at the Villa and then picked up dinner at Tua while I was in class. We’ve had a lovely first week in Koh Lanta!
