My Thailand Vacation: Ko Lanta

We took a quick one hour ferry from Ko Phi Phi to Ko Lanta, and someone from our resort picked us up from the main Saladan Pier. From there we were driven from the pier at the north end of the island to our resort at Bamboo Beach, about 45 minutes away, at the very southern tip of the island where there were only two other resorts. We were in heaven as soon as we stepped foot at the La Laanta Hideaway Resort, and didn’t leave much after that.

While Railay Beach was beautiful in a dramatic way with it’s towering limestone cliffs, and Ko Phi Phi was beautiful in a tropical paradise sort of way, Ko Lanta had a rugged feel that reminded me of Big Sur in California. The beach in front of our resort had the same white sand and crystal clear water as those other beaches we’d been, but something about it was different. 

The night we arrived, we had drinks in the open air beach bar, and just listened to the waves crashing on the shore as we sunk into the huge, cozy cushions of the beach bar chairs (they were really more like sofas). The sound of the waves was so loud and so peaceful.  We didn’t discover the beautiful, granite colored rocks until low tide early the next morning, when we could see why the waves were so loud as they crashed on these rocks piled up almost the entire length of the beach. 

At first I was a little disappointed that we weren’t directly in front of a swimming beach, but after laying on the lounge chairs under an umbrella for a mere 10 minutes, with the sound of the waves in front of me, I was so relaxed that I didn’t seem to care. When we got bored at the beach, we walked about 20 feet to the resort’s infinity pool, did a few lazy laps, and then watched the waves crash onto the beach some more. Then we'd stroll down the beach a bit until there was a break in the rocks for us to get in and swim.

The one time we decided to to venture out, we went on an elephant trekking adventure! We were picked up at the resort, taken about ten minutes to an elephant camp, walked up a little ramp and then asked to climb right onto the elephant’s back where there was a small, metal “bench” for two. From there, the elephant and the “driver” took us off into the jungle for an hour of laughing, clutching each other for fear we would fall off, and a constant stream of adrenaline despite the elephant’s slow and steady pace. I had no idea just how strong an elephant’s trunk could be until, halfway through our trek, the elephant starting pulling tree braches out of the ground by the roots and then tossing them every which way to the point we thought one of them might hit us. We were fine. Luckily! Lol. 

 

Once we were back on solid ground, we took some pictures with the happy, baby elephant!

A word of caution: You have to be careful if you’re going elephant trekking because a lot of these places in Thailand drug and harm the elephants in order to make more money. For example, there are some elephant camps where you can go see the elephants paint and dance and all that silly stuff, but elephants aren't made to do that sort of thing; it’s work for them and they are physically punished if they don’t comply. This is not a happy life as you might imagine, and you probably don’t want to support something like that with your money, so do some research and make sure you’re visiting a place where the elephants are treated well. 

While we loved this part of the trip, we found out we could’ve done the same thing in Chiang Mai for about a third of the price, so keep that in mind if you’re in Ko Lanta and are thinking about elephant trekking.

After that adventure, we took a short hike into the jungle to the one waterfall on the island. I wasn’t all that impressed, but the walk was really beautiful, along a river and through the lush landscape. 

The rest of our time in Ko Lanta was spent relaxing on the beach, in the pool, getting Thai massages in our room. Yep, in our room! Talk about the ultimate indulgence…we didn’t even have to go anywhere! We slept in, did yoga on the beach, napped, read on our ocean view deck, took lazy baths with the waves crashing outside, and quickly took advantage of swimming in the ocean during low tide when we could see enough to avoid the large, beautiful rocks in the otherwise white sand beach/ocean.

We are usually very active people who don’t always enjoy down time, but for some reason, we were perfectly content doing absolutely nothing in Ko Lanta. A lot of people suggested we rent mopeds and explore the island, but we really only explored our resort and the beach we were near. And you know what? It was wonderful. It was so relaxing and peaceful that I could fall asleep at any given time, which is strange because I am not a nap person. My head was so clear though and I really was able to embrace this crazy feeling of exteme relaxation in this very remote, desolate, beautiful part of the world. 

It’s usually so challenging for me to truly be “in the moment” but for this long weekend, a week into our trip, we did it, every day. We were just there, hearing the sounds of nature, watching beautiful sunsets, eating authentic Thai food, smelling the fresh saltwater lined right up to the dense jungle, feeling so relaxed it was unreal. Maybe that’s what enlightenment feels like – being so content in the moment that you aren’t striving or worrying or thinking, or doing anything really, other than just being. What a foreign concept that I wish won’t always be so foreign. 

While I was possibly gaining spiritual enlightenment (ha, maybe), my fiancé encountered some wildlife around the area. He went for a quick run on the beach one morning and saw some wild cows, which he somehow riled up to the point they stood on the beach staring at him, like (as he put it ) a Mexican standoff. He didn’t know how long they’d stand there, challenging him, so he made a run for it and (thank God) made it back safely. When he got back, I told him I’d heard some weird moo-ing like noises and he said it was because of him! Ha.

On another one of his runs, he saw some wild monkeys. He was running toward them and they all crossed the street to get away, with the big one waiting for the little ones to cross safely, like a parent might do for its children. So cute, right? Discovery Channel live ;)

So we loved Ko Lanta, and we loved our resort, and if we ever go back again we will stay there at the La Laanta Hideaway. It was such a special place nestled right into the natural habitat of the island; so relaxing, so simple, so peaceful.

Where we stayed: La Laanta Hideaway Resort


Next up on our trip: Chiang Mai