After about 16 hours in various minivans and an overnight bus, we landed in the madness that is Bangkok.

(FYI, the difference between buses and trains is stark. Trains are definitely the way to go. Our overnight sleeper from Malaysia to Thailand was pretty sweet – waking up to the sight of vast fields and slightly swampy land was really quite something. Though if you can, book a lower berth rather than an upper berth; they’re slightly roomier and more convenient.)

We’d been told our bus terminated on Khao San Rd, the backpacking mecca. Easy, I thought. All we had to do was walk to the end of the street, where our hostel/guesthouse was. Ha!

Instead, they rushed us off the bus on a wide, busy road, where taxis were waiting like vultures. It was a bit of a rude awakening.

First the aisle lights blared on, which I took as a warning sign, and roused myself (plenty of the others went back to sleep). Then the bus came to a halt.

“Last stop! Bangkok! Last stop! Bangkok!”

Cue a a flurry of passengers hastening to pull on socks, rub the sleep out of their eyes, and generally get their shit together while the driver yelled at us to hurry up from outside.

FWIW, after getting acquainted with the area, I’m pretty sure the bus actually stopped more or less around the corner from Khao San Rd, and the taxis made a killing driving us disoriented passengers around the block.

100 baht later, we made it to the hostel, ditched our main backpacks, and took refuge in McDonald’s. That didn’t last long. It was hotter in there than it was out on the street, the power point didn’t work, and the internet was slow and only good for an hour’s worth. Luckily, Rainbow is super comfortable downstairs, with a ton of chairs, tables, power points and fast wifi. (There’s also a 24/7 tourist centre right next to it.) Around 9 or 10 they allowed us to check in, and you can bet my first order was to take a warm shower and try to make myself feel human again. A full day of travel, (very little) sleep in your clothes, and a case of sunburn will do that to ya.

I was curious to see what the streets would be like by night. Around the corner on Khao San Rd, pubs and bars were spilling out onto the road, bulging with tourists swigging from massive beer jugs. My favourite sign was definitely this one:

That said, there were plenty of others that made us laugh out loud:

Approximately a dozen different stalls were selling identical pad thai offerings, with a few kebab and fruit/juice stalls sprinkled throughout. Tickling the other senses: the sweet smell of shisha and an awesome duo on guitar and drums at a street bar about halfway down the street covering Nirvana, the Chilis, Maroon 5, Bon Jovi, and even a spot of Van Morrison, I think.

Back across the road from our room, Indian karaoke was blasting, and did so every night while we were there. Outside, this dog guarded our hostel – he was well trained to bark at and chase away beggars/touts.

The real Bangkok? Probably not. We’ll be back next month to fly out to London, and hopefully we’ll stay in another area when we return. We ended up extending this stop by two days – reason to be revealed in my next post – but they weren’t hugely productive.

If you ever find yourself on Koh Lanta, you’ll see and hear plenty about a ‘four islands’ tour. You should probably book yourself a spot on one. Trust me.

We set out on a sunny Saturday, packed onto a longtail boat with a quiet French couple and two families – one with three young boys, one with two. While we didn’t quite follow the order set out in the brochure, here’s what I think happened:

• A spot of snorkelling at Koh Ma
• A swim at Koh Mook
• More snorkelling at Koh Chuak
• Lunch and a dip at Koh Ngai

Except for Koh Ngai, which is a large, resorty, sandy type spot, these little islands consist of towering rock formations sprinkled with lashings of tropical greenery. After checking out the marine life – blue fish, striped fish, earthy fish, luminous, almost glowing fish – I was content to just lie back and float, staring up at the formidable rock faces.

The absolute highlight? Island number two.

As we approached, we noticed that the other boats moored there were devoid of people, which was sort of creepy. What next?

Our guides spoke a little English, but on the whole, our communication was halting. We did manage to gather that we should don lifejackets and flippers, and that we’d be swimming through a little cave in the rocks. Awesome. Two of my worst fears combined: small dark spaces and deep water. It took me a few moments of sitting on the edge of the boat breathing deeply to take the plunge.

There really are no words to describe paddling through the ‘emerald cave‘. As soon as you enter, you’ll notice it. The water glistens green, almost glowing, in an other-worldly manner. Make your way through, marvelling at the sights, to a thunderous soundtrack of crashing waves and gasps from your fellow swimmers. Swim backwards for a little bit for a different perspective, then flip over before it narrows to just two or three abreast and turns pitch black. Try to follow the pinpoint of light from your guide’s torch. Do this without bumping into the long line of Asian tourists to the left, who seem to be making a collective noise that could either signal excitement or an attempt to spook us all with ghostly cries – all moored to a single rope, making their way out of the blackness as you plunge further in.

Eventually the pitch dark eases, and the cave opens out onto a tiny, pristine beach. It’s a picture-perfect scene that could have come straight out of The Beach. It’s fully enclosed with rocky cliffs encircling the majority of the inlet, reaching up almost as far as the eye can see, and inland, forest lurking beyond the shore. According to a sign on the beach, pirates used to hide treasures in the cave. Today, the area is part of a national park, being preserved for future generations.

My one piece of advice would be to bring a waterproof camera, or a camera in a waterproof bag – because you’ll want to take pictures, and lots of them. Or if you have a GoPro, this would be a prime time to make use of it. Not that I think anything could truly capture the essence of this untouched spot – but no harm trying.

What’s one thing you’ve done lately that’s scared you?

Some cheery apartments in Phra Ae Beach

When it started to drizzle one afternoon in Lanta, we welcomed the rain. It cooled the air a little, and made walking outside more bearable, since we’d just returned our tuktuk to the rental place.

Then it got serious. The sky turned ashen, it began pelting down in earnest, and we took shelter where we could find it. The roads ran orange with clay dirt. Thunder and lightning joined the party. And by the time we made it back home, it was almost dark. There we were stumbling our way through to our hut, only to find the power completely out when we got there.

Rainstorm + electricity outage = our first slightly unnerving experience.

Luckily, the power came on maybe an hour later (partway through the movie we started watching on the laptop). Cue an almost-warm shower and a much more comfortable sleep.

The view from inside our tuktuk. We ran out of gas at one point (the gauge, unsurprisingly, wasn’t working) but fortunately, we puttered to a stop right outside a petrol station. Here, you pay the attendants at the pump!

Out and about at Palm Beach resort – the second place we stayed (a bit of a downgrade from the Nakara Longbeach resort, but still nice).

Over on the east side of the island is Old Lanta town. Check out the low lying fog.

Next stop, Bangkok. Trying to organise this myself online was thoroughly flustering, but Lanta is packed with travel agents who make the whole process pretty painless. And while this might not be the case elsewhere in Thailand, they don’t seem to be out to gouge you – the prices were on par with what I’d seen on the web.

How did we end up at a luxury beachfront resort on Koh Lanta?

Well, we winged it basically all the way from Malaysia. We booked our sleeper train tickets on the same day, and arrived the next morning in Hat Yai, but T wasn’t feeling up to any more journeying that day.

So instead of hopping on a van to Krabi, as originally planned, we spent the night at the first guesthouse we found. The next day we made the 4-hour trip to Krabi, followed by another 2 hours to Lanta … and found ourselves a little lost. Initially, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to make it to Lanta on the same day, and thought we might have to stay overnight in Krabi. But since my international data sim card wasn’t working, once we DID know we’d be reaching the island that afternoon, there was no easy way to book a place.

The ride to Lanta was a confusing one, but a fun one, as we were seated next to a gregarious American, which helped pass the time. It ended rather abruptly, though. The driver (who spoke very little English and seemed to be laughing at us half the time, which amused us and our new bud Catalina to no end) basically booted us out at one point. This turned out to be in the middle of Phra Ae (Long Beach), which was actually a pretty good part of Lanta to be in.

May marks the start of the quietest season of the year, so finding a place wasn’t difficult. The first one we encountered – the Nakara Longbeach resort – was a little pricey, but T’s eyes lit up as we walked in. At a mere 1200 baht (about $50), much lower than the printed rate of 1900, I didn’t have the heart to say no. So for one night, we basked in luxury. When we awoke we realized we were amoungst sufers and paddle boarders, it must of been a festival or event because even my best paddle board for beginners was a little player in comparision to what these people ride.

The resort was absolutely deserted, and aside from one other couple that we briefly saw, we had the entire place to ourselves. Our little villa was just steps away from the two enormous pools, and a minute away from the beach. You could step straight off the deck onto the beach, which was itself practically a private beach at that time.

The sea itself? Like stepping into a warm bath. The two pools were just as comfortable, and you can bet we jumped in immediately after unpacking and blissed out.

Set down a long, wide, private driveway, the Nakara really is a prime piece of property. As I understand, it was recently refurbished, and the villas are absolutely luxurious. Spotless wooden floors, bathrobe and lockable safe, a luxurious bathroom with pebbled floor and both a wall and rooftop shower head … there really is nothing more you could ask for. It also seems to be staffed by perpetually smiley workers – the girl who came out to help us figure out how to work the air con was literally skipping and singing to herself.

A good start to our Koh Lanta adventures, all around.