My trusty bumblebee as i came to call it, using this i covered most of phuket in my time there
Phuket town
Above are a small snippet of my time in Phuket before i left for Ko Lao Liang
Hello once again, I write this latest update from the UDEE Hostel in Bangkok I have been in the city for 3 days now and I am slowly getting to grips with big city life once again, its hot, noisy and swollen with people from every walk of life. My first two days were spent in probably the most famous Hostel in Bangkok Suk11 after that however they were fully booked so i've moved to a much quieter more residential quarter of the city where life is a bit more relaxed, but more about Bangkok later, this article will be about where i spent the most amazing 11 days on a tiny island in the andeman sea
Well what can i say about paradise, After my time in Kuala Lumpur i booked a flight online to fly to Phuket in thailand. Upon arrival i stayed in the Phuket Backpacker Hostel the place was nice enough but i found it hard to like Phuket town, its centered very much on the flashpacker lifestyle where partying and sunbathing are the primary activities. The longer i spent there the more i wanted to leave. So one evening i began googling the islands of the south and reading about their pro's - con's and attractions. While doing this i began scouting around google earth looking at a map of the east coast of peninsular thailand. All of the major islands were there with reviews and website links talking of how beautiful and accomodating the resorts were, with busses and tuk tuk's to transport people around the beaches and villages. I was tempted but still i wanted something more remote, a bit more like the much sought after but never attained beach from Di Caprio's death knell to the undiscovered island of Ko Phi Phi. As i browsed the map I just clicked on the view button to change from map view to satellite photograph, and pow! there it was this tiny little bump in the ocean with no name, no map markings and no roads. I knew straight away this was the place for me. Some further googling revealed the island to be Ko Lao Liang, twin islands in the andeman sea. HERE you can see what i mean, toggle the button in the top right between 'map' and 'satellite'
Once I had decided that this was my destination i found the contact email, corresponded with Mike Weizman who organised my booking and pickup for the ferry,
Strangely though that morning at 6.30am i was waiting... and waiting for the pickup minibus, which never arrived, confused i rang mike and he discovered that the ferry company had fluffed the details and there was nobody coming to pick me up, Initially i felt this might not bode well for what was to come, how wrong i was.
After talking with Mike on the phone once again he told me that if i could get a public bus from Phuket to Trang he would ensure i would be picked up in trang and transported directly to the island.
5 hours on a bus driving through rural thailand is an experience in itself. Stopping in tiny farming towns to pick up locals at makeshift bus-stops, driving past mile after mile of rubber tree plantations and massive Karst limestone cliffs on the roadside. After all of the little experiences along the way i was tired but feeling good. Immediately upon stepping off the bus i was Greeted by Pon, the co-manager of the island. He was on the mainland doing the supply run and i was the last thing that needed collecting. So into the pickup truck and away we went. As soon as we both lit up a much needed cigarette and the cd player started pumping Master of puppets, I knew we were going to get along just fine.
From trang we drove into basically the middle of nowhere to a small local port about 10k upriver from the bay, here we boarded the Longtail supply boat and began the hour long trip out to sea.
The bus in its neon pink glory that hurtled us down the coast to trang
At the pier moving the supplies from Pickup to Longtail before we headed for the island
So Finally at around 4.30 on the first of march I arrived,
Instantly I felt welcome, not like in phuket where I was just another farang with money that needed spending on stupid boat rides or guided tours, no this place was different. I was shown to my tent and then left to my own devices, The accomodation seems sparse at first but the longer I came to spend there the more I realised I had everything I needed and more. Each tent has two sections to it split by a zip up wall
there is a double mattress provided with a small table, a reading lamp, electrical sockets for when the power comes on and even a large powerful fan in case the heat becomes to much at some point
Outside you step into a dreamworld where you step out of your tent into soft white sand and walk to the communal area, Built entirely from bamboo this is basically a roofed awning protecting diners from rain should it happen. other than that the bar is the next stop, a tiny hexagonal hut built from driftwood and bamboo this became my spot to chill out just meters from the beach lounging in a hammock reading a book and enjoying a Milo chocolate shake prepared so well by Kyoxx, a young burmese boy who genuinely does just live on the island, brought there by Pon on christmas day he's an orphan who has become part of life on the island and you can see he loves it.
The two managers on the island are Pon who i mentioned, a Thai metalhead who was great fun to talk to and he also taught me how to smoke thai tobacco with dried palm leaves instead of rolling papers, Rough smoke but beautiful flavor once you get accustomed to the burn. Then theres Lawrence, an englishman from the lake district who came here 6 years ago and has settled into thai life quite comfortably, the two of us got on like great mates and he and pon made me feel most welcome, so much so my 3 day booking went on, and on to become an 11 day stay.
I met a great group of travellers on the island aswell, Adrien and Lin from Switzerland, Emile and Katrine from Denmark, a gang who when we combined our efforts managed to drink the bar dry on the night before the renewed supplies would arrive!!
That night at high tide (1-2am) we also discovered the incredible phenomenon of Phosphorescent plankton in the sea, running into the pitch black night you crash into the water and like nothing i have ever experienced before. The seemingly inert water comes to life and millions of microscopic plankton light up in an eerie blue glow. Imagine millions of blue LED's filling the water but they only glow when disturbed so each swimmer has an eerie glow of blue surrounding them as they kick and paddle. It was an incredible experience and i will never forget how we were like children giggling and whooping at something unlike which any of us had ever seen.
During my days on the island I was delighted to discover i had time once again to Read! in most hostels here there is a drop off pick up policy so as you finish a book you leave it in the next hostel and pick up something else from the bookshelf.
When not relaxing or reading i was usually to be found in the water, Snorkelling a few meters from the beach you will see coral formations, clownfish, barracuda, Shoals of fish numbering in the tens of thousands, colors like i have never seen.
Then there was the kayaking. It has been years since i picked up a paddle but once i sat down and started to move it was like i had never stopped. On the first day i circumnavigated both islands in a figure 8 taking about 3 hours to do so, and from this i saw a few places i wanted to explore in greater detail. The following day i hit the water again, this time armed with my camera in a drybag, I saw some beautiful scenery, wildlife and even discovered 2 rather large caves, which although slightly risky to enter, were not beyond my capabilities so i bit the bullet and plunged into the headland, and wow am i glad i did. Blue Glowing waters illuminated by the sun bursting in the tiny cave entrance massive echoing caverns filled with the thunder like no noise on earth as the air was trapped and escaped with each wave.
Longtails
The caves!
blue waters and white sands, check!
I also discovered the world of rockclimbing while i was there, Unbeknowst to me the island is actually quite famous amongst rockclimbers as a paradise of great climbing combined with the out of the way venue and beautiful scenery
Laurence not only being a manager at the island is a professional Rockclibmer who has worked on developing climbing routes on not just this island but many other climbing meccas in the area. I worked my way up the first cliff wall which is called the discover climbing route, it was great fun and its bloody hard excercise i'd definitely be interested to try it again. There are so many other stories from that island, Watching lightning storms at night from the beach, or playing frizbee in the sea for hours, never a dull moment because even when i might spend an hour just watching the wildlife of geckos, birds, monitor lizards, the word bored never even occured to me.
The Food!! Fresh fish every day, Giant shrimp, Barracuda, Squid, I wouldnt class myself as a fish eater but every day the food was spectacular
The island was hit by the Tsunami in 2004, thankfully on lao liang nobody was killed but there is still an early warning tower and an escape route at the north end of the beach
from the top of the escape route there is a great view of the beach
Just taking a break
One of the rockclimbers showing us how its really done
So for now thats everything about my amazing time at lao liang island it was an experience i'll never forget and perhaps someday i'll go back there again
I leave you with another small collection of photos and i will update very soon with the bangkok chapter. plus i will be working slowly on a video of all the footage i have taken while travelling. if anyone wants to see more of the photos they are available on my facebook page
No Shoes for two weeks
Laurence and Mr Pon at the bar
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