Sic Transit…

Ah yes, Saturday. And so begins the next stage of the holiday as we head down to the South-West of Thailand with Cousteau-cub. 

The usual chaos of re-packing consumed a chunk of the morning around breakfast… but did not interrupt the blessed meal. As you can see from the picture, the Gorse Fox went for the healthy option of stir-fried chicken, vegetables and noodles with a fried egg. Some meals just have to be taken seriously.

Cousteau-cub came along to meet us just as the last coffee was being drained. We checked-out and then grabbed a taxi to the airport. Now just to acclimatise the reader to the cost of living in (expensive) Bangkok – the taxi ride took us about 40 minutes south east of the city and cost 280Baht. At the prevailing exchange rate, that’s £6.08… significantly less than a taxi from Southbank to Victoria.

We checked in and went through to the departure lounge. GF watched the bags whilst Silver Vixen and C-c looked at the shops (and bumped into Gordon Ramsay near the perfume counter!). Bangkok is nearing monsoon season. As if to remind the unwary traveller, the heavens decided it was a good time for a dress rehearsal. We were glad to be inside. The rain came down with such vigour that even the locals stopped to take pictures with their mobile phones.

The flight from Bangkok only takes just over an hour and takes us to Krabi. Cousteau-cub’s partner, the Coventry Hobbit, met us at the airport and loaded us into a huge Mitsubishi pickup – with out luggage in the open back and us in the huge 4-door cab.

A quick stop to buy some black plastic bags to cover the cases against the threatening storm allowed us to set off with confidence southwards. Gorse Fox drew his phone to send a message to Urban-cub but just as he was halfway through she phoned him. The line was dreadful (GF suspects that the Skype connection was hampered by the storm overhead) – but we resolved to try and speak again tomorrow. The journey continued south until we arrived at the first ferry that would carry us across to Little Koh Lanta. From there we headed south by car, cross on the ferry to one island, then cross on another ferry to Ko Lanta. Once on the island the traffic raced across to the other side so that they could get pride of place on the second ferry that would carry them across to the big island. This second crossing was only some 400m and only took a few minutes. (Oh, yes… it may look a little grey, but it was still 36C)

The ferry drops you near Saladden(?) at the top of the island and then the Coventry Hobbit guided us south along the western side of the island until we arrived at our resort. This turned out to be an excellent looking complex stretching from the beach up the side of a hill and wrapping round exquisite gardens and pools.

The view from our room takes some beating as we stood and watched the sun dip towards the horizon from our balcony. It is a fairly steep set of steps down to the pool and bars, but dialling “0” from the room had a little man scampering along in a golf buggy to ensure we did not over-exert ourselves.

GF dropped back into reception and discovered that internet access would help solve the national debt, so resolved to 1) prepare in advance, b) upload, and c) drop off.

Cousteau-cub and the Coventry Hobbit joined us for dinner and then after a couple of beers, headed off home (about 5km further south). The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were chauffeured back up to their room… and excellent day being had by all.