Mr. Adam
The hotel helped arrange a driver for the day so we could explore the island beyond Long Beach, the 2.5 mile stretch of beach our Lanta Castaway hotel sat on. Mr Adam showed up and we were off.
Rubber Trees
On our way to our first stop, Mr Adam pulled over next to a grove of trees. Nothing about where we were reminded us of Vermont, except for the tapped trees. Mr Adam brought over one of the collectors, these were rubber trees! Kind of a mind blow for the girls (including Sarah), that rubber comes from a tree.
Waterfall Hike
Our first stop was for 1 hour hike to the Khlong Chak Waterfall. Starting out, we quickly realized that when off the resort beaches, it’s a jungle out there. At this point our family broke into two tribes:
Tribe 1: excited to be on the hike
Tribe 2: not excited to be on the hike
The intent of our blog is not to create family strife, it’s to capture our experiences. Again, I will NOT identify who was in what tribe for these reasons.
Sadie and I bounded along the trail, like a couple of smurfs without a care in the world. Along the way, we discovered a highway of termites. Begrudgingly, Paige and Sarah came along to have a look. On our round trip to the spot, probably 20 minutes later, there wasn’t a terminate to be seen, anywhere! It was in fact a highway, they must have found a better log to munch on.
Sadie, who apparently on occasion pays attention to her parents even said something like, “I’m really enjoying myself, I’m being present in the moment. This might be my favorite hike of the trip.” ‘Being Present’ is something Sarah and I often talk about with the girls, ever since Aunt Fancy Nancy gave them the book, What Does it Mean To Be Present a few years ago. It may not have physically survived the great purge of 2019, but it occupies a prominent spot on our family virtual bookshelf nonetheless.
Tribe 2 got back the game and soon enough we’d hiked through the hot jungle and made it to the waterfall. After a few minutes there, we turned around and headed to Mr. Adam.
Bamboo Beach
Next stop was a famous beach on Ko Lanta, Bamboo Beach. The jungle opens up down to a crescent beach. Striking how a place so beautiful isn’t developed in any way - no souvenirs sold, no ice cream shops…just a beautiful and untouched place. Even on a beautiful high season day on the island, there were only a few other people on the beach.
Mu Ko Lanta National Park
On the southernmost tip of the island, there’s a small National Park. The southern most peak has a beautiful rock beach to one side and sandy paradise on the other. In a way, it reminded me a bit of a hike we did in Croatia above Zlatni Rat, the Vidova Gora hike.
I was on my own to witness some stupid instagrammers just one step from ending their lives. Hope they got a lot of likes ;).
Monkeys On the Beach
We strolled down the beach. Paige and Sadie enjoyed some tree swings. Mr Adam warned us of brazen monkeys in the park. At one point as we were leaving the beach, we heard a couple hurrying out of the water and yelling helplessly, as some monkeys were taking their stuff. As we walked toward the car, Sarah spotted a monkey eating some Pringles at the top of a tree.
A Pizza Oasis
Next stop, lunch in Old Town Ko Lanta. You can read about the cool spot we found in this dedicated post (coming soon...).
Card Monopoly @ the Hotel
We returned back to our hotel, did a quick school session and then enjoyed some card Monopoly in the pouring tropical rain.
We found it refreshing to visit a beautiful tropical paradise that isn’t full of trinket shops and all the tourist gimmicks that are prevalent wherever you go. There’s no port on Ko Lanta for a Carnival Cruise Lines ;)
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