My week in the little town of Trang was coming to an end, so I boarded my bike which I realised had 345,000+ Kms on the clock. I wanted to record how many more I would do, until realising that the mileage gauge wasn’t even working! I rode all the way to the Phatthalung coast, with a couple of stops.
I saw a sign to “Khao Chang Hai Cave”. As I approached a fork in the road, a monk on a golf cart pointed me in the right direction. What followed was free entrance into this HUGE cavern, which had Buddha statues and areas of worship in all sizes. I was underground for at least two hours and came across just four humans – two of which were Buddhist women praying at each shrine in succession.
The next stop was Sampao Thai – labelled as a tourist attraction on Google Maps. Outdated photos advertised large and submerged rice paddies that led from one attraction to the next – all connected by wooden walkways. Well, all that water has flowed or evaporated elsewhere, because it was more like a sunbeaten swamp.
What remained was a big King-Kong type plastic statue pulling a ship with rope. I walked to the far end of Sampao Thai, which had an “Adventure Course”, with water slides and all sorts of obstacle courses with a start and finish line. It was all dried up, overgrown, and sadly falling into disarray.
My bike and I reached the coast with unknow mileage. Phatthalung is best known for its Lotus Lake. If the wind is in your favour, then the lotus flowers cover the water’s surface. I was not so lucky and was being offered boat rides to float with the flowers further out at unreasonable prices, so I declined. There were some very high-end lake-house accommodation on offer though.
The second highlight of the day (with the cave being number one) happened when I stopped at a local spot by the seashore and ordered some chicken fried rice. The husband of the cook came up to me and asked a question in Thai. I have an awesome translator app that can transcribe voice to voice.
The question was basically if I would be happy to have pork instead of chicken, but my app transcribed that as, “Can all chickens be turned into pigs?”
Koh Lanta
I boarded a barge the next day to Koh Lanta, alongside four rows of vehicles, including three huge trucks! How the barge stayed afloat and managed to move is an admirable feat of naval engineering. I would be spending a week on Koh Lanta, in a wooden bungalow with a 9.8 rating on booking dot com.
There is great joy that comes with living more inland on touristy islands, with free-range poultry, free-roaming cats, and livestock. The air can smell more ripe, and it takes a few minutes to scoot (or walk) to the hotspots, but it’s a better way to properly experience a country, I think.
The sad part about Koh Lanta at the time of writing, was coming across SO many abandoned outlets… You can take a turn at signposts such as “Sunset View Bar” and “Sunset Place Number One”, only to find grass and bamboo buildings storing junk and falling apart. Perhaps victims of Covid. There are tons of signs offering land for rent or sale. You could buy the whole of Coconut Bay.
The busier areas of Koh Lanta consist of seaside restaurants (mostly advertising seafood), cannabis shops, reggae bars, massage outlets, resorts, tattoo parlours, tourist information stands, and a couple of Muay Thai training arenas. I caught my first sunset at “Bamboo Bar”. There were three Americans seated behind me when the sun set, who had clearly been enjoying some island spleef. Their conversation included: “Oh my god… that is one big ball of fire”.
All in all, it has been rather nice to come across some fellow farangs, who all seem to be having a good time, but a week’s stay on Koh Lanta is far too long. I had hoped to begin every morning with a fruitful snorkel, but you really need to get on a boat in order to have a worthwhile experience.
I did spend a full day (at quite a high cost) doing three scuba dives with a bunch of friendly Germans, some French folk and a couple of surfer dudes from Florida. A pod of dolphins did swim and jump alongside the boat on the way to the dive site! No sightings of Whale Sharks or Giant Manta Rays though, but still very enjoyable.
Next: Koh Lanta Old Town to Koh Por
Previously: Trang Botanical Gardens & Loud Bangs
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