Ko Lanta: Mosques, Mary-Jane and Mopeds

After our month in Sri Lanka, a few nights in Bangkok saw us over until a flight down to the south of Thailand.

Bangkok was in many ways surreal after Sri Lanka. The difference in development was clear as we seemed to step off the plane into the digital, electronic, shiny in-your-face advertising world of Bangkok. If anything it was just worth seeing how they deal with public transport -I don’t know why London can’t learn from what the Thais have done; OK it may no be artistic architecture but it works – getting anywhere is simple and fairly cheap. It has a system that is consistent, clean and well-thought out.

Being in Thailand coming up to 2 weeks now, we now look back on and view Sri Lanka with very different eyes. It seems so much more quaint and caring than we realised when we were there; like I would describe some parts of home in Somerset and Dorset, where people still smile and speak to strangers. There was a real warmth about the people; a nice mix of hustle and bustle but always with a human depth about it all.

We have also realised just how blissfully cheap Sri Lanka is now – Thailand, and Ko Lanta especially where we are now plonked for a while is so much more expensive – some 30-40% more so. When you are on a budget, it hurts!

Bangkok was good to see, but never again. Not being a lover of cities in the first place the traffic, people and buildings were never going to appeal. One plus point however, was the sudden expansion in our food choices. After a month of rice & curry,within 0.4 seconds of WIFI connection I tracked down  Bangkok’s answer to Edgware Road on Google and we then spent the next 3 days on a diet of hummus, salads, fresh breads, kebabs and buttery rice – mmm mmm mmm – it was amazing! Iranian food so is the best.

The walks back to the hotel after dinner were rather entertaining as we had to field questions from the boys over the contents of particular small boxes of pills beginning with V, why certain DVD covers had certain pictures on them and what small glass objects with “smoking pipes” coming out of them were. It wasn’t particularly nice to have to walk through but there was a sense of accomplishment with the creative answers I came up with! So we were glad to get out of Bangkok for lots of reasons.

After a few days finding our feet, Ko Lanta is proving a real treat. The island is this really weird combination – Muslims, Rastas, Chinese, Sea-Gypies; plus an expat community of lots of Europeans – it all seems to really work. Well for us anyway as visitors it appears to anyway.

Ko Lanta, I can imagine was a bit of a paradise some 10-15 years ago, but although it isn’t packed with resorts, you can see the building happening everywhere; the people are literally cementing their belief that tourists will be coming in larger numbers in the future. But, despite lots of tourists as well, it still seems to have retained its charm in someway, as the whole feel of the island is very slow and easy. The way of life is very “island”. Let’s see how long it can retain this endearing charm.

Mopeds are the main mode of transport here and we soon realised tuks tuks in Ko Lanta don’t cost what they do in Sri Lanka. We soon rented a couple of scooters which is really liberating in terms of being able to do your own thing. The roads are pretty safe as no-one is in any rush to get anywhere – it’s the first time I’ve really been in a frame of mind where you just think, “there’s no rush is there really….[yawn]”.

Law and health and safety are out of the window here. You soon see nutter, prayer-capped 6-year old overtaking you, with their 2 younger siblings sat behind. There doesn’t seem to be this “what if?” risk-averse, health & safety fear about everything.

“But the police don’t care if they see you tourist; no make problem for you; don’t worry,” was the response I received from the man renting our scooters, when I asked for helmets for everyone. “I don’t care about the police; I care about our heads,” was my response which resulted a laugh clearly demonstrating how foolish I was being…silly me.

Safely helmeted we are now pinging about the island. Great fun for the kids. BTW if you have read about being able to rent and drive tuks tuks (i.e. for your family) they don’t allow it anymore – the police got fed up with the “farang” (foreigners) having accidents.

Why aren’t we seeing the rest of Thailand? Travelling is very tiring and really takes its toll on the kids. It’s hard work and although you see lots of things, you also miss a lot, in fact more than a lot. Going to “look” at something like a temple, or the top of a mountain is fantastic, but its very brief usually and you feel exhausted having gotten there, booked into another hotel, re-packed and then off again on another journey involving a long drive, airport or train.

So the decision was made to stay in one place here in Thailand. We now really get to see a culture at work – start to learn bits of language, see what the people think about their economy, their politics and their futures; kick back and watch them lead their daily lives. You miss all that depth when you’re zipping about taking pics. It’s people watching in 5D.

Plus as homeschooling parents, it’s time to bash through some more of the curriculum. So this gives us time to get into a routine, which travelling pretty much puts an end to other than tiny lessons here and there. Back to “school”.

So the brakes are on; we are staying on the island of Muslims, Mary-Jane and Mopeds.

Viva Ko Lanta