Da Beach - Koh Lanta

  Within minutes of boarding a ferry to Koh Lanta, Ryan, Vanessa and her mom stepped on deck, nixing the need for elaborate meet-up plans on the island. Good thing too, considering it took about five hours and a drive (on the bed of a rented pickup truck nonetheless) to the southernmost tip of the island in search of suitable accommodation for an ultimate beach experience. 

  The late hour and some rainy omens soon cured our indecisiveness, and we settled into cliff-side huts. 

  The morning greeted us with a gorgeous view right from our porch: black cliffs, fine sand beach, pristine water and the lush jungle of Bamboo Bay, all nearly deserted. How perfect. Our own little slice of paradise.

  It may sound like a repeat of our other beach getaways, but the limited accessibility of the place made it so much more. Once again, we soaked up the sun rays and frolicked and snorkeled in the clear water. 

  With fascination, we gazed at one of the most astounding sunsets ever, the colors turning deep red at the end. 

  We read books on our porch, once in a while raising our eyes to absorb the view. It touched us every time.

  We savored some great Thai food, with Muslim accents. 

 We watched a fire dancer work his magic, and a lucky lantern make its way to the sky. 

 We rode on the back of a pickup truck, local style, with beer in hand. 

  At night, we found the only bar willing to serve coffee, and sat with three Thai men, no English spoken but with workable sign language, while Ryan played the guitar. We even skinny dipped by moonlight. Just one of those memorable places.

  But like all good things, it came to an end all too quickly. Our Oregonians left for home, while we took a train back to Bangkok to obtain our visas to Myanmar (Burma). Now that was an adventure in itself.