Booked the ferry tickets Phuket - Ko Lanta online and they provide a minibus pickup service from the Sino House. 720 am start and another smiling Thai to greet us and drive us to the Rassada Pier, again picking up passengers enroute. Ferry was due to depart at 830 and cost BHT 1638 ($61 for 2 of us) on Phuket Ferries. Had time to grab a banana from the market near the pier and then rushed on board and found the last seats towards the bow of the boat. We then sat for about 40 mins before departing! Was supposed to be a 4 hour trip with a change at Phi Phi Island allowing 30 mins there. Got chatting to 2 young German guys who were travelling around for 3 weeks - friendly guys and one very entertaining about nightlife in Pattong and his strange visit for a haircut where he was lured into the backroom for massage plus extras! Provided a few giggles! We pulled into Maya Bay for a brief look at the stunning bay, so overcrowded with boats of every size and description!  Stunning 100m high cliffs with steep sheer sides, dropping straight down into the ocean and a beautiful white sandy beach - so many boats we couldn't even see this. This is actually the beach that was made famous by The Beach movie in 1999. We then continued onto Phi Phi Island and transferred at least half of the passengers onto another boat by just siddling up to them in the middle of the harbour and they all jumped ship! We went onto the Pier where there were many boats, people and confusion! Grabbed our bags from the bottom of the stack and were told to quickly scurry over 2 boats parked nearby and we would be on the one destined for Ko Lanta Island. Very happy that we weren't stopping over in Phi Phi as looked so crowded and mass tourism prevailed! Arrived into Saladan Pier on Ko Lanta Island about 20 mins late - had to wait another 10 mins for a landing spot on the Pier and then again wrestled for our bags and joined the crowd off loading. We were greeted by many tuk tuk drivers all screeching for business and confidently passed by saying we were being met by our guesthouse! Paid a nominal BHT10 garbage fee pp on arrival. Sadly our little guesthouse had forgotten to come and pick us up so piled everything into a little tuk tuk and hustled 5 mins down the road for BHT100, to the Lanta Boutique Residence Guesthouse. Ko Lanta is home to a seemingly large Muslim population and the Pier was surrounded by women wearing hijabs and trying to sell tours and transportation on the island - a very noisy bunch. On arrival at the guesthouse the owner was very apologetic that they had forgotten us and promptly reimbursed our fare! This place is more like a small hotel - 4 floors and a swimming pool on the rooftop. Rooms are quite adequate - bathroom basic, small fridge and kettle in room BHT 3060 for 2 nights ($116). Couldn't get aircon working but after remote was replaced it kicked in fine. At 32 degrees and 73% humidity you need the aircon! Left our bags and crossed the road to rent 2 rickety push bikes so we could explore around the northern part of the island. Interesting riding around, through all the back streets, a lot of poverty but generally people very happy and smiling and content with their wonderful simple life. A lesson to be learnt! We rode up the northern part of Hat Klong Dao, very tidal and as the tide was out was a big mud flat. Rode to Rock Beach Bar where we took a couple of pics as so picturesque - very laid back eclectic resort and bar (we later learn that the island has many of these - typically all resorts here are like this)...passed the interesting serene Twin Bay and Coco Cape Resorts. We rode past residential areas, dodging chickens, dogs and some litter/garbage - interesting to see how the locals live. All have some sort of shrine in their yard that they offer flowers and food to, this keeps the Spirits happy and watching over them. Headed back for a shower and then in search of a Trip Advisor recommendation for food. We found one around the corner from the hotel, a popular spot, buzzing with people - the Family Thai Restaurant. Service was very slow and we got the new waitress just learning the ropes, so with much pointing at pictures and hoping for the best we ordered! Had a glass of Thai wine - not bad, light, a little vinegary and not so cheap - no idea what it was called - enough communication to just get wine! Food was OK but slow and prices seemed to change from menu - won't recommend this one! Back to the hotel and time to watch a movie which needless to say I fell asleep in the first 10 mins! Somethings never change!
  
Fri 13 Jan
Up early - had cereal, banana and yoghurt on our balcony overlooking a communication tower and a house with a cow & calf tethered through their nostrils! Had my shot of caffeine by way of disgusting instant Nescafe - keeps the headache at bay though! Rented our scooter from the reception desk - 200 BHT ($7 .45) for 24 hours - with helmets of course!  We set off on our tour of the Island, joining the throng of scooters buzzing around the place. The west coast of the island is just continuous restaurants (family cafes), resorts (don't think American luxury resorts - but bungalows in overgrown gardens and much more low key and chill!) little stores selling clothing and Knick knacks and many stands with glass bottles of gasoline for the scooters at BHT40! Obviously tourists run out all over the place! We pulled into some resorts to look at the views and had a smoothie at a picturesque beach bar on Sayang Beach. We pulled over a few times to check out the views and Alan had an interesting time with the scooter at one pull over! Luckily I was not on the bike as it was a steep incline to get back on the road so I walked the few steps up to await Alan, only to hear this revving and bushes scrunching and see Alan holding on for his life as the bike took off into a pile of rocks! OMG ! He was fine but subsequently found out - for those of you who know scooters - he turned his wrist hard to accelerate up the slope and it was so steep and he was hanging on so tight that he couldn't ease up on the throttle . Its provided much hilarity between us as I just turned around and saw him crashing into the bushes, I am still laughing, luckily Al and the scooter came to no harm! We stopped at a few interesting bars on the waterfront to check out the view and at one of them met an interesting guy from Alberta, Canada who has motor biked all around Asia and loves the life here - interesting guy and full of stories! We went all the way down to the southern tip at Mu Ko Lanta National Park - lots of jungle and saw some poor English couple getting terrorised by a monkey sitting on their motorbike and wouldn't get off! Finally a Thai lady came and chased him off with much kerfuffle and the bike falling over! Got to be careful not to be bitten by them! We then headed over to the East side of the Island to the Old town of Ban Si Raya - the original port and commercial centre of the island. Some beautiful stilted houses - some being restored and also pier restaurants provide an interesting and peaceful waterfront. We had lunch at the Shine-Talay restaurant (photo with swing in at edge of pier) - beautiful spot and a perfect haven to get out of the heat for a while . Had a very lazy and slow lunch there - Shandy's galore to beat the heat! Wandered around the bohemian stores and bought a pair of lightweight baggy shorts! After lunch we headed down to the end of the road at Ban Sangka-U - some pretty bays but no swimming beaches on this side, restaurants perched on viewpoints along the way. Turned around and went all the way back up the east coast to Saladan - by now the butt was killing me and also knees to from being bent up all day! Happy to have an ice-cream and return to put our feet up for a while before showering and heading to dinner back at the Saladin Pier. A funeral/memorial service was taking place in the walkway in front of some restaurants....seems like they all sat down and ate at the tables set up for the occasion and then a service took place in one of the unused shops! We had a good meal, again costing about 4-500 Baht including 2 drinks. Met a couple from Montreal who come to the islands every winter and love the laid back life. Much to Alan's vacillation about putting the Canadian flag on his backpack (Thanks Niks :) ) it is a conversation starter! Secretly I think he wants to put a South African one under it too Returned to the hotel weary and ready for pack up again as we're off to Ko Lipe tomorrow!Emailed train agent, 12AsiaGo, to make sure train line from Hat Yai to Bangkok not damaged in recent flooding and sure enough they came back that our train was cancelled! Line is down until further notice! And I was so looking forward to my 1st class overnight sleeper!