Thailand: Koh Lanta

We got on an 11.30am ferry from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Lanta which took around 2 hours and cost around 400Baht, (£9 per person). The ferry this time wasn't too much of a problem for anyone, the sea was very calm and there were outside seating areas for fresh air. Arriving into Koh Lanta we again had no accommodation booked as all the options we had found online were a little out of our budget. Getting off the ferry we found a tuk-tuk driver who said he knew of a few cheaper places so we hopped in expecting to view a few rooms before finding one that suited us. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to our first location The Leaf House Bungalow. It was a small garden area with a few two storey beach shacks surrounding it, with a larger hut used as a social area and numerous smaller undercover seating areas, all within a stones throw of the beach. We all jumped out of the tuk-tuk thinking that this place was going to be well over our budget. The lady said that the only room she had available was a 5 bed dorm room above the social area, and upon showing us we completely fell in love. We negotiated a good price for the room and even got ourselves a free breakfast thrown in. 

We were all feeling pretty excited about having the beach so close, so we got into our swimwear and headed straight there. Rebecca and Sophie being the most excited of us all, literally dumped their stuff and ran into the sea. After about 20 seconds there were a lot screams coming from Rebecca and we all started panicking thinking she had got into some sort of trouble. As fast as she ran into the sea was as fast as she ran out of it again! She comes over to us claiming that she is covered in this horrible slimy stuff, which we later found out to be jellyfish babies! Luckily enough they were too young to sting yet, but from then on nobody wanted to enter the water. Because of this we found that lying on the beach was complete torture as we couldn't enter the sea to cool down. After only an hour or so Bethan and Sarah gave up and walked back to the Bungalow. That night we were delighted to find so many cats living at the hostel. The cutest one was this white and grey one who took a special liking to us and even followed us up the stairs to bed.

The next day we were all feeling like we had had enough of the sunbathing so we headed out to a coffee shop for some food and a few cups of coffee. After an amazing feed we wandered up and down the main road going in and out of a few shops. But, the area in which we were staying didn't really have too much to see so it wasn't long before we found ourselves at the bungalow again. Missing our scuba diving we thought watching Finding Nemo would be a good idea - of which we all enjoyed (even Rebecca)! That evening we headed out for a walk on the beach to check out some of the food places. We settled into one of the restaurants, ordered the same amazing pasta dish and Sarah ordered a pizza which we thoroughly enjoyed. 

After a short 2 night stay we decided that there wasn't really enough to see here, so we decided to move on to Krabi. Sorry for the lack of pictures but we really didn't do too much. 

Beach Time!

Seating Area at the Bungalow

Yummmmyyy!

Our cat friend for a couple of days

The Happy Wanderers

♥

Cambodia: Sihanoukville

We got the bus from Phnom Penh down to the beaches of Sihanoukville for some well deserved beach time after all the history lessons of Cambodia. We decided to stay in Led Zephur Hostel on Serendipity Beach. We had heard that this was the more lively section of Sihanoukville and was advised to seek accommodation on a more chilled area, however we felt that a more busy location would be suitable for some party time, and we could always do a day to another more quiet area for some relaxing. On arrival at the hostel we were amazed to find a Sunday roast on the menu and quickly jumped at the chance - we were not disappointed! After months and months of seeing pictures every Sunday on Facebook and getting suuuuuuuper jealous, we finally had our own roast dinner to devour, oh god the gravy!

After stuffing ourselves silly we took a wander down the road to the beach front. We were soon ambushed by a group of small children trying to sell us string bracelets/anklets. We politely refused their offer but they proceeded to follow us anyway and it wasn't long before we had a group of them join us at our table while we ate. We didn't mind though, we had lots of fun chatting with them and taking selfies. Bethan was sporting a 'double bun' hairstyle that day which was quite the hit with the children. They kept asking why she had a hairstyle that looked like a cat - "meeeowwww" haha! It was cute to make these little friends because for the remainder of our stay they would spot us on the beach and come over for a while to sit with us. They even made us all friendship bracelets of our favourite colours for no charge whatsoever.

With everyone in high spirits we spotted a fire show going on at JJ's Playground just a few bars down, so we headed over for a closer look. We were happy to find an amazing drinks offer - buy one get three free, for a tiny 40p! We settled onto a table and were mesmerised by the skills of the fire show. It wasn't long before one of the guys, Danny, decided to join us and even convinced Rebecca to have a go herself. As you can imagine this didn't end well, Rebecca attempted to twirl the fire stick around a few times and decided it was too hot so dropped it on the floor. The table next door seemed very impressed with Rebecca's efforts and decided to leave us 2 beer towers as they were heading back home and we proceeded to dance the night away - thanks Mr Hong Kong!

After that heavy night we decided to check out the more chilled area of Sihanoukville, so asked a tuk-tuk driver to take us to Otres Beach. We were met with just a few beach shacks along the beach front but decided to take refuge on a deserted section of the beach under a palm tree. We had a wonderful day dipping in an out of the sea and sipping fresh coconut water. Soon enough the sun was setting so we went into one of the restaurants for dinner, where we were treated to one of the most beautiful sunsets we've seen to date!

So that's our Cambodian Trip all over with - now for a 20 hour bus ride back to Bangkok to apply for our Myanmar Visas!

Dinnerrrrrr!

Serendipity Beach

Drinks with Danny

Courtesy of 'Mr Hong Kong'

Otres Beach

Otres Beach

Sunset at Otres Beach

The Happy Wanderers

♥