National Parks contain some of the most highy treasured natural beauty in any country, and the one on the southern tip of Koh Lanta is no exception. Read on to take a trip through Mu Koh Lanta National Park, including climbing a mountain to a lighthouse surrounded by 50 foot cliff drop-offs; jaunts on rocky and white sand beaches; swims in water with jellyfish larvae (eek!!!); and idyllic beach swings like something out of a magazine.
Reading time: 12 minutes
This post picks up where the prior Koh Lanta post (days 1 and 2 on the island) leaves off. Welcome to day 3 on Koh Lanta, the exceptionally stunning island in southern Thailand!
The morning began with coffee and breakfast at a little family-run coffee shop across the street from our guesthouse. There were monkeys climbing on the fences around and through the kitchen here! I can't blame them; the banana pancakes did smell quite enticing.
We were on a mission to get to the southern tip of the island today, as we knew there was a national park there and we did not want to miss it. Our hotel is marked by the teal drop on the map above, and the green drop is the national park. It took about 40 minutes to drive the 13 kilometers between the locations because the roads were intense - grades of 20% close to the national park, which is very terrifying on a 3 girls 1 moped situation. Genie was putting on the breaks 100% and we were still accelerating. Exhilarating, to say the least...
(Image source here)
The graphic above is to give you an idea of how steep the roads were. The roads leading up to the park were the slope of the top blue line in the graphic. Yikes.
We reached the ranger station, where we paid our 200 baht ($6) each entrance fee, plus 20 baht ($0.60) for our moped. Little did we know that the road after this point was even steeper than what we had already experienced, at a whopping 27 degree grade. Again, exhilarating...
Thankfully, we made it to the bottom of the road without event! The signs at the entrance outlined everything not to do inside the national park. The fine for feeding the monkeys was the same as the fine for littering or bringing in single use plastics.
Welcome to Mu Koh Lanta National Park.
Here are a couple of maps that were posted at the entrances to the park. The main park features are a rocky beach, a sand beach, a 2 km jungle hiking trail (we did not do this because mosquitoes/snakes/beach priorities), and a lighthouse atop a sea cliff-bordered hill on the center peninsula.
First, we saw the aptly named rocky beach.
I of course had to go stand on it - Rox among rocks, my most natural habitat!
We moved along to the sand beach, which was beautiful and much more pleasant to stand on.
We decided that before we did beach relaxing, we wanted to make the trek up the hill (right in the photo above) to check out the lighthouse. It was a steep climb up, and for those who know me, I am very afraid of heights, so this was not a thrilling prospect for me. I decided to do the climb anyway, because I am not about to let my fears rule me!!
I took exactly 0 photos on the way up because I needed every possible point of contact for the ascent - 2 hands, 2 feet, and occasionally my butt.
Past the most difficult part of the climb, my friends took this picture of a proud me with the lighthouse in the background.
At this point, I was ready to take out my phone and capture some of the beauty I was seeing from up there. This is the rocky beach...
...and this is the sand beach.
The cliffs went higher, and the views were just so rewarding, I had to keep going.
The terrain became striated rock, over which you could peer out down steep cliff faces right into the sea below.
The water was so clear that you could see the rocks on the sea floor, 60 feet (equivalent of a 6 story building) down!
After we reached the lighthouse, the views inspired me so much that I was compelled to continue and climb even further out. Anyone else impressed that I made it here???
It was not long before I reached the end of where I felt comfortable, so I stayed put. Genie, who is basically a mountain goat, continued climbing out on the rocks until the path literally dropped off into nothing. She is just left of the center of the panorama I took, above, making strong hulk arms. Do you see her?
On our way back, Genie got this photo of me loving life on the rocks, hiding my terror at how close the cliff drop-off was behind me.
The sea floor view was glorious as we made our descent.
My prized photo of this climb: the panorama shot of the tip of Koh Lanta. Rocky beach with darker water at left, sand beach with lighter water at right, mountainous island jungle straight ahead.
Back on sea level, Genie and I explored the rocks bordering the sand beach while Amanda looked for shells on the shore.
Careful, these rocks were slippery!
After this, we ditched our clothes, stashed our bags under some palm trees, and went in the water for a swim.
We had only been in the water for about 5 minutes when one of us said, "Are you guys getting little pinches on your skin?" and the others responded "Yes!! I thought I was the only one!". We were getting these tiny stinging sensations primarily under our swimsuits, which was bizarre. Due to the time of year being low season, there were very few people at the park in general, but we did find it kind of odd that there were only two people other than us in the water. I noticed those people get out, and the boy started checking the girl's back and swimsuit, and they both looked very confused. We braved the water for a couple more minutes and then, in substantial discomfort bordering on pain, we decided to get out of the water. I went up to the couple and asked them why they got out, and the girl said they were getting pinches and stings on their bodies and didn't know what they were. We all concurred that we were unsure what was happening, but we didn't want to be in the water to experience it anymore!
Genie, Amanda, and I returned to where we had put our bags, only to find that they had been majorly tampered with. My backpack was unzipped and my clothes were strewn all over the rocks. At first I was a bit concerned, but once I checked and found that my wallet was still there, my mind was set at ease: the culprit was not humans, but monkeys! They had a fashion show with my clothes, decided that nothing suited their fancy, and left the scene of the crime. Genie's waterproof bag appeared unaffected, until we later discovered that the monkeys had chewed a hole through it. Classic stuff. Monkeys are rascals!
We walked to the end of the sand beach, and lo and behold...
We found our criminals!
We couldn't be mad about their mischief once we saw their adorable faces. Mother and baby ate berries on the ground while their friends in the trees above deftly jumped between branches to shake more food down to the sand.
We stayed and watched the monkeys living life in their natural habitat for a long time. See the one up in the tree?
I stood still under the tree, observing quietly while they did their thing. This monkey kindly allowed me a photoshoot while she gathered food and had a midday meal.
Hello, beautiful queen of the jungle.
She pondered which fruits looked the most delicious.
Those look pretty good...
...decision made!
Meanwhile, Genie got this adorable photo of baby friends playing on the ground.
Thoroughly joyed by our special close-up monkey encounter, we made our way to a nearby beach swing for an idyllic photoshoot.
The results did not disappoint.
Genie's phone has portrait mode, which, combined with her editing skills and good friends to engender genuine laughter shots, made for some stunning photos.
(Fun side note: the line that made me crack up for these pictures was when Genie, trying to think of something funny to say, said, "Roxi! The American housing market is crashing!" It's not funny, which makes it so funny. Do you know what I mean? Comedy at its finest comes from the unexpected, after all!)
I also got to show my newest tattoo - a naga, the mythical Buddhist sea serpent that is believed to live in the river bordering my Thai hometown of Nong Khai and protect Buddha's teachings. I got this tattoo a few months ago in Nong Khai and I simply love it. It is a symbol of my time in Nong Khai, as well as an entity of protection. It means so much to me.
I also love that when the head is covered, I am a "nagi," a female naga, myself.
Thank you Genie for these fabulous photos and always making me laugh...
...thank you Amanda for your kind and loving spirit...
...and thank you universe for such wonderful friends.
The American housing market is crashing!!!
This day was so much fun. I faced my fears, bonded with macaques, and went on the most picturesque swing known to man (and monkey)!
At this point, we were ready to leave the sand beach and go explore a cave on the rocky beach, which we had seen from the lighthouse. I found a coconut on the sand on our way out and gave it a quick goodbye kiss.
We traversed the rocks of the rocky beach - a process I of course did not photograph because I am like a newborn giraffe when it comes to balance, so I had to focus all of my energy on not falling - and made it to the cave. We enjoyed the view of the lighthouse from inside!
I love caves, so this was a very happy environment for me.
We decided that we were now satisfied and ready to leave the beach, go home, and shower. We were still getting stings under our swimsuits, even though we had been out of the water for over an hour, so we were motivated to rinse off whatever was on us!!
Quick fast-forward to late that night: we researched this phenomenon and discovered what we had encountered:
The culprits for our painful swim are called "sea lice." They are not actually lice, but are instead microscopic jellyfish and sea anemone larvae that sting you in the water and get stuck in your swimsuit and thus continue to sting you even when you are on dry land. They come and go with changing tides and seasons, so though we did not experience them prior to this day of our trip, we experienced them every day from this one forward. Ouch!!!!!
Back to the afternoon: after showering and getting the stinging entities off of our bodies, we drove to our favorite place, Old Town, to get some souvenirs that we had seen the day before.
I got myself a magnet from my favorite store, "Happiness."
We had wanted to go back to Old House Cafe, our discovery of the previous day, but they were closed for dinner, so we tried a different seafront restaurant called Pinto.
The view from our table was magnificent.
This, so we thought, was going to be our last day on Koh Lanta. We had only booked three nights on the island, and we planned to take the ferry back to Krabi the next day, followed by two full days of travel to take the long way back to Bangkok (van -> another van -> full day train). We settled in for our last dinner, a thin veil of depression beginning to sink over us.
We ordered in a "treat ourselves" fashion, each getting our own pot of tea (Genie and I got blue butterfly pea flower tea, and Amanda got ginger tea), plus prawn spring rolls to share.
As we poured our tea, a rainbow began to emerge over the islands on the horizon.
The rainbow turned into a double rainbow, which practically screamed: "Don't leave!"
We went out on the pier as the rainbows faded and the sun set.
Our last sunset on Koh Lanta, we thought...
We all loved this island so much, so we were just trying to savor our last moments here while we could.
Amanda got some of the world's most divine softshell crab, Genie got a wrap, and I got a Greek salad, all with French fries to share (I think we were all on a bit of a Western food kick after so many months of Thai food all day everyday).
While we were eating, Genie hatched an idea: what if, instead of three days of travel, we just booked ourselves a 1.5 hour flight back to Bangkok from Krabi, and stayed an extra two nights on Koh Lanta? Amanda's and my eyes lit up. We googled the cost of the flight and realized it would only be a few dollars more expensive per person to do this instead of our many day travel journey by land. We unanimously decided that, if our wonderful guesthouse owner would allow us to do so, we were staying for three more days instead of a half of one!
Majorly enthused by this idea, we got some dessert - banana and chocolate "spring rolls," which were basically the most delicious pop tarts known to man - and hurried back to the guesthouse to talk to Noi.
Our ever-beautiful guesthouse mother responded with a very happy "yes!" to our request!!! We booked our flights for three days in the future, and we were the happiest campers about it.
We finished the night with a massage by our guesthouse; Thai massage for the others, oil massage for me. $13 per person, including tip, for an hour.
This concludes our third - and thankfully, not last - day on Koh Lanta.
Stay tuned for the post documenting our final three days in paradise!
🐒
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