In Ko Lanta, Drinking Fanta, With a Panda

Only joking, there are no pandas here. Nor Fanta actually. What there is though, is amazingly clean, white beaches that stretch for miles against a backdrop of lush greenery. It's horrible, as you an imagine :)

Our hotel is the Lanta Mermaid Hotel ( http://www.lantamermaid.com/index.php ), a lovely small hotel about a two minute walk from the beach. It is family run and the staff are so nice. There is a nice lady who works there called Ms. Pao. She runs a tight ship and keeps an eye on you (telling you off for missing breakfast, and giving out to you for wearing your shoes in the gaff, etc.) but she is very loveable and keeps the place so nice. There's a lovely atmosphere there. There are loads of little Thai restaurants and bars dotted along the coast, nothing like Phi Phi. The beaches are quiet and peaceful as they should be.

One day on the beach, we bumped into a guy I went to college with, Odhran (the Viking leader) and his lovely girlfriend Julie. That night we met up with them for a few drinks along with our friends from Phi Phi, Cath and Barry, who had just gotten engaged in Koh Lanta.

For the rest of the time, we relaxed and did nothing for 6 days except wander to the beach, rent bicycles, chill out at lovely beach bars watching fire dancers and eating the best Thai food in Thailand!

Nothing much else happened there really...

...except that we also got engaged - after 13 years, eek! We will give you the gory details in two versions of events in the next post!