Arrival of Daria and off to Koh Lanta island

After a smooth arrival at Krabi airport and a relatively long bus ride, I finally arrived at Ao Nang hostel. I was warmly welcomed by the two travelers. Hungry after the long journey, I was immediately introduced to the non-spicy Thai curry.

After a long chat, we took a well-fed longtail boat ride to Railai Beach, where I felt very pale compared to the dark-brown bathers... However, the paradise view quickly made me forget about my physical shortcomings.

The next morning, we set off for Koh Lanta island. A two-hour speedboat ride and a short tuk-tuk ride brought us to our hostel. The slightly shabby first impression was deceiving because inside was a lovingly designed oasis. The highlight, however, was the truly lovable hostel owner.

The next day, based on the hostel owner's recommendation, we decided to take a scooter tour around the small island.

Since Thais are not so strict about driver's licenses, our license-less friend Isa was able to rent a scooter. After some initial difficulties with the throttle (Isa first raced off uncontrollably), we set off as a small scooter gang.

First stop: the Old Town. Here, we met friendly Malays, admired beautiful landscapes, and enjoyed our best curry.

Second stop: We took a longtail boat ride through the mangrove forest. The view was beautiful, but after about 30 minutes, we thought we wouldn't encounter any monkeys as promised. But we were wrong. Just before the end of our ride, our captain threw some pieces of pineapple 🍍 into the water, attracting small figures. It was a group of macaques that approached the boat menacingly. Upon our calm and reasonable request not to let any monkeys into the boat (we started more or less hysterically screaming), our captain merely chuckled mischievously and docked at the shore, allowing a fortunately smaller primate to join us on the boat. We survived and continued our journey after this adrenaline rush. Along the way, we passed a small elephant enclosure where a female elephant and her calf were kept. However, the sight of the little baby elephant playing in the water left a bitter aftertaste, as it will likely be trotting behind its fellow elephants with bound legs and heavy tourists on its back in a few years' time... (sorry for that, but most people know about my personal relationship with baby elephants).

Stop 3: The National Park. Sweaty and tired, we arrived at the National Park. Despite being less motivated, we still ventured into the jungle and returned to our starting point in less than 40 minutes. Our condition didn't allow us to properly admire the diverse flora and fauna. However, the wrinkled gecko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko was a real highlight!